INTRADA Announces Henry Mancini's THE WHITE DAWN

Roger Feigelson · **Joined:** Sat Nov 19, 2005 3:47 pm **Posts:** 3415

INTRADA Announces:

THE WHITE DAWN
Music Composed and Conducted by HENRY MANCINI
INTRADA Special Collection Vol. 253

The White Dawn was a film composer’s dream because there were so many open sequences, with no sound but the wind.
There was little dialogue, no cars crashing or people slamming doors to get in the way of the music.--Henry Mancini

For the 1974 Paramount film The White Dawn, composer Henry Mancini composed one of his most unique scores, creating an engrossing experience that is by turns both lyrical and savage. Woodwinds predominate, with flutes bringing an earthy, mystical quality. He uses reeds, often dissonant and coming from the orchestra’s lower register, to ominous effect. When bowed strings appear, they usually accompany the character of Daggett, emphasizing his romantic outlook on the world. Brass, when not in a seafaring vein, typically convey aggression and hostility. In addition to the ever-present drums, Mancini makes frequent use of mallet percussion, and enhances the score’s dreamlike character with electronics and instruments such as autoharp and waterphone.Two additional themes are of particular importance:the first is a gentle, almost childlike tune that seems to represent innocence and joy and the second is a fragile love theme.

For this release, Intrada had access to the complete score in mono and presented here in its debut. Previously only a handful of selections had been rerecorded by Mancini, a selection of which was integrated into the score to The Right Stuff.

The White Dawn tells the tale of three American whalers, shipwrecked in 1896 off the coast of Northern Canada, who are nursed back to health and taken in by a group of nomadic Eskimos. Billy (Warren Oates) is ornery and resentful, thinking only of escape and exploitation. Daggett (Timothy Bottoms) winds up embracing the native culture, and falls in love with a young woman named Neevee (Pilitak). Portagee (Louis Gossett Jr.) is somewhere in between. Eskimo leader Sarkak freely provides the men with food, shelter and women. But this foundation gradually erodes. Cultural differences widen into major rifts. As the tensions begin to boil over, the story ends in a shocking episode of violence.

INTRADA Special Collection Vol. 253
Retail Price: $19.99
Available Now
For track listing and sound samples, please visit
http://store.intrada.com/s.nl/it.A/id.8273/.f

George Komar · **Joined:** Wed Jun 01, 2011 7:55 pm **Posts:** 24

Fascinating score! This is Mancini's "Hatari of the North!" Why RCA Victor didn't allow Mancini to do a full stereo LP representation of the score is a tragedy! Every cue is engaging.

T. Newman Fan · **Posted:** Mon Sep 16, 2013 5:41 pm

H TRAIN · **Joined:** Thu Oct 21, 2010 12:25 am **Posts:** 539

Another fine Mancini ORDERED

Thanks once again Intrada for making The White Dawn.

Steven Lloyd · **Posted:** Tue Sep 17, 2013 7:11 am

WorkingWithKnives · **Posted:** Tue Sep 17, 2013 2:50 pm

Long awaited and ordered.

Swashbuckler · **Posted:** Tue Sep 17, 2013 4:10 pm

I'm very happy that this is finally getting a full release. I remember being mesmerized by the film and score when I first saw the film many years ago. I haven't seen it since (as has been pointed out, it rarely ever airs probably due to its bleak nature), but it definitely made a strong impression back then, and his suite with the London Symphony Orchestra is one of my favorites.

kipling71 · **Posted:** Tue Sep 17, 2013 7:08 pm

I cannot wait to dive into this. Hurry up, Mister Postman!!!

Random hiss question: I just listened to the samples for this again and I wonder if anyone can tell if the hiss that seems very present indeed at the beginning of the first track fades away by the time 30 seconds have passed or has my brain gotten used to filtering it out by then? I swear it's as though this and "Swashbuckler" and several other CDs I have and listen to often have damaged beginnings but then things settle down as the tapes roll. Has anyone else noticed this? Is it my ears being selective or does the source material improve as it plays? Honestly curious if there's a technical explanation or a weird perceptual one. Maybe someone with a *shudder* wave form analyzer could have a look and see if the hiss actually goes away or reduces or not?

WorkingWithKnives · **Posted:** Wed Sep 18, 2013 10:18 pm

More and more Mancini would be fine with me.

I have copies of nearly all the Mancini LPs and have had them for years so for awhile there was nothing new to anticipate or find, and now who the hell knows what might pop up next.

The Night Visitor would ne nice.

Swashbuckler · **Posted:** Fri Sep 20, 2013 5:23 pm

The mono sound is fine. Yes, there is a little hiss, but the sound is otherwise clear and detailed, no matter how loud the orchestra gets.

This score definitely has an identity very distinct from the concert suite. It's deeper and much more intense, and while the suite hits many of the main themes, it doesn't have the intimacy the score has.

This is an amazing example of what Henry Mancini could accomplish.

vinylscrubber · **Posted:** Sun Sep 22, 2013 8:43 am

"and now who the hell knows what might pop up next. The Night Visitor would ne nice.'

As far as I know, THE NIGHT VISITOR can still be had virtually complete on the second half of Citadel's CD of Bernstein's THE MIDAS RUN. (It's available at SAE anyway.)

George Komar · **Joined:** Wed Jun 01, 2011 7:55 pm **Posts:** 24

WorkingWithKnives · **Posted:** Tue Sep 24, 2013 11:58 pm

WorkingWithKnives · **Posted:** Sat Sep 28, 2013 3:14 pm

A great Mancini release. Mono gives the score a sort of distant, far away feeling, it's not bad at all though. If stereo masters are ever located I'll be the first to buy it again.

Intrada Soundtrack Forum

INTRADA Announces Henry Mancini's THE WHITE DAWN

Who is online