The River Wild

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Wow! Both Jerry Goldsmith's complete powerhouse score and Maurice Jarre's dynamic unused score together in exciting 2-CD set! Under director Curtis Hanson, Meryl Streep becomes sensational action heroine with husband David Strathairn, son Joseph Mazzello battling killers Kevin Bacon, John C. Reilly plus whitewater rapids, violent waterfalls shot on spectacular locations of Montana, southern Oregon. Incredible opportunity for listeners to hear two Academy Award-winning, top-drawer composers at peak of their craft, both commanding large orchestras - with two dramatically contrasting approaches to thrilling tale! Jarre approaches with epic, majestic David Lean-style main theme, numerous dramatic variants, culminating in powerful action finale with spectacular array of percussion in the spotlight. Jarre then allows room for traditional 'The Water Is Wide' before wrapping with rich statement of his own main theme plus fortissimo coda. 50-minute score is presented plus more than 20-minutes of additional cues and alternates. After producers deleted entire effort by Jarre, Goldsmith enters project with his own dynamic score. His thematic approach relies on traditional melody, given emotional resonance courtesy soaring solo trumpet quotes over expressive string harmonies. Once established, theme gives way to one of Goldsmith's best nineties devices: not just one but two important thematic ideas take over, competing for control through remainder of score. First is surging minor-key 'water' theme with imposing chords for dangerous currents. Second is five-note motif that becomes all-important Rambo-style action theme, usually connected with Strathairn as mild-mannered businessman who springs into action during second part of film. How this tiny idea grows in importance, now as solitary melodic percussion figure, now as soaring French horn melody, now as solo clarinet line, now as rhythmic ostinato against soaring minor-key 'water' theme becomes just one compelling aspect of knockout score! Also commanding attention is 10-minute action cue 'Vacation's Over', amongst composer's all-time greatest. Original RCA release offered just 30 minutes of score. New Intrada release not only premieres entire Jarre score but also doubles the amount of Goldsmith music with a half hour of previously unreleased score plus another 16-minutes of unused alternates. Jarre score recorded by Shawn Murphy at Sony Pictures Scoring, Goldsmith score recorded by Bruce Botnick at Todd-AO Scoring Stage. Entire 2-CD set presented from complete digital scoring session masters preserved by Universal in pristine condition and released courtesy Universal, RCA and Sony. Maurice Jarre, Jerry Goldsmith conduct.
Tech Talk From The Co-Producer…

Music—and the decision as to just what music would be heard—was a challenging issue for the makers of The River Wild. Not only did Maurice Jarre record a lengthy, large-scale symphonic score in June 1994, he also recorded numerous revisions of many of the cues. It was all for naught, however, as everything Jarre composed and recorded was dropped during postproduction. Jerry Goldsmith composed and recorded a new score during the following August, but even this entirely new musical facelift came with a degree of indecision. Ultimately Goldsmith also had to revise many of his cues, especially in the latter sequences.

Happily for music lovers, every single cue recorded for both scores has survived intact, including the voluminous amount of rewrites and revisions, and everything can be heard in this special 2-CD set.

While both scores utilize large orchestras, there are interesting differences in the overall approach to each. Jarre created a primary theme for full orchestra that speaks to the majesty of nature itself. It is epic in nature, powerful and dynamic in its execution. On the other side, his action material speaks to the conflict between that natural power and Gail’s determination to conquer it. Goldsmith opted for a much gentler main theme that speaks to the serenity Gail finds in nature and her enjoyment in navigating its waters. This transparent theme is typically heard on solo flute or trumpet and is based on the folksong, “The Water Is Wide.” Where Jarre avoids using that familiar tune until the end of his score, Goldsmith anchors his entire score with it. Where Jarre works variants of his original main theme to focus on the action and hits hard with dissonant brass figures, Goldsmith moves away from the traditional melody he started with and instead creates an entirely new secondary theme for the river rafting sequences, an imposing minor-key idea that assumes prominence as the action unfolds. For the action sequences, Goldsmith opts for rhythmic intensity over dissonance. As Tom’s character gains prominence footing it through rugged terrain, Jarre underscores the father’s new-found survival skills with dissonant, suspenseful string textures while Goldsmith instead strips things down to a vigorous pseudo-Rambo-like timbre that propels the heroics. Finally, where Goldsmith returns to the traditional melody when the action concludes, winding down in the gentle manner with which he began, Jarre puts his solitary quote of the traditional melody on brief display, returning to his original theme to cadence not quietly but with a powerful fortissimo coda. Interestingly, for the lengthy action set-piece where Gail successfully negotiates the deadly gauntlet as well as the equally lethal villains, both composers feature a plethora of energetic, jagged brass rhythms over massive blocks of percussion.

The large number of rewrites made by both composers is also worth spotlighting. In the case of Jarre, there were numerous short pieces, with a substantial number of reel and part numbers involved, suggesting music would at least be available to play briefly at some point under nearly every scene. Many of these cues were revised, including in some instances significant changes to their timings, further suggesting some discussion as to how long they would be playing under their respective scenes. For the final reunion sequence, Jarre recorded four(!) finales with slightly different passages toward the end of each, including one version that was slated as the “Version for Album” and another that ran but a mere ten seconds.

Goldsmith’s changes, though sometimes subtle, are still striking. “The Gun,” for instance, initially featured accented pizzicato strings but was revised and recorded anew in a version that instead put the accents into the hands of the xylophonist. It was that unique wooden color that ended up in the film version. For the “Ballast” sequence, Goldsmith scored three different versions, each with different orchestral hits and percussion figures, finally settling on the middle version. Another sequence getting multiple versions was the climactic fight, “One Left,” in which he first scored a version with explosive percussion at the beginning, then a subtler version that slowly evolved into the final forte climax, and finally a third version that simply began with electronic textures. Again, it was the middle version that wound up in the finished film. Still another interesting change came with “Now What?” in which Goldsmith initially scored the percussive opening with an aggressive cello-and-bass figure, then went back and rescored the percussion opening, silencing his dramatic strings entirely. Like Jarre, Goldsmith also made changes to the final reunion sequence, titled “Great Timing” on his manuscript. For the original version, he returned midway into the cue with his imposing secondary theme, adding weight to it with low percussion hits from bass drum and timpani. However, he later rescored that portion of the cue, favoring a rhythmic synthesizer beat that appears frequently throughout the score, and it was this revised take that went into the picture.

However, in one area where everyone appeared to be on the same page, the traditional song, arranged by Michael Timmins and performed by the Cowboy Junkies, was recorded and used as intended during the first part of the end titles. To precede it, both composers skillfully closed the final reunion scene with their own music smoothly segueing into the song. As the vocal concludes, both composers again smoothly flow out of the song and guide their own orchestral music across the finish line.

For this world premiere presentation of the Maurice Jarre score and the premiere release of Jerry Goldsmith’s complete work, we were given access to all of both composers’ full scoring session masters, all preserved in pristine condition in the Universal vaults. These included transfers of the actual 48-track digital elements as well as a variety of digital mixes and formats containing the rescoring sessions, the vocal recordings of the traditional song made by the Cowboy Junkies (both a final version and a “mandolin mix” version) as well as the electric violin version played by Paul Cantelon, arranged and adapted by Goldsmith and used as source music in the middle of the picture. All of the percussion sweeteners and electronic keyboard overlays appeared intact on the masters as well.

Since the engineering slates and session paperwork also survived, we were able to assemble the Jarre score as closely as was practical to what he apparently intended, albeit which versions of his various rewrites would have been used in the finished picture will remain forever a mystery. With all versions of his cues included in this 2-CD set, you, dear listeners, can make the call for yourselves. Following the musical presentation of the score proper, the numerous revisions Jarre recorded appear in the “extras” section. Because Jarre recorded so many short cues often lasting only a few seconds, those have been grouped with the extras as well in order to retain some musical flow with longer sequences, just as the composer typically preferred with his albums.

Regarding the Goldsmith score, the film versions appear during the main complete score program and the various alternates follow as extras. While we follow the chronology of the picture, one tiny exception to the rule warrants illumination: in one solitary sequence we were compelled to duplicate a marriage of cues that otherwise play out of sequence, just as the composer married them into “Vision Quest” on the original 1994 RCA album. While we kept the film order for the first of the three parts (“Let’s Go Boys”), the other two parts (“Graffiti” and “Vision Quest”) are literally blood relatives in key, thematic structure and orchestration and are wisely joined together forever.

While it may not be possible for you to listen to this music while canoeing through fierce rapids in the manner that Gail and company did during The River Wild, you can certainly approximate the exhilarating experience in aural fashion with these two dynamic scores from the film in dry comfort courtesy your own playback devices. Just the same, keep your eyes peeled and your heads up! There’s rough water ahead!

—Douglass Fake

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Autres sorties de musique de The River Wild (1994):