Soundtrack Alley: Legend - Part One

The ninth episode of SOUNDTRACK ALLEY here on CINEMATIC SOUND RADIO features a bit of a different format than other SOUNDTRACK ALLEY episodes. Regular host, Randy Andrews, decided to skip this episode and left it up to Erik Woods to host and moderate a roundtable discussion about the film, LEGEND.

Joining Erik is the host of THE ARCHIVE, Jason Drury, host of OBSCURE SCORES, Robert Daniels and CINEMATIC SOUND RADIO’s in-house composer and host of COMPOSER CONVERSATIONS, David Coscina.

LEGEND is a 1985 epic dark fantasy adventure directed by Ridley Scott and starring Tom Cruise, Mia Sara, Tim Curry, David Bennent, Alice Playten, Billy Barty, Cork Hubbert, and Annabelle Lanyon. The film revolves around Jack (Cruise), a pure being who must stop the Lord of Darkness (Curry) who plots to cover the world with eternal night.

Although the film wasn’t a critical hit it did win the British Society of Cinematographers Award for Best Cinematography for Alex Thomson, as well as being nominated for multiple other awards including an Oscar nomination for Best Makeup and BAFTA nominations for Best Costume Design, Best Makeup Artist, and Best Special Visual Effects.

The original score for the film was composed and conducted by Jerry Goldsmith, performed by The National Philharmonic Orchestra and recorded by the legendary Mike Ross-Trevor. However, due to the massive changes made from the European version to the American version of the film, it was decided to remove Goldsmith’s score and have the German electronic group, Tangerine Dream, write and perform a new score.

In part one of our look at the production of LEGEND and the use of music in both versions, Erik, Jason, Robert and David talk about various topics including when they first saw the film, which version of the film they like, the film's production design, the gorgeous cinematography, Ridley Scott’s history as a director, a comparison of Jerry Goldsmith’s and Tangerine Dream’s scores and a detailed comparison of “The Unicorn” sequence, which Goldsmith and Tangerine both scored.

In addition, David Coscina's participation in this discussion offers a unique perceptive to the program as he brings his expertise as a composer to the table and provides detailed musical analysis of both scores and performs specific sections of each score on his piano to help paint a clear picture as to what the composers were bringing to the film.

Jerry Goldsmith’s original motion picture score is available on Silva Screen Records and Tangerine Dreams score is available through Varese Sarabande Records.

Part two of the program, where we compare more cues from each score, will be made available shortly.

Soundtrack Alley Theme by Alexander Schiebel

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