On the downbeat, the lower strings set up a sinister tempo and the orchestra quickly swoops in with a frenzied theme that is adventurous and exciting. There is a large screen at the back of the studio, but for this particular cue there will be no picture, since the track is recorded “wild.” Jarre and the orchestra are now ready for the first rehearsal. There is much noise from below as they tune up. They prepare the end title score to follow along as Jarre rehearses the orchestra. Clutching a bundle of music manuscripts, Palmer enters the room, takes his place at one end of the recording desk and confers with his assistant, Julian. Tim threads on a spool of 24-track digital tape (as opposed to the usual 2-track video cassette) and checks the recording equipment. Lewzey, having finished in the studio, now comes up to the control room and confers with Tim Pennington, his assistant. He is going over the orchestrations for the end title with Christopher Palmer, his musical assistant for the last ten years. Standing beside the conducting podium and deep in conversation with a tall, fair-haired man, is Jarre, looking a lot younger than his 61 years and dressed in the ever-present turtleneck sweater. He handles most of the film work at CTS and his recent projects have included THE BRIDE and A VIEW TO A KILL. Apart from the usual timpani, there are snare drums, swiss cow-bells, tam-tams, wood blocks and a whip! There are constant jokes about the whip.ĭarting around the players, checking mikes and headphone hook-ups is the recording engineer, Dick Lewzey. In a sealed section directly under the control room is an exotic array of percussion. For the music at the climax of the film, already recorded, Jarre employed a third player, Dominique Kim, and then re-recorded all three so that the final effect sounds like six players. Separated from the bulk of the orchestra are the two Ondes Martenot players, Jeanne Loriod and Cynthia Millar. Inside the control room, the large window looks out onto the panorama of CTS’s largest studio, recently completely re-equipped with digital facilities. For many of the sessions, director George Miller has been on hand to add advice, criticism, and so forth, although his help was limited due to the fact that constant jet-lag caused him to fall asleep while much of the music was being played. This evening session is to be the last of many for the score has taken over three months, on scattered day and evening sessions, to put on to the film. Also, due to the nature of the film, much of the music is very loud and violent and has proved quite exhausting to play. The complete score is a long one, over 90 minutes, and contains many complex and intricate pieces of music. Tonight’s session will cover the beginning and end title music and will be conducted by the composer, Maurice Jarre. It is almost seven in the evening of May 22, 1985, and one of the final scoring sessions for MAD MAX: BEYOND THUNDERDOME is about to begin. His remark causes considerable commotion since most of the people in the room are players of the RPO and they are required downstairs in Studio One. Standing in the doorway of the canteen of CTS Studios, Wembley, England, is the bespectacled figure of John Charles, the session manager of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Īmid general chatter and over the noise of eating and drinking, a voice rings out. What follows was written immediately after the recording and is an observation intended to portray something of the atmosphere of a film scoring session. I was able to watch Maurice Jarre while he was at work on MAD MAX and, fortunately, the recording session I attended was that for the main titles as well as that for the end titles, which music was also deleted and replaced with “We Don’t Need Another Hero.”
#Maurice jarre mad max beyond thunderdome series#
What is now a mundane and imaginative series of titles was something once bold and brilliant. The English release of the soundtrack album to MAD MAX: BEYOND THUNDERDOME undoubtedly caused a few raised eyebrows amongst collectors by the sleeve’s inclusion of the mythical track, “Apocalyptic Prelude.” This music was Maurice Jarre’s cue for the main title credits and was in fact recorded for the film but later dropped in favor of the Tina Turner song, “One of the Living.” However, not only was the music changed but the whole presentation of the credits was altered. Text reproduced by kind permission of the editor and publisher Randall D. Originally published in CinemaScore #15, 1986/1987 Scoring Session for Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome by David Stoner
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