Film Score Friday 10/6/00

by Lukas Kendall

Varese Sarabande has been busy -- here's what they have coming up according to their website (www.varesesarabande.com):

October 10: Nurse Betty (Rolfe Kent, songs).

October 17: Lost Souls (Jan A.P. Kaczmarek, supernatural thriller).

October 24: The Ultimate Star Trek (collection of re-recorded Star Trek selections: themes from the original series, Deep Space Nine and Voyager, the Fred Steiner-recorded suite from "The Trouble with Tribbles" and themes from all the movies except III).

October 31: Pay It Forward (Thomas Newman, drama with Kevin Spacey and Haley Joel Osmont).

November 14: Bounce (Mychael Danna, romantic comedy/drama), The Sixth Day (Trevor Rabin, Schwarzenegger action film), Mech Warrior 4: Vengeance (Duane Decker videogame score), and Cruel Intentions (John Ottman's rejected score, also including other Ottman themes such as his great main title for the Fantasy Island TV series).

More News

GNP/Crescendo will not be releasing the score to Heavy Metal 2000 but will be releasing the TV soundtrack of Farscape in early November.

Verve Records in France has three Philippe Sarde CDs coming out this month: Flic Ou Voyou/Le Guignolo, Princesses/Un Frere and Tess/The Tenant.

Shockwave.com is now featuring Stainboy, a new animated serial cartoon by Tim Burton featuring an original score by Danny Elfman. Online only!

Silva Screen's long-awaited television soundtrack to The Fugitive (the original '60s series, music by Pete Rugolo) will be out in November.

Congratulations to Marc Shaiman and John Ottman for making Entertainment Weekly's top 101 list of gay and lesbian celebrities.

Events

If you're in the Boston area tonight (sorry about the short notice!) check out the 8PM concert with conductor Gil Rose and the Boston Modern Orchestra Project, performing an entire film music concert at the New England Conservatory's Jordan Hall. On the schedule are selections by Toru Takemitsu, Bernard Herrmann (Psycho, Vertigo), Alex North (2001), Franz Waxman (Sunset Boulevard) and Erich Wolfgang Korngold (Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex). There will be a 7PM pre-concert symposium as well. Thanks to Jay Cox who posted this information on FILMUS-L.

Mark your calendars for Saturday, October 21 at 3PM when the Virgin Megastore in Burbank is hosting an afternoon of "music, monsters and an informal presentation about horror film music restoration and recording." Special guests are the Marco Polo reconstruction/recording team of William Stromberg and John Morgan; archivist/author Scott McQueen; and author Jon Burlingame, who will be signing copies of his new Sound and Vision book about the history of film scores. Autographs will also be available for the Marco Polo CDs of King Kong, House of Frankenstein, The Cat People and more. The event is being sponsored by Marco Polo, Billboard Publications and the Alex Film Society. The store is located at 851 N San Fernando Rd, Burbank CA 91502; ph: 818-295-6905.

The American Boychoir is performing a benefit concert for children's musical education on Saturday, November 11th at 7PM at Saint Mark's church in Glendale, California (1020 North Brand Blvd). It's not a film music concert per se but the Boychoir is a highly renowned group which has appeared on the soundtracks to Wide Awake and Interview with the Vampire as well as John Williams's recent compilation album recordings of Close Encounters and Empire of the Sun -- plus a whole bunch of television shows and commercials. See www.americanboychoir.org. Michael Matessino, who has worked on many John Williams CD restorations, is organizing the event.

Mix Tapes

From: Fernando Gimenez <fgimenez@bitel.es>

Regarding Cary Wong's article about Mix tapes, I would like to include the last addition to my personal selection. When I do a mix tape I try to inlcude tracks that are on the same vein. I mean I don't include "Battle" from Gladiator and then somtehing radically different as a cue of American Beauty. By the way, I do have a CD- recorder, and I usually tape CDs of 80 minutes (It's great to have as much time as possible!)

So here's my last compilation, which includes music from the latest additions to my collection (in this case this a mix of relaxing themes, nothing espectacular):

1. Injection (from Mission Impossible 2) : Man I love Lisa's Gerrad voice, and this particular cue by Zimmer is impossible to resist. Such a great way to start the Cd-r

2. Syatinia Dumania (from Pan Tadeusz): Some of you would say.......What's that? Well is a track taken from a polonian film "Pan tadeusz" scored by the great Kilar. What a wonderful theme! It reminds me of the style of John Barry. I discovered this Cd in Screen Archives, and it was greatly recommended by Craig himself. Now I understand why. A truly masterpiece.

3. Prelude and Romanza (from Wichtfinder general): another great theme that I discovered in a Silva compilation dedicated to Horror Movies. The composer is an unknown to me, Paul Ferris, but the track is unforgettable. Truly one of the best romantic pieces I have heard in a long time.

4. Epilogue and finale (from Red King, White knight): this TV score by John Scott is not one of his best works, but this theme is truly one of his best pieces. He states so in the liner notes.

5. Fallon and the blind girl (from A prayer for the dying): this love theme written by Bill Conti grabbed my attention inmediately and is a great addition to this compilation

6. End title (from Old Gringo): wow! if Lee Holdridge had been a little luckier he would probably be one of the most requested. This theme represents how passionate his writing can be. I love this guitar theme

7. Giant of the skyes

8. Flight of the Ornithocaerus (from Walking with Dinosaurs): sad music at its best! This two cues taken from the TV soundtrack and written by Bartlett perfectly capture and describe the lonely earth of millions of years ago. Reminds me of Herrmann

9. The Morrow (from Gattaca): Nyman did a wonderful job in this science fiction flick, and this main theme is a joy to listen

10. A father's legacy (from The Man Without a Face): when Horner fins a creative and inspirational project he can write themes like this one. Similar to The Spitfire grill.

11. Return to paradise (from Return to paradise): Mancina does not deserve to be remembered by his action themes such as Speed an Con Air, he also capable of capturing the beauty and tragedy of such paradises as the one portrayed in the film

12. The egg travels (from Dinosaur): JNH has found a new type of films to score. This music caused sensation when seen in the trailer of the movie

13. Love theme (from Princess Mononoke): I suppose it's the love theme. My Cd comes from Japan, and everything is in japanese! this was a great surprise for me. Before this score I didn't know a thing about japanese film music. A must

14. I'll be back (from The English Patient): Yared, with such works as these and others as Message ina bottle, has caught my attention. He is one of the composers to follow in the next years. This theme is heard as the character portrayed by Ralph Finnes promises his lover (Scott-Thomas) to return. Great stuff

15 New sight (from Star Trek: Insurrection): it was a nice touch to discover this piece among a great amount of action music. Goldsmith has gift for melody and this a great proof.

16. Theme (from The Boy Who Could Fly): a little gem I discovered in a Telarc compilation (Fantastic voyage). It's trademark Broughton

17. American beauty (from American Beauty): Thomas Newman should have won the Oscar for this one. One of the best of his career. Here a soft piano theme makes a welcome addition

18. Angela's ashes (from Angela's Ashes): I couldn's finish my mix without a cue of the great Williams. It's such a great work and a deserved Oscar nomination. He's is truly the master of the film music community.

Readers: please send in your ideas for mix tapes and thoughts on your listening habits. It's fun to hear from other fans. Email MailBag@filmscoremonthly.com

The Fantasticks

From: "Adam Harris" <wickywackyman135@hotmail.com>

Well... I figured I would add my ten cents on the Fantasticks flick. Last year I started a petition to get this film released in theatres-and obtained a bootleg copy of the original edit-before Francis Ford Coppola did the final edit.This is basically a beautiful film any way you cut it-it's fantastic.I prefer the original-but it's doing well in limited theatresand don't want to destroy the good feeling about it and would like it to go to wider release-but I'm very GLAD it's out now-the orchestrations are first rate-and NOT the DUD that MGM would like it to be-considering the shoddy marketing-which there is none of- so go see it before it goes to DVD(which I heard is going to contain the ORIGINAL edit and the Rape Ballet-that was shot for posterity-since Rape is now considered pollitically incorrect)and other goodies although I really don't know what will be on the DVD for sure-anyway-let's get a Soundtrack album out there-no plans at this time-it's a shame too.

Mail Bag

From: Paul Wensley <uncrump@mail.interlog.com>

Thank heavens for CDs! The storage capacity, and presumably, the relative ease of transferring information digitally, has encouraged producers and the like to press special releases with much of the missing cues we afficianadoes have had to cry over. Case in point: the JAWS 25 ANNIVERSARY issue.

I've seen this film uncountable times, and with this new cd, I can finally enjoy the crystal clear subtleties of the numerous cues that, for one reason or other, never made it onto the original soundtrack.

The enjoyment of good film music is an experience that I find difficult to articulate. It is separate from the film, and, at the same time, connected to it. Exceptional film scores, like JAWS and ET, cover many emotional layers. That are both dramatic, but also extremely sweet (yes, even JAWS!- see cut 8 Father and Son, among others)

Moreover, buying a soundtrack, for me, is a step toward completing an affection that I may have with a film...enjoying it on another level.

Understandably, then, when a favourite film is released without its accompanying soundtrack, that bond can never be completed. Examples of this, for me, are Jerry Goldsmith's MAGIC (with Anthony Hopkins). The music for this underrated film has never been released. This is sad.

BLACK SUNDAY, with Robert Shaw, is an exceptional illustration of John Williams deft skills at composing wonderful suspense music. Why has it not been released- I ask 24 years after its cinematic debut.

And at the risk of peeving you movie snobs, I would love to hear all of the dramatic cues from Hanna Barbera cartoons of the 60s. These were exceptional compositions, that left as much an impact on my young mind (at the time), as does the beautiful music of BRAVEHEART today. JONNY QUEST, SPACE GHOST, etc, contained many jazz driven suspense cues, thoughtfully and skillfully written. Though, once again, most of these cues gather dust in a basement somewhere, never, it seems, to be truly appreciated.

Tired now, write more later....

Link

Celluloid Tunes has a new home at www.celluloidtunes.com; it's a general film music site with specialized sections on film composers and their Academy Award merits, Danny Elfman and an huge list of external links.

MailBag@filmscoremonthly.com