veröffentlichung Quartet Records: THE IPCRESS FILE (Re-Recording) (John Barry)

[Alexander Grodzinski]

 

 

[Stese]

Hätte ich zwar nicht gebraucht, da die bisherigen Alben gut sind, aber es stärkt wieder meine Meinung, dass Quartet Records zu meinem Lieblingslabel wird.

Auch die Franzosen mit Musicbox sind super unterwegs. Und von Amerikanischer Seite hat sich BSX / Dragons Domain schwer verbessert. Die Schlagzahlen sind höher, die Titel für mich interessanter, die Lieferbarkeit deutlich zügiger und zuverlässiger.

 

[Mistermaffay]

Spannend, dass für SOWAS dann doch (ohne Kickstarter) ausreichend Geld vorhanden ist 

[Stese]

vor 55 Minuten schrieb Mistermaffay:

Spannend, dass für SOWAS dann doch (ohne Kickstarter) ausreichend Geld vorhanden ist 

Das Ensemble ist zwar wesentlich kleiner als ein 80-Mann-Orchester, aber trotzdem finde ich es auch schön, dass sowas ohne Crowdfunding entstehen darf. Daher wird das mit einem Kauf honoriert.

[Angus Gunn]

Aber warum dieser Titel?  Die alte CD von Silva Screen klingt exzellent. Oder fehlten da noch entscheidende Tracks?  

[Trekfan]

vor 11 Stunden schrieb Angus Gunn:

Aber warum dieser Titel?  Die alte CD von Silva Screen klingt exzellent. Oder fehlten da noch entscheidende Tracks?  

Ich kenne den Film, die Musik und das alte Album sehr gut. Notwendig war diese Aufnahme sicher nicht. Aber wie Jose von Quartet die Tage geschrieben hat "There’s no secret to it—we simply invest our own money, knowing that we probably won’t get it all back."

Es ist ihr Geld und sie gehen damit ins Risiko und sie spielen neu ein, was sie sich wünschen. Aber seien wir ehrlich, bei Kickstartern ist es nicht viel anders. Die Auswahl der Scores hat auch dort viel mit den Präferenzen der Macher zu tun. Oder wie viele hätten sich tatsächlich für den Skinner oder aktuell den Schumann entschieden?

Hier waren es jetzt 25 Musiker für einen recht überschaubaren Score. Wenn ich die Möglichkeit hätte, eine Aufnahme zu finanzieren, würde ich einen ähnlichen Score wählen. Schätzungsweise auch an die 25 Musiker und an die 25 Minuten Musik. Jerry Fieldings wunderbare Musik zu Noon Wine für Sam Peckinpah. Für mich eine große diskographische Lücke, die Originalaufnahmen sicher verloren. 

[Alexander Grodzinski]

Kann ab dem 11.05. bestellt werden.

[Stese]

Das finde ich vorbildlich: Die Ankündigung, dass ein Re-Recording stattfindet, kam dann, als alles im Kasten war. Und jetzt ist schon im Mai die CD lieferbar.

Sehr schön kommuniziert. Nicht ewig davor, sondern die Werbetrommel gerührt, wenn alles in trockenen Tüchern ist.

[Trekfan]

Wenn ich das richtig entziffere, sind unter den Bonus Tracks die Themen zu Vendetta und Persuaders.

[Alexander Grodzinski]

Quartet Records presents its fifth newly recorded release of a classic film score, and its third devoted to the music of John Barry, following Séance on a Wet Afternoon and the three television films starring Katharine Hepburn. The unforgettable music of this five-time Oscar-winning composer continues to be celebrated around the world, and the impact of his innovative scores for dozens of films from the 1960s through the ’90s still reverberates today.

THE IPCRESS FILE, directed by Sidney J. Furie in 1965, is an iconic film in British cinema. The first in the series centered on spy Harry Palmer (the anti-Bond), it marked Michael Caine’s first leading role, immediately catapulting him to stardom. The story is set entirely in London, where a small group of mundane civil servants quietly tracks an even smaller band of traitors.

During one of the most prolific and successful periods of his career, when he was producing one masterpiece after another, John Barry composed a memorable score for THE IPCRESS FILE. He sought a unique sound specific to the story and characters, one that would distinguish the humdrum world of real-life British spies from the larger-than-life fantasy of James Bond. The score features an equally iconic main theme, jazz-flavored and highlighted by a cimbalom soloist. For Barry, the Cold War backdrop of the movie provided an ideal showcase for this instrument.

Around the time of the film’s premiere, Barry assembled a lavish album for Decca, though it consisted mainly of wonderful variations, arrangements and jazz improvisations on the main theme. Barry wrote nearly 50 minutes of original music for IPCRESS, of which only 17 minutes were included on the album—edited, rearranged and presented alongside jazz variations for an optimal listening experience. This left around 35 minutes of previously unreleased material—more than enough to justify this new recording.

We haven’t attempted to recreate the various jazz variations because no professional jazz musician would replicate another performer’s improvisations—nor should they. Transcribing them onto paper is ultimately a futile exercise that could never truly capture the spirit of the original performances. Even so, we have always viewed this album as a complement to, not a substitute for, the irreplaceable original release. Each represents a different yet equally fascinating world.

In the bonus section, we have reconstructed—using our own recordings—the versions of the original score presented by Barry on the Decca album, including the edits and alterations he made. We have also included an alternate version of the main theme, featuring a slower tempo that gives our trumpeter, Miroslav Hloucal, the freedom to improvise; a version of “A Man Alone” based on the arrangement Barry created for a 45 rpm single at the time; and the themes from the television series Vendetta and The Persuaders!, both featuring the cimbalom, which conclude the program.

Leigh Phillips has painstakingly reconstructed and orchestrated the score and produced the recording. Performed by the prestigious City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Adam Klemens and recorded at Smecky Studios by Vítek Král, the album has been meticulously mixed and mastered by Chris Malone in the spirit of Barry’s original recording, delivering an authentic “Barry sound” reminiscent of his years at CTS. Elegant design by Nacho B. Govantes, with cover art by Jim Titus, graces a 20-page booklet featuring an in-depth essay by film music journalist, writer and renowned Barry connoisseur Jon Burlingame.

1. The Station / The Body  1:06

2. Main Title From “The Ipcress File”  4:15

3. The MoD  :59

4. The Bureau  1:17

5. The Replacement  :52

6. The Workshop  1:37

7. Scotland Yard  1:10

8. Meeting With Grantby  2:20

9. Fight On The Steps  1:22

10. Break-In  1:57

11. Codename Housemartin  1:11

12. Factory Raid / Ipcress  2:17

13. Do You Always Wear Your Glasses?  2:05

14. Friendly Fire  1:34

15. The Symposium  1:22

16. Radcliffe Triggered  1:52

17. The Book  1:12

18. The Death Of Carswell  3:52

19. Too Hot  1:23

20. Palmer Captured  1:07

21. Servitude  2:38

22. The Treatment  1:16

23. The Treatment Continues  1:45

24. Injured Hand  :44

25. Palmer Escapes  1:34

26. Palmer Chooses  :45

27. End Credits  1:17

BONUS TRACKS

28. Main Title From “The Ipcress File” (Alternate) 4:37

29. Meeting With Grantby And Fight (Album Version) 3:34

30. The Death Of Carswell (Album Version) 3:45

31. If You’re Not Clean – I’ll Kill You (Album Version) 2:27

32. Goodbye Harry (Album Version) 3:10

33. A Man Alone (Theme From “The Ipcress File”) 2:30

34. Theme From “Vendetta” 2:10

35. Theme From “The Persuaders!” 2:15

[Screenthemes]

One has to ask; who is this new release actually directed at? Barry afficiandos of every stripe? The occasional soundtrack listener? Fans of the film, or those struggling to find the orginal score from Silva Scree Records on CD or a Decca vinyl copy on the secondary market or from Film Music shops/online stores/Ebay? While the original score is one of my favourite Barry scores of the Espionage genre, I'm really not bowled over by the news or that motivated to own unlike the Séance on a Wet Afternoon and the three television films starring Katharine Hepburn - outstanding. 

The Ipcress File, of all Barry's 60's scores, is so distinctive, so highly original, that any replication 60+ years on, is never going to hit the mark. The instrumentation, in particular, the cymbalon, is not either a sound that is easy to replicate nor can compete with the orginal sound recording. 

I've given all the samples a one-time listen, and I have to say, I'm not blown away. Pacing is my first issue: there's a noticible hesitance in the opening track: the percussion and tempo simply not hitting the mark, and this filters through into the other samples - It all feels very dirge-like, which, lets face it, is not doing any great favours to a score that was already, in its original form, a dark, lugubrious work. 

While Quartet are to be applauded for continuing recording and producing such wonderful film music, on this occasion, with Ipcress, I'm unsure what this new presentation is adding to an already stunning OST? In truth the re-record offers significant reprisal material, which is apparent when viewing the film itself. There is repetition of the central theme through with multiple incorporations and interpolations of said theme. 

Are there new, younger Barry fans that are going to find this release an essential purchase? Are aged soundtrack-purchasing stalwarts like me, going to fork out £17 quid plus overseas P&P for a recording that will perhaps get a couple of spins and then end up on the collection shelf next two the two other Ipcress CD's I already own, and I'm going to be honest and admit, now rarely ever play. *I'm writing this, but at the same time, I'll still probably end up forking out for the damn thing!

Others here may feel very different about this release news, many will be excited, overjoyed maybe. Personally, it all just feels like a record company scraping the bottom of the barrel; a barrel that now has very little unrecorded or unreleased John Barry material to offer film music fans and admirers of the late composer.