Agatha (Music Inspired by the Motion Picture) Howard Blake

• 1Prelude03:00
• 2Look at Me / Breakfast / Agatha in Bed / Car Accident04:48
• 3Agatha on Train / Agatha’s Room03:00
• 4Pierrot's Old School Tie / Certainly Not02:45
• 5Schnee02:32
• 6Yes Sir / Date01:17
• 7Following Baths02:53
• 8Agatha and Wally04:06
• 9Wally on the Phone / Appointment Book01:53
• 10Agatha Asleep03:29
• 11Therapy Room Door02:04
• 12The Notebook and Climax05:52
• 13They Don't Believe / Closing06:06
• 14Dixieland Stomp00:40
• Total Runtime44:25

Info for Agatha (Music Inspired by the Motion Picture)

Dragon's Domain Records presents the world premiere release of Howard Blake's music for Agatha. While his music was ultimately not used in the film, it was composed during one of his most prolific years and worthy of preservation.

"I was taken on first as musical director for 'Agatha' and recorded a large amount of period music for dance band with arrangements which I scored myself, and for palm court trio in which I played piano, with Sid Sax violin and the great Reginald Kilbey cello. In the aftermath of what was a somewhat troubled shoot I was asked by David Puttnam and Michael Apted to compose and conduct a large-scale symphonic score in the tradition of Max Steiner, since for one reason the film was set in that period and for a second reason it was felt that a big score would add excitement and atmosphere. I went ahead and scored and recorded the complete picture, completing the mix on May 5th 1978 at CTS Wembl;ey with John Richards as engineer. However soon after the dubbing of the film was completed David rang me and announced that he had resigned from the picture. The incoming producer Jarvis Astaire decided to stage a preview of the completed film at BAFTA, with a sample audience of 'staff from Selfridges'. The exit questionaire seemed to suggest that a large percentage liked the music rather more than the film generally and this made me uneasy. Also the music had been dubbed at too high a level and was sounding over-prominent. These and other factors resulted in Astaire scrapping the entire score of about 60 minutes of original music recorded for an over-50-piece orchestra. He contacted his Hollywood friend Johnny Mandel who wrote a much simpler score in a modern style to which was added a 1970s-style balled on the end titles. I happened to meet Johnny later that year at Glen Glen in LA and he said: 'You must be crazy writing a huge great orchestral score for a film like that!' I took it as a compliment.' (Composer's note)

Howard Blake

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