Paul McCartney Has Written the Foreword to an Upcoming Book Set Featuring Late Beatles

January 3 marked what would have been lauded Beatles producer George Martin’s 100th birthday. In commemoration of the milestone, Curvebender Publishing will release a book collection in April titled George Martin: The Scores, described as “the first-ever definitive collection of the legendary producer’s original music manuscripts.”

The three-volume set features full-sized reproductions of Martin’s handwritten scores, as well as commentary about the musical pieces, and new orchestral recordings made at the famed Abbey Road Studios in London. In addition, the multi-part tome includes a foreword written by Paul McCartney.

The publishing company began putting together George Martin: The Scores more than 10 years ago, working in close cooperation with Martin before his death at age 90 in March 2016.

The book’s preface, Curvebender collaborators Kevin Ryan and Brian Kehew recalled about the project, “As we worked—scanning, notating, building a database—George would occasionally pop in and observe over our shoulders. He had never seen the entire collection pored over in this manner. He would sometimes pick up a score and glance through it, bright eyes flickering across its staves, before returning it to the pile.”

The volumes include Martin’s scores for various Beatles and McCartney solo songs, as well as for tunes the producer created for other artists. Some of the manuscripts feature arrangement ideas that were discarded and differ significantly from the music that appeared on the final recordings.

Volume I covers the scores Martin wrote from 1965 through The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band album in 1967. Volume II spans from September 1967 through The Beatles’ self-titled 1968 album, a.k.a. “The White Album.” Volume III covers the period from The Beatles’ 1969 album Abbey Road through Martin’s final score in 2006.
About the Recordings Included with ‘George Martin: The Scores’

As part of the George Martin: The Scores project, several of the producer’s arrangements were rerecorded in Studio Two of Abbey Road, where Martin and The Beatles frequently worked together on many songs. The new recordings will give listeners the chance to hear Martin’s arrangements clearly, sometimes revealing instrumental parts that are harder to hear on the songs’ original mixes. Multitrack files from the new sessions are also included in the book sets, giving fans a chance to more closely analyze the pieces and create remixes.

Source: Matt Friedlander/americansongwriter.com

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