Description
“Stranded” Original Score From The Television Mini-Series
Limited Edition of 500 copies
Label: KMRCD 036
Film Date: 2002
Album Date: 2015
Tracks: 29
Time: 63″53
Directed by Charles Beeson, Stranded is a stylish and entertaining two-part television adaptation of The Swiss Family Robinson, originally produced for Hallmark. The 2002 version starred actor Liam Cunningham, Brana Bajic, Emma Pierson, Andrew Lee Potts, Neil Newbon and Jesse Spencer as the self-reliant family who discovers an exotic paradise while being threatened by pirates. Shot on real Southeast Asian locations on Thailand, the film features not only family drama, but lots of swashbuckling action, especially in its second half when the pirates stage a raid on the family’s property.
The score for Stranded was written by Polish-born composer Stanislas Syrewicz, a veteran of film and television scoring. Syrewicz studied at the Warsaw Academy of Music, but he was also awarded a second diploma in stage directing from the Academy of Theatre. The composer’s first television score was written for Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson, an American/Polish co-production. Syrewicz and his family left Poland in the early ‘80s. The young composer was signed by Island Records where worked with performers like Marianne Faithful, Jon Anderson, and Diane Keaton. Since the 1980s, Syrewicz has built up a strong portfolio of television credits that include programs like In the Company of Whales for Discovery, Stalin for HBO or Crime and Punishment for NBC. His feature movies credits include collaborations with such directors as John Frankenheimer, Ken Russell, Ferdinand Fairfax, and Julian Fellowes.
With so many things going on in the film ranging from the storm to the rebuilding of civilization and its intersecting plotlines involving pirates, Syrewicz chose the idea of recovery as his central theme, gradually building towards the epic finale as the family clashes with the marauders, defending not only their home but their family integrity as well. The score has an old-fashioned charm mixed with a few electronic additions, great percussion work and hints of Asian music representing the exotic locations. The CD comes with 8-page liner notes by Gergely Hubai discussing the film and the score based on original interviews with the director and the composer.
