New York, NY (Top40 Charts/ CineMedia Promotions) BuySoundtrax Records is proud to announce the release of SCROOGE a new recording of the soundtrack from the 1970 film version of A Christmas Carol, featuring original music by Academy Award™-winner
Leslie Bricusse. Robert Picardo (Star Trek: Voyager, China Beach) performs the role of Scrooge on this recording, which was produced and arranged by Dominik Hauser.
One of the most enduring holiday stories, Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol has been told in a multitude of ways. In 1970, a musical adaptation, starring Albert Finney and featuring music and lyrics by
Leslie Bricusse (Doctor Dolittle, Victor/Victoria), was released. It earned four Academy Award nominations, including "Best Original Score and Best Original Song "
Thank You Very Much".
Though the film proved to be a perennial favorite and two decades later was launched as a musical, the soundtrack has never been released on CD or digitally. BSX Records producer Ford A. Thaxton turned to composer Dominik Hauser to reimagine the soundtrack.
Originally from Switzerland, Dominik Hauser received his education at the Jazz School St. Gallen in Switzerland, earning a masters degree in music. His talent extends from composition and arrangement to instrumental performance, including bass work for jazz-funkers The Ruleless. He is the recipient of the coveted Prix Walo and has taken the stage at the Montreux Jazz Festival. In 1996 Hauser relocated to Los Angeles, where he re-entered the education arena. His studies took him to UCLA where he delved deeply into film scoring. Subsequently he took his skills to the realm of indie cinema and began composing for film. Hauser was a privileged participant in the ASCAP film-scoring workshop in 2000 and elevated to semifinalist status at the Young Film Composer Competition in 2002. Hauser has worked on films featuring such superstars as Vin
Diesel (The Chronicles of Riddick) and Charlize Theron (Aeon Flux). His work involves him in a variety of projects, including cinema, theater and video games.
"We wanted to make it a little more contemporary;" said Hauser since, "those songs had been written 40 years ago. I took that theatrical style and reinterpreted the tunes completely. My goal was to keep it orchestral and sparkly, and evoking a Christmas spirit."
Robert Picardo, best known as the holographic Doctor on Star Trek: Voyager was brought in to sing the role of Scrooge. "I was unfamiliar with this movie and had never seen it," Picardo said. "I didn't know how beloved the movie was and indeed how many people have been waiting for this music to come out on CD. When I watched the film I was very moved by it."
In addition to Picardo, another performer from the Star Trek family, Chase Masterson (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine) appears opposite Brian "Hacksaw" Williams as Mrs. Fezziwig, and Katie Campbell performs the songs "
Happiness" and Tiny Tim's ballad "
A Beautiful Day". The album features extensive liner notes by Randall Larson.
Said Picardo, "The other wonderful thing about being in anything that is Christmas-related is that you are an evergreen. It becomes relevant again every 12 months. It's fun to be in something that people can either punch up on their computer every year or pull the desk out of their CD cabinet and enjoy it, year after year, because the music is so great."
SCROOGE will be available digitally and pre-orders will be available from www.buysoundtrax.com on November 23rd and CDs will be in stores on December 1, 2011. The first 100 people to order at buysoundtrax.com will received a copy autographed by Robert Picardo.
