MRH: Was Glasser's autobiography ever published, because not much is known about his life aside from a few autobio excerpts that accompanied the SAE LPs?

BK: As I mentioned, I have it - it's not something that could be published in its present form - it's massive and unwieldy, repetitious and a little nutty.  But at some point I may talk to his niece about cleaning it up, organizing it, cutting it down to size, and putting it out in the world.  There are some great stories in it and he's very amusing. 

MRH: Kritzerland has become quite prolific in releasing a steady amount of titles each month, and I wonder if there are any composers whose work you admire, and would like to see represented on CD? (I'm secretly hoping Marlin Skiles' The Strangler from 1964 might be in there someplace, but perhaps that's wishful thinking.)

BK: I think people have come to realize pretty quickly that I pretty much do only what I like and what's fun.  That's why you don't see any of those 80s synth scores that people love so much - I know they'd sell, but I just can't bring myself to do them because while they're okay they don't really do anything for me.  

But to do Les Baxter's Sadismo?  NOW, you're talkin'.  But I've gotten to put out any number of releases of scores I love by composers I love, and more than a few of my Holy Grails, like the complete  (1961) by Friedhofer, the two Elmer Bernstein scores, Love With The Proper Stranger (1963) / A Girl Named Tamiko (1962) - we've got more Elmer coming - Previn's Two For The Seesaw (1962), and on and on.  Our end of October release is a score by a composer who's not that well known [Richard Einhorn], but it's a great score for a neat little thriller [Dead of Winter] - I think people will really like it.

MRH: And my last quick questions are in regards to One-Eyed Jacks, which you just released in a 2-CD set. Friedhofer was one of the first composers whose work I noticed as a teen, and among the first LPs I bought when they were reissued by Varese in the 70s and 80s, and he's been a personal favourite since The Young Lions (1958), Boy on a Dolphin (1957), and The Sun Also Rises (with that devastatingly beautiful main title).

One-Eyed Jacks is particularly special because it has everything I admire about Friedhofer: romanticism, complexity, and his use of harmony for moments of desperation and emotional turmoil. (The sequence where Brando waits on a wind-blown hill and is eventually forced to surrender is a fantastic cue.)

What made you focus on releasing this unique Friedhofer score, and is there a chance some of the Decca/Varese titles might one day see expanded releases?

BK: One-Eyed Jacks was one of my all-time Holy Grails and I was so determined to get it that nothing, and I mean nothing, could stop me.  It took a long, long time to make the inroads I needed to make, and then more time to do the deal because the paperwork wasn't good, but eventually it all got done and the result was beyond my wildest imaginings.  It's Friedhofer at his absolute zenith and I do not say that lightly, as I love his entire output and my favorite film score of all-time is The Best Years Of Our Lives (1946).

As to the Decca stuff - we have no relationship with Universal - Varese does and Intrada seems to, so I'm hoping they get around to those scores.

ALSO AVAILABLE :

Bruce Kimmel discusses the release of Stephen Sondheim's score for Evening Primrose (1967).