3-CD set includes original classic 1963 re-recorded album plus original soundtrack in one generous package!
Price: $19.99 (Temporarily out of stock)
Sorry but we do not know when this title will be back in stock. It's one of several titles waiting to be re-pressed as time permits.
Add to cart
More Info
Track List
Doug's Tech Talk
Musicians List
Reviews
Together in one package at nice price! 3-CD set includes classic original 1963 United Artists re-recorded album prepared by Elmer Bernstein when film was new, plus two-disc presentation of actual soundtrack. John Sturges directs legendary WWII POW classic with Steve McQueen leading cast, solidifying status as iconic loner character on screen. James Garner, Richard Attenborough, Charles Bronson, James Coburn amongst fellow POWs. Motorcycle sequence with McQueen outriding pursuers is an action cinema landmark - Bernstein's music throughout sequence is unparalled display of rhythmic orchestral energy! Intrada presents soundtrack from same 1/4" two-track stereo session elements as earlier Varese Sarabande limited release but newly re-masters them to remove annoying tape print-through that plagued loud sections of earlier version. 1963 UA album mastered from original 1/2" three-channel stereo masters. Informative notes from Nick Redman illuminate impact of McQueen on film & audience plus offer details about real escape incident film is based on. A genuine film and score classic back in print for new generations. Elmer Bernstein conducts both recordings.
Original Motion Picture Soundtrack Disc 1 01. Main Title (2:30) 02. At First Glance (3:07) 03. Premature Plans (2:28) 04. If At Once (2:31) 05. Forked (1:28) 06. Cooler (1:58) 07. Mole (1:28) 08. "X"/Tonight We Dig (1:30) 09. The Scrounger/Blythe (3:50) 10. Water Faucet (1:23) 11. Interruptus (1:33) 12. The Plan/The Sad Ives (1:43) 13. Green Thumbs (2:28) 14. Hilts And Ives (0:38) 15. Cave In (2:01) 16. Restless Men (1:56) 17. Booze (1:47) 18. "Yankee Doodle" (0:55) 19. Discovery (3:40)
Disc 1 Time: 39:24
Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (Continued) Disc 2 01. Various Troubles (3:52) 02. Panic (2:05) 03. Pin Trick (0:59) 04. Hendley's Risk (1:43) 05. Released Again/Escape Time (5:25) 06. 20 Feet Short (3:06) 07. Foul Up (2:37) 08. At The Station (1:33) 09. On The Road (3:27) 10. The Chase/First Casualty (6:49) 11. Flight Plan (2:09) 12. More Action/Hilts Captured (6:07) 13. Road's End (2:06) 14. Betrayal (2:20) 15. Three Gone/Home Again (3:13) 16. Finale/The Cast (2:47)
Disc 2 Time: 50:56
Original 1963 United Artists Score Album Disc 3 01. Main Title (2:07) 02. Premature Plans (2:08) 03. Cooler And Mole (2:26) 04. Blythe (2:13) 05. Discovery (2:54) 06. Various Troubles (2:40) 07. On The Road (2:54) 08. Betrayal (2:05) 09. Hendley's Risk (2:24) 10. Road's End (2:00) 11. More Action (1:57) 12. The Chase (2:48) 13. Finale (3:14)
Disc 3 Time: 32:34
Tech Talk From The Producer…
Although this legendary film score has been
available in some form from its LP origin in 1963 right on through the present day, this
is the first presentation of both the original re-recorded album released by the United
Artists label when the film opened and the actual soundtrack recorded for the picture in
a single package. Both versions are valuable listening experiences and certainly compliment
each other.
The original 1963 LP was for more than forty years the lone presentation of the
score. Some 33 minutes of highlights were included that touched on almost every major
set-piece in the movie, if just briefly in many cases.
In fact, its first release on CD was through Intrada
during the early days of the CD format. The more
recent discovery of tapes for the complete score
as recorded for the soundtrack resulted in a handsome
2-CD package from the Varese Sarabande
label. Now Intrada presents everything under one
roof, so to speak, in a specially-priced 3-CD set
for those who may have missed out on one or both
of the earlier releases.
The first two CDs offer the actual soundtrack
in stereo, mastered from the same ¼” 7 ½ ips
two-track tape sources used for the Varese
Sarabande release – but restored and re-mastered to address the annoying tape printthrough
that plagued certain tracks of that release, such as the accented fortissimo hits
in brass during the opening bars of the “Main Title” and other similar loud passages that
are followed immediately by quiet ones. While the reasonably dynamic audio quality
remains similar, the print-through is now happily absent. The stereo mix, made back
in 1963, remains vivid but listeners should note the perceived heavier weight of the
17
right channel is due the extreme positioning
of all the brass plus the low strings (cellos
and basses) on the right. Those instruments
play with vitality and are very active throughout
the score. The left channel is restricted
to violins, violas and some woodwinds (which
also appear in the center with percussion),
all which are much less active than the brass
and lower strings. In other words, the stereo
mix is accurate and genuine but will often feel
weighted to the right due to the composition
of the music and the original engineering of
the instrumental familes.
A final word about this 2-CD soundtrack presentation: the second half of the film
has more music than the first half. The previous release chose to make each CD roughly
equal in length but we have elected to retain the integrity of the musical balance of
the film thus dedicating one CD to each act of the film. This allows the first CD to end
with the music naturally as it does in the first act of the film, but does result in the first
CD being shorter in length than the second. As such the second CD contains most of
the action music of the film, just as the second half of the film did.
The LP re-recording from 1963 is presented here as CD 3, mastered from the ½”
15 ips three-track stereo album masters vaulted courtesy of MGM. These were preserved
in mint condition and remain amongst the most dynamic and well-engineered
album masters of the era.
So now sit back, stretch your legs within the confines of your own audio compound,
and enjoy a double dose of one of the all-time great film score classics with Elmer Bernstein
as your commanding officer.
—Douglass Fake
Composed and Conducted by Elmer Bernstein.
Recorded on January 14, 15, 28, 29 and February 11, 1963, at Samuel Goldwyn Studios, Culver City, California.
VIOLIN Anatol Kaminsky
Erno Neufeld
Eudice Shapiro
Byron Williams
Thelma Beach
David Frisina
Felix Slatkin
Nathan Kaproff
Alex Murray
Marvin Limonick
George Kast
Sam Freed
Herman Clebanoff
Benny Gill
Irma Neumann
Joseph Stepansky
Saundra Berkova
Ralph Schaeffer
Bernard Gerrard
Ambrose Russo
Mort Herbert
Manuel Compinsky
Leon Trebacz
Joachim Chassman
VIOLA Virginia Majewski
Alvin Dinkin
Robert Ostrowski
Joseph Reilich
Louis Kievman
Joseph DiFiore
Dorothy Colton
G. R. Menhennick
CELLO Armand Kaproff
Edgar Lustgarten
Raphael Kramer
Eleanor Slatkin
Justin DiTullio
Emmet Sargeant
Anne Goodman
Kurt Reher
BASS Abe Luboff
Peter Mercurio
Harold Brown
Milton Kestenbaum
Meyer Rubin
Ray Siegel
FLUTE Martin Ruderman
Sylvia Ruderman
June Russo
Arthur Smith
CLARINET Mitchell Lurie
John Neufeld
Dominick Fera
OBOE Arnold Koblentz
William Criss
BASSOON Jack Marsh
Norman Herzberg
FRENCH HORN Vincent DeRosa
Richard Perissi
John Cave
Gale Robinson
Herman Lebow
TRUMPET Uan Rasey
Emanuel Klein
Maurice Harris
TROMBONE Lloyd Ulyate
Richard Noel
Seymour Zeldin
TUBA Sam Rice
PIANO/
KEYBOARDS Raymond Turner
Pearl Kaufman
HARP Dorothy Remsen
DRUMS/
PERCUSSION Louis Singer
Lee Perrin
Hubert Anderson
Shelly Manne
Milton Holland
ARRANGER/
ORCHESTRATOR Leo Shuken
Jack Hayes
COPYIST Lloyd Basham
W. D. Garlock
Jack McTaggart
Paul Sprosty
Percival Goldenson
Wally Heglin
Paul Van Loan
Arthur Grier
Dominic Fidelibus
Wolfgang Fraenkel
Howard Drew
Charles Adams
Michael Andersen
Larry Cramer
Roman Maciejewski