Bogie56 Posted October 7, 2019 Share Posted October 7, 2019 I watched a documentary program on the BBC about Malcolm Arnold's Bridge on the River Kwai score for which he won an Oscar. He wrote it in 10 days and it was also performed as a symphony. It was a really good show and delved into the layers of the composition and was reperformed by the BBC orchestra. But one bit lead me to post this topic and that was how difficult Colonel Bogie's march proved to be. You may recall that this occurs when the soldiers first march into the camp. When it was shot it was done to playback of a different march with no whistling. They discovered in editing that the soldiers were marching at a different speed in every shot which is then difficult for any composer. Arnold hired 19 whistlers to perform the famous Colonel Bogie's march and also had a piccolo in the background to keep everyone in tune. Apparently if you listen hard you can hear that piccolo. But then what is so amazing is that Arnold added Colonel Nicholson's, or the Kwai march right on top with full orchestra. So what you have is two completely different marches being performed at the same time. You might wish to keep this in mind the next time you see the film. 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ray Faiola Posted October 8, 2019 Share Posted October 8, 2019 Enter Mitch Miller. He was a powerful producer at Columbia Records. When Columbia issued the soundtrack of KWAI, Miller bought the publishing rights to the Bogie/Kwai arrangement, recorded it with his singers, put THAT on the original soundtrack album, and then prevented anyone else from recording the pairing of the two motifs. Richard Hickox newly recorded the score several years ago and was not able to include this famous cue. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
laffite Posted October 8, 2019 Share Posted October 8, 2019 On 10/7/2019 at 8:47 AM, Bogie56 said: I watched a documentary program on the BBC about Malcolm Arnold's Bridge on the River Kwai Bogie, you seem from time to time to come up with trenchant remarks about this films, very enlightening comments. This must be one of your fave films? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Forty-One Posted November 3, 2019 Share Posted November 3, 2019 On 10/7/2019 at 9:47 AM, Bogie56 said: I watched a documentary program on the BBC about Malcolm Arnold's Bridge on the River Kwai score for which he won an Oscar. He wrote it in 10 days and it was also performed as a symphony. It was a really good show and delved into the layers of the composition and was reperformed by the BBC orchestra. But one bit lead me to post this topic and that was how difficult Colonel Bogie's march proved to be. You may recall that this occurs when the soldiers first march into the camp. When it was shot it was done to playback of a different march with no whistling. They discovered in editing that the soldiers were marching at a different speed in every shot which is then difficult for any composer. Arnold hired 19 whistlers to perform the famous Colonel Bogie's march and also had a piccolo in the background to keep everyone in tune. Apparently if you listen hard you can hear that piccolo. But then what is so amazing is that Arnold added Colonel Nicholson's, or the Kwai march right on top with full orchestra. So what you have is two completely different marches being performed at the same time. You might wish to keep this in mind the next time you see the film. I love the music of Malcolm Arnold. I have most of it in my CD collection (including his score for "The Bridge on the River Kwai"), mostly produced by Conifer, Reference Recordings and Chandos 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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