Press Release from Dragon's Domain:
Dragon’s Domain Records presents THE MANIONS OF AMERICA, featuring music composed by Morton Stevens for the 1981 TV miniseries directed by Charles S. Dubin and Joseph Sargent, written by Agnes Nixon (ALL MY CHILDREN, ONE LIFE TO LIVE) and Rosemary Anne Sisson (UPSTAIRS, DOWNSTAIRS), starring Pierce Brosnan, Kathleen Beller, Kate Mulgrew, David Soul, Steve Forrest, Peter Gilmore, Nicholas Hammond, Simon MacCorkindale, Linda Purl, Simon Rouse, Barbara Parkins and Anthony Quayle.
THE MANIONS OF AMERICA was a 6-hour epic miniseries that debuted on ABC television in 1981, telling the stories of mid-19th-Century Irish immigrants seeking fame and fortune in America. Proud Irish farmer Rory O’Manion (Brosnan, his first role in an American production), tired of English repression and the famine in 1845 emigrates to the United States, eventually landing in Philadelphia and starting life anew as a businessman. He works hard and eventually reunites with Rachel Clement (Mulgrew), a haughty firebrand Englishwoman in her own right whom he once loved, but comfort collapses when the American Civil War breaks out.
Morton Stevens composed a splendid score for THE MANIONS OF AMERICA, well-fitting the period and providing the show with a compelling main theme. Richly evocative of Irish and early Americana flavors, the music evokes both period and the elegant poignancy of drama, romance, and character. The score offers immersive themes of engaging complexity, full of ingenious orchestrations, maintaining and varying his themes effectively across the film’s rich and lengthy visual tapestry.
Born In Newark, New Jersey in 1929, Morton Stevens studied composition at the Juilliard School and became the arranger and later, the musical director, for Sammy Davis, Jr., Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Liza Minnelli. He also served as music director for CBS and was a prolific composer and arranger for television for over 30 years. Best known for the famous theme music for HAWAII FIVE-0, for which he won two Emmys, Stevens contributed music to many television shows, including GUNSMOKE, POLICE WOMAN, THRILLER, WAGON TRAIN, THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E., CIMARRON STRIP, THE WILD WILD WEST and TINY TOON ADVENTURES. Stevens also served on the board of directors for the Academy Of Television Arts And Sciences. Surprisingly, he only scored a few feature films including ACT OF PIRACY, THEY STILL CALL ME BRUCE, CRACKING UP and THE RAIDERS. Stevens scored 101 TV movies and nine motion pictures in a three-decade career that began in the early 1960s and ran until 1990. A former student of Jerry Goldsmith, he co-scored the 1981 miniseries MASADA and Arthur Hayley’s WHEELS in 1978, for which he both received Emmy nominations.
Dragon’s Domain Records presents the premiere soundtrack release of THE MANIONS OF AMERICA, featuring music composed by Morton Stevens. The liner notes are written by noted author Randall Larson. The music has been mastered by James Nelson at Digital Outland. The music is presented on two CDs.
