Roy Budd’s Phantom of the Opera!
Back in 2011 I wrote a lengthy examination and tally for Rue Morgue magazine of the various scores married to Universal’s classic 1925 version of The Phantom of the Opera, and the big question mark in my mind was ‘Whatever happened to Roy Budd’s legendary unreleased score?’
Budd never lived to see his music performed live with an audience, and it’s taken 20 years for the music to finally emerge on CD and DVD. I won’t go into fine details since my review of the DVD from Mishka Productions covers much of the ground, although one caveat: POTO has appeared in numerous home video releases, so consider the current review a work in progress; meaning, as I review specific releases, the review will likely grow as details and comparisons are added.
At present, though, I focus exclusively on the the Mishka release with its extas, and my review of CD will appear in an upcoming issue of Rue Morgue, which in turn will be expanded with more details on specific cues at KQEK.com.
However, as luck would have it, Sylvia Budd, the composer’s widow, was able to take time from her busy schedule and participate in a Q&A on her efforts to get Budd’s score released. I’ve published the piece at my Rue Morgue blog, and that’ll be followed soon with a similar-styled Q&A with Richard Moore at Mint Audio Restoration, the brilliant sound engineer who remastered the original tapes for CD + DVD release.
Cheers,
Mark R. Hasan, Editor
KQEK.com
Category: EDITOR'S BLOG
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