This newly released book by the late film composer Henry Mancini is a book vital to any producer, director and composer as to what goes in to making a film score. Step-by-step, with copies of his notes, including music spotting notes (a form where the composer with the director works out where music is placed in the movie), Henry Mancini goes through the entire process of how he created his score for 1983 ABC-TV miniseries, The Thorn Birds, based on the novel by Colleen McCullough. Unlike other books on film scoring, Mancini’s book comes not only with the actual cues used in the movie (re-engraved), but recordings of the actual session conducted by Mancini including hearing the engineer calling out the take number before recording begins.

For both composers and directors, Mancini’s score demonstrates the sound of an actual studio orchestra with a reduced set of instruments compared to a full-budget orchestral score, thus setting sonic expectations, especially for composers using sampled orchestral libraries. Mancini’s instrumentation included 6 Violins 1, 6 Violins 2, 6 Violas, 6 Celli, 4 Basses, 3 Trumpets, 3 French Horns, 3 Trombones, 1 Tuba, 2 Flutes (with doubles), 2 Clarinets/Bass Clarinets, 1 Oboe/English horn, 1 Bassoon, 1 Harp/Irish harp, 2 12-string guitars, 1 Dulcimer, 1 Autoharp, 1 Percussion and 1 Keyboard.

The book is organized in two parts: Pre-Production and The Music.

Pre-Production: Preface, Pre-Production, The Themes, Thorn Birds Theme, Meggie’s Theme, The Mary Carson Theme, The Paddy and Fi Theme, Spotting the Film, Music Spotting Notes, The Logistics, Manuscript Paper, Dubbing.

The Music (includes script, commentary, actual cue sketch score, and recording on CD): M-1 Main Tile (Episode I), M-7 Awestruck Meggie (Episode I), M-11 Stuie Grows Up (Episode I), M-16 Passion Play (Episode I), M-21 The Story of The Thorn Bird (Episode I), M-30 Grown Up Meggie (Episode I), M-40 Ralph Leaves Meggie (Episode I), M-I Opening (Episode II), M-7 Fire on Drogheda (Episode II), M-24 Luke and Meggie (Episode II), M-29 Arrival at the Vatican (Episode II), M-18 The Letter (Episode III), M-20 New Kid in Town (Episode III), M-20 Bye Bye Dane (Episode IV), M-27 Be Happy (Episode IV), M-28 The Final Scene (Episode IV), Last Words.