FOR THE TERM OF HIS NATURAL LIFE / THE WILD DUCK - Original Soundtracks by Simon Walker
(CD comes W/Free Digital Download/Digital booklet)
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Dragon’s Domain Records, to be distributed through buysoundtrax.com, presents the soundtrack release of FOR THE TERM OF HIS NATURAL LIFE/THE WILD DUCK, featuring music composed and conducted by Simon Walker for two projects for Australian television and film.
FOR THE TERM OF HIS NATURAL LIFE aired on Australian television in 1983 as a two part series directed by Rob Stewart, starring Colin Friels, Anthony Perkins, Patrick Macnee, Diane Cilento and Samantha Eggar. FOR THE TERM OF HIS NATURAL LIFE was based on the novel by Marcus Clarke, first serialized in Australia in the late 1800s and the subject of an early feature film in 1927. The mini series tells the story of a young English gentleman (Friels) wrongfully convicted of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment at a Tasmanian penal settlement. Adopting the name “Rufus Dawes” to protect his family, he tries to survive the rigors of hard labor but gradually becomes a hardened convict. His manner is softened when he falls in love with the young daughter of an officer at the colony. When Dawes learns that his English title and inheritance have been stolen from him during his incarceration, he escapes and seeks revenge on those who wronged him.
THE WILD DUCK was Simon Walker’s first feature film score, based on Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen’s tragicomedy. Directed by French-born Australian filmmaker Henri Safran and adapted and anglicized by the director along with Tutte Lemkow and John Lind with “additional material” by Peter Smalley, the film starred Jeremy Irons, Liv Ullmann, Lucinda Jones, Arthur Dignam, and Michael Pate. Set in a small industrial Australian town THE WILD DUCK concerns a couple, Harold and Gina (Irons and Ullmann), who are forced to answer for the legitimacy of their adolescent daughter Henrietta (Jones) when her true father, Gregory (Dignam), comes to town. Figuring into the drama is a wild duck that has been wounded by Gregory's father (Pate) and rescued by Henrietta; its symbolism looms over the stifling household as personalities reach a heartrending climax.
Both FOR THE TERM OF HIS NATURAL LIFE and THE WILD DUCK were released previously in the early days of the compact disc format and have been difficult to find over the years. Dragon’s Domain Records is pleased to bring these wonderful scores back into the marketplace now newly remastered by Digital Outland for new listeners to discover Simon Walker’s incredible talent and including liner notes by author Randall Larson.
FOR THE TERM OF HIS NATURAL LIFE
1. Main Title / Coming Home (3:07)
2. Lord Bellasis’ Watch (1:27)
3. Convicted (1:55)
4. The Mutiny (2:24)
5. The Penal Colony (4:43)
6. Dawes and Sylvia / The Flogging (1:43)
7. Hallucination (2:40)
8. Escape From The Rock (4:22)
9. Caught Again (2:11)
10. The Chains Removed (2:54)
11. Dawes Considers Escape (0:42)
12. “Why Didn’t You Kill Him?” (2:02)
13. The Rescue (1:29)
14. Fight In The Coal Mine (1:46)
15. Impersonations (1:25)
16. The Escape / Arrival At Sydney Harbour (3:13)
17. The Goldfields / A New Friendship (2:22)
18. Frere’s Death (1:05)
19. The Conspiracy Revealed (1:40)
20. Sylvia and Dawes Reunited (End Titles) (3:04)
THE WILD DUCK
21. Main Title Part 1 (1:43)
22. Main Title Part 2 (3:43)
23. Train Station Reunion / Boys Night Out (1:12)
24. Coffee Time (1:17)
25. Most Important Thing in Life is Truth (4:43)
26. Good Night (1:39)
27. Chickens (2:15)
28. I Think He Wants Something Else (1:12)
29. Night Time (0:37)
30. She Isn’t Mine? (1:56)
31. Despair (1:04)
32. Suicide Attempt (0:49)
33. Finale (2:51)
Total Time: 69:45
