Agatha op.265 (April 1978)

Commissioned by: First Artists/Casablanca Warner
Instrumentation: orchestra
[Key to Abbreviations]
Duration: 60 mins
First Performance: Recorded 19-21 April 1978 CTS

Notes

Film featuring Dustin Hoffmann, Vanessa Redgrave, directed by Michael Apted

Composer's note: ''In the aftermath of a troubled shoot I was asked by David and Michael to write a big symphonic score in the 30's tradition of Max Steiner 'in the hope that it might keep the action and interest moving and make it more exciting.' This is never a good idea but I went ahead and both scored and recorded the complete picture. However at this moment David resigned as producer and the incoming producer decided to stage a preview at BAFTA, the exit questionaire of which seemed to suggest that a larger percentage liked the music rather more than the film generally and this made me uneasy. Also the music had perhaps been dubbed at too high a level and certainly was a pretty up-front element in the completed film.  These and other factors resulted in my entire score being scrapped. In 1995, 17 years later, Carl Davis asked me to resurrect a suite from it for a BBC concert series called Lost Scores" (see op.472)

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