John Morgan: Restoring the Scores

One of the composers who seem to fascinate John Morgan the most is Max Steiner. He actually knew the legendary composer in his later years, and he has always been a big Steiner fan. When asked what in his opinion made Max Steiner such a prominent and unique film composer, John answers enthusiastically. “He literally ‘did it all’ and in those early RKO years he experimented with orchestration, sound recording and the relationships of music to image and drama. For instance in THE LOST PATROL, he started and ended the film quietly, which was unheard of. He also had a choir doing wonderful humming for a night scene. In other films, he would experiment with pitching the music around the timbre of an actor's voice to avoid a sound clash. He would ‘catch’ things musically to heighten the drama. On the reverse of that he would sometimes play ‘against the scene’ to bring out what a character was thinking, rather than what the character was physically doing. He wrote good music. Even when catching every action in sight, the music had line and interest on a strictly musical basis. This is why his music is so fun to listen to divorced from the film.”

Max Steiner is probably most well-known for his full-blown orchestral scores, written in the broad Mahler tradition. But there is so much more to his music than just epic grandeur, and that is something John Morgan obviously appreciates. “He did like the lush and big sound favoured by such composers as Mahler, Strauss, Puccini - but he could also write in a subtle fashion with just a few strings in almost quartet fashion. He wrote terrific melodies, many in 3/4 time, and he kept them simple enough that he could vary, stretch, develop, and twist these melodies in so many dramatic guises. He was a master orchestrator. It is incorrect to think of Steiner as merely a ‘tutti’ type orchestrator. There are delights and new sounds all over his music.”

Of the Steiner scores John has been working on, the most difficult to reconstruct have been KING KONG and CHARGE OF THE LIGHT BRIGADE, two of the composer's most important and groundbreaking scores. For KING KONG, John used Steiner's original sketches to orchestrate the music as Steiner envisioned. “The score came to nearly two hundred pages,” he says. “There were too many compromises he and his original KONG orchestrator, Bernhard Kaun, had to make because of budget and primitive sound recording. I put back in the saxophones and the barbaric dissonance that many re-recordings have overlooked.”

What made CHARGE OF THE LIGHT BRIGADE a difficult task for John was the huge size of the score. “The final ‘Charge’ is about eight minutes long and is over two hundred pages, just black with notes. There were also so many themes intertwined with one another, it was a real chore keeping everything straight”, he explains. One of the great advantages of working on the reconstruction of masterfully written scores is the vast opportunity to learn and gain experience. For John Morgan, Max Steiner's career and music has given him a good understanding of his work ethic. “Even on inferior films Steiner gave it his all. He never took short cuts or became lazy. The more you get into his music, the more you learn the subtle things he did musically for scene. Things that really are nearly ‘invisible’ to the ear, but ‘feel’ right. I also admire the way he ‘orchestrated’ his music ‘down’ as to not interfere or conflict with dialogue. This often saved his music being ‘turned’ down when the dialogue appeared”, John says.

Horror fun

A couple of the albums Marco Polo has released under the supervision of John Morgan include the fascinating and straightforward horror music of the late Hans J. Salter, another hugely prolific Hollywood composer. “Unlike Steiner, Korngold, Herrmann and others, Salter was with a studio that turned out mostly ‘B’ pictures. He and Frank Skinner were ‘A’ composers working on ‘B’ films”, John believes. “I have always admired the Universal horror music. I grew up with these films on television. Most record producers and companies would never do a serious recording of these scores. The films are just not known for their music. Well, when I had the opportunity, I jumped at it. It is fine, fine music. It is moody, well-written and just plain fun. This is real music, not some drone going on forever, like in many of today’s horror films.”

Although Hans J. Salter died at the age of ninety-eight in 1994, John Morgan actually met with him when preparing the Marco Polo album ‘Music for Frankenstein’. “He was a sweet man. He would always kid me and say ‘Make it better than it was originally’,” John recalls. “I told him I couldn't do that, but would make it as faithful as possible. We talked about his unhappiness with the often too small Universal orchestra. Often the orchestra was only twenty-eight or thirty-two players and Hans showed me his sketches and how he had to compromise when they only had two or three horns or only two trumpets. So I orchestrated his music, as he wanted it. I think we succeeded in being faithful to his music while enlarging the canvas to accompany the larger ensemble.”

Today Salter's scores for such classics as CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON and the Frankenstein movies are fascinating in that they are very uncompromising and up-front. The last thing you can say about them is that they were low-key. “No, they were never low-key,” John admits. “Films are fantasy and fantasy needs music. These scores really helped cement the film together. The music smoothes awkward transitions, while keeping a constant mood of dread. When the music is divorced from the film and heard on its own, I believe that it ceases to be film music and becomes just music. It must live or die on its own. One of the real pleasures I get is when we get a review from a classical magazine that never saw these films, yet they rave about the music. That tells me the music is worth hearing. Although I want to please the film music fans who have fond memories of these films, I am even more eager for this music to be enjoyed without any filmic reference. That, to me, is a successful album.”

Today, the horror genre is almost the only place where a film composer can actually experiment, especially in terms of orchestration - Jerry Goldsmith, Elliot Goldenthal and John Corigliano providing some striking examples, for instance. However Hans J. Salter and many of his contemporary colleagues rarely used these kind of effects.

Out on a limb

“He just wrote dramatic music to fit the mood and action of the film. But it is certainly true that the ‘fantastic’ cinema has inspired composers to go out on a limb, so to speak. Just look at some of the titles; Steiner's KING KONG and THE BEAST WITH FIVE FINGERS, Bernard Herrmann's THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL, Rozsa's THE THIEF OF BAGHDAD, Waxman's THE BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN, Tiomkin's THE THING..." John says.

A much more lyrical style, in comparison with the monstrous music of Hans J. Salter and Frank Skinner, was predominant in the scores of Erich Wolfgang Korngold. One of Marco Polo's latest releases is an album consisting of ANOTHER DAWN and ESCAPE ME NEVER. The latter one was particularly interesting from John Morgan’s point of view. He had to do some vast arranging on this piece. “Well, the ballet from this film was a ballet in the film’s story and it is cut short in the film. Korngold never felt compelled to finish it, so I wanted to put this piece on our ANOTHER DAWN album and I decided to it 'finish' it or round it out with other parts of the score,” John says. “A great deal of the full score was missing, so I orchestrated this in the Korngold style, which is very complex and time consuming. His music must be orchestrated like Richard Strauss'. It is so colourful; I had to wear sunglasses while reconstructing it. Most of the Universal horror music is much less complex, but HOUSE OF FRANKENSTEIN was very complex. It is a very modern sounding score. Full of dissonance and weird harmonies and bizarre orchestration.”

Of all the scores John Morgan has reconstructed in the last five years, he finds it difficult to pick any favourite, but mentions HOUSE OF FRANKENSTEIN, KING KONG, and HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME, which is on the new Hugo Friedhofer album. “I am glad we were able to do a Hugo Friedhofer album. He is a composer's composer.”

Russian travels

Most of the albums John Morgan has prepared for Marco Polo have been recorded with the Moscow Symphony Orchestra under the baton of John's good friend and colleague William T Stromberg. “We do two albums per trip to Moscow and we make two trips per year. We usually are there for about two weeks, although we only record four hours a day. So an album takes twenty real hours to record, if you take out time for breaks. They are first-rate players. They can play in different styles, which one needs with film music. We can get all the extra non-traditional instruments there, choir, saxophones, guitars, anything. They love playing this terribly difficult, yet new music. Many members came up to say that KING KONG was some of the most difficult music they have ever played. They were proud of themselves for getting through it! The recording in Moscow is full and bright, which is good for the up-front quality of film music.”

William T. Stromberg, who has been conducting several of the Marco Polo recordings, is a composer and orchestrator in his own right. He has composed scores for TRINITY AND BEYOND, KILLING STREETS and ODDBALL HALL, among others. He first met John Morgan at the age of three - John knew his father. Today, thirty years later, the two are working together constantly.

“Bill is the best. He has reconstructed several of our suites, including THE ADVENTURES OF MARCO POLO, BEAU GESTE, SCARAMOUCHE, and when I ran out of time, cues from HOUSE OF FRANKENSTEIN,” John says. “I also get his opinion on suites I made up. We go to Moscow together and it is really a collaborative effort. He is with me from the very start of any given project. It is a team effort in all respects. Without Bill, wouldn't even do this stuff. We are each other's right hand.”

Besides his busy career as an arranger and reconstructor of classic film scores, John Morgan manages to find time to compose in his own right. “I recently composed the music for Randall Cook's DEMON IN THE BOTTLE that I think Disney picked up for video release. Although there was little money for music, we managed to invest it with a fun score. I say we, because Bill Stromberg and I worked together often on our own projects. He always conducts for me, he often orchestrates and ghost writes when I get in a bind. I do the same for him with the exception of conducting.”

In the near future, John will score David Allen's fantasy feature PRIMEVALS. According to John, it should be ready early next year and he plans on using the Moscow Symphony Orchestra for the recording. “I prefer to compose for orchestra, if possible. Sometimes, with budgets today, I must use some electronics to meet the budget, but I am happier with an orchestra in front of me. Of course, there are certain sounds that only a synth can give you. That is okay, but I hate the fact that symphonically conceived music must be played on synths at times.”

Considering the amount of classic film scores John has reconstructed, one can't get away from the fact that they must be a huge source of inspiration. “Yes! Whatever I have been reconstructing, I find on my own next composing assignment, little things I learn have crept in and become part of my style,” John admits.

College education

“Reconstructing is the greatest teacher in the world. To learn so many varied styles intimately, only a fool would ignore the influence. Every score I work on is a college education. And I get paid for it! It certainly beats working at Hamburger Hamlet or sitting around waiting for the phone to ring.”

Obviously John Morgan is quite satisfied with focusing his career on reconstructing and arranging. It's a tough time for composers he says, and if he's hired to compose a score it's important for him to work for a director who has trust in him as a composer and relies on his judgement.

“Music is not considered as high on the movie chain as it once was. Today, music is considered as a necessary evil. What with temp tracking and doing demos of your score, we have lost a lot of creativity in film music. By the time everyone has their input on what they like or don't like in your music, it is watered down to the lowest common denominator. Although I haven't yet got into the big leagues, I have at least been lucky to have worked with directors that have a trust in a composer and let them run with the ball.”

Another part of John Morgan's career was when he worked primarily as an orchestrator when he - in his own words - couldn't stand teaching anymore in the late seventies. Instead he moved to the Los Angeles area and started out orchestrating for Fred Steiner, Bruce Broughton and Alex North, among others. “For Fred, I orchestrated some HAWAII FIVE-O episodes, several hours of music for LAFF TUNES, which were Laurel and Hardy silent films, and much other stuff I can't remember. For Bruce, I orchestrated BUCK ROGERS, and some television stuff, which I don't remember.”

For Alex North, John Morgan did work on his DEATH OF A SALESMAN score, the television version with Dustin Hoffman. “Alex would sketch, and a lot of what he did on this project was readapted from his Broadway and film version of this play. He was a fine composer and wonderful human being. He didn't conduct, but he always knew what he wanted. He had faith in the orchestrator and, like Bruce Broughton, never went over your work; you just turned it into the copyists. If you had an orchestration idea, you put it in. Sometimes it remained, sometimes it was changed, but these people were secure enough in themselves to always let you have breathing room,” John recalls.