Fantasia 2000 CD

Fantasia 2000 CD

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Fantasia 2000 CD to be released November 30th

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Walt Disney Records is releasing the all-new original motion picture soundtrack recording for FANTASIA/2000 on November 30, 1999. Expanding the concept that inspired the 1940 Disney classic FANTASIA, the soundtrack for the new film features James Levine conducting the Chicago Symphony and Philharmonia Orchestras in classical favorites for seven new animated segments and interstitials, and one returning classic segment from the original FANTASIA -- Dukas' The Sorcerer's Apprentice,' which features Mickey Mouse. Music by Beethoven, Respighi, Gershwin, Shostakovich, Saint-Saens, Elgar and Stravinsky is also featured in FANTASIA/2000.

The film will have its world premiere on Friday, December 17, at New York's Carnegie Hall, with Levine conducting the Philharmonia Orchestra in a synchronized live performance with the film, followed by a world tour with similar live presentations in London, Paris and Tokyo, returning to the U.S. for a final performance at a millennium New Year's Eve gala at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium. On January 1, the film begins an exclusive four-month engagement in IMAX theaters around the world.

The music featured in FANTASIA/2000 includes new adaptations of Beethoven's Symphony No. 5,' Respighi's Pines of Rome,' Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue,' Shostakovich's Piano Concerto No. 2,' Saint-Saens' Carnival of the Animals,' the Pomp and Circumstance' marches of Edward Elgar and Stravinsky's The Firebird Suite.' Yefim Bronfman is soloist in the Shostakovich concerto (which accompanies a segment based on the story The Steadfast Tin Soldier'), and soprano Kathleen Battle is heard, with the Chicago Symphony Chorus, in the new arrangement of Elgar's Pomp and Circumstance Marches Nos. 1, 2, 3 & 4.' Pianists Gail Niwa and Philip L. Sabransky perform in the finale to Saint-Saens' Carnival of the Animals.' In the Gershwin segment, pianist Ralph Grierson is soloist with the Philharmonia Orchestra. Levine also conducts the orchestra in a new recording of Dukas' The Sorcerer's Apprentice' for the FANTASIA/2000 soundtrack. Leopold Stokowski conducted the returning classic Sorcerer's Apprentice' sequence found in FANTASIA/2000 and the FANTASIA.

The original FANTASIA, released in 1940, was created and supervised by Walt Disney and featured, both onscreen and on the soundtrack, Leopold Stokowski conducting the Philadelphia Orchestra. Pushing the technical limits, as Walt Disney often did, FANTASIA was recorded in stereophonic sound, still an experimental medium at the time. In renewing his uncle's legacy, Roy Disney supervised every aspect of design and production of FANTASIA/2000, including the selection of the music. Music editing and new arrangements for the Beethoven, Respighi, Saint-Saens and Stravinsky segments are by Bruce Coughlin, and Peter Schickele created the unique arrangement for the Elgar segment.

Walt Disney always intended that FANTASIA would be a work in progress, continuously updated and supplemented. But FANTASIA did not do well in its original theatrical release so that idea was temporarily shelved. But more than 50 years later the film's executive producer and vice chairman of The Walt Disney Company, Roy Edward Disney, personally took up the challenge that FANTASIA/2000 came into being, a dream that was shared by the Disney Studios' new generation of animators. ``The artists have always expressed an affinity for FANTASIA. After all, its union of music with moving images is the purest form of their art, and the film was designed as an expression of the boundless possibilities inherent in their craft,'' said Roy Disney.

Veteran Disney animator Hendel Butoy (co-director of The Rescuers Down Under) is FANTASIA/2000's supervising director, as well as director of two individual segments. Other segments are directed by Eric Goldberg, Pixote Hunt, Francis Glebas and Paul & Gaeton Brizzi. The film is produced by Don Ernst, with live action introductions directed by Don Hahn.

A specially packaged, numbered, limited-quantity FANTASIA/2000 Collector's Edition soundtrack has been available exclusively at The Disney Store and Disney Theme Parks since November 9, 1999 for $16.99. The regular CD will be released on November 30 and prices will vary at retail. Both versions are available on CD only.

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-- Posted November 23, 1999