Intrada Soundtrack Forum

INTRADA Announces:



WOLFEN
Music Composed and Conducted by CRAIG SAFAN
INTRADA Special Collection Vol. 206

I felt Wolfen was the perfect film in which to break away from
traditional melody and harmony and try something new.- Craig Safan

The 1981 Orion production Wolfen was unusually and extraordinarily complicated, resulting in upheaval that affected both its final direction and its musical scoring. Unfortunately, Safan’s score proved to be one of the many casualties of the film’s lengthy and turbulent post-production process—the film was re-edited and re-scored after he had composed and recorded his music with a 100-piece orchestra. The resultant score was, in fact, something new and a departure from what you would expect from such a large orchestra. As Safan best describes:

I felt Wolfen was the perfect film in which to break away from traditional melody and harmony and try something new.To that end I spent time with all the woodwind and brass players to learn about new techniques such as multiphonics (playing more than one note at the same time), and playing their instruments without a mouthpiece. Also, I would have each player in the 40-piece string section play a different note, then move to each other player’s notes, all within a specific time-frame. I used two grand pianos tuned a quarter tone apart and often playing the inside instead of the keys. Looking back over the scores I see directions such as “low growl,” “like a strangled animal,” and “babbling.”

In the end, Safan had composed a massive, complex work...something on an intellectual level to challenge the listener, and embodying the mythological aspects of the film dropped from the final version.

For this release, Intrada was given access to the original multi-track elements stored in the Warner Bros. vaults. The sound preserved on these masters is simply stunning, allowing Safan's score to shine in all its detail and complexity. Sometimes great film music can't even be heard within the film for which it was composed, and Craig Safan's score to Wolfen is one of them.

INTRADA Special Collection Vol. 206
Retail Price: $19.99
Available Now
For track listing and sound samples, please visit
http://store.intrada.com/s.nl/it.A/id.7686/.f