Film Score Friday 3/19/99
Ernest Gold Dies at 77
by Lukas Kendall
Would famous people kindly refrain from dying so close to one another?
John Addison, Gene Siskel, Charles Gerhardt, Stanley Kubrick, Joe DiMaggio...
now comes the news that Ernest Gold, Oscar-winner for Exodus (1960)
and also the composer of On the Beach, It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World,
Judgment at Nuremburg, Inherit the Wind and many more, has passed away
of complications from a stroke. Gold was born in Vienna and emigrated to
New York with his family in 1938 after the Nazi annexation of Austria.
He was 77.
Not to make light of such a sad situation as this -- it really is eerie
how many obituaries we've had to run in the last few weeks -- but whoever
said that the best thing about winning an Academy Award was that you know
how your obituary would begin was spot on.
Rest in peace, Ernest Gold.
Inside the brains of...
From: JSchuer416@aol.com
I was just wondering...what do John Williams and Jerry Goldsmith
think of each other? Are they friends? After all, they are contemporaries
and at the very top of their craft.
I read an interview with Goldsmith on the internet (I forget where,
it was one of those "chat sessions") and several people asked
him who his favorite composers were (Alex North, a few others I don't remember,
and John Williams). He also admitted to being a "fan" of John
Williams, singling out SCHINDLER'S LIST as a great score and one he was
jealous of. I wonder if Goldsmith really is a fan, or was just being "nice"
for a public forum which obviously included a lot of William's fans as
well.
As far as Williams goes, there is an interview with him on his Unofficial
Website were he is asked his favorite composers - he lists off a bunch
of Golden Age composers (Bernard Herrmann, Alfred Newman, etc.) and then
"I guess, Jerry Goldsmith." Hmmm. I have also noticed that Williams
rarely performs any of Goldsmith's stuff with the Boston Pops.
What do these two really feel about each other? Or Horner, for that
matter? Do they hang out at the 7-11 together?
I think I can safely say that they do not hang out at the 7-11 together.
I do not know what Williams and Goldsmith think of each other, except that
remember, they have been contemporaries for some 40 years, and I think
had nearby offices at Universal in the 1960s. Goldsmith has said that it
was an amazing time: he would be in one booth, Williams the next, and Quincy
Jones, Dave Grusin, Lalo Schifrin and others would just be lined up writing
music. When Bernard Herrmann came to the studio to do Cape Fear (1962),
it was a big deal for the young musicians, who all found themselves writing
very Herrmannesque TV scores the week after!
I'm sure that Williams and Goldsmith have a lot of mutual respect, plus
a small amount of professional rivalry. I think just as people who have
practiced their craft for five decades that they must be in awe of each
other's accomplishments, just as we are.
I do know that Goldsmith and Horner dislike each other; Horner used
to date Goldsmith's daughter in the late '70s, and used it as an excuse
to hang around Jerry's scoring sessions.
Goldsmith is mostly friendly these days with David Newman.
Guild
From: Jeff Commings, Jeffswim@aol.com
Is there a film composers guild? It would be cool if they had a
Film Score Guild Award to go with all the Writers' Guild, Directors' Guild
and Screen Actors' Guild awards. It would add some hype to the Oscars on
a category that is in the mind of lots of filmmakers, just as important
as the script.
Finally, I just read in Entertainment Weekly that the odds of John
Williams losing to Life is Beautiful is big, considering the Il Postino
upset in 1995 (say it ain't so). Also, they said that the three animated
film scores will cancel each other out. Obviously they don't know that
one of them was done by Goldsmith, and that everyone loves him! Cross your
fingers on Sunday!
No, there is not a film composers guild. The Society for Composers and
Lyricists tries to perform some of the same helpful functions, but have
no legal authority to bargain on behalf of musicians. Composers have tried
to get a guild on a number of occasions, but studios haven't allowed it
-- and composers themselves have undercut one another to get work.
I saw that EW preview too. I would not be surprised if Life Is Beautful
and Shakespeare in Love took home statuettes for Best Score.
Supporting FSM
Ah, now here are the letters we really love to see -- wholesale praise
and admiration!
From: "aaron st.John" <astjohn@hotmail.com>
I am incredulous! I can't believe how many long-standing dreams
you are bringing into reality for me with your cd releases, how much enjoyment
I get from keeping up with the website and reading the magazine, how much
I want to share of my own pent-up thoughts and feelings about film music
with others who might "get it," and finally, how all this has
come about at a time in my life when I barely have a few moments to steal
away from career projects to see what's new at FilmScoreDaily, let alone
write the essays rumbling around in the back of my mind longing to be set
down and shared.
Nontheless, I have granted myself permission to jot down a few cursory
thoughts that might spark some conversation with you or your readers, and
will have to content myself with that for the time being. Here goes:
100
Rifles -- I wanted that soundtrack from the moment I saw the film in
it's original release. I, too, bought the Leroy Holmes album for that --
and the then still unreleased "Once Upon A Time In The West"--
as a poor substitute. (And now you tell me that the original tracks of
that score will be available -- including "Mr. Choo-Choo"! This
film, along with the Wild Bunch alternate at various times as my all-time
favorite movie. Does this mean that we can look forward to original soundtracks
from the "Dollars" westerns, such as the beautiful guitar theme
for Tuco's confrontation with his brother at the mission? But I digress.)
And you indirectly brought me the Wild Bunch original soundtrack on cd!
My agnostic days are over!
Am I the only one who seems to remember that the 100 Rifles score
was reused in a 2nd rate Heston/Coburn western called "The Last Hard
Men(!) in 1976, much the way "The Wild Bunch" score was reused
in "The Deadly Trackers" or "3:10 to Yuma" was reused
(sans Frankie Laine's songs)in "Good Day for a Hanging"? I was
surprised that it wasn't mentioned in the liner notes or at least by someone
in the mailbag. Could that be how some of the original stereo tracks dissappeared...?
The
Loner -- By now, I thought I was the only person who even remembered
it, have been craving a recording of the score since I was 10 years old,
trying to disentangle it in my memory from Rio Conchos, and like some seraphim
from musical heaven you found and delivered it to me. A long-standing thorn
in this old lion's paw, magically pulled by some "punk kid" who
has the chutzpah to march into an archive and say, "why don't we release
this?" Lukas, you have my undying gratitude and respect. I'm almost
afraid to consider what else you may have up your sleeve, for fear that
it will give me an anurysm! Goldsmith's "Lonely are the Brave"
or "The Challenge" or "Take a Hard Ride" or "Under
Fire" or "The Ballad of Cable Hogue" or "Rio Lobo"
or "The Culpepper Cattle Co." or "The Red Pony" or...?
George Duning's "Two Rode Together"? Pat Williams' "Macho
Callahan" (deeply flawed, quietly ambitious film, but check out the
masterful score)? John Barry"s "The Last Valley"? Bernstein's
"Slipstream"? Of course, I could go on and on....
Thanks for everything (including your patience) and I hope to be
in communication with you again before too long. I am anxiously awaiting
"Patton."
From: Trent Runion <Bigolfan@ix.netcom.com>
Praise be to you and you team at FSM. Once again your Silver Age
Classics line has fulfilled a little dream of mine. I cant tell you how
long I have waited for an "original" version of this classic
to come out on CD, of course thats not to down play the Varese release,
but there is nothing like the original as they say. This release, in my
opinion, is one of Goldsmith's best and is long overdue for an original
CD release. It think it is just great that you and your people go to such
lengths to bring us these wonderful scores and to preserve these timeless
classics on CD. I just wanted to say that it is very much appreciated and
that I cant wait to get it here in the player. Thanks again and keep up
the great work!
From: "Jim Wilson" <shull@pureaudio.com>
Well, that tears it!
I've just come back from the Goldsmith concert in Edinburgh, to
find "100+ Rifles" in my mail-box. I'm over-joyed. Today, I get
my latest FSM in the mail, and I'm flabbergasted. "Patton?" The
movie "Patton?" Not the re-recording? AND "Flight of the
Phoenix?" Guys!! Please! You're SPOILING us!!!
Needless to say, that as soon as your order form is up on the site--even
if you HIDE it somewhere, the order is on its way. This is truly amazing.
It may even cure my depression over Kubrick's death.
'Way back when, when the only soundtracks I had to my name were
Henry Mancini's "Mr. Lucky" and the 10th Anniversary collection
of Bond soundtracks, I bought "Patton" on vinyl, solely for the
George C. Scott speech that opened the disc. Within a couple of days, it
was as if that track didn't even exist, I became so enraptured with the
music. And so here we are today, hundreds of soundtracks, and (by now)
years of accumulated time listening to film-music, both for enjoyment and
inspiration. That's great, gentlemen! You're making me very, very happy.
From: Matthew Bradford <m-bradford@nwu.edu>
"A classic and unavailable Franz Waxman score?" Oh, please
say it's "A Place In the Sun!" Well, I guess that's kind of unlikely
considering the number of possibilities there are, and I'm not even sure
if that's considered "Golden" or "Silver" age, but
you've piqued my hopes! (And if that's not what it is, it's something you
should consider for the future!) Man, now I've gotta wait 4-6 weeks to
find out? Aw...
What's our Waxman release? Strange, all of a sudden I can't remember.
We'll all find out soon enough! As for Patton/Phoenix, we are expecting
the discs back from the manufacturing plant today, and will be furiously
mailing copies today and early next week.
Wing Commander
From: "Pat H. Mooney" <phmooney@flash.net>
Wing Commander had a rousing score by someone whose name escapes
me, but also has "Themes by David Arnold". Can you find out what
this means and explain how such a credit works?
Sure. The filmmakers wanted David Arnold but didn't have enough money,
so Arnold wrote the film's main theme, and the rest of the score was done
by Kevin Kiner, with whom Arnold has worked before. That's it!
Meeting John Barry
Glad to hear that the event we announced last week actually happened:
From: Robert Prion <jayrichards@hotmail.com>
On Sat. morning March 13th 1999, at exactly 11:35 am at a place
called The Screening Room, in N.Y.C., I met a man I've wanted to meet since
1968 when I first heard his music, film legend JOHN BARRY. He was charming
to his many fans that showed up for a preview of his new CD entitled The
BEYONDNESS OF THINGS. He told some wonderful stories, and then talked to
everyone personally, and signed autographs and posed for pictures. When
he left at around 4:45pm, everyone that attended knew that a magic afternoon
had just happened. We could all tell that Mr. BARRY also had a ball. I
just picked up the photos that were taken , and they turned out just great,
especially the one where he posed with me. He said that there was a good
chance that he would be playing at CARNEGIE HALL in the spring of 2000.
He honestly loved talking to his fans. Another interesting thing that he
said was that he was responsible in 1996 for composer DAVID ARNOLD to be
hired by the BOND producers. BARRY couldn't have enough praise for ARNOLD'S
work on the last BOND movie, and looks forward to his score for the new
JAMES BOND movie THE WORLD IS NOT ENOUGH, comming at the end of 1999. Mr.
BARRY said he gets a lot of his inspiration from the fact that his parents
in 1942 saved his life by getting him out of the school he was attending,
just hours before the place was bombed, and 40 of his classmates and 12
nuns were all killed. He said that a day doesn't go by that he doesn't
think about that terrible day, and that a lot of his mood music is a result
of what happened. Thank god for all of us that JOHN BARRY wasn't in that
school that day. Thanks Mr. BARRY for a wonderful afternoon.
So there
From: "Jarod and Miss Parker" <simba@eznet.net>
I have just read the
letter in FSFriday about Williams' "ET" being a whole-sale
ripoff of Howard Hanson's Symphony No. 2. As usual, when accusations like
this are tossed out, specific examples of said plagiarism are not offered;
we only get the standard "Just listen to both works and then see if
you agree" argument. Well, I am more than passingly familiar with
the Hanson work; I had the opportunity to perform it once, and I have nad
a copy in my CD library for six years; it is one of my favorite 20th century
symphonic works. Nothing in it sounds, to my ear, even remotely like "ET".
I very rarely get involved in these "plagiarism" debates, as
I feel that they are a dime a dozen; I am reminded of Brahms' response
when told that the theme to the 4th movement of his First Symphony sounded
like the famous "Ode to Joy" theme from Beethoven's Ninth: "Well,
any idiot can see that." But in this particular case, this idiot can
see none of it.
Events
Zbigniew Preisner will conduct the BBC Concert Orchestra in a program
of his work at London's Royal Festival Hall on March 19. It will feature
the premiere performance of his "Requiem for My Friend" (Elzbieta
Towarnicka, vocalist) as well as Preisner's music for Kieslowski films.
Call 0171-960-4242, email boxoffice@rfh.org.uk
or see www.sbc.org.uk.
Les Cinephonies de Luneville '99 is a French film music festival taking
place from March 20 to 28, featuring Michael Kamen concerts on March 26
and 28. Phone 383-73-18-23 or fax 383-76-23-31 for more info.
MailBag@filmscoremonthly.com
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