By Bill O'Hara
It took sixty-three years but there is now a complete
score for Elmer Bernstein's 1960 classic The Magnificent Seven. Quartet Records
in association with MGM has released a four-CD set of The Magnificent Seven
Collection. It includes the soundtracks for the four movies in the franchise -
the original, Return, Guns and Ride. As an extra, the set includes The Music
from Marlboro Country, a promotional LP made by Phillip Morris in 1967 which
consists of recycled cues from Return and orchestrations inspired by
Bernstein's themes. As I recall, the record was sent free to fans who submitted
proof of purchase of Marlboro cigarettes. The best news is that the entire
original 1960 score is finally available.
The first disc is for the original film and has a running
time of 78:40 with a runoff of additional cues, not in sequence, on disc four.
Some cues are as short as both eleven and sixteen seconds. Bernstein's
daughter, Emilie, previously produced a 1998 CD of the original but it only had
twenty-four tracks, whereas the new release contains forty-one, including some
as memorable as "Chico's Bravado", "Enemy Camp" and
"Lee's Problem". There is also an illustrated thirty-six page booklet
about each movie and Bernstein's involvement. The liner notes don't specify how
the tracks were enhanced or tweaked but they all sound the best they ever have.
The entire package is, well, magnificent.
Press Release from Quartet:
Celebrating the centenary of Maestro Elmer Bernstein,
Quartet Records and MGM are proud to present a mammoth, deluxe 4-CD collection
with the original iconic MAGNIFICENT SEVEN saga that comprises four films produced
between 1960 and 1972, all of them scored by the great Elmer Bernstein.
Bernstein’s music is a genre-defining masterpiece.
Inspired, in part, by the work of Aaron Copland, the composer created a
distinctive blend of Americana and what he called Tex-Mex elements without
resorting—as so many of his predecessors did—to quoting actual folksongs. The
score is replete with memorable themes and rife with tension when such is
called for. Following the development of Bernstein’s music through all four films
makes for a fascinating journey!
The score of THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN was not officially
released until 1998 by Ryko. For this new release, on Disc 1, we accessed three
1/4? full-track monaural rolls of “print” takes vaulted by MGM to expand upon
the earlier edition. Several bonus tracks are included at the end of Disc 4 due
to insufficient room on the first disc.
For RETURN OF THE SEVEN, only the celebrated re-recording
done by Bernstein in London has survived; the scoring masters and music stems
remain lost. For Disc 2 of this set, we newly transferred the 1/4? stereo album
master and have maintained the spacing the composer placed between each track.
We have also included the CD premiere of the rare album recorded by the
composer for a promotional Philip Morris & Co. campaign on United Artists
Records: THE MUSIC FROM MARLBORO COUNTRY, sourced from the 1/4? stereo album
master.
GUNS OF THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN is perhaps the most varied and
musically satisfying of the sequels. We have used on Disc 3 the same extended
stereo program produced by Lukas Kendall for the Film Score Monthly label and
included in a long-out-of-print western box set.
For the final entry in the series, THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN
RIDE!, Bernstein’s orchestrators, Leo Shuken and Jack Hayes, adapted the
composer’s thematic material to fit sequences in the movie. A single day was
spent recording at the Universal Scoring Stage in Los Angeles with Bernstein
conducting. While scoring masters remain elusive, we have accessed the monaural
music stem to include the 45 minutes of music heard in the film on Disc 4.
Meticulously produced, restored and mastered by Chris
Malone, the package designed by Nacho B. Govantes comes with cover art created
by Jim Titus and a 36-page booklet with an in-depth essay by authoritative
music writer Frank K. DeWald.
Elmer Bernstein never wavered from his commitment to
write music that enhanced every film he scored with beauty, excitement, passion
and dignity. Quartet Records is proud to celebrate his centenary with this 4-CD
compendium of all the surviving music Bernstein recorded for the four original
MAGNIFICENT SEVEN films. Enjoy the ride!
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