Press Release from Dragon's Domain:
Dragon’s Domain Records presents the original motion picture soundtrack to THE RAZOR’S EDGE, featuring music composed by Jack Nitzsche for the 1984 period drama directed by John Byrum, written by W. Somerset Maugham, Byrum and Bill Murray, starring Bill Murray, Theresa Russell, Catherine Hicks, James Keach, Brian Doyle-Murray, Peter Vaughan, Stephen Davies and Denholm Elliott.
Released in 1984, THE RAZOR’S EDGE was a remake of the 1946 classic directed by Edmund Goulding, starring Tyrone Power, Gene Tierney and John Payne. Both film versions were based on the 1944 novel by W. Somerset Maugham, which tells the story of Larry Darrell, an American soldier who is traumatized by his experiences in World War I and sets off in search of a transcendent meaning in his life. It is a journey that takes him from Chicago to France, inspiring him to visit India and on to Nepal, where Larry finds spiritual help from a lama. When he returns to Paris, Larry finds his old friends and discovers that everyone has changed in his absence. Considered a misfire in its day, the film features an early dramatic performance by Murray that anticipates the kind of work he would be respected for more in his later career.
The music for THE RAZOR’S EDGE was composed by Jack Nitzsche. Born Bernard Nitzsche on April 22nd, 1937 in Chicago, Illinois, Nitzsche was an American musician, arranger, songwriter, composer and record producer who came to prominence in the early 1960s as the right-hand-man of producer Phil Spector, and went on to work with the Rolling Stones, Neil Young, and others. Nitzsche began to concentrate more on film music rather than pop music in the mid-1970s, becoming one of the more prolific film orchestrators in Hollywood during the period. Nitzsche worked on film scores throughout his career, such as his contributions to the Monkees movie HEAD, the theme music from VILLAGE OF THE GIANTS and the soundtracks for PERFORMANCE, THE EXORCIST, ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST, HARDCORE, STARMAN and REVENGE.
Nitzsche’s score for THE RAZOR’S EDGE features the Glass Harmonica, one of the most unusual instruments to find its way into a motion picture soundtrack, an instrument which Nitzsche alone utilized in several of his most famous scores. Modern composers who have written for the Glass Harmonica include Richard Strauss and the American George Crumb (b. 1926).
Previously released by Southern Cross in the early days of the compact disc format, Dragon’s Domain Records is excited to bring THE RAZOR'S EDGE back to the marketplace, with music composed by Jack Nitzsche, performed by the London Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Stanley Black. The music has been remastered by James Nelson at Digital Outland, retaining the liner notes by John Steven Lasher.
