A Far Off Place Expanded & Queenie

New Intrada releases

Intrada has announced their two last scores for 2014. First up is an expanded release of James Horner's A Far Off Place and second is George Delerue's score to Queenie.

Combining epic adventure, intimate character drama, fierce action and a good-sized dose of exotic color, the 1993 Disney film A Far Off Place provided Horner with a broad canvas, inspired by the novels of Sir Laurens van der Post. Many of the elements that feature prominently in Horner’s score are present from the film’s opening minutes. The first music to appear is an idyllic passage highlighting flute and gentle percussion, used to underscore establishing shots of an elephant herd at a watering hole. Horner returns to this tone later in the film, using it to emphasize the underlying harmony of life on the savanna—even in seemingly inhospitable locations. Here, however, Horner’s expression of peace is violently interrupted by his jarring music for the poachers. Horner paints the band of killers with rampaging percussion, low brass and piano, both here and during the later scenes of slaughter at the lodge. These initial minutes serve as a prelude to the entrance of Horner’s sweeping, majestic main theme for the film. Strings and flute are the instruments most prominently associated with this theme, while also featuring statements for winds and brass. Shakuhachi also makes its first appearance here, punctuating the music with intense, breathy flourishes. It almost serves as an overture for the score and story to come.

The scoring sessions for A Far Off Place were originally recorded on 2” 24-track tape over five days during January 1993 (with additional sessions in February for keyboards and percussion), then mixed down onto ¼” Dolby SR-format two-track tape by engineer Shawn Murphy at Todd-AO. They were vaulted on DAT, and our expanded CD was mastered directly from those DAT masters. This new presentation has been remastered and lavishly expanded with more than half an hour of additional material not featured on the 1993 release.

The film tells the story of Nonnie Parker (Reese Witherspoon), the teenage daughter of local gamekeepers, and her relationship with a tourist boy named Harry Winslow (Ethan Randall, now going by Ethan Embry). When Nonnie’s parents and Harry’s father are murdered by a band of poachers working for corrupt ivory smuggler John Ricketts (Jack Thompson), the children decide to flee across the arid wastes of the Kalahari rather than risk certain capture by trying to reach a nearby village. They are guided on their journey by Xhabbo (Sarel Bok), a mystical youth who communes with nature and whose visions seem to portend the future. It is Xhabbo’s timely intervention that spares Nonnie and Harry from the poachers’ slaughter, and his wisdom that allows them to navigate the desert as they strive to reach Nonnie’s uncle, the poacher-hunting Col. Mopani Theron (Maximilian Schell), before Ricketts and his thugs ride them down.

This new release has 35 minutes of previously unreleased music with a total playtime of 75 minutes.

Track list

01. Main Title (5:17)
02. Nonnie’s Rescue (0:38)
03. Cat Food Pâté (0:59)
04. Night Departure (2:47)
05. Entering The Cave (2:31)
06. The Slaughter (3:02)
07. Nonnie Finds The Parents (1:01)
08. Revenge (1:36)
09. Nonnie Escapes* (3:18)
10. Impossible Plan (1:18)
11. First Night Out* (0:52)
12. The Elephants (5:04)
13. The Baobob Tree (1:15)
14. Attacked From The Air (3:43)
15. Plane Aftermath (0:56)
16. Inner Feelings (1:38)
17. Digging For Water (2:49)
18. Xhabbo The Poet (2:02)
19. Gemsbok Hunt (1:21)
20. Gemsbok Gift (2:12)
21. The Most Beautiful Gemsbok (1:25)
22. Memories (1:41)
23. The Swamp (3:46)
24. Scorpion (5:17)
25. Sandstorm! (6:49)
26. Reunion With Mopani (1:56)
27. Ricketts’ Death In The Mine (2:47)
28. Epilogue/End Credits (5:32)
*Not Featured in Film

Airing on ABC over two nights in May of 1987, Queenie was based on Michael Korda’s fictionalized account of actress Merle Oberon, second wife of his uncle, Sir Alexander Korda. Oberon, often celebrated for her “exotic beauty,” claimed to the end of her life that she was an Englishwoman born and raised in Tasmania. She was, in fact, born in Bombay, and her mother was Ceylonese, and Queenie was terrified that knowledge of her mixed-race heritage might destroy her career. The miniseries of Queenie throws in plenty of drama along the way: poverty, prejudice, rape, an unjust accusation of murder—all before Queenie Kelley (Mia Sara) flees her native India for England, where, after further travails, she approaches film stardom.

One of the more striking elements of Queenie is its score by Georges Delerue. His musical signatures—the boundless energy, that razor-sharp psychological acuity, and an unsurpassed romantic lyricism, as described by Julie Kirgo in her liner notes— are on lavish display in his score for Queenie, which is instantly recognizable as classic Delerue. The film’s setting in India allowed him to introduce some rich new colorings to his music, particularly in the string and percussion departments. Sitars and tablas—or sound-alikes—are significant components of this score, along with bowed string instruments and struck bass.

The score is presented here from the original session masters stored at 20th Century Fox in pristine condition, primarily in stereo with a few tracks taken from the 3-track split mono elements mixed by Mike Matessino so that they blend seamlessly into the stereo program. The album also includes an alternate main title that serves as an overture to the album.

The total playtime of this release is 78 minutes long.

Track list

01. Main Title (Alternate) (1:53)
02. Main Title (1:52)
03. Opening (1:45)
04. Part Black (1:08)
05. Dressing Indian (1:42)
06. Movie Source (1:37)
07. Escape From Teacher (0:52)
08. Into Temple (2:42)
09. Riot (3:07)
10. Five Years Later (1:13)
11. Queenie To Burton’s (1:40)
12. Burton And Queenie (3:28)
13. Prunella Finds Burton (1:00)
14. You’re Going Home (1:25)
15. London Bridge (1:51)
16. Looking For Work (2:02)
17. Queenie’s Act No. 1 (2:53)
18. Part One End Credits (1:33)
19. To The Truth (0:52)
20. Walk In The Rain (2:00)
21. Transition (1:51)
22. Rape (3:24)
23. Love Montage (1:54)
24. Driving To David’s (0:57)
25. Screen Test (0:35)
26. I Need You (0:39)
27. Arrival In India (4:17)
28. Following Vicky (0:46)
29. Reunited With Vicky (2:44)
30. She Shouldn’t Be Here (1:04)
31. Prunella Finds Queenie (1:06)
32. I’ll Miss You (1:05)
33. Letter From Lucien (1:05)
34. Queenie And Vicky (1:28)
35. Queenie By Window (0:53)
36. David III In Bed (1:47)
37. She’s My Wife (3:13)
38. Old Letters (4:47)
39. Flashback Montage (1:09)
40. Finale (2:55)
41. Part 2 End Credits (1:04)
42. Queenie’s Act No. 2 (2:54)