Review: Intrada’s NEW recording of “The Chairman”; Music by Jerry Goldsmith

(Album artwork by Stéphane Coëdel)

The team that is Leigh Phillips, William Stromberg, Intrada Records and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra have done it again! This time with a new Kickstarter-funded recording of Jerry Goldsmith’s score for the 1969 thriller “The Chairman” (AKA “The Most Dangerous Man in The World”). The film starred Gregory Peck, was mostly made in the United Kingdom and directed by British director J. Lee Thompson.

Goldsmith’s music is one of several projects of his that had far-eastern settings. He was a tremendous composer for percussion and one who really liked to experiment. Even to the point of using dried rice on a bass drum on the opening title cue. The reasons for this new recording are that the original master tapes no longer exist and that the original album is incomplete and only on vinyl (not including digital rips).

In July of this year, a few weeks before the recording sessions took place, I met up with score reconstructor and producer Leigh Phillips in Prague. He was able to give me an insight into the unique instrumentation of “The Chairman” score. He said that on receiving the original charts, orchestrated by Gary Hughes, there was not much specific information about percussion, despite requiring a lot of it. That was when Leigh’s incredible listening skills came in, ensuring that the reconstruction and interpretation honoured the film's original soundtrack.

(Leigh Phillips [left] with me in Prague, July 2025.)

The recording has been lovingly made with painstaking care. With the exception of two minor overdubbed parts, all of the players are together in the same space at the Royal Concert Hall in Glasgow.

With the “Main Title” music the listener is immediately immersed in a Chinese-influenced soundscape through the extensive and experimental use of percussion, as well as cimbalom, banjo and mandolin. In addition to sounding Chinese, I believe that the cimbalom adds an element of Cold War paranoia throughout the score - remember "The Ipcress File"? Probably my favourite of all the cues is “The Russians Are Coming", heard at the climax of the film. Its virtuoso use of the Almglocken (tuned cowbells) is like nothing else and pure Goldsmith.

“The World Only Lovers See” (love theme) features a wonderfully simple and romantic piano solo. Originally Jerry Goldsmith himself played the solo on the original album, however on this occasion it was performed by the pianist of the RSNO, Lynda Cochrane. Maestro Stromberg later remarked that her playing was, in his view, better than that of Goldsmith.

In addition to "The Chairman" score, the team were able to record some bonus cues from other films, thanks to extra money raised as part of the crowdfunding. These included the end credit music from “Rambo II” and a cue called “Alex’s Death” from “Under Fire”. The penultimate track on the album is a grand and majestic piece, “The Flag” from “Not Without My Daughter”. 

The final track, is a new realisation from Leigh Phillips of an unused piece. It was composed by Goldsmith for “The Game of Their Lives”, shortly before his death in 2004. I’m sure Goldsmith would have been proud of Leigh’s arrangement. Leigh has even produced a video on how he did it.

Once again, the Intrada team have achieved immaculate results that all music lovers really ought to hear and they have already announced their next Kickstarter recording project, which is going to be "The Night of The Hunter”. Music by Walter Schumann.

A very Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year to everyone!!!

Buy the CD: Here.

Kickstarter page: Here.

Intrada’s Bernard Herrmann sessions: RSNO conducted by William Stromberg

In recent years, Intrada Records have used Kickstarter to fund their re-recording projects. This year, they have teamed up again with composer/conductor William Stromberg who, in the 1990s, pioneered re-recording classic film scores from start to finish. The goal of this Kickstarter project was to record two Bernard Herrmann scores, ‘On Dangerous Ground’ and ‘The Man Who Knew Too Much’. For both scores, it is the first time since the 1950s that they have been recorded in their entirety, so I am lucky to be one of only a handful of people who have heard them played live since that time.

 

On the first day of recording, the team started with the Prelude from ‘On Dangerous Ground’. I had only heard this piece a couple of days before. I was more familiar with ‘The Death Hunt,’ which is a piece from the film that a lot of people know of because of numerous performances and recordings. ‘The Death Hunt’ is written in a typical Bernard Herrmann style with lots of repetitive rhythms played by a huge orchestra. 

 

The first run-though of the Prelude blew us all away! And it gave us some idea of the standard of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra (RSNO). The first run-through was not recorded, it was just used to acquaint the orchestra with the music. However, it was obvious that they knew the piece very well. By the time we started recording, it was as if they’d been playing it for years. 

(Bill Stromberg talking with Doug Fake and Mike Ross-Trevor.)

 

Cues were be recorded in full, and sometimes they would be recorded again in sections so that they could be edited together, if necessary, by Mike Ross-Trevor, who oversaw recording. Anna Stromberg, An orchestrator and Bill's wife, and I were sitting behind Bill, and we had the scores in front of us, as well as a crib sheet with approximate timings as to how long each cue should last. Although Bill wasn't conducting ‘to picture’, he wanted to try and be as close to the original film tempos as possible to be faithful to what Herrmann would have wanted. When it comes to Hermann’s original conception of the music, the Prelude contained a section that was cut from the original soundtrack recording; this coda was re-inserted in this new recording. I think this will be the first time anyone will have heard that section, and you will hear it on this new album. 

 

There were many people who had input into the recordings, not only Doug Fake in the control room, but also Anna and Bill’s colleague and friend John Morgan who was watching the livestream and was texting Anna with suggestions. I presume he also had the score in front of him. With the Prelude, I suggested to Bill that maybe the run-through was a little bit too fast because Hermann, as a conductor, was notorious for conducting slowly, at almost half the tempo the pieces were written. Bill agreed and conducted it at a little slower. Afterwards, Doug Fake came through on the intercom and said that it was perfect.

 

After lunch we started on ‘The Man Who Knew Too Much’. For this score, we recorded all of Herrmann’s original music for the film, plus the VistaVision title music written by Nathan Van Cleave. This piece requires lots of brass and percussion; 6 trumpets, 6 trombones, 2 tubas, 9 horns, and 9 percussion players. Tam Tam and crash cymbals were used because they are an integral part of the story. This brilliant fanfare blew everyone away! It's not often that you hear very short pieces of music played at full blast by a live orchestra because they are just meant to be heard on film soundtracks. We recorded both versions of the opening title music, but only one was used in the film.

 

Spoiler alert, for those who aren't familiar with ‘The Man Who Knew Too Much’ there is the famous concert scene filmed in the Albert Hall in which the composer, Bernard Herrmann, has a cameo. He was conducting the London Symphony Orchestra performing a piece that wasn't recorded for this album because wasn’t by him. This piece was written by Arthur Benjamin and called ‘Storm Clouds Cantata’ composed for the original film in the 1930s. The scene depicts an assassination attempt on the prime minister of a fictional country who is attending the concert. The music is part of the plot there is a crescendo, when the cymbals crash together, meant to mask the sound of the assassin’s gun going off. 

 

On the second day of recording, we had a smaller orchestra, and this is when we recorded the viola d’amore solos from ‘On Dangerous Ground’. For those of you who don't know what that a viola d’amore is, it’s an early Baroque string instrument. Herrmann wrote several solos for the film for this instrument with, orchestral accompaniment. We also recorded some small pieced from ‘The Man Who Knew Too Much’, such as the three, so called, ‘Arab Trios’ using only three players: a harpist, a violinist, and a clarinettist. The ‘Arab Trios’ are source music that was played in the background during the sequences in Marrakesh. These were the last pieces that were recorded.

 

It was great sitting with Anna, behind Bill; you could say it was like being at one of the best concerts ever! Yes, it was a recording session where you're not allowed to clap and you expect the orchestra to make mistakes and keep stopping and starting, but it was a wonderful experience. It's not every day that you hear these full scores performed from start to finish. For highlights of these recording sessions see the Kickstarter page. 

 

Acknowledgements:

Thank you to Bill Stromberg who was kind enough to obtain a pass for me. Thank you to Anna Stromberg, Paul Talkington, the Intrada team, and people at the studio for their kind hospitality. And a huge “well done” to the RSNO!!!

Review: New CD of Jerry Goldsmith’s Black Patch/The Man.

For many film score junkies, the name Jerry Goldsmith brings to mind a flood of memories and movie titles. He scored many great films such as “Patton”, “Star Trek: The Motion Picture”, “The Sand Pebbles”, “Chinatown” and “Total Recall” to name only a few. The vast majority of his work is available on CD and online. But earlier this month new recordings of two scores missing from his discography, were released by Intrada. His first theatrical film score for George Montgomery’s western, “Black Patch” (1957) and his 1972 score for Joseph Sargent’s political drama “The Man”. Both scores have been performed by The Royal Scottish National Orchestra under the baton of William Stromberg and have been painstakingly reconstructed by Goldsmith expert Leigh Phillips. The project itself was crowd funded through Kickstarter and I was one of hundreds who pledged their support.

(Original "Black Patch" poster.)

The first score on the CD is “Black Patch”. The film was made in 1957, directed by Allen H. Miner and was produced by its star, George Montgomery. Despite being Goldsmiths first theatrical film score, the music is pure Jerry Goldsmith!!! And it features earworms that you will never forget!!! The first cue is the pre-credit music. It starts with a western style fanfare played on horns before we have the whole orchestra playing in unison.

Later on in the score, the action cue that was composed for a fight sequence is reminiscent of Goldsmith’s later scores, Such as “Total Recall”. It is played at around 130 beats per minute and makes use of brass, percussion, Piano and pizzicato strings. This will be of interest to many people, like me, who are unfamiliar with Goldsmith’s early works.

Tracks 19 and 20 are two different versions of the end title cue that features a tragic sounding love theme. Track 19 is an alternate arrangement made by Leigh Phillips. Compared to the original (Track 20) it is longer and has an ending that is less abrupt. I think that Goldsmith abruptly ended the original, because he was writing the score in time to the picture and the film came to an abrupt end.

(James Earl Jones as President Douglass Dilman, in this publicity still for "The Man".)

The second score on the CD is “The Man”. The 1972 film made for ABC television, tells the fictional story of America’s first black president, Douglass Dilman, who is played by James Earl Jones. Although it is only a 15 minute score composed for a 90 minute film, it is still incredibly moving and powerful. It opens with a brassy, Copland-esque fanfare, which plays during the opening titles and throughout the score we hear variations on the six note motif that we heard during that title sequence.

The Lincoln Memorial and Oval Office cues are probably the most Copland-esque sounding pieces in the score. These are played when the newly sworn in President Dilman pays a visit to the Lincoln Memorial and then moves in to the Oval Office.

At the end of the film we hear a stirring rendition of “Hail to the Chief”, arranged by Goldsmith which runs into the closing credit music.

To conclude this review, the CD is a must listen!!! At the moment the album is not yet available to stream and I hope Intrada will make it available on streaming platforms in the future. As I think it is important that more people get to hear these rarities. I should also add that this album is my first Intrada album. Intrada is a brilliant organisation based in California, that specialises in movie soundtracks and many of their releases are limited editions that are sourced from original elements. I would like to pay tribute to Douglass Fake and Roger Feigelson, Who have toiled to make this album a reality. As well as William Stromberg for conducting, Leigh Phillips for reconstructing the scores and the musicians of The Royal Scottish National Orchestra for their top-notch playing. I would also like to pay tribute to Intrada’s shipping manager, Jeff Johnson, who has toiled to have the CDs sent to the many backers and film score junkies that are out there. And finally I simply cannot wait for Intrada’s next project and I shall start browsing their website for more film music rarities.

 

Buy the CD here: https://store.intrada.com/s.nl/it.A/id.12470/.f

Kickstarter project page: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/129145902/black-patch-the-man-jerry-goldsmith-new-recording/description

This episode of “The Goldsmith Odyssey” has more info about the project: https://goldsmithodyssey.buzzsprout.com/159614/9988703-production-report-black-patch-the-man-2021-intrada-recording