LPCDreissues: Looking forward to the past

Between 1936 and 1965, Max Steiner composed music for over 175 films at Warner Bros. Pictures. During this time he essentially sculpted the studio's musical identity. Of all the pictures he scored, one of the most memorable is the John Huston-directed 1948 classic The Treasure Of The Sierra Madre. For his work on the film, Steiner was awarded the prestigious Vienna Film Prize and nominated for an Oscar. Having honed his skills under Gustav Mahler and on Broadway, Steiner was adept at assuming various musical guises. He not only created story-driven incidental music for Treasure; he also sought to establish the flavor of the film's Mexican locale. To do this he selected several indigenous folk songs to use as atmospheric underscoring. Steiner believed that film music should not challenge the audience, that it should not conflict with the action portrayed. Thus he departed from his typical method of creating themes for each character that would form a complex interplay. Realizing the close physical proximity of the three prospectors -- Dobbs, Howard, and Curtin -- Steiner composed one theme, "Pardners," that would represent the group of men. His other themes were linked to ideas rather than characters -- "Madness," "Storm," "Gold," etc. The soundtrack to The Treasure Of The Sierra Madre has never before been released. These recordings were produced from original music elements from the Max Steiner Papers, Film Music Archives at Brigham Young University. The elements consist of acetates recorded during the actual scoring sessions and maintained in Steiner's personal collection. Most all of the cues survived. Missing are the source and location cues from the first two reels, the train robbery sequence, the first "work" cue leading up to the water trough sequence, and the child revival sequence. However, included are three bonus cues: a festive arrangement of "Narange Dolce" from a deleted scene, an alternate harmonica solo of "Pardners," and a dance band arrangement of the same. The tracks on Treasure have been edited in continual ambient symphonic fashion and represent all of the scoring session cues that survive in the Max Steiner Collection at BYU. The Treasure Of The Sierra Madre is available as an individually numbered limited edition of 2,500 copies.
TRACK LISTING MAIN TITLE (1:27) PARTNERS (0:10) THE TREK (3:24) WINDSTORM (1:22) THOSE ENDEARING YOUNG CHARMS (0:25) UP THERE! (0:14) WATER TROUGH (0:40) NIGHT/CAVE IN (2:14) CALL FOR HELP (1:07) TEXAS MEMORIES (1:05) NIGHT AND DISTRUST (2:36) GILA MONSTER (0:30) GILA MONSTER UNCOVERED (0:34) UNWELCOME VISITOR (1:02) BANDITS (3:50) GUNFIGHT/FEDERALES (4:17) CODY'S LETTER (2:41) PACKING UP (1:29) INDIAN VISITORS (0:24) UNWILLING CARETAKERS (0:43) MADNESS AND MURDER/INDIAN VILLAGE (9:42) AFTER DOBBS/DOBBS IS KILLED (5:11) BANDITS ARRESTED (0:45) THE RUINS (2:34) TEXAS MEMORIES/FINALE (1:36) END CAST (0:21) INDIAN CELEBRATION (0:53) PARDNERS HARMONICA SOLO (0:31) PARDNERS DANCE BAND ARRANGEMENT (2:18)