# Alex North Scores in Print?



## g.c. (Mar 11, 2014)

Has anyone found a resource for scores of the music of Alex North. These would probably be primarily film scorers, although he had several "serious" pieces performed and a few recorded.
And for those who have not heard his writing, ie, Cleopatra, Spartacus, Virginia Wolff, Zapata, Africa & on, please treat yourself.
g.c.


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## Peter Alexander (Mar 11, 2014)

Outside of John Williams and the very few from Omni Publishing, there are NO published film scores to buy.

There are a few suites by Aaron Copland (The Red Pony), William Walton (Richard III, Henry V), and Ralph Vaughan Williams (Sinfonia Antartica). Ravel's Bolero was used in the movie 10, Bizet's Carmen was used in Carmen Jones, Barber's Adagio For Strings was used in Platoon, Vaughan Williams Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis was used in Master and Commander.


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## G.E. (Mar 11, 2014)

Peter Alexander @ Wed Mar 12 said:


> Outside of John Williams and the very few from Omni Publishing, there are NO published film scores to buy.
> 
> There are a few suites by Aaron Copland (The Red Pony), William Walton (Richard III, Henry V), and Ralph Vaughan Williams (Sinfonia Antartica). Ravel's Bolero was used in the movie 10, Bizet's Carmen was used in Carmen Jones, Barber's Adagio For Strings was used in Platoon, Vaughan Williams Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis was used in Master and Commander.



I assume that you are talking only about scores which are identical copies of the original(straight from the source),because there are *a lot* of transcribed scores available also.They may not be 100% accurate but it's still better than nothing.

I don't know about Alex North though.


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## Peter Alexander (Mar 12, 2014)

I only deal in legally published scores. If someone transcribes a score, unless they license it for resale, they cannot sell it.


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## Peter Alexander (Mar 12, 2014)

FYI
http://www.ascap.com/playback/2012/12/w ... -2001.aspx


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## JT (Mar 12, 2014)

G.E. @ Wed Mar 12 said:


> They may not be 100% accurate but it's still better than nothing.


Maybe not. Other arrangements of film scores which you'll find, quite often are written for a different purpose. The grade level of a piece will dictate what compromises are made. The instrumentation on arrangements will adhere to common standard orchestras differing from the original. By studying these types of arrangements, you will gain knowledge on how to orchestrate for student or semi-professional groups, learning what works in these concert situations. Don't get me wrong, this is valuable, real world orchestration knowledge. But it is very different from what you can learn from the JW edition scores. 

It all depends on what your goals are. I also write for an educational publisher. And I have to keep many restrictions in mind when working on these pieces. It's completely different from using samples where anything goes. And it's completely different from a film score where you have infinite control over balance in a recording studio.


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## g.c. (Mar 12, 2014)

Hi guys, g.c. about the North works.
I know of the 2001 & its history. I was specifically looking for how Mr. North wrote-orchestrated Woodwinds, kind of an extension of Revueletas, thus the specific to him.
Mr. Alexander, do you have orchestral scores or transciptions, etc., revealing the string writing of some of the 20th century guys like Dutilliaeux, Xenakis, Penderecki. I was looking on your site but couldn't find these.

Thanks again guys! Have a great day!
g.c.


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## Peter Alexander (Mar 12, 2014)

g.c. @ Wed Mar 12 said:


> Hi guys, g.c. about the North works.
> I know of the 2001 & its history. I was specifically looking for how Mr. North wrote-orchestrated Woodwinds, kind of an extension of Revueletas, thus the specific to him.
> Mr. Alexander, do you have orchestral scores or transciptions, etc., revealing the string writing of some of the 20th century guys like Dutilliaeux, Xenakis, Penderecki. I was looking on your site but couldn't find these.
> 
> ...



Send a list to [email protected] along with your shipping address and we can do a special order. If you're outside the US shipping is high.

Please be aware that when you ask about transcriptions, for legally published works, this is mostly seen in guitar and jazz literature.


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## jaredcowing (Mar 13, 2014)

Hi gc, I'm not sure where you are based but if you are ever in the Los Angeles area, UCLA has an extensive archive of his manuscripts and other materials. http://www.oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/1 ... tire_text/
Down at the bottom of the page there's a "scope and content" note listing all the films for which they have scores. A very extensive list!!

I'm not sure about their policy, but perhaps if you ask very nicely they'll scan a couple pages for you. I know some archives will do this for students who are too far away to visit, depending on the terms & conditions of the collection in question.

I've been planning to schedule a viewing for myself at some point so if you have a couple specific passages from specific films in mind, I might be able to transcribe for you or snap a photo if they permit. I know this is forbidden for the JNH collection at USC but the agreement for Alex North's collection might be different, especially since the materials are much older.


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## g.c. (Mar 13, 2014)

Hi again Peter, and Jared, of course, I forgot all about University Archives. And you are right , on the OAS listing is a long list of scores of Mr. Norths. Thanks so much for the heads up, and thanks for the offer. I am back up in the Northwestern part of the Montana high country again, and the only University activity up here is for Griz and Bull Moose. So I'd have to fiqure how to limit the request to cues from which(?) films and then contact UCLA.
I include the next as an in case case----
If you are knowlegable of and a fan of Norths work, Jerry Goldsmith spent a chunk of the last years of his life gathering the complete scored material of several of Mr. Norths films and recording these works (in entirety) in Scotland and other locations.
Zapata, Virginia Wolff, Spartacus, I believe "Cheyenne Autumn, Bite the Bullet and others were amongst these. Also amongst these is a 2 cd set of the full Cleopatra score. The vinyl of the day represented what was left of a 4 hour film after being cut down to about 2 hours.
I found most of these scores on Amazon.

From a teaser from interview with Goldsmith I read when I became aware of these was that for Goldsmith (paraphrasing) it was an "act of love" for the work of Mr. North. Goldsmith , it was reported financed and conducted these sessions. Don't hold me to that though.

And in the archives--- 
Wherever the Goldsmith scores are held---
There was a bootleg version of his score to "Alien" circulating through a limited few influential composers at the time the film was released. That has to be out there somewhere still, though there may be an ethical problem with that particular product.

Anyway, thanks for the info and the reminder(s)
Have great days!
g.c.


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## Nick Batzdorf (Mar 13, 2014)

> UCLA has an extensive archive of his manuscripts and other materials



Yeah, I was going to say - I went to a concert at UCLA a few years ago where they played Spartacus. It might have been a suite, but it wasn't transcribed, it was from the score. Thomas Newman conducted.

Actually, that was *quite* a few years ago - like...wow, it would have been about 24.


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## Peter Alexander (Jun 28, 2014)

Alex North scores will be in print shortly.
http://soniccontrol.tv/2014/06/27/alex-north-2001-a-space-odyssey-film-score-to-be-published/ (http://soniccontrol.tv/2014/06/27/alex- ... published/)


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## Peter Alexander (Jul 4, 2014)

Restoring Alex - from my blog for those interested on what it takes to reconstruct a film score. This is the first entry.

http://www.professionalorchestration.co ... orum-post/


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## Peter Alexander (Oct 15, 2014)

Now available:
http://www.alexanderpublishing.com/Products/Alex-North---2001-Bones-Main-Title-Full-Orchestral-Score__ANFS-01FS-PDF.aspx (http://www.alexanderpublishing.com/Prod ... S-PDF.aspx)

The first is called Bones, now shipping. This will be followed by 2 more scores within 2014. At least that's the plan for now.


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## Tor Henderson (Oct 25, 2014)

Question for Pete: is 2001 the only North score that's going to be released due to it being rejected, or are there more? Just saying, because I'd love to finally study Dragonslayer or Spartacus!

Btw, thanks so much for you and Abby North for getting this published. Hoping this is a watershed for film scores being commercially available to the public.


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## Peter Alexander (Oct 28, 2014)

Thanks, Tor! 

What's next is: 

The Alex North Film Scoring Series Video Lecture #1 on Bones w/3 bonus condensed scores

The cue called The Bluff

The Alex North Film Scoring Series Video Lecture #2: Bones and Harmony

I can't speak to specific titles beyond 2001 right now, but several of the cues from 2001 were retasked for Dragonslayer.

Thank you for asking!

PA


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