Rare find! Exciting, flavorful score by Maurice Jarre in epic-style for 1992 Rou Tomono film gets premiere release on CD! Japan soldier (Masaya Kato) helps finance military invasion of Manchuria, then becomes caught up in both romance with Chinese rebel leader (Diane Lane), conflict with Chinese mafia leader (Yuen Biao). Jarre writes to all three elements with powerful symphonic score that features large orchestra, multiple harps, pianos, synthesizer, shakuhachi, Chinese sheng, pipa, erhu, Chinese lute, 13-string koto, 3-string samisen, EVI & EWI (Electronic Valve & Wind Instruments) plus mammoth orchestral percussion section including full tympani, 2 large bass drums, 2 taiko drums, odaiko drum and huge da-daiko drum. Jarre frames with rousing "Main Title", equally exciting "End Credits", then embarks on dynamic journey with motifs both epic, haunting. Rhythmic action music also has plenty to say. Truly powerful Maurice Jarre score! Entire CD presented from pristine-condition, two-track digital stereo session mixes recorded by Shawn Murphy at UCLA's Royce Hall in late June & July 1991 and mixed at Sony Pictures Studios. Long-time Jarre orchestrator Patrick Russ assists with production, Jim Lochner offers informative liner notes, Joe Sikoryak designs dramatic packaging. Maurice Jarre conducts. Intrada Special Collection CD available while quantities and interest remain!
The Extras
08. Puyi (0:29)
09 Yamashita (0:33)
10. Main Title (Original) (2:36)
Total Extras Time: 3:42
Tech Talk From The Producer…
Maurice Jarre scored The Setting Sun as an epic musical tapestry depicting events leading into WWII and Japan’s pending invasion of Manchuria. He wrote a large-scale, lavishly percussive and orchestrally florid work, weaving several themes, both grand and tender, into the fabric.
Jarre often assembled his albums not as mere souvenirs of the films they accompanied but as wholly constructed pieces of music worthy of the concert hall. Keys for various themes were often complementary, motifs that recurred throughout the score were given similar orchestral colors and other compositional devices were employed that facilitated numerous short cues being assembled into larger, cohesive sequences. With scores as diverse as Lion of the Desert (1981), Shadow of the Wolf (1993), Sunshine (1999), The Year of Living Dangerously (1983) and Tai-Pan (1986), Jarre fashioned his many cues into sensational listening experiences where the music no longer had to mimic the editing and pacing of the picture but instead could live and breathe as an entirely different (and independent) entity. The various cues were still there but they now formed stand-alone works of their own.
As the cues for The Setting Sun appeared to have been scored with the above-described musical continuity in mind, we elected to honor the composer’s album construction preferences by fashioning the shorter cues into lengthy, cohesive set-pieces that followed the overall picture narrative while playing as musically complete “movements” unto themselves. While not all film soundtracks can enjoy this much more satisfying musical approach, it is cause for joy when one can.
The Setting Sun was recorded at Royce Hall on the University of Southern California campus and subsequently mixed by Shawn Murphy at Sony Pictures Studios. The digital masters survived in pristine condition and Intrada wishes to thank orchestrator Patrick Russ for his assistance in helping us preserve and present this musical treasure.
—Douglass Fake
The Setting Sun composed and conducted by Maurice Jarre. Recorded on June 24, 25, 26, 27, 28 and July 27, 1991, at Royce Hall, UCLA, Los Angeles, California.
VIOLIN Israel Baker - Concertmaster Sid Page - 2nd Margaret Batjer
Dixie Blackstone
Robert Brosseau
Betty Byers
Russ Cantor
Lily Ho Chen
Shoshana Claman
Ron Clark
Harry Cykman
Bruce Dukov
Charles Everett
Henry Ferber
Kirsten Fife
Armen Garabedian
Berj Garabedian
James Getzoff
Harris Goldman
Joe Goodman
Endre Granat
Diana Halprin
Nathan Kaproff
Razdan Kuyumjian
Joy Lyle
Ralph Morrison III
Maria Newman
Don Palmer
Robert Peterson
Stanley Plummer
Jay Rosen
Kwihee Shamban
Sid Sharp
Haim Shtrum
Yun Tang
Mari Tsumura-Botnick
Elizabeth Waldo
Tibor Zelig
Adrianna Zoppo
VIOLA Pamela Goldsmith - 1st Don McInnes - 1st Marilyn Baker
Denyse Buffum
Kenneth Burward-Hoy
Carole Castillo
Rick Gerding
Scott Haupert
Carrie Holzman-Little
Roland Kato
Linda Lipsett
Margot MacLaine
Jorge Moraga
Cynthia Morrow
Carole Mukogawa
Kazi Pitelka
Jody Rubin
Harry Shirinian
Linn Subotnick
Evan Wilson
Herschel Wise
Mihail Zinovyev
CELLO Dennis Karmazyn - 1st Robert Adcock
Anthony Cooke
Doug Davis
Waldemar De Almeida
Chris Ermacoff
Gregg Gottlieb
Todd Hemmenway
Barbara Hunter
Anne Goodman Karam
Armen Ksajikian
Dane Little
Nils Oliver
Daniel Rothmuller
David Shamban
Dan Smith
Tina Soule
Sebastian Toettcher
BASS Buell Neidlinger - 1st Ann Atkinson
Drew Dembowski
Chris Kollgaard
Norman Ludwin
Ed Meares
Bruce Morgenthaler
Sue Ranney
Margaret Storer
Dennis Trembly
Frances Liu Wu
FLUTE Sheridon Stokes - 1st Diane Alancraig
Paul Fried
Susan Greenberg
OBOE Tom Boyd - 1st Gene Cipriano
Jon Clarke
Valerie DiCarlo
CLARINET James Kanter - 1st Emily Bernstein - 1st Gary Bovyer
Jeff Elmassian
Debra Kanter
BASSOON Michael O'Donovan - 1st David Breidenthal
Charles Coker
Rose Corrigan
Ron Jannelli
Charles Koster
David Riddles
FRENCH HORN James Thatcher - 1st David Duke
Marilyn Johnson
William Lane
Joseph Meyer
TRUMPET Warren Luening - 1st Malcolm McNab - 1st Duane Floch
Mario Guarneri
Walter Johnson
TROMBONES Lloyd Ulyate - 1st Ken Kugler
George Thatcher
BASS TROMBONE Don Waldrop
DRUMS/PERCUSSION Emil Radocchia - 1st Larry Bunker
Raynor Carroll
Michael Fisher
Dan Greco
Joe Porcaro
Robert Zimmitti
HARP Gayle Levant - 1st Lou Anne Neill
Ann Stockton
KEYBOARD, ELECTRONICS Ralph Grierson
Judd Miller
Pat Russ
Nyle Steiner
Ian Underwood
PIANO Gloria Cheng
Gwendolyn Mok
Zita Carno
SHAKUHACHI Kazu Matsui
CHINESE FLUTE Jimmy Zhi-Ming Han
ERHU Guang-Ming Li
CHINESE LUTE Xiao Wu
KOTO, SAMISEN Kazue Kudo
Hiromi Funahashe
ORCHESTRATOR Pat Russ
SUPERVISING COPYIST Robert Bornstein
COPYISTS Phil Azelton
Douglas Dana
Julia Eidsvoog
Jeffrey H. Jones
Margaret Maryatt
Roberta L. McIntosh
Victor Sagerquist