Escape from Alcatraz / Hell is for Heroes

From the pitted war zone of the Siegfried Line to the rough-hewn cliffs of Alcatraz Island, few directors equaled Don Siegel when it came to navigating the stark landscape of masculine cinema, frequently populated by tough men under extreme duress. This new release from Intrada features two such scores: Jerry Fielding's Escape from Alcatraz and Leonard Rosenman's Hell is for Heroes.

Leonard Rosenman was no stranger to war pictures, having previously scored such films as Pork Chop Hill (1959) and The Outsider (1961). Rosenman's sparsely spotted score makes the most of its relatively brief moments in the picture using skittering low strings and scattered piano figures to create a bleak portrait of war as a state of constant unease and agitation. The studio archived Hell Is for Heroes on three-track 35mm mag, allowing for a present-day true stereo mix.

For Escape from Alcatraz, Jerry Fielding opted for musique concrète, an electro-acoustic form, involving sonic manipulations beyond the normal spheres of melody, harmony and meter. Using techniques developed in his personal studio, Fielding dramatically altered the speed and pitch of individual instruments (as well as sound effects from the film) to achieve an intensely eerie atmosphere.

This premiere CD presents the tracks in varying forms of stereo and artificial stereo for optimal listening purposes.