4 CD long-box set, 44-page booklet, 50 years of films, 5 hours of music

This year is the 10th Anniversary of the series known as Ecoutez le cinéma!, and the occasion to pay tribute to one of film's major figures with a project on the same scale as the composer: a 4CD long-box set devoted to the music of Maurice Jarre marks the composer's justified appearance in the Ecoutez le cinéma! series. Maurice Jarre took an active part in the production of this set in selecting and compiling the music as well as giving an exclusive interview (reproduced inside the booklet). His passing made this project even more necessary as an indispensable, eye-witness account of a life devoted to the international film industry.

One obstacle remained before this project could be completed, however. Maurice Jarre was always more interested in the Future than the Past, a man whose dreams looked constantly to tomorrow: he had no instinct for preserving his master-tapes. Decades later, we had to undertake a long hunt to reconstruct the puzzle which involved a great deal of research -sometimes close to archaeology- in the archives of publishers, production-companies and film-labs. From his Georges Franju years to his work in the 21st century, here, now, are 50 years of films compressed into 4 CDs and 5 hours of music. The familiar cornerstones of Jarre's work are here as expected, (Lawrence of Arabia, Doctor Zhivago, Is Paris Burning?, The Man Who Would Be King, The Tin Drum, Dead Poets Society), together with more secret, more fragile films and scores that had never been issued on record (Topaz, The Mackintosh Man, El Condor), not to mention treasures showing his work in its earliest stages: the last song ever recorded by Ella Fitzgerald (composed for a Japanese film), a piano & vocal demo recorded by Maurice Jarre with Jeanne Moreau for Elia Kazan's The Last Tycoon, some rejected scores… or again, excerpts from some amazing spotting-sessions involving Maurice Jarre and Alfred Hitchcock or David Lean (prudently recorded on cassette-tapes by the composer himself).

The 44-page booklet contains rare photographs, an exhaustive interview with Maurice Jarre, and brand-new accounts supplied by Pierre Boulez, Jeanne Moreau, Volker Schlöndorff, Alexandre Desplat and… Kirk Douglas!

The 4CD set entitled Le Cinéma de Maurice Jarre is probably the most ambitious project ever released in the Ecoutez le cinéma! collection. It can also be seen as a portrait of the film-career of a French composer of international dimension, a man convinced that, "since the beginning of the 20th century, film has become the opera of our times."

DISC 1:

Lawrence Of Arabia (Lawrence d’Arabie)
Les Yeux Sans Visage
Le Président
Thérèse Desqueyroux
La Bête à l’Affût
The Collector (L’Obsédé)
Un Roi Sans Divertissement
Week-End à Zuydcoote
Doctor Zhivago (Le Docteur Jivago)
Grand Prix
The Night Of The Generals (La Nuit des Généraux)
Five Card Stud (Cinq Cartes à Abattre)
Villa Rides! (Pancho Villa)
Isadora Topaz (L’Etau)

DISC 2:

Is Paris Burning? (Paris Brûle-t-il ?) The Fixer (L’Homme de Kiev) El Condor La Caduta degli Dei (Les Damnés) Ryan’s Daughter (La Fille de Ryan) Una Stagione all’Inferno (Une Saison en Enfer) Red Sun (Soleil Rouge) Pope Joan (Jeanne, Papesse du Diable) The Effect Of Gamma Rays On Man-In-The Moon Marigolds (De l’Influence des Rayons Gammas sur le Comportement des Marguerites) The Life And Times Of Judge Roy Bean (Juge et Hors-la-Loi) Ash Wednesday (Noces de Cendres) The MacKintosh Man (Le Piège) Grandezza Naturale (Grandeur Nature / Life Size) The Island At The Top Of The World (L’Ile sur le Toit du Monde) Great Expectations (De Grandes Espérances)

DISC 3:

Jesus Of Nazareth (Jésus de Nazareth) Mandingo The Man Who Would Be King (L’Homme Qui Voulut Être Roi) Shout At The Devil (Parole d’Homme) The Message (Le Message) Crossed Swords (Le Prince et le Pauvre) Two Solitudes Posse (La Brigade du Texas) Ishi : The Last Of His Tribe The American Success Company Die Blechtrommel (Le Tambour) Resurrection Lion Of The Desert (Le Lion du Désert) For All Those I Loved (Au Nom de Tous les Miens) A Passage To India (La Route des Indes) Witness Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (Mad Max Au-Delà du Dôme du Tonnerre)

DISc 4:

Fatal Attraction (Liaison Fatale) Moon Over Parador (Pleine Lune sur Parador) Dead Poets Society (Le Cercle des Poètes Disparus) Gorillas In The Mist (Gorilles dans la Brume) Ghost (Ghost) Prancer Jacob’s Ladder (L’Échelle de Jacob) Rakuyo (The Setting Sun) (incluant une chanson interprétée par Ella Fitzgerald)