At long last, this Mancini masterpiece comes to CD as a lavish two disc set!
"The Thorn Birds" featured what is inarguably one of the greatest and most-loved scores ever penned by the incomparable Henry Mancini. Amazingly, despite the extraordinary success of the mini-series, Mancini’s fame and a huge public outcry for the music’s release, no soundtrack album was ever forthcoming. Finally, in honor of what would have been Henry Mancini’s 80th birthday (April 16, 2004), and to coincide with the US Postal Service’s issue of a Henry Mancini stamp, we are thrilled to offer this spectacular score as a deluxe 2 CD set. Featuring the enormously famous themes from the 10-hour production, this is classic romance at its finest. As a score every bit as beautiful, romantic and famous as "Somewhere In Time," "Out of Africa" or "Doctor Zhivago," the release of "The Thorn Birds" is a major recording event not to be missed by anyone who saw the miniseries, still remembers Mancini’s enchanting melodies or simply loves beautiful music. Further raising current awareness of the television classic, "The Thorn Birds" has also just made its DVD debut to a vast and awaiting fan base.
Based on the best-selling novel by Colleen McCullough, the mammoth four-part, ten-hour TV miniseries "The Thorn Birds" proved to be a ratings bonanza. Indeed, its viewership was surpassed only by the 1977 blockbuster Roots. Set in Australia, the story covers 42 years in the life of Ralph de Bricassart (Richard Chamberlain in an Emmy-winning performance), a Roman Catholic priest engaged in a constant struggle between his calling and his carnal desires. In the three-hour opening episode, originally telecast by ABC on March 27, 1983, young Father Ralph becomes the object of desire for powerful sheep rancher Mary Carson (Barbara Stanwyck, who also won an Emmy), while the priest himself expresses concern -- and sometimes more than concern -- for the well being of Mary's niece, Meggie Cleary (played as a youngster by Sydney Penny and as an adult by Rachel Ward, in her first American TV role). In part two, which aired March 28, 1983 -- and which, like the subsequent third episode, runs two hours -- a cataclysmic brush fire destroys Mary Carson's ranch. Later, having already succumbed to their mutual passion, Father Ralph and Meggie experience an uncomfortable reunion, and later still, the politically ambitious Ralph forms a strong and beneficial alliance with Archbishop Contini-Verchese (Christopher Plummer), one of Rome's most influential religious leaders. Part three, which aired March 29, 1983, finds a disillusioned Meggie entering into an unhappy marriage, ending up a housemaid on a Queensland sugar-cane plantation. Her subsequent pregnancy is but one of the intriguing and surprising plot developments in this crucial episode. The miniseries concluded with part four, first telecast in a three-hour slot on March 30, 1983. Covering a timespan of nearly 30 years (1935-1962), this final chapter focuses on the lives of Meggie's children -- flamboyant aspiring actress Justine (Mare Winningham) and would-be priest Dane (Philip Anglim) -- neither of which have any inkling (at least, not at first) of the past relationship between their mother and Cardinal De Bricassart, aka Father Ralph. "The Thorn Birds" was followed 13 years later by a "lost years" miniseries, again starring Richard Chamberlain.
