Film Score Friday 4/2/99
by Lukas Kendall
Here is some exciting scoring assignment news: John Williams will score
Bicentennial Man, the big July 4, 2000 movie directed by Chris Columbus
and starring Robin Williams as an android who wants to become human (i.e.
Data: The Motion Picture).
Basil Poledouris will score For the Love of the Game, the upcoming
Kevin Costner picture directed by Sam Raimi about an aging major league
pitcher involved in a perfect game. Poledouris is inspired casting for
that subject matter -- should be a great one.
Wojciech Kilar is scoring Roman Polanski's The Ninth Gate, starring
Johnny Depp.
Alien DVD News
Due June 1 from 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment is a 20th Anniversary
Edition DVD of Alien, featuring a 68-minute documentary on the film
and some exciting isolated music tracks: 1) all-new commentary by director
Ridley Scott; 2) the soundtrack in French; 3) Jerry Goldsmith¹s original
score as written and recorded, and placed in the movie as the composer
intended; 4) the edited musical score (with tracked Freud cues) as its
appears in the film, plus production sound in-between. This means for the
first time, you can hear all of Goldsmith¹s music for the movie, and also
compare his original spotting of the picture (with tons of unused music)
with the final edited soundtrack. Time to get a DVD player! The package
(produced by Sharpline Arts) will also contain theatrical trailers, storyboards,
deleted scenes and outtakes.
Star Wars Fever
Wow, that 60 Minutes piece on George Lucas and The Phantom
Menace was great. Reportedly it is being digitized at starwars.countingdown.com.
The Sunday Boston Globe last weekend had a huge piece on the upcoming
score: http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/087/living/Making__Star_Wars__sing_again+.shtml
Finally, I'm told you can actually hear a cue from the score, "Naboo,"
in WAV format at http://www.theprequelcenter.8m.com/
Super News
Reponses to yesterday's update on the
upcoming 2CD set of Superman: The Movie from Rhino:
From: Jeff Thomas, The Maestro <jthoma4@gl.umbc.edu>
Many Thanks to Mike Matessino and everyone involved in the full
release of the Superman score. Fans have asked and you have delivered!
Out of curiosity, will there be a new interview with John Williams in the
liner notes?
From: "Malamed, Laird" <lairdo@activision.com>
In issue V4 no. 3, Andy Dursin points out that Varese Sarabande
has done a fantastic job with re-recording scores. The lone exception is
of course Superman. I heartily agree given that the album rarely leaves
my shelves. (As compared to Empire or Raiders or the classic Bond scores,
which I listen to quite often.)
Having read Mike Matessino's column on the website this morning,
I feel absolutely no disappointment in having bought the Superman re-recording
because I think it helped to produced what sounds like an amazing restoration.
Let's face it, if the Varese album had including the opening and performed
the score at the correct tempo, the demand for this new Superman would
have been much less. Since I would rather have the original score, I "almost"
glad I shelled out the $22 bucks for the Varese version. So, in a bizarre
way, we are again indebted to Mr. Townson.
PS I thought the Midway and Sinbad albums were gems and I will continue
to support the classic series.
From: Daniel Lee, Dsl1999@aol.com
It was indeed heartening to hear that the SUPERMAN restoration is
a reality as opposed to another predictable disappointment (from Time-Warner).
Rhino should be applauded for their efforts. While Varese made noble attempts
to return the soundtrack to all its glory, Rhino gets my vote as most praise-worthy
of the year...
From: TOMASPDOUG@webtv.net (THOMAS DOUGLAS)
Other than the new Star Wars music, I can not hardly wait for the
restore music of Superman. What is heard in the movie should always be
on the cd's.
The score to Superman is the most exciting uplifting and John Williams
top five scores that he has written. It has all of qualites that make a
long lasting and a never dull score. It has romance, it has adventure,
and of course sadness. Williams is the only composer who knows how to write
a flying sequence. The music relays so much emotion.
I never liked the Warner Brothers release of Superman, it bit the
dust. I know back then in the 70"s the you were limited how much music
that you could put on the album, around 20 minutes on each side.
I remember as a youngster, how I was thrilled in the movie house
at the begining sequence, with the "S" flying across the screen
and the London Symphony Orchestra was in full stride, and the french horn
was an octive higher than the rest of the orchestra. That to me is one
of the greatest openings to movie, ever.
But when John Williams needed to to be gentle with his score ie
Lois Lanes' death, the music was so frigile. Comical ie Lex Luther and
Otis. Awe insping ie the spaceship crashing threw the top of Jor-els labatory.
Sadness ie the Death of Jonathan. Edge of your seat ie the Helicopter Crash.
Last year John Debney released a two cd set of Superman music, not
haveing the blessing of Warner Brothers and others he could not restore
what he didn't have, a good effort, but it sounded a little thin at times.
The Royal Scottish National Orchestra could not hit those patent John Williams
high notes, like the LSO.
Hey Studio Ex. We like Movie Soundtracks, the way that I hear them
in the movies. My one wish is let me be incharge of a Studio for a day
and let me correct the pratice of not putting all of the movie music on
the the soundtrack CD.
It has taken over 20 years for Warner Brothers to get it right and
to make so many people happy! I bet also John Williams will be elated that
he and his fans will finally hear that great score : SUPERMAN
Collectors for Plain Old Plastic Jewel Boxes Unite
From: Ken Bruzenak, KBGman@aol.com
Just a random gripe about John Williams (breathless pause, gasp!),
well, really, about the packaging of The Phantom Menace. I look forward
in dread to the latest gimmick-laden CD package, given the goofy, self-destructo
popup Lost World cardboard sleeve. That, the Raiders CD-case cardboard
prophylactic, the Star Wars books that don't have a back cover track listing
and are kind of fumbly to open in a moving car, and the foil-printed CE3K--they're
all so comic book gimmicky and nonfunctional that I can't figure out why
anyone goes to the expense. Does a shiny box make for an instant collectors'
item? Try telling that to Marvel Comics right now.
Please, whoever is in charge of marketing, don't waste money wrapping
The Phantom Menace in candy-colored cellophane or stainless steel boxes.
I'd rather have a second CD of the rest of the music. (Does anyone doubt
a deluxe double CD of ALL the music will appear in a couple years?) I don't
know if all this slick marketing is really just canny business acumen or
sucking the consumer/corpse dry. I just like to listen to the pretty music.
John and Jerry Continued
From: CORBERAMA@aol.com
In Nov., 1983, John Williams conducted the Los Angeles Phil in a
performance of "The Planets" (Holst) and "Violin Concerto"
(Williams). Goldsmith, David Rose and at least two other noted film composers
were seen (by me) going backstage after the performance. In Spring, 1984,
when a group of film composers conducted the New American Orchestra at
the Dorothy Chandler in Los Angeles (incl. Goldsmith, Grusin, William Kraft,
etc.) I went backstage to congratulate JG who, standing in front of me,
puffed away on a cigarette while JW stood behind me waiting to talk to
JG (JW's wife kept calling: "Johnny! Johnny!).
I'd say that they admire each other professionally and are probably
very good friends.
Patton
CD Feedback
From: Zob10701@aol.com
Talk about synchronicity!
This past Thursday I got my copy of your Silver Age Classics CD
of "Patton/Flight of the Phoenix" and no sooner had I ripped
it out of the envelope, slapped it in my CD player and listened to the
"Patton" tracks that "Patton" came on AMC just as the
last notes of the "Patton" end titles had finished. Unfortunately,
it also made me aware of a small error in Jeff Bond's liner notes as well.
During the Hugh Fowler-edited scenes of Patton's dash across France it
is Captain Stieger (the German officer who had been assigned to study Patton),
not Rommel, who is shown in the German command post tallying Patton's victories
against the German army.
Did this insignificant fact in any way take away from my appreciation
of a magnificent product, splendidly packaged, with superior sound (nice
crisp percussion and those echoplexed triplets...ah...) you may ask? Hell,
no!
In my humble opinion, this is the best CD FSM has ever produced.
The thing I like most about your Retrograde/Silver Age stuff is that you
can tell that it's produced by people that have a true appreciation of
not only the music, but the films themselves. It's this that I think sets
you apart from all other soundtrack labels. Only the fanboys at FSM would
put a still of the infamous Patton slapping scene (helmet caught in mid-air,
no less) on the inside of the jewel case! It's the icing on the cake of
a great release.
Keep 'em comin' and I'll keep buyin' 'em!
Thanks! Sorry we got some insignificant caption wrong. By the way, see
Douglass Fake's comments on our 100
Rifles CD at http://www.intrada.com/doug/doug.htm.
Doug made some observations about the score which I hadn't even noticed,
and I spent several months with this thing. Thanks Doug.
2001 Poll
From: "Kevin Jung" <altair@mail4.wmis.net>
In your current poll regarding which score would have worked better
for "2001" I really don't think you can get an accurate representation
without bias towards Kubrick's choice.
I've had the same conversation with some friends of mine who love
the movie (and all think it's probably the best movie of it's type). Even
though we all have North's score, and think it's wonderful (and wish we
could have heard what he would have done with the rest of the film), it's
hard to say whether it's "better" than the music Kubrick chose.
Why? Because we're so familiar with the movie as it stands. It's
hard to divorce yourself from what has been "familiar" for these
30 years and put something in it's place. Imagine a lost score to "Jaws"
or "North by Northwest?" We are so used to the music we have
come to know so well, it's nearly impossible to imagine a movie with different
music. The music we've hear all these years just "fits."
While I see what the beauty of North's score is, and can't help
but wonder what the movie would be like with his score, I can't get out
of my head the images and music of what I've seen all these years.
"2001" is a classic movie. A great movie. Would it be
better or worse with a different score? I don't think anyone could tell.
Obviously it would give the movie a different "feel," but would
it change the movie? This is something that can (and will) be debated for
a long time.
From: Josh Gizelt <Josh.Gizelt@gte.net>
Few people have a problem with the music as used in "A Clockwork
Orange." The reasons for this are many; for one thing, the classical
music heard is justified narratively- Alex likes classical music (especially
Beethoven), so oftimes the music will reflect him and his attitudes. Furthermore,
the intentionally ironic use of many tracks, such as "The Thieving
Magpie," comes through loud and clear. And certainly no one who has
seen that film can deny that "Singin' in the Rain" now sends
shivers up their spines.
Alex is never forgiven for his crimes, nor are they ever justified
or explained. The final scene of the film is a jubilant shout for his returned
abilities to rape and maim.
It is this moral indifference that has defined much of Kubrick's
later works (if not his earlier films, such as "Paths of Glory"),
when he himself had taken over complete control of his projects. It is
this moral indifference that attracts me in many ways to Kubrick's work.
Despite what many may others think, I often found his works to be quite
unpretentious works of modernism. As in modern music, (and some of the
scores for his own films) Kubrick eschewed a "tonal center" to
his work, and would often create very dissonant films that stand in neutral
judgment on their chosen topics. The characters in "Dr. Strangelove"
through to "Full Metal Jacket" are never assessed beyond their
personal characteristics (in fact, one wonders what kind of personal life
the intensely private Kubrick must have had when none is ever described
for any of the characters in his films).
The best known, and most widely seen film of Kubrick's is undeniably
"2001- A Space Odyssey." It is incontrovertibly one of Kubrick's
most important works, both thematically and technologically. It is also
one of his most difficult films to understand (many people, apparently,
were "uplifted" by the incredibly cynical ending) and the one
that explains the least about itself.
This extends to the music. We all know that Alex North had been
commissioned to compose an original score to "2001," and we all
know that score was rejected while still incomplete. This created waves
in the Hollywood community because North's talent was so well known. Thanks
to Varese Sarabande and Jerry Goldsmith, we now have a recording available
of that score, and can compare what Kubrick threw out with what he used.
While Kubrick maintains that "On the Beautiful Blue Danube"
works because it is a beautiful waltz, bespeaking grace and beauty, many
have argued that the placement of that piece of music over Heywood Floyd's
journey works in the opposite way; the overfamiliar music acts as a sort
of muzak, lending the amazing sights of space travel the feel of banality.
His use of Ligeti music is understandable. The music is sound often
without recognizable form (especially as presented in the film), very unfamiliar
to the audience at large, but still unsettling to those that are familiar
with it.
The "Thus Spake Zarathustra" was, in all likelihood a
forgone conclusion. North's title music is built around the same three-part
mounting structure, and he himself has said that it was probably not going
to be used... Kubrick's use of this piece has forever changed cinema; by
using it to mark the moments of evolution, he has turned an already powerful
work into something that had touched not only listeners of romantic-era
music, but many of the contemporary world, from the cognoscenti to the
pop culture pundits.
As someone who is a very big Alex North fan, I find this score to
be a classic among classics. North's music for "2001" contain
some of his most interesting cues. I was made most familiar to this music
(without realizing it) via North's score for "Dragonslayer,"
in which he used much of this material composed originally for "2001,"
and listening to the albums of both side by side, one hears that that "Dragonslayer,"
rather than being a re-working, is sort of a continuation (musically, not
thematically) of that score.
Kubrick's musical decisions, however, offered something that North's
music, however accomplished, has not. It gave the film a certain timeless
quality. The melange of music from the 19th and 20th centuries refused
to root it in any particular moment in time, the way that North's music
might have. The familiarity of some of the tracks allowed the double (and
contradictory) reading of the "Blue Danube" sequences; while
the North music is undeniably fantastic (and would no doubt have been lauded
as so) it would not have had the same duality in reading as the Strauss
piece.
My conclusion is that, while "2001" would have been a
better FILM with Alex North's score, it would not have been the same EVENT
with it, and would not have had the same effect on film audiences around
the world.
Kurbrick's cinematic instincts have proven time and again to be
interesting. His musical choices, while controversial, are never boring.
A side note: LLEW1S commented that he did not believe that certain
filmmakers would ever give film composers a chance... I agree and disagree.
In the case of Martin Scorsese, I have never had a problem with
how his films are populated musically. His use of songs and source music
is totally justified, especially considering the milieu he tends to work
in. However, he has worked in the past with a composer (most noticeably
with Elmer Bernstein on "Age of Innocence").
Milos Forman tends to make period films, but his contemporary films
often have a period "feel" to them as well, which may be inspired
by the music itself.
Quentin Tarantino has said that the reason he has not used a composer
on any of his films (a choice justified, again, by the kind of films he
has made so far) is because he considers the music to be such an important
aspect of the audience reaction to a film that he's not sure if, at this
stage, he can trust someone else with it.
I have discussed elsewhere on this site the fact that film students
are not learning about film scores anymore, that the prevalence of songs
in film is effecting the aesthetic of cinema, and that aesthetic is being
propogated in the new artists.
All I can say is this. Existing tracks and original scores have
their place in cinema, and it is not one size fits all. It has to be tailored
for each film. The people making those films can make good decisions or
bad decisions. Or they can have those decisions made for them by the studio.
NPR Interviews
Here are some URL's for recent interviews on NPR with film composers:
John Barry (on Fresh Air): http://whyy.org/cgi-bin/FAshowretrieve.cgi?2581
Lalo Schifrin: http://programs.npr.org/npr2/PrgDisp.cfm?PrgDate=03/27/1999&PrgID=7
Hope these work! Thanks go to Jeff Eldridge who provided them. Have
a great weekend.
MailBag@filmscoremonthly.com
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