It was my pleasure to write the liner notes for this week's release of John Addison's
Sleuth on Intrada. It's a fantastic score filled with whimsy, pathos, bluster, and diabolical wit. (All qualities which apply to the film, of course, which stars Laurence Olivier and Michael Caine.) Special thanks to
Tim Burden, who provided some reminiscences of his father, the great horn player John H. Burden. The elder Burden performed on numerous John Addison scores, including this one, and his big solo is the highlight of the disc for me (you can hear it at the end of the "Epilogue" on the album, although it actually appears at the beginning of the film).
I should note that this premiere CD duplicates the original LP contents, including about six minutes of Anthony Shaffer dialogue from Olivier and Caine. That shouldn't keep anyone away ... in addition to being good dialogue, it only affects two tracks, and leaves more than half-an-hour of undisturbed music from one of Addison's best scores. It was one of only two of the composer's scores to be nominated for an Academy Award (R), and it deserved the honor.
