E-Mail Bag
Edited by Jeff Bond
We get a lot of reader mail, both from the hardcopy FILM SCORE MONTHLY
and this web site. Here are two recent letters, the first in reaction to
a letter last week (August 27 column):
...It's obvious that Mr. Engelhardt is a fellow who wishes that nothing
ever changes.
He completely disproves his purpose of writing the article. First he
states that a real composer has a "voice" then goes on to conclude
that Danny Elfman has no "voice." So what is Mr. Engelhardt's
definition of a "voice"? Is it a recongnizable style, signatures
that are impressed into every score or what? Mr. Elfman in my opinion,
and I believe FSM's opinion as well, has a "voice" that is as
clear as Williams, Goldsmith or any other major composer in film history.
Engelhardt is concerned that a composer's style should involve all genres
of films. If this is true then James Horner, Elliot Goldenthal and Randy
Newman are all inadequate under his classification. Newman hasn't written
an action score (AFO was jilted), Goldenthal hasn't written a comedy and
Horner hasn't written a decent action score (other than Aliens but that's
arguable).
Chart Elfman's stylistic tendencies from Pee-Wee's Big Adventure
to Batman. From Batman to Batman Returns to Dead
Presidents to Mission: Impossible (and let's not forget the
departure score Sommersby), you see an evolution in his writing.
Elfman's music is not the same today (with Men in Black) as it was
with Pee-Wee. It's not even close. Mr. Elfman has found his own
"voice" and has worked hard to achieve his own styles. Yes it
is true his influences of Rota and Herrmann are littered in his earlier
scores, but he openly admits to that. What about other composers who don't?
Who pass off their scores as their own?
I regard John Williams with upmost honour. He's like a grandfather.
He seems like a kind man and I in no way wish to comment on his character
as a human being. But I think it's time that he quit the twenty year old
free ride he got from Star Wars. And as for his music not being interchangeable?
The love theme from Raiders is remarkably similiar to "Han and Leia's
Theme" from The Empire Strikes Back.
Thanks to Jeff Bond for cooling my head. It was literally ringing while
reading the article. I've learned that you can't teach old dogs new tricks
and Danny Elfman's music is obviously just one of the things that make
old people cringe.
elfman@ibm.net
It's an unfortunate fact of film music fan life that whenever someone
slams our favorite composer, we feel the need to slam their favorite composer
back... I have found that this is a natural, instinctive reaction that
is our equivalent to the life-saving duck-and-cover reflex, and I have
fallen victim to it on many occasions. John Williams is the ultimate target
simply by virtue of his high profile and years of, let's face it, pretty
great work. Don't you just get SICK of hearing how great he is? Unfortunately
for the naysayers, Williams is still no slouch, and I'd hardly say he's
gotten a free ride from Star Wars...although I do find it excessive that
he must receive an Oscar nomination EVERY year. There are a few post-Star
Wars John Williams scores of note: Close Encounters of the Third Kind,
Superman, The Fury, E.T., Raiders of the Lost Ark, Empire of the Sun, Schindlerıs
List, Jurassic Park, and Nixon just to name a few.
***
...Being still somewhat young (21 but I already have a BA in music!)
I have not had a chance to hear or see many of the scores that people are
always calling a composer's glory days. With the release of Planet of
the Apes I finally see what all the talk is about Goldsmith's earlier
days. I have always been a huge Goldsmith fan, loving his more recent scores
especially Poltergeist, Star Trek The Motion Picture, Star Trek V (yes
5) and Gremlins 2. Apes astounded me with its mix between
Stravinsky rhythm and harmonies and Bartok orchestrations. It is almost
a mix between The Rite of Spring and Concerto for Strings, Celeste and
Percussion but totally Goldsmith. I do have one question--who did the orchestrations?
The album notes don't mention. The suite from Escape is fun, it
fits the Apes in our time plot--though the music seems very dated now.
It must have worked great when the movie came out though.
The new recording of Patton is very well done. Goldsmith kept
the same feel as in the orginal score including using the same type of
organ sound (I thought he might try to update it). The only problem I had
was the almost unhearable opening of the main titles. You really have to
turn the volume up to hear the opening triplet patterns and the organ chorale.
Besides that the Fox Classic series are a great and long awaited addition
to any score collection.
Jeff Nordahl
Iıve found that as I've grown older, itıs gotten a lot easier to
get into the grooves of soundtracks that donıt necessarily sound like Stravinsky
or John Williams, i.e. jazz and rock-influenced works. The skinny on Escape
from the Planet of the Apes on the internet seems to be that itıs some
great atrocity, but people rarely take into account that a.) the film was
for the most part a comedy, and b.) it was a product of its time (the early
70s) and the urban setting was deliberately vamped up in Goldsmithıs pulsating
and funny title music. It set the perfect tone: something important is
happening, but there are funny aspects to it, and itıs happening in the
freaky world of today, baby! As for the orchestrations, both Apes and Escape
are the work of Arthur Morton--but letıs be careful here and note that
Goldsmith, like many A-list film composers, writes very complete sketches
of his scores, so he is the one who actually decides that this line will
be played by trombones, this line by oboes, etc. Also, although Patton
and Tora! Tora! Tora! are Fox films, the rerecordings are not actually
part of the Fox Classic series, which consist of original tracks from the
film soundtracks. I do agree that itıs awfully hard to hear the opening
of Patton.
Send your letters to Mailbag@filmscoremonthly.com!
Tomorrow: a review of last weekend's John Williams at the Hollywood
Bowl Star Wars concert!
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