Intrada Soundtrack Forum

INTRADA Announces:



TOBRUK
Composed by BRONISLAU KAPER
INTRADA Special Collection Volume 147


For the 1967 Universal Pictures war epic Tobruk, Bronislau Kaper wrote a musically massive, thundering wall of sound — just like the formidable German fortress under assault by the Allies during WWII. His primary theme is weighted by a barrage of brass playing eight angular notes seemingly chiseled out of concrete and layered throughout the entire score in blocks. It makes its first appearance in the Main Title in its most militaristic form, bursting with brass, bristling with snares, underlining the massive potency of the German force in North Africa. Numerous other motifs play a role, but Kaper seldom strays from his main Tobruk theme, an idea whose dominance mirrors the towering objective under siege by the Allies.

For this premiere presentation of the soundtrack, Intrada was generously given access to all of the multi-track master elements recorded at Universal
Picture’s scoring stage in February of 1967 under the supervision of Joseph Gershenson. The ½” 15 i.p.s. three-track stereo session masters were vaulted in magnificent condition, allowing Intrada to create brand new two-track stereo mixes of every cue. The results are vibrant and robust, bringing great clarity to this energetic, martial musical campaign.

Tobruk tells the tale of a near-suicidal mission staged at a turning point in World War II: it’s 1942, and if Rommel and his Afrika Korps can gain access to the Suez Canal, they will, in effect, control the Mediterranean. To prevent this, a small Allied force is sent on an 800-mile march across the deserts of North Africa to the port city of Tobruk; there, they hope to knock out a deadly battery of German guns so an Allied invasion can be launched, and blow up Rommel’s massive fuel depot, thus stymieing the Desert Fox’s designs on the Canal.

This release is limited to 2000 units.

INTRADA Special Collection Vol. 147
Retail Price: $19.99
AVAILABLE NOW
For track listing and sound samples, please visit
http://store.intrada.com/s.nl/it.A/id.6790/.f

Wonderful, thank you Intrada! Goodnight everybody!

This is nice.

I remember reading Bronislau Kaper's obit in the Los Angeles times. He always believe that someday his style of film music would come back in fashion. Now that it's happened in a way, imagine what a 2010 film with the likes of Bronislau Kaper associated with it would be like.

Ordered this disc immediately.

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"I used to worry about losing my mind. Now that I've lost it I don't worry about it anymore." -Wavy Gravy

Great. Ordered. There's never enough Kaper's music available

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THE WAY WEST didn't go down well with me. Just didn't sport any Kaper melodies and song was a tad bland. Nevertheless I cannot say no to a potential thrill from Bronie. Nice to have another effort from a champ available.

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I'm an old cowhand ...

TOBRUK is almost as thrilling a release as THE WAR WAGON. Now, forty some years after the fact, you guys have justified the box around the "Bronislaw" Kaper credit on the poster. Those ascending figures marching upward between statements of the main theme still raise the hairs
on the back of my neck.

Thanks, guys. This is heaven.

Two smashing releases (& well guessed by the posters).And with One-Eyed Jacks released a few weeks ago, it feels just like the early days of FSM with all these stereo releases from that era. It's funny how much difference a few years make. You have Spartacus, one of Universal's biggest films, & no music tapes, then just seven years later, Tobruk, a standard action movie (but very enjoyable) shot in Techniscope...& stereo music tapes!

Sort of related question:

Roger:

In regards to Quincy Jones originally being hired for the film (as soem news articles, including the magazine "JET" -- which interviewed him -- reported), what was the situation here?

Did he not record anything?
Were tapes not found, like "The Getaway"?
Did he do something, but it was a situation like "Something Wicked This Way Comes", leaving it's release up-in-the-air as to happening?

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"Questions are a burden to others; answers a prison for oneself"
"Unlike me, many of you have accepted the situation of your imprisonment and will die here like rotten cabbages."
"Everyone votes for a dictator."
THE PRISONER

I probably won't get mine for a couple of weeks (in the UK), so come on people, what's it like?

The sound is superb, clean and transparent, with great stereo separation. Many of the cues start to remind me of moments in MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY, with some of the suspense stuff at times echoing THEM! It's a treat to hear this grade A work from late in Kaper's career in such a pristine state. Here's a composer who could manipulate large forces without them becoming just a large blast that washes over the film.

Great stuff, a late work from a composer still on his game. Thank you Intrada people for something I never thought I'd ever hear on a CD! (But shouldn't it have been BronislaW on the cover? That's what it is in the film...)

Yeah, it's a bit of an oddity that Kaper went back to his "Bronislaw" appelation for his final three films (which includes the partially rejected THE SALZBURG CONNECTION.) One can only assume it was his choice.

In any case, for the staunch Kaper fan TOBRUK is highly addictive and a wonderful addition to the previous terriific 2010 Intrada releases.

This arrive yesterday, great stuff, such good sound & stereo. I remember seeing this at the cinema & then looking for the soundtrack album, I didn't know there wasn't one...there is now.