Mail Bag 9/18/01

Some notes from our readers:

Goblin

From: DeviantMan@aol.com

Glad to know you are finally warming up to the talents of Goblin, the same way you learned to love 70s funk scores (Pelham, Escape from Apes, Enter the Dragon, etc). The most appealing thing of film scores is the diverse approaches to projects and the time periods of film scoring itself. Perfect example is Lalo Schifrin developing the 70s action style and then in the late 90s asked to recreate it. Goblin has always had a cinematic sound even before they tried to hit big in England as Cherry Five. Although for Deep Red, Giorgio Gaslini was the official composer, Dario Argento, overheard Goblin in a club and asked them to write additional material for his film and the rest is history.

From: Jeff Heise, Jedbu@aol.com

Regarding the similarities of THE LOST PATROL & CASABLANCA. . .

Max Steiner was (before James Brown) the hardest working man in show biz. Considering that he composed and conducted twelve scores in 1939, including GONE WITH THE WIND and had to get B-12 injections to finish in time, that there were times when he had to bite the bullet and reuse something shouldn't surprise anyone. Yes, the main titles of both of these films are exactly the same-I was taken aback by this when I first saw LOST PATROL years after memorizing CASABLANCA, and I think the theme actually works better in the earlier film. If you give the soundtrack to the Bogart film a careful listen, that main title theme never appears again in the score! According to what has been written, Steiner was told to use "As Time Goes By," and resisted, mostly because he wanted to use his own music. But, since the footage with Dooley Wilson singing the song had already been shot and he was unavailable to redo it, Steiner swallowed his pride and did what he could to weave the song into his score. Personally, I think he did quite a wonderful job, although he relies on "stingers" a few times too many for me (next time you see the film, listen for one of these and simultaneously, Ingrid Bergman appears). What Steiner probably did was use the older theme in place of the song, mostly because he needed some big dramatic piece of music that sounded mysterious and a little bit Arabic, and LOST PATROL fit the bill.

Steiner did this again with SINCE YOU WENT AWAY, using the love theme from A STAR IS BORN as a waltz for the USO dance at the airfield, and winning a third Oscar for it.

By the way, the next time you watch THE ROBE, watch it with the 1939 version of THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME. The scene from the latter in which Quasimodo saves the gypsy girl was reused by Alfred Newman in the finale of the former, with both results being quite wonderful.
 

From: "Robert E. Bowd" <bbowd@interlog.com>

Just wanted to share that I came across a 2 CD Japanese anime soundtrack (used) in Toronto that was credited to James Horner and Jay Chattaway. I did give it a brief listen but passed on it as it was a very small orchestra and was not especially appealing to me. The liner notes were in Japanese and I am sorry I cannot remember the title. I suspect it may have been tracked from some of Horner's very early scores, as I didn't recognize anything - not that I was too focused on that aspect of Horner's "sustainable" [reduce (creativity)-reuse-recycle] scoring. The Chattaway involvement does intrigue me, though.

I think I have heard this CD before. It is not original music by Horner and Chattaway; rather, a Japanese production adapted some of their themes for a smaller orchestra. I think the referenced scores are Glory and Missing in Action, respectively. It's a weird curio.

From: "David Wise" <groupzero@earthlink.net>

Thanks for the fascinating review of the "Metropolis" soundtrack. For those interested, the soundtrack CD is available at:

http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/

Yes, they do ship to the U.S. It may also be available through Animation.com.

For anyone interested in pursuing anime soundtracks, I must recommend the soundtrack CDs to "Cowboy Bebop" (now running on Cartoon Network). There are actually five CDs of music, with odd titles such as "Vitamin Disc" and "No Disc" (which presents remixes of themes in the format of pirate radio station on Mars!). The two CDs I strongly recommend are the self-titled first disc (i.e., "Cowboy Bebop") and "Blue." While containing little by way of orchestral scoring, these discs are a mind-blowing mix of big-band jazz, hip-hop, blues, dusky-throated postmodern torch songs, and of course, bebop. Trust me, you have _never_ heard anything like this.

For those who prefer more conventional orchestral scores, I cannot recommend too highly the soundtrack for the "Giant Robo" original video animation series. These are full-throated orchestral showpieces by Yasuto Yamaki, seven (!) CDs in all. I particularly recommend Volume IV, which references everything from the Cheyenne Indian Fight cue from "How the West Was Won" to Steve Reich's "The Desert Music!" These CDs are long out of print (in Japan they typically do only one pressing of a soundtrack CD) but can be found on Ebay.

As for the last Dixieland score I can remember, that would be Woody Allen's "Sleeper" in 1973.

From: Bob Lorentz, "rlorentz" <rlorentz@lvcm.com>

As a long time watcher of Japanese Anime, I am so glad someone is discovering the fantastic scores that these films have. Movies like "Akira"," Princess Mononoke", "Ghost In The Shell", etc., have not only advanced a fantastic visual style, but a wealth of melodic and dramatic compositions as well. Even foreign (to Japan that is) artists have been lending their talents to them, as demonstrated by Pioneer Animation using Chris Franke to score "Tenchi Muyo! The Movie".

American animators have also discovered the true power and force of a healthy musical cue. One who comes to mind is James Venable, the composer for what is being called a taste of the new American Anime, Genndy Tartakovsky's "Samurai Jack".

Thank you for the heads up on "Metropolis". I have not yet seen this release, but I will keep a keen ear cocked when I do.

From: "Martin Thornton" <ThorntonML@mosso.co.uk>

Firstly, I'd like to congratulate you and all the staff on a great mag and website. It's quite hard to find here but I buy it whenever I can.

I've never written in before, but the reason I finally have is to report on Elmer Bernstein's recent concert in London (14th August at the Royal Albert Hall, as part of the BBC Proms), which was titled The Great Escape - Hollywood's Golden Age. The BBC Concert Orchestra played, led by violinist Cynthia Fleming, with John Harle on saxophone and, of course, Elmer Bernstein conducting.

Mr. Bernstein came on stage to enthusiastic applause and went straight into the first number (which was not in the programme), his theme from The Great Escape.

Mr. Bernstein then spoke briefly to explain that about half of the concert was dedicated to the European composers who fled to America in the first half of the last century (hence the title of the concert).

He then conducted his own music composed for the television series Hollywood and the Stars, before moving onto the great escapees...

Ben-Hur - Overture; Parade of the Charioteers (Miklos Rozsa)

The Adventures of Robin Hood - Old England; Robin Hood and His Merry Men (Erich Wolfgang Korngold)

Gone with the Wind - Tara's Theme (Max Steiner)

A President's Country (Dimitri Tiomkin)

The Ten Commandments (Elmer Bernstein) rounded off the first half and there was a short interval before the concert continued...

The Red Pony - Morning on the Ranch; Dream March; Circus Music (Aaron Copland)

Laura (David Raksin)

A Place in the Sun (Franz Waxman)

Taxi Driver (Bernard Herrmann)

The Man with the Golden Arm (Elmer Bernstein)

The Magnificent Seven (Elmer Bernstein)

The cheers of the crowd managed to coax Mr. Bernstein back for two encores, which were;

The Magnificent Seven

The Great Escape

During the last piece, the crowd started clapping along with the music, which started getting so loud that it actually threatened to drown out the music!!! I guess they learned from this, because they then started whistling (a la Colonel Bogey), during which I could've sworn I saw Mr. Bernstein look over his shoulder at the audience and smile.

My personal favourites of the night were Taxi Driver (in which the saxophone playing of John Harle was truly magnificent, the arrangement giving him the luxury of a liberated cadenza) and The Man with the Golden Arm (I haven't seen a orchestra play with such verve since the English Chamber Orchestra under John Barry's baton a few years ago).

I hope this will be of interest to at least of few of your readers, and keep up the good work!!!

MailBag@filmscoremonthly.com