Miklós Rózsa - King of Kings re-recording Kickstarter

[patmos.beje]

Anyone who loves (or admires) the music of Miklós Rózsa should take note of the possibility of contributing to a Kickstarter project to re-record his score for King of Kings.

See: http://www.filmscoremonthly.com/board/posts.cfm?threadID=123825&forumID=1&archive=0

Whilst I am contended to have the Rhino release of the original motion picture soundtrack and a Rózsa re-recording of extracts, I have committed to fund the project to the tune of £200 and will go to £250 if the target looks like it is going to be reached.  In the absence of supporting labels who are willing to fund recordings unlikely to recoup outlays, such recordings are less likely to be made.

I recall the Stanley Bate Cello Concerto recording sought £2000 by way of Kickstarter to make it possible and reached the target.

The Rózsa project is over 60% funded with the Tadlow label's owner willing to fund the remaining 50 plus per cent of the recording costs. 

This Kickstarter project was started at the request and promtings of various Rózsa fans badgering James Fitzpatrick of Tadlow for a King of Kings recording - something he said he was not prepared to do without financial support, having funded lots of loss making recordings.  Perhaps classical music enthusiasts could badger a record label for a recording of a much desired work and contribute to a crowfudning forum to help make it possible.

[patmos.beje]

With 312 backers and 8 days to spare this Kickstarter project has succeeded in raising the £40,000 target (just under half the costs) to make a re-recording (including reconstruction of the score) of Rózsa's King of Kings possible. ;D

See: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/681802762/king-of-kings-new-recording

[M. Yaskovsky]

Although I didn't help this project by way of Kickstarter I'll surely buy this recording.

[patmos.beje]

As of today, with 3 days to go, this Kickstarter project has raised (of the £40,000 target towards the £80,000 plus recording and reconstruction costs) £43,544 with 335 backers.  I am mightily impressed, especially as I doubted it would be successful. Just as I was contemplating increasing my contribution of £200 the target was met.  It appears that 24 people make up £19,500.  Each of these 24 can attend the recording sessions in Prague in November which, for some, appears to be the motivation behind their generous contribution.

[patmos.beje]

Final tally is £44,382 has been raised of the £40,000 target (half the recording costs) by 352 backers.

Whilst my interest in film scores is limited, the success of this project has great potential for film music enthusiasts and the future of re-recordings. It might also provide a template for classical music enthusiasts to see their dreams come true.

James Fitzpatrick of the Tadlow label, who had announced his retirement from funding any more re-recordings of soundtracks, had consistently stated on several occasions that he would not fund a re-recording of King of Kings unless someone paid him £80,000 to do so (a slight understatement of the estimated costs of producing a 2 x CD set given the length of the score, the size of orchestra and chorus and the fact that the score will have to be reconstructed) [Tadlow's recent re-recording of Ben-Hur cost about £90,000 to produce]. He then changed his mind and said he would be willing to fund half the costs of the re-recording if a Kickstarter project could raise the other half.

There are a few other scores which he has indicated he will fund half the costs of one of which - Walter Schumann's score for the 1955 Charles Laughton directed The Night of the Hunter and estimated to cost about £40,000 to record - is the only non-Rózsa score I am likely to support in the future.  However, he has indicated he will record other scores if film enthusiasts rasied the entire funds via crowdfunding or otherwise.  As many of these are unlikely to cost anything like the amount required for King of Kings, this raises a real possibility for film enthusiasts to partner with Tadlow, or other films specialist labels, to make their dreams come true.

Could partnering with a label and instigating a Kickstarter project be a template for classical music enthusiasts to see their dreams come true (as an alternative to, for example, members of the RVW Society contributing to Albion recordings)?  Possibly, but one major advantage King of Kings has over, say, Mackenzie's The Rose of Sharon, something I have longed to hear for many years and, probably, almost as expensive to produce as a recording of King of Kings, is that the latter, through the medium of the cinema and TV, is already a well known and beloved score to many.  However, who knows what may be possible if there is a willing number of classical music enthusiasts in relation to a particular recording project.

[Morthanveld]

I'll certainly buy this, and I find the model fascinating. About 12 years ago the record label Campion Cameo (don't know if they still exist) did an early version of 'crowdfunding' to produce an album of string trios by living British composers -  obviously a far lower cost base than any given Rosza film score, but the model can clearly work for things that record companies are nervous about funding. Look forward to the recording being available.