[Nicolai P. Zwar]

Well, it’s not true for all classic film scores. Some vintage scores sound great. HOUR OF THE GUN by Jerry Goldsmith was recorded in the 60s and sounds as if it was recorded yesterday. But of course, classical music recordings done by Decca, Deutsche Grammophon, EMI etc. were not only done for best possible sound quality, the master tapes were then usually stored in temperature regulated vaults, so when they remaster the recordings, they have near perfect master tapes to begin with, unlike film scores, which are sometimes stored in rusty cans in someone’s damp garage.
Also, a re-recording is never first of all just a “sound upgrade”, that just doesn’t work. If you make a new recording of “Can’t help falling in love” even in the exact same room with the exact same instruments, not matter what, it won’t be Elvis. If you want Elvis, go with Elvis, it’s that simple. Same with any new orchestral recording. If you record a film score anew with 50 different musicians in a different room and a different conductor, it will be a different recording, and as such it has to be judged on its own terms. It may be a good new recording or a bad new recording, but to complain then that it doesn’t sound like “the original” is like complaining that Frank Sinatra doesn’t sound like Bing Crosby. No one would really confuse the Vienna Philharmonic with the Berlin Philharmonic (even though they are both top notch orchestras), so of course you cannot expect a different orchestra to sound like a completely different orchestra in a different recording venue 50 years ago.
But I would love a new recording of JANE EYRE, it may be the number one Williams score I would record anew if I would undertake such a project.