FILM SCORE FRIDAY 4/12/02
By Scott Bettencourt
I'm writing this column three days in advance, so if something extraordinary
happened in the interim -- like George Lucas firing John Williams from
Attack of the Clones and replacing him with Michael Gore -- then
please excuse its omission.
Hey, it could happen. Lucas might think to himself "There's got to be
a reason why Fame beat The Empire Strikes Back for Best Score."
IN THEATERS TODAY
The Cat's Meow - Song Album Available on RCA Victor
Changing Lanes - Score by David Arnold - Available on Varese
Sarabande on April 30
Frailty - Score by Brian Tyler - Available on OCF Records
Human Nature - Score by Graeme Revell - Music/Dialogue Album
due on Pleximusic
New Best Friend - Score by John Murphy & David A. Hughes
The Sweetest Thing - Score by Edward Shearmur
CDS FROM GERMANY
A new small soundtrack label has sprung up in Germany. For information
on Cobra Records' first releases, click here
for their website, and if you wish to contact the label, click here.
DOES ANNAKIN REALLY CALL HER "MILADY?"
I'm apparently the only one who hasnít heard any of it yet, but samples
of the Attack of the Clones score are popping up around the Internet,
and here's one German site
where it can be heard. One unimpeachable source tells me that "the love
theme is Leia's theme meets Star Wars main theme B theme meets Patrick
Doyle meets Romeo and Juliet meets Born on the Fourth of July.
And it's lovely."
CAPSULE REVIEWS OF SCORES UNAVAILABLE ON CD
David Newman's score for Danny DeVito's DEATH TO SMOOCHY
is the weakest in their five film collaboration, but still better than
the movie itself. Newman wrote the music for most of the onscreen songs
as well, and gives a love scene between Edward Norton and Catherine Keener
(the film's real stars -- Robin Williams has only a supporting role) a
nostalgically Heathers-ish cue.
James Newton Howard's score for BIG TROUBLE is pleasantly
jazzy, with trumpet solos by Arturo Sandoval. Graeme Revell's HIGH
CRIMES is more varied than his usual thriller scores, giving the character
played by Morgan Freeman (as wonderful as ever) a jaunty, Thomas Newman-ish
theme. Jamshied Sharifi gives CLOCKSTOPPERS an enjoyably
over-the-top mix of orchestral and pop music.
David Williams' music for NATIONAL LAMPOON'S VAN WILDER
is as forgettable as his American Pie scores. As a change of pace,
the end credits roll over a score montage instead of a song medley, but
the film is so clumsily put together that the music ends before the credits,
leaving the audience with an awkward silence. (And yes, I am that one guy
who would sit through Van Wilder all the way to the end)
GOOD TIME, BAD TIME, RANDY TIME?
From Jeff Heise: Jedbu@aol.com
With all the fuss about Randy Newman FINALLY winning an Oscar that
he is long overdue, what is up with the supposed CD release of his score
to Milos Forman's RAGTIME? I remember seeing something on this website
about it months ago, and I was wondering if anyone connected to FSM has
any updated information? I have always loved this score and am hoping for
additional tracks as well.
Both CD Now and Amazon.com claim that Rhino will be releasing a
Ragtime CD, with extra tracks, on May 21st. However, these are the
same sites that claim that Varese will be releasing a Jimmy Neutron
score CD in August, while Varese insists it is doing no such thing, so
their announcements shouldn't be taken as gospel.
AND THE PULITZER GOES TO
This year's Pulitzer Prize in music was awarded to Henry Brant for his
composition "Ice Field," which premiered at Davies Symphony Hall in San
Francisco on December 12, 2001. The other finalists were Peter Lieberson's
"Rilke Songs" and David Rakowski's "Ten of a Kind (Symphony No. 2)
Brant's name may be familiar to film music fans, as he was the orchestrator
for many of Alex North's film scores. And yes, it's a tragedy that Hans
Zimmer was snubbed by the Pulitzer committee AGAIN.
ON ALL THINGS ENGLISH
Tommy Pearson is hosting a program on BBC Radio called "Stage and Screen,"
playing the latest film music releases as well as interviews with top composers,
everyone from John Williams to WG Snuffy Walden. It plays on Mondays at
4 pm, GMT, and edited versions of some of the interviews can be heard at
the BBC website.
From: "Robert E. Bowd" <bbowd@interlog.com>
The remark "typical Malcolm Arnold bombast", in your discussion
of the composer montage at the Oscars, is unkind. Apparently you have had
limited exposure to Arnold's overall body of work. Your loss.
I admit, my familiarity with Mr. Arnold's work isn't remotely as thorough
as with the work of Goldsmith or Barry (to name a few), so my remark can
certainly be considered unfair. However, the Arnold film music I do know
has a very similar sound, some of it nearly indistinguishable from River
Kwai. Also -- and I say this as an Anglophile and one who is half-English
myself -- I find a lot of British film music to be bombastic. Malcolm Arnold,
David Arnold, James Bernard, Ron Goodwin, Michael J. Lewis, John Scott
-- all talented men, but maybe it's something in the British musical sensibility.
Or maybe I'm just a self-hating half-Englishman.
From: "Heathcliff Blair" <heathcliff@hblair.fsnet.co.uk>
It was good to see FSM giving a nod to Dudley Moore's passing.
I've often wondered how Moore's film music career might have developed
if his many other talents hadn't intervened. His cabaret performances displayed
an effortlessly eclectic mastery of musical styles which, along with the
few films he did score, indicate a loss to the industry.
I would draw your readers' attention to the film Inadmissible Evidence
for which Moore wrote an intense, ethereal score, starkly orchestrated
for strings and piano in the manner of Bartok. Truly 'black and white'
music, and a universe away from the Dudley Moore of Derek and Clive and
Arthur. Check it out if you can. It's a pretty good film too.
Moore's score to Bedazzled also contains some subtle and very lovely
moments, none of which feature on the soundtrack album which instead favours
Moore's jazz-pop compositions. A pity.
Perhaps Dudley Moore had an over abundance of talents - too many
and varied for both him and the Hollywood community to properly fathom.
Indeed toward the end of his career, Hollywood simply didn't know what
to do with him. For many others though, he will be remembered as a superb
musician who just happened to have one of the most infectious laughs in
history.
Best wishes to all at FSM
From: "Tom Line" <tojosline@hotmail.com>
Fans of Mr.Moore,might be interested in the fact that a
CD of his piano music called Songs Without Words was released on Dave Grusin's
label GRP. It features 2 suites from 6 Weeks, the movie Mr. Moore scored.
From: Scott Kirby <swk2001@socal.rr.com>
Dudley Moore died the other day and without even trying
I could recall the theme he wrote for "30 is a Dangerous Age, Cynthia"
and I haven't heard it in probably 20 years. Try doing that with anything
by Zimmer and his stable.
From: Matt Barry <Bigbearmdb@aol.com>
Subject: Bedazzled Correction
The rock star sequence from the "Bedazzled" remake was not cut because
"test audiences hated it". On the contrary, they loved it. It was dropped
and replaced with the "Abraham Lincoln" wish so that the film could avoid
getting an R rating.
If true, this is a sad comment on the movie industry, that they would drop
an entire sequence that audiences actually loved just to get a more inclusive
rating.
BLAST FROM THE PAST
From: Gary Hamann <gdhamann@juno.com>
11/19/1943 Hollywood Citizen-News
NEW SYSTEM OF SCORING MUSIC TOLD
By Richard D. Saunders
A difficult and therefore seldom-used device of scoring has been
applied by Daniele Amfitheatrof, Russian composer and conductor, to his
music for the MGM picture, Lassie Come Home which opened simultaneously
at four local movie houses last night. He has utilized a chorus of humming
voices, treated instrumentally rather than vocally, in addition to the
symphonic ensemble which he personally conducted for the Sam Marx film.
"I felt that these wordless voices were the only way in which I
could tonally express the necessary mood." Amfitheatrof declared.
"For
Lassie the dog, is responding to the voices of nature, which I
desired to
simulate.
"Though I have employed a full symphony, I have used it sparingly
throughout, endeavoring to paint the tonal colors with restraint
and
variety. That is necessary, for there is as much music in the score
as in
a short opera."
Amifitheatof expressed himself particularly pleased at the free
hand he was given by director Freddie Wilcox and producer Marx.
As a
result he was able to attain special effects that would be impossible
under ordinary working conditions.
"The score differs from an ordinary symphony score only in a few
details," the composer stated. "I have used woodwinds in pairs,
but
brasses in threes, and in places I employed four or five clarinets
to
blend my tonal palette.
Amfitheatrof was guest conductor of the Boston Symphony and the
Minneapolis Symphony as well as many leading orchestras abroad,
and has
composed extensively.
POLL NERDS UNITE!
Jerrygoldsmithonline.com
has created their own poll, asking readers for the best FSM Jerry Goldsmith
CD to date. Here are the results (39 votes total):
Logan's Run -- 28 % (11 votes)
Take a Hard Ride -- 21% (8 votes)
Tora, Tora, Tora -- 18 % (7 votes)
The Illustrated Man -- 13% (5 votes)
Patton -- 10% (4 votes)
Rio Conchos -- 5% (2 votes)
Only one vote each for Flim Flam Man/Girl Named Sooner and Ace Eli/Room
222, and, alas, none for 100 Rifles, The Stripper or Morituri.
CRIPES, YOU WANT MORE CDS?
From Tim Willis: <timandselina@email.msn.com>
I want to congratulate you again on the great job you do
with the monthly Film Score soundtrack releases. I have them all and I
am proud to include each and every one in my collection. May I suggest
two from the M-G-M vaults that I feel need to be recognized. They are:
David Raksin's superb score to the 1962 'Two Weeks In Another Town' with
a great Main Title theme that doesn't equal his 'Bad & Beautiful' theme
but comes close. The other is Andre Previn's lovely score to 'A Catered
Affair', a Bette Davis film from 1956. I had also suggested the Previn
score a few months back for the 1964 20th Fox comedy 'Goodbye Charlie'.
It's a jazzy concoction and the only memorable aspect of the film. Keep
up the outstanding work!
From: Dennis Atkins <vernat_99@yahoo.com>
You've been doing a mucho great job on releasing all of
these cool scores! Now that you have secured a contract with Turner-MGM,
I hope FSM will be able to crank out some of my favorite unreleased, seemingly
forgotten 60's/70's scores. Is Warner now owned by Turner, or vice-versa?
Anyway, here's a short version of my want list:
TELEFON - Schifrin
THE WRATH OF GOD - Schifrin
TOM JONES - Addison
PETULIA - Barry
THE WRONG BOX - Barry
CANNON FOR CORDOBA - Bernstein
THE GYPSY MOTHS - Bernstein
SOME GIRLS DO - Blackwell
THE VENETIAN AFFAIR - Schifrin
HARRY IN YOUR POCKET - Schifrin
THE SPLIT - Jones
POINT BLANK - Mandel
AN AMERICAN DREAM - Mandel
KLUTE - Small
THE PRIVATE LIFE OF SHERLOCK HOLMES - Rozsa
LAST EMBRACE - Rozsa
THE THIEF WHO CAME TO DINNER - Mancini
(I know it was on LP - C'mon, why hasn't anyone reissued this classic
soundtrack?!!)
All of the above are MGM movies. How's that for starters?!!!!!!
Aren't you glad that I didn't send you the long version of my list?
Hmmmmm?
Actually, Klute, Petulia, Thief Who Came To Dinner,
and American Dream were released by Warner Bros., and The Wrong
Box was from Columbia. Alas, these errors render your entire list invalid,
so from now on the FSM label will merely re-release The Best of Everything
every month with a different "collector's cover." Start ordering now!
MailBag@filmscoremonthly.com
|
