The Magnificent Seven: Original MGM Motion Picture Soundtrack [Enhanced CD] [Enhanced, Original recording reissued, Original recording remastered, Soundtrack]

Elmer Bernstein | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (September 29, 1998)
• Original Release Date: October 23, 1960
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Enhanced, Original recording reissued, Original recording remastered, Soundtrack
• Label: Rykodisc
• ASIN: B00000C40G
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #137,620 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Main Title And Calvera

2. Council

3. Quest

4. Strange Funeral/After The Brawl

5. Vin's Luck

6. And Then There Were Two

7. Fiesta

8. Stalking

9. Worst Shot

10. The Journey

11. Toro

12. Training

13. Calvera's Return

14. Calvera Routed

15. Ambush

16. Petra's Declaration

17. Bernardo

18. Surprise

19. Defeat

20. Crossroads

See all 23 tracks on this disc

Editorial Reviews

From the Label

THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN is widely regarded as one of Hollywood's greatest Westerns. The all-star remake of Akira Kurosawa's classic THE SEVEN SAMURAI in one of the greatest entries in the Western genre and has inspired three sequels and a CBS TV series. Elmer Bernstein's Academy Award®-nominated score includes one of the most recognizable pieces of film music, the rousing "Magnificent Seven Theme." This CD at last makes available the tremendous scope, power and furious energy of Bernstein's score in its first incarnation.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great music - bad sound quality, December 22, 2001

By 

Joshua Kaufman (Cincinnati, OH) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Magnificent Seven: Original MGM Motion Picture Soundtrack [Enhanced CD] (Audio CD)

The Magnificent Seven by Elmer Bernstein has one of the more famous themes of cinema, coming from the same year that gave us one of the most famous movie-cues ('The Murder' from Psycho by Bernard Herrmann). Both of these, along with Spartacus by Alex North are said to have ushered in the 'Silver Age' in film music.

This score is much more than its well-known theme, however. It packs in just about everything one would expect from a score for a Western/Mexican movie written pre-Morricone: Happy trumpet lines, lots of latin percussian, fanfareing horns, and Spanish guitar motifs -- and mixes them up brilliantly.

There's lots of great themes abound, especially the various "riding" themes. Almost all the way through the score is packed with some kind of forward energy (it's said that Bernstein intentionalally wrote music faster than the action on screen to make the movie seem better paced). Beyond the main theme, I especially like the secondary theme, prominant in 'The Journey', and the wonderful trumpet theme featured in cues such as 'Calvera's Return'. And the final ten minutes or so bring them all together masterfully providing a great climax to a great score.

Unfortunatly, if you buy this album, you must take the bad with the good. This is the ONLY release of the original tracks recorded in 1960, however the sound quality is, quite frankly, painful at times. The hiss is very overbearing in some spots and listening to this on headphones is not the most pleasent experience. It's probably not Ryko's fault, as they were quite capable of producing albums with great sound (see Taras Bulba, a 1962 score). It was long thought that the original tapes were lost, so they likely deteriorated. As a result, I would recommend either of the two re-recordings -- one on the Koch lable, and the other very hard-to-find one the BMG lable (the prior is still buyable, but the latter is a slightly better performance).

So overall, buy this great score in some form, but I recommend a different version than this, unless you are the type who MUST have the original performance.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the greats, December 17, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: The Magnificent Seven: Original MGM Motion Picture Soundtrack [Enhanced CD] (Audio CD)

It's about time that this soundtrack became available. It was just OK having the "Return of the Seven" as the only soundtrack version of this score, but this release, nearly 40 years after the original film release, finally remedies that.

Rhino has put together a great CD. It has all the cues from the score. We finally get to hear the music in the original sequence which I have always felt made a difference. The album notes are not as wonderful and devote too much space to the film and not enough to the music.

I think that people who are not familiar with the score will find themselves caught up with the energy of the score. Bernstein also managed the trick of writing an exciting score, well fitted for the film, while maintaining absolute musical integrity all the way from the consistently high inspiration to the superb execution.

New listeners may feel that this score sounds like a lot of other Western scores. It is really the other way around: the others all sound like this one. It was the first of its kind (Jerome Moross's "The Big Country" not withstanding). Even Bernstein began to rewrite this score and produce soundalikes (such as the "Sons of Katie Elder" and "The Scalphunters").

At his best, Elmer Bernstein is one of the greats and produced a large number of terrific soundtracks that are still amazing for their high level of musicality and consistent inspiration. This CD displays a prime example.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the Best Scores Ever Composed, October 3, 2001

By 

gobirds2 (New England) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Magnificent Seven: Original MGM Motion Picture Soundtrack [Enhanced CD] (Audio CD)

Elmer Bernstein's score for THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN is an innovative and groundbreaking score ringing in a new era for film music. This reissue and expanded recording of the original 1960 United Artists album is an essential CD. There actually was a soundtrack LP pressed for THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN and it did contain an actual United Artists catalog number. However, it was used for promotional use only and never issued for retail sale. This is the first time the original soundtrack has ever been available to the general public. It was worth the wait. Bernstein's main theme for THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN besides being highly recognizable is both rousing and reflective. It is a statement on the nature of bravery and nobility as the seven gunmen go up against innumerable odds for the rights of the downtrodden. The score is pensive yet contains a lot of orchestral movement which not only advances the plot but entices the viewer to become enthralled in the drama. Bernstein utilizes both traditional Western and Mexican orchestral flavor into the score yet rearranges these styles to deliver the adventure, human drama and most importantly asks us by the film's finale to fathom the enigma of bravery and self-sacrifice. This recording is in mono but is one of a handful of soundtracks that I would classify as essential.