Lee Holdridge
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So. Lee Holdridge. What dya’s think?
He’s one of my favourite film composers, ever since I saw SPLASH at the cinema, mid 80s and bought the LP (a re-recording by the Royal Phil London, to save on USA/Hollywood re-use fees). Loved that album and the Love Theme is just gorgeous.
Not long after, I bought that classic Varese Sarabande compilation, conducted by Gerhardt and featuring WIZARDS & WARRIORS and a mighty fine collection of his stuff (THE GREAT WALES Theme is sublime) and was hooked for life.
He’s done so many great and memorable themes. For TV, Moonlighting, Beauty & The Beast, East Of Eden.
OLD GRINGO, BEASTMASTER, MR MOM, 16 DAYS OF GLORY, aforementioned SPLASH, in film. I remember buying the LP for JEREMY (one of his earliest film scores) and absolutely loving it. The Cello Concerto contained within is top-notch.
I also started noticing his fantastic orchestrating and arranging skills on my sisters LPs of John Denver and Neil Diamond*. Thrilling stuff.
He’s been a top fave ever since and I enjoy pretty much all I’ve heard by him.
He’s a proper melodist, first and foremost. Traditional…yes, although he has dabbled with synths and what-not.
Also, his Classical pieces, collected on various CDs by Citadel, amongst others, are fantastic. Even better than his film scores at times. Rich, romantic story-telling music that reward repeat plays. None of that Morricone/Williams hard-to-love, classical style from him.
He’s never been a top-seller amongst fans (well, that Goldsmith-or-nothing slobbering gang at FSM), but he must have a decent set amongst the label owners, cos many of his scores (even unknown/low-budget ones) have been released on CD down the years.
Any love for the only Haiti-born film composer I know?*Indeed, he fell out with Neil Diamond after scoring his film JONATHAN LIVINGSTON SEAGULL, but not getting an Original Score credit…Diamond wanted all the credit (and no doubt royalties for himself). I think Holdridge won a pay-out and got a credit on the album/film.
Hooray! I was waiting for you to do a Holdridge thread, Kev! He’s the only film composer I know born in Haiti.
I explored him fairly late in the game. I mean, I knew his name early on, as I used to watch MOONLIGHTING with my mom in the 80s. Then he popped up again on the brilliant Kunzel/Telarc album THE GREAT FANTASY-ADVENTURE ALBUM (1994), which is important to me. His rollicking theme from WIZARDS AND WARRIORS was on that. And I found it amusing that he scored a film about “our” Olympics in Lillehammer ’94, 16 DAYS OF GLORY.
But it took me a while to do a systematic exploration. I’m not on the level you are, Kev, but I’ve amassed these that I truly enjoy: EAST OF EDEN, EL PUEBLO DEL SOL, OLD GRINGO, HEIDI, CALL OF THE WILD and UNLIKELY HEROES. The latter is from 2003, so I wonder if there are any worthwhile things in the 20+ years since?
I first heard the name like Thor on MOONLIGHTNING and BEAUTY AND THE BEAST. I know/have a few scores and like them. MIST OF AVALON I remember specifially (I have always a spot for such Celtic sounds). He somehow never made it to my top list though. But its as usual a while I listend anything and have a lot to explore. I know no concert works at all I think.
A lot of the pieces on this magnificent album were written when he was in his 20s…
The 3rd movement of this Violin Concerto gives me goosebumps!!Cool, that’s an album to seek out, for sure. He even gets to work with the LSO (and famous violinst Glenn Dicterow). In fact, he quite often got to work with the LSO, didn’t he?
This has the same team, but appears to be a different album/recording?
Wanted to check that out as well sometime. I think that’s the same actually. The Bay Cities was the original release and the Youtube edition above is the re-release by BSX.
HOLDRIDGE CONDUCTS HOLDRIDGE
Kev will surely proof me wrong otherwise 😉Yes, that’s probably it.
Interestingly, neither Google searches nor chat-bots can find any information about a first violin concerto. But surely, one must exist.
Just looked at Discogs and maybe the first violin concerto was an early work he does not like anymore 🙂 Btw, there I saw first release of that album was on Varese prior to the Bay Cities even.
Yes, maybe a student work or a sketch or something, kept in a drawer somewhere. It’s rather irritating when things like that happen; when there is no trace whatsoever of a violin concerto no. 1.
Same with Goldenthal. He did a “Symphony No. 3” in 2021, but there is no 1 and 2. You’ll have to surmise that No. 1 is the “Symphony in G Minor” and 2 maybe the OTHELLO symphony, which was an adaptation of the ballet score.
But I can’t find anything, named differently, that would be No. 1 in Holdridge’s canon.
Just looked at Discogs and maybe the first violin concerto was an early work he does not like anymore 🙂 Btw, there I saw first release of that album was on Varese prior to the Bay Cities even.
Yes, this one:
So I guess the correct original date for this is 1981, not 1991 (Bay Cities) or 2017 (BSX).
Yes. The Holdridge Conducts Holdridge album has been released quite a few times.
I never did buy the original Varese Sarabande LP that contained the Violin Concerto (I didn’t know of him at that time) but I was more than happy when Citadel released it on LP/CD with a wealth of other compositions by him soon after (I can’t recall what year the CD came out in the 80s).
Bay Cities and BSX have subsequently re-issued it. Fantastic album.The Mists of Avalon is one of my all time favorite scores! Or at least it was, the last time I made my top 10 list. My collection of his is very small, but I also have Call of the Wild, and Long Way Home. I’ll look forward to discovering more of his great works from your favorites on this thread, he is so gifted – thanks for highlighting him!
I need to re-evaluate THE MISTS OF AVALON one of the days.
There’s a lot to love about Holdridge, but one score I’ve never been able to get into, is INTO THIN AIR. Yes, I know it has its fans, but for a mountain-set film, I somehow expected more ‘awe’ or mystery. Instead, it comes off as rather meandering to me. But then it’s been many years since I sampled it.
Holdridge is actually listed as arranger and conductor on MAHOGANY by Michael Masser from 1975 which I just bought on vinyl.
He’s also arranged a lot for Alain Simon, who’s employed various Supertramp and Alan Parsons Project members in his various projects. So he definitely has a connection to some of my favourite acts.
I have that MAHOGANY soundtrack on CD and I can definitely hear a VERY STRONG Lee Holdridge influence in many of the tracks.
I’ve always wondered where the Michael Masser stuff started and the Lee Holdridge ‘help’ ended.“I need to re-evaluate THE MISTS OF AVALON one of the days”
Me too!! I’m a BIG Lee Holdridge fan, but whenever I play that CD, I like it, but don’t really love it (certainly not compared to the many other scores I have by him).
It’s quite atmospheric and full of that Celt vibe, but I find myself wandering off during the slow/languid passages of music. Time for a re-spin perhaps?
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