Film Score Friday 6/25/99

by Lukas Kendall

Hip-O has released a great Quincy Jones collection: The Reel Quincy Jones. My favorite track is the pulsating "Money Runner" from $. The liner notes have a piece of trivia I did not know: on Quincy's classic "Soul Bossa Nova," recently the signature for Austin Powers, that's Lalo Schifrin on piano.

The web site http://starwarsmusic.freeservers.com/unreleasedmp3.html has downloadable tracks of unreleased cues from The Phantom Menace.... however, they're all snippets lifted from the videogame, so it's not like someone got a hold of the session masters.

Jocelyn Pook, composer for Stanley Kubrick's Eyes Wide Shut, is a real person and not a pseudonym for Vivian Kubrick, who scored her father's Full Metal Jacket as "Abigail Mead." Pook is an avant garde concert composer in England who got the job for EWS after the director heard a tape of her music. Reportedly Vivian Kubrick did write some material for the film, but it was deemed unsuitable.

John Ottman has landed a directing gig: he'll helm (and score) Phoenix Pictures' Urban Legend 2. Ottman is by no means abandoning film composing, however: he'll score and act as editing consultant on The X-Men for his frequent collaborator Bryan Singer (due in December 2000) and is also on the look-out for more scoring gigs.

Barry Comments

Responding to the recent news about Silva's re-recording of Raise the Titanic:

From: Jason Frederick, JasonLomax@aol.com

I have to agree with your assessment of the current situation surrounding John Barry's music. Not all the recordings have done justice to the original scores, and the newest release, Zulu, is no exception. There are moments of splendour, but unfortunately also several instances of missing the mark (I could single out the suite from The Specialist in particular, if only because it's a recent score and it sounds SO good with Barry himself conducting). If anything, it's a testament to the fact that John Barry is a very expressive conductor, an often overlooked fact. One now has the ability to compare his own versions against the many re-recordings that now exist (such as the love theme from "King Kong" on Moviola II against the version on Zulu) to determine for themselves. I think doing this would demonstrate that in many cases Barry's lyrical melodies certainly DON'T play themselves, and that a level of interpretation and nuance is necessary, which he has in spades.

I agree -- Silva's new recording of Zulu lacks the drive and crashing power of the original... which they also released, in mono.

The Phantom Menace in Concert

From: Steven Kennedy <stev4uth@hotmail.com>

It is not often that I go to an outdoor concert hoping to enjoy the music much, but this past weekend I was very much surprised to see on the concert program of the Fort Worth (TX) Symphony Pops Orchestra 4 selections from "The Phantom Menace".

This surprised me because I was unaware that the music had been published and that the only scheduled performances were premiere's led by Williams in Boston or in select cities this summer. Evidently the symphonies music librarian was able to secure the music which we heard on the programs scheduled Friday, June 18, and Saturday, June 19.

The listed TPM excerpts were: "The Flag Parade", "Anakin's Theme", "Adventure of Jar-Jar", and "Duel of the Fates". "The Flag Parade" included several brief passages that serve to transition back to earlier music, or into a new key. The piece worked fairly well in concert. "Anakin's Theme" suffered from the surroundings but seemed to be the same as the CD concert version. "Duel of the Fates" was performed without chorus and was not all that different. This was the last piece of the first half and the brass were pretty tired after a difficult series of pieces earlier in the concert. The Jar-Jar piece was not performed.

Ron Spigelman conducted a program that included music by Johann Strauss, Khachaturian, Richard Strauss, and Holst. Also included were the "Theme from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" and Courage's "Star Trek TV Theme". The program began with Williams' "Summon the Heroes", and included "Adventures from Earth" (E.T.) with a fireworks show (!), and the following pieces from the Star Wars Trilogy: "Main Title", "Here They Come", "Princess Leia's Theme", and "The Imperial March".

"Here They Come" is apparently a concert version that shortens the final battle music from "Star Wars: A New Hope" with music from "The Tie Fighters Attack". (It appears to refer to the escape from the Death Star scene.)

It was truly fascinating to go to a concert where the majority of music was written by one living film composer! And the audience response was wonderful with children cheering as the big adventure pieces began and explaining to their parents where the music came from!

It will be interesting to see how many other orchestras have received advance copies of music for TPM for the summer pops seasons.

Here's another concert coming up featuring The Phantom Menace; thanks to Justin Klingelsmith for the info:

San Francisco Arts Commission Presents a Free Concert at Sharon Meadow San Francisco Symphony, Marin Alsop Conductor. R. Strauss Opening theme from Also sprach Zarathustra, Holst Selections from The Planets, John Williams Suite from Star Wars. Pack a picnic basket and bring your friends and family to Sharon Meadow for an afternoon of galactical fun featuring music from Star Trek, E.T., and Star Wars-- The Phantom Menace. Sunday July 25 2:00 p.m. Sharon Meadow, Golden Gate Park.

Akira Kurosawa Letters

Responding to the recent set of columns...

From: Kyu Hyun Kim <kyukim@ucdavis.edu>

Just to clarify a point raised by Piet van de Merwe concerning the use of Bolero in RASHOMON. Many film critics and scholars have mistakenly assumed that RASHOMON's composer, Hayazaka Fumio, had "copied" Ravel's Bolero. Even the standard reference on Kurosawa, FILMS OF AKIRA KUROSAWA by Donald Richie, adheres to this view, although Richie makes it clear that it was Kurosawa who suggested that Hayazaka write "something like Ravel's Bolero." However, it is misleading to claim that Hayakawa somehow plagiarized Ravel. Bolero refers not to a specific piece of music but to a compositional style. It is a form of Spanish dance music, characterized by 3/4 beats of rhythmic progression; Ravel's work just happens to be the most famous piece written in this style. Hayazaka's piece, used as a background to the "second" confession of the wife in RASHOMON, also draws upon the Bolero form but the melody and overall emotional effects generated by the piece is entirely different from Ravel's.

As for Kurosawa's musical tastes and orientations, many interesting things can be said. At this point I will stop at relating to everyone an interesting anecdote. Donald Richie in FILMS OF AK states that Kurosawa, having been inspired by "some documentary about a bull-dozer," insisted to his composer Sato Masaru that the latter come up with "bull-dozer-like music" for the hero of YOJIMBO, Sanjuro. This story is told to make a point that, yes, Kurosawa used to make some mighty strange demands on his composers, and in most cases they swallowed protestations and complied. What Richie does not tell (or what Kurosawa forgot to mention) is that it was none other than Sato who wrote the "theme" for bulldozers that Kurosawa liked it so much. The "documentary" Kurosawa mentioned was a three-part film made in 1961 depicting the construction of Kurobe dam. It was for the scenes in the documentary where bulldozers shovel snow, remove debris, etc., that Sato wrote the four-note boom-ba-ba-boom theme, as unmistakable as a James Bond theme, for the first time. Later Sato changed its melodic structure and made it "heavier" and more complex, rearranging it for a unique jazz/samba/orchestrual ensemble used in YOJIMBO, but the resemblances are all too clear. (You can listen to the "bulldozer theme" and compare it to Sanjuro's theme yourself. The former is represented as Track 2 in THE FILM MUSIC OF SATO MASARU, Vol. 12) So again, if you get the impression from reading Richie and other critics that Kurosawa wanted Sato to write film music based on some construction noise, nothing can be farther from truth!

From: Ross Amico <gnawyouremu@hotmail.com>

Your Kurosawa write-up the other day reminds me that the great Japanese film director was influenced not only by western directors, like John Ford, but also by Western composers. While Ravel is not quoted directly in "Rashomon" (despite what everyone always seems to think), the composer Fumio Hayazaka definitely uses the famous "Bolero" rhythm. (The melody is different.) "Red Beard," Kurosawa's last film to star Toshiro Mifune, falls back on near-quotations of Haydn's "Surprise" Symphony and the finale of Brahms' First. Hayazaka's theme for "The Seven Samurai" is a rough reworking of Sibelius' "En Saga." (I saw "Samurai" before I knew the latter and was very surprised to discover the similarity.) There was once a Varese Sarabande CD (47271), some forty-five minutes in length, which featured music from both "Samurai" and "Rashomon," without effects and dialogue, but I gather that this has been deleted.

From: Alan Andres <alan@wmedia.com>

Regarding Piet van de Merwe's comments on Jeff Wilson's column. "There is a Japanese LP with music from Rashomon on one side and Seven Samurai on the other. This is without the sound effects and dialogue. And if you only listen to the music, never having seen the films, you would have a tough time guessing this was Japanese film music. I can't read Japanese and this LP doesn't give me any clue what source was used and neither does the CD box set."

This is the same as the Varese LP and CD, which is now out of print. There is also a fairly recent Japanese CD of a new concert suite of Sato's score to Rashomon, which is quite good. It comes coupled with a few of Sato's concert works.

When I first heard Rashomon as a kid I thought Sato was ripping off Ravel's Bolero, but have come to consider this a witty variation, obvious in its influence, but quite different. Somewhere I recall reading that it was Kurosawa who suggested using a variation on Bolero in the film.

As for Mahler, Takemitsu said Kurosawa was looking for something like Mahler for Ran.

The Collector

This is in repsonse to some ancient column we had about Maurice Jarre:

From: Tom, Tommoth@aol.com

The Collector soundtrack was available on CD from the UK Mainstream label for a while. Despite what the author of the liner notes, Jackie Mills, writes, it is NOT an expanded version of the soundtrack, but is exactly what was available on the U.S. vinyl Mainstream album. Also, many of the timings are incorrect on the booklet. And, most importantly, the full orchestral version of the main theme, which played over the end credits, still has not been included on the album. I believe the only way to get this is to buy the home video (now available) and tape it off the VCR. If anyone knows otherwise, please write!

Those Mainstream reissues are among the sloppiest ever. They're terrible. But unfortunately there's no other source for The Collector, a great Jarre work.

BMI Panels Next Week

Here's the info:

BMI and the Independent Feature Project-West presents:

The Art and Commerce of Soundtracks and Music Licensing

Wednesday, June 30 7:30 to 9 p.m. &

Creating Original Music for Film

Wednesday, July 7, 7:30 to 9 p.m.

Rhino, 10635 Santa Monica Blvd. (between Beverly Glen and Westwood)

The Art and Commerce of Soundtracks and Music Licensing panel:

• Maria Alonte - Head of Soundtracks at Nettwerk Records and Unforscene Music
• Joel High - Senior Manager, Music & Soundtracks, Trimark Pictures
• Jonathan Palmer - Creative Manager, Film & Television, Bug Music Publishing
• Jennifer Pyken - Music Supervisor
• Moderator: Lisa Feldman - Associate Director, Film/TV Relations, BMI.

Creating Original Music For Film panel to include:

• Mark Mothersbaugh - composer (Rugrats, the Movie; Rushmore; 200 Cigarettes; Bottle Rocket), musician (DEVO)
• Pat Lucas - Executive Vice President & General Manager, Film Soundtrack, EMI Music Publishing
• Andy Hill - Music Supervisor and Owner, Modern Music
• Moderator: Doreen Ringer Ross - Assistant Vice President, Film/TV Relations, BMI

Tickets are: Single evening: $35 for IFP-W or BMI members,$50 general public; Both evenings: $50 for IFP-W or BMI members, $75 for general public.

For tickets contact 310-475-4379 x10.

Have a good weekend! Big movies opening next week -- we'll be here with our abrasive opinions.

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