Film Score Friday 2/16/01
by Lukas Kendall
Very sad news to report here at FSM: Nori Kuga, the webmaster for the
Japanese-language
companion site to Film Score Monthly, passed away suddenly last Sunday,
February 11th. He had just moved to Los Angeles from Las Vegas and apparently
suffered a heart attack or cerebral hemmorage early in the morning. He
was only 36 years old. He is survived by his wife, Ayumi Kuga.
Nori set up the Japanese language FSM site as a labor of love, out of
his interest and appreciation for film music. He approached me quietly
and politely with the proposition while visiting Los Angeles a few years
ago and as I did not know him, I didn't know what to think. But he followed
through on everything he promised, simply out of his love for film music
and his wish to provide comprehensive translations for his fellow Japanese
enthusiasts. (He provided us with the Japanese text on the spine of the
Tora! Tora! Tora! CD.)
Nori served as Jerry Goldsmith's translator/liaison during the maestro's
recent Japanese concerts. He was always helpful, kind and forthcoming.
The news of his death comes as a real shock and a terrible tragedy.
Film Music Panel at Santa Monica
I will be moderating a panel on film scoring tomorrow (Saturday, 2/17/01,
12-2PM) at the Santa Monica film festival. This is at the Miramar Hotel's
Wilshire Room at Ocean and Wilshire Blvd, right off the water. Panelists
include composers Bruce Broughton and Charles Bernstein as well as Marina
Mena (Windswept Music Publishing), Conrad Pope (orchestrator for John Williams)
and to be honest, I'm not sure who else is in the final lineup, but I know
they were talking to some interesting people. The panel is produced by
Cory Goodman. See smff.com for more information.
In a stunning departure from tradition, I plan on leading the panel
in a discussion solely on the topic of Mideast peace process diplomacy.
Just kidding. It will be an interesting and lively conversation about film
music and I hope fans in the area can come out for it.
News
Varese Sarabande will release Jerry Goldsmith's new score to Along
Came a Spider on April 3rd.
There was a rumor going around the net about who was going to score
the new Planet of the Apes remake. Make no mistake: DANNY ELFMAN
is the composer. Anything else you heard is wrong.
Basil Poledouris will be featured in an audio commentary for the Starship
Troopers DVD Special Edition from Columbia TriStar. He has participated
in an on-camera interview for MGM's upcoming RoboCop Special Edition
DVD.
Listen for composer Mark Governor on KCSN, 88.5 FM today from noon to
1PM PST on "Let's Do Lunch" hosted by Renee Engle. He will be discussing
his work for Roger Corman in the 1980s. Tune in on the web at www.kcsn.org.
The current issue of the Los Angeles free tabloid, the Los Angeles New
Times, has an interview in the dining out column with Cliff Martinez (Traffic)
on food and music -- mostly the former.
Italian CD News
Roberto Zamori writes with news of exciting releases coming up on the
GDM and Hexacord labels, both from Italy. These are due at the end of February,
beginning of March:
On GDM Music: 1) A new release of The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
(Ennio Morricone) featuring previously unreleased music -- finally! More
details as we learn them... 2) La Resa dei Conti (Morricone, also
expanded. 3) 4...3...2...1...Morte! (G. Abril/Marcello Giombini),
first release of Italian sci-fi '60s cult movie. 4) Rebus (Luis
Bacalov), first release of thriller/spy '70s score. These are limited pressings;
order directly from GDM Music srl's exclusive sales office at gdm@centerweb.it
or faxing to +39.0574.625109.
Coming on Hexacord: 1) Cosi' Dolce, Cosi' Perversa (Riz Ortolani),
never before released, '70s sexy Italian thriller. 2) Eva, La Venere
Selvaggia (Roberto Pregadio), '60s African drama. 3) Al Cinema con
Edda Dell'Orso, compilation of performances by Edda Dell'Orso, including
rare tracks and previously unreleased music. 4) Un Genio, Due Compari,
Un Pollo (Ennio Morricone), also featuring previously unreleased bonus
track from Autostop Rosso Sangue (also Morricone).
See www.ala.it/fmastudio and www.hexacord.com
for more information.
Concerts
Here's the program for Elmer Bernstein's concerts in Barcelona on March
23rd and 24th. Part one: The Sons of Katie Elder, Hawaii, The Great Escape,
To Kill a Mockingbird, The Ten Commandments; Part two: Hollywood and the
Stars, The Age of Innocence, Heavy Metal, The View From Pompey's Head,
The Man with the Golden Arm, Walk on the Wild Side, The Magnificent Seven.
There are some pretty extensive listings of Bernard Herrmann related
concerts for the entire upcoming year at http://www.bernardherrmann.org/news/concerts.html.
This just in from Jeff Eldridge at www.johnwilliams.org:
Some recent Boston Globe articles have mentioned that John
Williams will be composing his HARRY POTTER score at Tanglewood in late
spring and early summer, and then recording it in London in August. He
will conduct a "sneak preview" of the music at the annual Tanglewood on
Parade concert on July 31. The only other announced JW date at Tanglewood
is July 17, when he will lead the Boston Pops in a tribute to Harry Warren.
Oscars!
See Wednesday's
column for the news of the nominations:
From: Jeff Commings, Jeffswim@aol.com
Am I the only person out there who reads the Oscar rules?
In your article on the 13th you pick Gladiator as one of your Oscar picks
for Best Original Score, when in fact it should be ineligible by Oscar
rules, which state: No score is eligible if the music is assembled "from
the music of more than one composer."
Didn't Hans Zimmer write the score with Lisa Gerrard? I am sure
I saw her name in the credits, and that was her accepting a Golden Globe
with Hans. So why is she left out, and how did DreamWorks get away with
omitting her name in order to make the score eligible for consideration?
I'm sure Lisa isn't too happy. I'm not really looking for the score to
be ruled out if it deserves to be there. All I want is an explanation.
Someone please tell me if I am crazy!
I noticed this too and do not have an explanation. It seems as if the score
was submitted solely with Zimmer's name so as to be eligible...which is
a shame as if anything is legitimately an underscore which happened to
be a collaboration between two composers, it's Gladiator. We'll
see what we can learn.
From: "Brown, Alphonse V." <ABrown@tmh.tmc.edu>
Damn! Poor James Newton Howard completely shunned from
the 2001 Oscar Nominations for Best Original Score. His "Dinosaur" was
a grand, epic and soaring piece of composition which exemplified ten-fold
the beautiful images on screen. Just try to imagine the opening scene with
the traveling egg WITHOUT his contribution!!
His "Unbreakable" score was innovative, passionate, scary and heroic
all at once. Musically, not an easy achievement.
Link
Roger Hall's Film Music Review has chosen our new Beneath
the 12-Mile Reef CD as Best of the Month for February. See http://hometown.aol.com/MusBuff/page43.htm
for the review.
MailBag@filmscoremonthly.com
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