Film Score Friday 1/8/99
by Lukas Kendall
I'm told that current radio ads for "Ebay" use music from
It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (thanks, Frank Richardson). How appropriate!
A big thank you to J. Ollinger, Kenneth Blume, Stephen Townsley, Roger
Jennings and irmo@iquest.net for responding to my plea for help yesterday
in weeding out our dead links. We'll be implementing the fixes this weekend.
Thanks a million! (Please - don't bother to search for bad links now -
I think we have a list of them all.)
DVD news: the upcoming DVD of Practical Magic will include composer
Alan Silvestri as part of the commentary track.
Hey, that Airwolf soundtrack CD project is coming along! Check out the
latest at http://www.janmichaelvincent.com/airwolf/themes.
Intrada's Lost in Space expanded score CD is now due in March;
their new recording of Jason and the Argonauts (Herrmann) in May.
They will be putting together a promotional CD of Terror in the Aisles
for John Beal.
Disney fans, this was news to me:
From: Wdp321@aol.com
I went to the DISNEY STORE today and they have a great promotion
for 101 DALMATIONS if you pre-order the video you get the CD soundtrack
for free plus a lithograph. It was only 21.00 or so I would have paid 17.00
for the CD itself!
As far as I know it is the only way to get the CD soundtrack! It
has 20 selections; total time is 56:34.
European Composers Poll
From: Thor Joachim Haga <oystein.haga@grimstad.online.no>
I just thought I'd drop a few (delayed) comments on the last
FSM poll question: "Who is your favourite European composer?"
I think, as is always the case with such polls, that there is a "clear
and present danger" of excluding essential names when you have to
choose just a limited number of alternatives.
However, the picks made on this one seemed a little biased, as I
think they reflected mostly European composers best known to an AMERICAN
audience. It is not accidental, I think, that such names as Ennio Morricone,
Maurice Jarre or Nino Rota received the most votes. These composers have,
as we all know, frequently worked with the Hollywood industry and gained
a name in the US. Despite their origin, I am tempted to call them semi-European
composers (no harm intended by this categorizarion...). Such legendary
names as Erich Wolfgang Korngold, Franz Waxman, Max Steiner, Dimitri Tiomkin
or Miklos Rozsa would also fall into this category (by the way, was Alfred
Newman the only American golden age composer with merits similar to the
aforementioned?). I guess Luis Bacalov was selected for much of the same
reasons (because of "The Postman", again an Euro-American hit!).
Francis Lai, an incredible and versatile composer, was always an outsider
in this respect, and look how many votes he got (1%).
I am not shouting "Extreme American patriotism!" here,
because I know the US is the core of filmmusic enterprise with the largest
fanbase globally, but I think the 10% who voted "Other" in your
poll question had quite a few other alternatives in mind, some of them
even "real" Europeans. I mention Zbigniew Preisner, Wojciech
Kilar, Eduard Artemiev, Stefan Nilsson, Randall Meyers, Geir Bøhren
& Bent Åserud, Søren Hyldgaard, Richard Rodney Bennett,
Jean Claude Petit or Phillipe Sarde just to give you a clue.
I could go on forever, listing some general differences between
American and European film music (there are a lot of them, you know), but
I will not, since I most likely will step on somebody's toes.
Suffice to say that most fulltime film composers create a tremendous
amount of work in their lifetime, coloured more by their personal voice
than their geographical origin, so when someone becomes a fan of a certain
film composer, I guess the appeal lies in his or hers personal and emotional
identification of that composer's music. Even if that composer is born
and raised in the jungle of Congo or the arctic climate of Sibir...
A few points in our defense (you make very good comments):
This was meant to be a poll of continental European composers, excluding
British composers like John Barry, John Scott, etc. for the point of argument.
Also, it was not meant to include European-born composers who moved to
America later in life in the Golden Age of cinema.
Hey, it's a POLL. You're right in that many American fans are not familiar
with exclusively European composers. What can we do? I'll bet European
fans, if selecting American composers, would pick John Williams before
some people not as famous.
Also, it would be simply impractical to have a poll with some 20 selections.
In any case, I am really enjoying the polls here at FSM and thank everybody
for participating.
Speaking of polls, here's the latest from a site that does nothing but:
From: "Brian Donohue" <bjdonohue@hotmail.com>
Thought you might like to see the results of my December Survey
of Favorite Western Film Scores. It was my most popular yet. The Top Ten:
1. THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN (Elmer Bernstein, 1960) 20%
2. THE BIG COUNTRY (Jerome Moross, 1958) 9%
3. ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST (Ennio Morricone, 1968) 8%
4. THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY (Morricone, 1967) 6%
5. LONESOME DOVE (Basil Poledouris, 1989) 5.4%
6. HOW THE WEST WAS WON (Alfred Newman, 1963) 5%
7. DANCES WITH WOLVES (John Barry, 1990) 4.4%
8. HIGH NOON (Dimitri Tiomkin, 1952) 4%
9. GUNFIGHT AT THE O.K. CORRAL (Tiomkin, 1957) 3.2%
10. THE OUTLAW JOSEY WALES (Jerry Fielding, 1976) 2.6%
A breakdown by composer and decade is at my site, BIG B's FILM SCORE
SURVEY PAGE. This month's survey: Romance (probably won't be as popular
as Westerns, but what the hey). Thanks again for all the assitance.
http://www.angelfire.com/md/filmscorefan/index.html
Grammys
Referencing yesterday's
column, listing the relevant nominees...
From: Jeff Commings, Jeffswim@aol.com
I know the Grammys are no where as classy as the Oscars, but Lalo
Schifrin for Rush Hour? True, there were some good Asian musical elements,
but it really jolted me to see that one, more than Ennio Morricone's nomination
for Bulworth. What about Philip Glass and Burkahrd Dallwitz for The Truman
Show. Here's hoping Oscar's got more sense.
Oh, come on, Rush Hour is cool. And our own Doug Adams did the
liner notes.
A Star Trek Opera?
This is in response to Wednesday's
column.
From: "David Yazbek" <bddu@ozemail.com.au>
I love opera music as much as I love film scores, and the prospect
of Jerry Goldsmith writing an opera based on STAR TREK is very exciting,
and most unusual.
Someone once told me they saw a production of Gilbert & Sullivan's
H.M.S. PINAFORE set aboard the Starship Enterprise -- now that I would
have loved to have seen. The fact that H.M.S. PINAFORE was quoted in INSURRECTION
makes me think that perhaps director Jonathon Frakes may have seen that
production too! In any case, I was disappointed not to see the results
of Data's rehearsal of his production of PINAFORE in the film -- one precious
minute of the Enterprise crew singing "When I was a lad" or "Never
mind the why and wherefore" would have been a highlight.
Lord of the Rings
In response to Tuesday's
column:
From: David Morgan, morgands1@aol.com
Re: Ralph Bakshi's "Lord of the Rings," Michael Kogge
points to a disparity between the ending of the soundtrack of Leonard Rosenman's
score and how the music is presented in the film. It should be noted that
the ending of the film was changed shortly after the film's release. On
opening day back in 1978, the battle in which Gandalf and his army dispatch
the orcs was >followed< by a final scene in which two hobbits charged
with carrying the ring are seen headed toward the mountains that is their
destination. A narrator then said, and I'm paraphrasing, "So ends
the first part of 'The Lord of the Rings.'" The credits then appeared.
It certainly left a lot of heads shaking among those who thought they were
going to see a complete story, and I presume that some studio execs (or
perhaps Bakshi himself) thought that ending the film on a more rousing
note would help the audience over the fact that they'd have to pay again
to see the conclusion of the story (if it were ever made, that is!). When
I saw the film again a couple of weeks later, the two scenes had been switched,
so that Gandalf's triumph--and Rosenman's rising crescendos--were what
marked the film's ending.
7th Voyage
From: Terry, Thseamon@aol.com
Subject: The New 7th Voyage of Sinbad (which
we reviewed late last year):
After reading about the new recording of Bernard Herrmann's The
Seventh Voyage of Sinbad on your site, I added it to my Christmas gift
"wish list." Well, lucky me, one of my sons ordered it for me
via the internet. I am ecstatic about it. If your other readers have not
heard this performance by conductor John Debney yet, encourage them to
make a New Year's Resolution to do so. This CD is so good it brings the
movie back to life for me in my imagination. I am eagerly awaiting news
on the next Herrmann project Jason & the Argonauts. Please keep me
(and other BH fans) posted.
Oscar Race
From: Jeffswim@aol.com
Just sitting here waiting for Dick Clark to help me usher in the
new year, and I was thinking about the great scores I have heard this year,
and the thing is, most of them weren't composed this year! Of course, Saving
Private Ryan was the best. It was so subtle but made a great statement.
The Truman Show's style of music fit perfectly -- futuristic and fantasy-like.
Philip Glass was a great choice. And then there's The Mask of Zorro, which
reaffirmed my belief that Horner can come up with original stuff. The wolf
howls, castanets and foot stomps were amazing! Those three will duke it
out this year for the Dramatic Score Oscar. Mulan and The Prince of Egypt
were great, very bold scores, which fit the mood of the movies -- very
daring and wide in scope.
But some of the scores I thought were great that weren't released
this year were released mostly by one man: Patrick Doyle. After seeing
Hamlet on video and catching up on all of Kenneth Branagh's resurrections
of Shakespeare (Henry V, Much Ado About Nothing) and seeing other Doyle
works like Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and Sense and Sensibility, I have
discovered a new composer to catch up on. Sad to hear that he was replaced
on Stepmom, he may have done a good job.
What else have I discovered this year? Everyone is now getting sick
of Titanic, and waiting for Star Wars. What a way to end the decade!
From: zambelis <zambelis@eos.med.upatras.gr>
I see that most people complain about Williams probably winning
another Oscar for Saving Private Ryan. I don't get it. So what?
He has lost the OScar so many times by other awful scores that it's
ok to get it some time even if he hasn't composed the greatest masterpiece.
Didn't he deserve the Oscar for Hook, Superman, Raiders of the lost Ark,
The empire strikes back, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, The last
Crusade...
Of course the same unfair situation is common to other composers
such as Goldsmith , Poledouris, Doule, alex North and many others. So relax,
sit back and watch the show. It is the music that matters, all the rest
is just advertisements. Thank you
Have fun this weekend!
Here are some sites to check out:
Sony Legacy's page on the upcoming Star Trek: The Motion Picture
release, due January 26 (for real!): http://www.sonymusic.com/artists/StarTrek/
New site for Scarlet Street magazine, U.S. outlet for the new Hammer
Films CD: http://www.scarletstreet.com/
And last but absolutely not least, the home page of my younger brother
Davis Kendall, who is now taller than me! Hi Dave! http://www.mvrhs.org/netsite/student/pg/Kendall_web/index.html
Send your comments:
MailBag@filmscoremonthly.com
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