INTRADA Announces:
THE BLACK STALLION RETURNS
Composed and Conducted by GEORGES DELERUE
INTRADA Special Collection Volume 117
The Black Stallion Returns was the second film from Francis Ford Coppola’s Zoetrope Studios to be based on the immensely popular series of novels by Walter Farley. The first film, 1979’s The Black Stallion, told the story of how a young boy named Alec Ramsay befriended the wild “Black” after being shipwrecked together on a desert island, and how they went on to win fame and glory on the American racing scene. As the second film opens, the Black’s original owners, Berber tribesmen led by Abu Ben Ishak, abduct the horse and flee to Morocco, where they must compete to maintain their people’s honor and prestige. Leaving his mother, Alec sets out in pursuit of the Black. He finds allies in the desert, including young student Raj and the warrior Meslar, but must also contend with the villainous Kurr, leader of the rival Uruk tribe. As with the first film, events build to a climactic race—with the stakes higher than ever.
With Carmine Coppola working with his son on The Outsiders, the filmmakers approached composer Georges Delerue. In keeping with the film’s epic scope and action, Delerue’s palette is full-bodied and symphonic—although never heavy or overbearing. For the more emotionally charged cues, the melody is generally carried by winds or strings, with brass assuming prominence during action sequences and moments of special excitement. For many of the film’s Moroccan scenes, Delerue incorporates ethnic percussion to capture the flavor of tribal North Africa. The film’s main theme is a masterpiece of long-form melodic construction, leaping, diving and unfolding with such grace that each note seems to flow inevitably from the last.
The original Liberty label 1983 soundtrack album from The Black Stallion Returns gave listeners just 30 minutes of the rich, sweeping Georges Delerue score. The Prometheus label later re-issued this same album on CD, paired with the album version of the first film's score. Both were derived from 1/4" mixes. For this world premiere release of the complete score, Intrada went back to the unedited session masters, made in multiple tracks at the high speed of 30 I.P.S. This allowed Intrada to include all of the previously unreleased music as well as improve on the stereo separation of the original album master. While a fine mix, the original frequently seemed to focus heavily on the center channel, especially with respect to the brass. In fact, the final bars of the end credits had a splendid allegro triplet trumpet figure that was somewhat buried and seemed to be begging to be heard. Listeners will happily note the figure has now been freed at last for the close of the complete score portion of this CD. As a bonus, the original album assembly is also presented from the 1/4" mixes, to preserve some of the creative assembly presented on the 30 minute program
This release is limited to 1500 units.
INTRADA Special Collection Vol. 117
Retail Price: $19.99
AVAILABLE 12/8/2009
For track listing and sound samples, please visit
http://store.intrada.com/s.nl/it.A/id.6427/.f
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