Intrada Soundtrack Forum

INTRADA Announces:



YOUNG SAVAGES
Music Composed and Conducted by DAVID AMRAM
INTRADA Special Collection Vol. 261

The 1961 film The Young Savages was David Amram’s first film score and offered him an opportunity to use fully his varied talents. Amram is a gifted classical composer, also a talented jazz musician, and the score reflects his outstanding ability in both areas. Intrada's premiere release of this score is a reissue of the original Columbia LP program. As originally conceived, "side one" contains the film’s jazz compositions, and "side two" contains the sensitive “Theme” and compositions for full orchestra. The director and producer allowed Amram to use jazz as an integral part of the picture, rather than employing it to underscore violence, sadism or narcotics—which is usually the case in pictures of the time. Jazz is heard not in the fight scenes but during sequences that showed the neighborhoods where the boys lived.

The significance of David Amram’s powerful score for The Young Savages is hard to overstate. Besides introducing the musical world to his motion-picture composing skills in 1961, it showcased the melding of two sizable idioms of then modern music: jazz and contemporary symphonic. With skills developed from theater composition, jazz performance (including the decidedly non-jazz sound of the French horn) and a close association with the New York Philharmonic, first under Dimitri Mitropoulos and later Leonard Bernstein, Amram became a unique voice in American music that still resonates today.

The Young Savages was a powerful picture about juvenile delinquency and crime in the streets of New York, and one man’s attempts to bring about justice and peace amidst the turmoil. David Amram mirrors the conflicts and optimism perfectly with his score—both highly charged and highly melodic. Worthy of note here is the playing time of nearly 42 minutes, a generous length for soundtrack albums of the day. The album is newly mastered by Sony from the original Columbia stereo album master tapes assembled in 1961.

INTRADA Special Collection Vol. 261
Retail Price: $19.99
Available Now
For track listing and sound samples, please visit
http://store.intrada.com/s.nl/it.A/id.8505/.f

Brilliant stereo sound for what was undeniably a brilliantly configured album. One of the easiest purchases in quite some time.

I began to admire David Amram's music after I heard his score for Kazan's "SPLENDOR IN THE GRASS" Since my first exposure to Amram's music, I have loved everything I have heard from him.

Thanks, Intrada

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Robert M Eastman

Another 60's gem to add to the collection.
As always fine work by Doug & Co
Looking forward to playing this one.

I initially wanted to hear just a couple of tracks for now, but ended up listening to the entire album. The loud brass featured in the action cues is rendered so effectively in the digital age that it creates a new level of intensity, one that is not so forgiving on the ears at times. This is a great album of jazz and propulsive action that is unmistakably David Amram. A very lovely main theme, too. Those of us who did not grow up listening exclusively to vinyl can especially rejoice!

Just arrived and playing now... sounds great but...

CD's listed playing time: 46:12
CD's real playing time: 42:17
combined track times: 40:58


Can this be a bit better controled in the future? For the moment I thought there was track missing or some other major problem that caused 4 minute difference between listed and real playing times of the disc...

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Karl Morton IV

"Enjoy every sandwich."
-- Warren Zevon

I emailed Mr. Amram last year about his unused score for "Seven Days in May" but he said he didnt know where it was (and has no interest in it since it represents a failure to him). Having moved on to other music genres, he had no enthusiasm about the market for his soundtracks. I wonder if this CD release will effect his opinion?
"My score for Elia Kazan's Splendor in the Grass has NEVER been released and my scores for John
Frankenheiemer's The Young Savages and my score for Kazan's The Arrangement are both recorded
but have been remaindered and sitting in basements for the past 40+ years!"

I hope one of the labels can change his feelings about releasing more scores.