Film Score Friday 5/5/00
by Lukas Kendall
There's still no word on whether or not there will be a score album
to U-571 (Richard Marvin). Sorry!
Andy Dursin got a preview copy of the Conan the Barbarian DVD
(due May 30th) and will review it in his Aisle Seat column next week. Says
the Dursman: "No isolated score or stereo mix, as expected, but it
looks good!"
Variety interviewed Hans Zimmer this week -- Zimmer revealed that he's
scoring Hannibal, the anticipated sequel to Silence of the Lambs.
See the current issue of Widescreen Review (Vol. 9, No. 3, Issue
38) for an interview with Sharpline Arts' Michael Matessino and David Fein.
They discuss their many DVD and laserdisc productions/documentaries as
well as soundtrack restorations such as the Star Wars Trilogy and
Superman.
Hollywood 101: The Film Industry by Frederick Levy is a great
new "how-to" book covering breaking into all areas of filmmaking
-- including film scoring, with interview material from editor/composer/director
John Ottman. It's in stores everywhere from Renaissance Books.
There will be a concert of choral music from movies, "Hollywood
Goes Classical," on May 7 by the Los Angeles Master Chorale at LA's
Music Center. Featured scores: How the West Was Won, First Knight, Empire
the Sun, The Mission, The Bad and the Beautiful, Laura, Jesus of Nazareth,
The Hunt for Red October, Alexander Nevsky and Henry V.
See soundtrack.net for coverage
of the 5th Annual Film and Television Music Conference in LA, hosted by
the Hollywood Reporter and the Society of Composers and Lyricists. Covered
composers include Don Davis, John Debney, George S. Clinton, Graeme Revell,
Marc Shaiman and others.
Gladiator
See Wednesday's
column:
From: "user" <user@u.washington.edu>
I don't know what Ware is talking about! This is probably the most
ignorant and prototypical view of the score I have ever heard. I must pledge
that, though I AM a Hans Zimmer fan, I can maintain some semblance of objectivity,
and not be a deaf Zimmer basher (like Ware!). I like to mention some few
glaring mistakes Ware made:
- Twangy guitar from Broken Arrow? Where was my ears when this was
played. You don't mean the classical style guitar licks during track 3,4,
and 13? I play guitar okay? And the twangy guitar Ware mention was NOWHERE
to be heard. That's your deaf ears defying your anti-biased view.
- Where the heck did Crimson Tide comes from? You must mean the
male chorus right? Are we to assume that all deep male chorus Hans did,
and will write, were, lifted/borrowed/taken from Crimson Tide? How SOOOO
wrong! It's a Style you inconsiderate !F@#$%$!!!!
- Backdraft? That's some ears you have!!! I bought Backdraft after
I had seen it in the theater and been listening to it off and on since,
so excuse me if I think your review is a load of bull! If anything was
lifted, it was the drive of the theme, and not the melody, that Hans is
guilty of.
But...
Though I do agree that Holt's "Mars, Bringer of War" is
overused, and that Hans could have done a better reinterpretation, "abuse"
is not the word I would use to characterize it. It's a variation and Hans'
not hiding it. Ask him in an interview and I'd guarantee that he'll say
that he did not have a lot of choice as to the degree he can mirror the
music without risking losing the inherent intensity that "Mars"
has.
And...
Heroism speaks to people and an outspoken statement of heroic trials
should be heard. have you taken into consideration the idea that the sound
in the movie may have had an influence on the sonic level of score in the
movie.
Lord of the Rings
From: "Daniel Montoya Jr." <danielmontoya.jr@swt.edu>
(by way of
I was wondering if anyone was familiar with SYMPHONY NR.1 "The
Lord of the Rings" by Johan de Meij? And if so, would the music, or
at least the themes fit the movie, in your opinion. My Wind Ensemble just
performed it at our concert and it is awesome music. Just thought I'd ask
seeing as there is no composer yet signed for LOTR.
I'm not familiar with this work, but there's no way in a million years
the composer would get hired for a major studio "event" movie
based solely on a concert piece. If you were getting operated on, you would
want a surgeon who has done the operation before, right?
Les Baxter
See the recent column on the Les
Baxter v. John Williams court case about E.T. from the 1980s. It turns
out that the Baxter piece, The Passions, IS available on CD after
all:
From: "Luis Fernando Hernandez" <lfer@mail.internet.com.mx>
Hello, I got THE PASSIONS CD two years ago, it´s ORIENTAL
PACIFIC OP-1920-2, 1995
TRACKS 1-8 :THE PASSIONS (Les Baxter), with the voice of Bass Sheva.
Bonus tracks:
9: Sabu and his percussion ensemble
10: Phil Moore, featuring Leda Amist.
The quality is not good. It says: made in Texas
The liner notes are the same from the album lp. Maybe it's still
around.
"The Hero's Death" Track Titles
From: Rozsaphile@aol.com
Subject: Many a movie has been spoiled by disclosure in an innocent
track title
If the notes are prohibited from discussing the plot, they are less
likely to say anything substantial about the film music. (And many albums
really do feature intelligent notes nowadays--more so than during the "golden
age."
I know I'm in the minority on this but I would NEVER buy or listen
to a soundtrack album before seeing the film. To me buying an album is
like getting married: I expect to keep the music forever. Seeing the movie
is the first date. Big trouble comes from reversing the order!
To put this more analytically, the purpose of film music is to create
a unique atmosphere for a particular bit of film. The process works by
association. The composer imposes his aural interpretation on the rest
of us. If he does his job well, the music literally becomes part of the
movie. No other music in the world will ever be able to speak to that particular
experience. But if you listen to the music alone, you will form your own
associations. More often than not, they will be richer and better than
the actual movie. And you will have spoiled the movie experience forever.
It's related to the classical compilation score problem and the temp track
issue. People have their own associations with music. Their theatrical
experience will never be truly fresh and original if they walk into the
theater will a lot of emotional baggage in hand.
OK, I've made exceptions. We all have to. But I continue to recommend
the above procedure to anybody who cares more about film music than album
collecting.
And please, Lukas, I really don't want to read record reviews by
people who haven't even seen the movie!
Hey, I'm with you! But the original letter was commenting about CDs
with track titles that totally spoil a movie's secrets, like "Qui-Gon's
Noble End" from The Phantom Menace. And that CD came out well
before you could even see the film to know the story. I don't think fans
deserve to have a movie ruined for them just by glancing at a track list.
Links
From: Thseamon@aol.com
Just heard, over at Bernard Herrmann webpage, about an upcoming radio
show on film music of Miklos Rosza & Bernard Herrmann! Next Monday
May 8 at 1:00 p.m. http://www.warpradio.com/asx/whrb.asx
See Cinema Concerto (http://members.aol.com/marcgothic)
for a review of our Rio
Conchos CD.
German readers, see http://home.nikocity.de/brittibemm/bri/tip.htm
for a German-language review of our Omega
Man CD.
Happy May!
MailBag@filmscoremonthly.com
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