By Mark Sung Dec 8, 2004, 18:34 GMT
Varese Sarabande have released details for their forthcoming release of 'TIMELINE:Music Inspired by the Film'.
'Music Composed and Conducted by Jerry Goldsmith. Release Date: 1/25/05.
For what turned our to be his second to last score, Jerry Goldsmith composed an orchestral tour-de-force of epic proportions. With its release we celebrate the memory of a great man who led one of the most exemplary careers in film music history.
Jerry Goldsmith’s Timeline is an exceptional work. It’s grand in concept, detailed in execution, melodically and rhythmically inspired, exquisitely beautiful and exhilarating. Poised to be another epic merging of the virtuoso words of Michael Crichton and the music of Jerry Goldsmith, the film Timeline was also to bring about a rather historic reunion … that between Goldsmith and director Richard Donner. The two hadn’t worked together since The Omen, in 1976, the score which earned its composer an Academy Award.
Despite the film’s pedigree, however, what had resulted was, in industry lingo, a troubled picture. Faring poorly in test screenings, the film’s April release date was aborted and the entire postproduction process, including editing and scoring, was reopened. The film was to receive a rather extreme makeover, even going so far as to excise the opening sequence (the scene which originally accompanied the cue The Dig). Having already devoted many months to the producers and delivering a score of might and brawn, Goldsmith viewed any further investitures as futile. But despite all the rethinking and second-guessing, the production’s efforts were for naught as the film still failed to either draw the public or satiate the critics.
Goldsmith’s score, under these circumstances, seemed destined to be lost to the dark purgatory of unused and rejected film scores. Despite Donner’s acknowledgment that Goldsmith’s score was “phenomenal,” “magnificent” and “extraordinary,” it was, nevertheless, a score without a film.
But Jerry Goldsmith has always done far more than simply score films (not that there is anything simple about that!), Jerry Goldsmith was an artist. A great one. And the music he wrote is lasting, memorable, moving and important. So, ensuring that this particular score, despite the fate it met in the film, can find its way into the hands and collections of his most devoted fans, Varèse Sarabande is proud to offer this audiophile spectacular SACD presentation of Jerry Goldsmith’s medieval symphonic adventure.'
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