FILM SCORE FRIDAY 7/12/02

The Boston Globe announced that John Williams will be handing over part of his scoring duties on HARRY POTTER AND THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS to composer/orchestrator William Ross. Williams will compose approximately forty minutes of new material, which Ross will utilize in writing the complete score.

New Line Records will release George S. Clinton's score to AUSTIN POWERS IN GOLDMEMBER on August 20th.

Milan will release the soundtrack to SPY KIDS 2: THE ISLAND OF LOST DREAMS on August 6th, but there is no word yet on whether it will be a score or song album. The poster gives Robert Rodriguez a shared credit with John Debney for the music, but then the poster credits Rodriguez with pretty much everything -- writing, directing, producing (with Elizabeth Avellan, aka Mrs. Rodriguez), production design, and even "director of digital photography" (it's yet another feature shot on high-definition video).

Sony will release the soundtrack to STUART LITTLE 2 on July 16th, but like the album for the original film it will feature only two Alan Silvestri cues. RCA Victor will release Gabriel Yared's score for Neil LaBute's film POSSESSION, based on the acclaimed A.S. Byatt bestseller, at the time of the film's release.

Director John Frankenheimer died on July 6th from a massive stroke, following complications from spinal surgery. Frankenheimer began his career directing television in the nineteen fifties and moved to features in 1957 with The Young Stranger. During his career he worked with many of the top composers in Hollywood, as his filmography below demonstrates.

Though most of Frankenheimer's recent work was with composer Gary Chang, he did four films with Maurice Jarre and three with Jerry Goldsmith. Goldsmith was originally supposed to score Grand Prix but left the project to do The Sand Pebbles when Alex North dropped out of that job. Goldsmith was also originally supposed to score Ronin and Reindeer Games but ultimately did neither.

Unusual among filmmakers of his years, Frankenheimer maintained his vigor and focus to the end of his career, and had yet another film in the pipeline before his surgery caused him to drop out -- the upcoming Exorcist prequel, with Liam Neeson as Father Merrin in a story that covers much of the same ground as the Africa flashbacks from Exorcist II: The Heretic.

(On a personal note, Frankenheimer not only directed one of my all-time favorite movies, the superb Manchurian Candidate, he also helmed one of my all-time guilty pleasures, the delightful Prophecy. Needless to say, he will be missed.)

THE YOUNG STRANGER - Leonard Rosenman
THE YOUNG SAVAGES - David Amram
ALL FALL DOWN - Alex North
BIRDMAN OF ALCATRAZ - Elmer Bernstein
THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE - David Amram
SEVEN DAYS IN MAY - Jerry Goldsmith
THE TRAIN - Maurice Jarre
SECONDS - Jerry Goldsmith
GRAND PRIX - Maurice Jarre
THE FIXER - Maurice Jarre
THE EXTRAORDINARY SEAMAN - Maurice Jarre
THE GYPSY MOTHS - Elmer Bernstein
I WALK THE LINE - Johnny Cash
THE HORSEMEN - Georges Delerue
THE ICEMAN COMETH (no score)
99 AND 44/100% DEAD - Henry Mancini
STORY OF A LOVE STORY - Michel Legrand
FRENCH CONNECTION II - Don Ellis
BLACK SUNDAY - John Williams
PROPHECY - Leonard Rosenman
THE CHALLENGE - Jerry Goldsmith
THE HOLCROFT COVENANT - Stanislas Syrewicz
52 PICKUP - Gary Chang
DEAD-BANG - Gary Chang
THE FOURTH WAR - Bill Conti
YEAR OF THE GUN - Bill Conti
AGAINST THE WALL (TV) - Gary Chang
THE BURNING SEASON (TV) - Gary Chang
ANDERSONVILLE (TV) - Gary Chang
THE ISLAND OF DR. MOREAU - Gary Chang
GEORGE WALLACE (TV) - Gary Chang
RONIN - Elia Cmiral
REINDEER GAMES - Alan Silvestri
PATH TO WAR (TV) - Gary Chang

The Cincinnati Kid - Lalo Schifrin - Aleph (expanded rerecording)
Lovely and Amazing - Craig Richey - Lion's Gate (songs & score)
The Night Walker - Vic Mizzy - Percepto

The Crocodile Hunter: Collision Course - Mark McDuff
Halloween Resurrection - Danny Lux - Score Album on Varese Sarabande due July 16
Me Without You - Adrian Johnston - Song Album on Epic/Sony
Never Again - Amanda Kravat
Reign of Fire - Edward Shearmur - Score Album on Varese Sarabande due July 23
Road to Perdition - Thomas Newman - Score Album on Decca

From: Warren Etheredge <thewarrenreport@earthlink.net
 

This three-part series focuses on the form, function and dramatic impact of music written for movies. Warren Etheredge -- film critic, teacher, curator of the 1 Reel Film Festival and founder of TheWarrenReport -- will screen thematically-linked snippets of great (and near-great) films while deconstructing the underscores from both a cinematic and musical approach. (Emmy-winning composer, Hummie Mann, will often serve as guest "counterpoint," offering sage insight from the composer's p.o.v.)

Learn how different composers resolve similar challenges and how the music supports the action on screen. Explore the relationship of the music to the visual storytelling and the relationship between the composer, the writer, and the film director.

This series is a remarkable opportunity for movie-lovers, aspiring filmmakers, established musicians and anyone who truly wishes to KNOW THE SCORE.

When: Tuesdays, 6:00PM-8:00PM, July 30, 2002, August 6 & 20, 2002
Fee: $15.00 per event -- $40.00 per series -- $35.00 per series (with Soundbridge membership)

For tickets and other info, please visit www.soundbridge.org. @Soundbridge Seattle Symphony Music Discovery Center in Benaroya Hall (2nd Ave & Union St, Seattle, Washington)

Tuesday July 30, 2002 -- 6:00pm
KNOW THE SCORE: The Great Chase

From 0 to 60 in just three notes? When film composers put the pedal to the metal, do they accelerate the tension of car chases or send 'em crashing to a halt?

Highlights include: Bullitt, The French Connection, The Italian Job, The Last Run, To Live and Die in L.A., and The Rock.

Tuesday August 06, 2002 -- 6:00pm
KNOW THE SCORE: Hugs & Kisses

A kiss is just a kiss. Really? As time goes by, film composers have provided music for a multitude of cinematic couplings. And their approaches have varied as wildly as the onn-screen partners, from schmaltzy strings to the ubiquitous Barry White. Is there an ideal soundtrack for lovin'?

Highlights include: Casablanca, Dr. Zhivago, Love Story, Basic Instinct, Ghost, and Dying Young.

Tuesday August 20, 2002 -- 6:00pm
KNOW THE SCORE: Close Encounters

In space, no one can hear your scream -- but John Williams' orchestral scores are clearly audible. Explore music written especially for extra-terrestrials. "Close Encounters" links the musical paths of aliens and humans.
 
Highlights include: E.T., Alien, Star Wars, Species, The Day The Earth Stood Still.

MEN IN BLACK II - Danny Elfman

"Bo Welch (production designer) and Danny Elfman (composer) continue what Max Weber would call the bureaucratization of a charismatic leaderói.e., Tim Burton, who once upon a time encouraged each of them to push the boundaries."

David Edelstein, Slate

This week's dynamic duo are two composers with a background in jazz, whose intimate scores contrast with the more symphonic work of their peers, and who've both written acclaimed scores for director Robert Redford - Dave Grusin and Mark Isham:

The Bonfire of the Vanities - Breakfast of Champions
The Champ - Losing Isaiah
The Cure - October Sky
Falling in Love - Afterglow
The Firm - The Gingerbread Man
The Front - The Majestic
Fuzz - Night Falls on Manhattan
The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight - Where the Money Is
The Heart is a Lonely Hunter - At First Sight
Heaven Can Wait - Made in Heaven
In the Gloaming - Life as a House
Ishtar - The Beast
Lucas - Little Man Tate
The Milagro Beanfield War - Of Mice and Men
On Golden Pond - A River Runs Through it
Reds - Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle
Tell Them Willie Boy Is Here - The Education of Little Tree
Three Days of the Condor - The Net

In this new section of Film Score Friday, I will dig into my impressive collection of movie sheet music for the lyrics to movie themes you probably never knew had lyrics.

This week we present a few lines from "Sunday Moon (Love Theme From Coma)", Music by Jerry Goldsmith, Lyrics by Carol Heather (aka Mrs. Goldsmith) :

One weekend
We ran away
We were lovers leaving
On holiday

Together
Time passed too soon
You were gone with Sunday's moon

It's not right this way
Need to be with you night and day
On my own between now and when
We'll be alone
And love again

Originally published by M.G.M. Affiliated Music Inc.

For all those who felt that Tuesday's column on composer/director collaborations was a little incomplete, understand that it was only seven pages out of a 59 page master file I've been compiling for years, featuring every composer/director collaboration of at least two films (even when one of the two scores is rejected), from three Addison partnerships to nine Zimmer pairings.

Those astute followers of the alphabet may also notice that the first column only covered composers from A-M. More lists will follow, including the composers/directors suggested below (many readers wrote in with their own suggestions, to which I must respond "Thank you, Mr. Smartypants, I know, I know"):

From: Steve Halfyard <Steve.Halfyard@uce.ac.uk>

One recent but nonetheless significant partnership is that of Elliot Goldenthal and Neil Jordan, starting more or less by accident with Interview with the Vampire in 1994, and continuing through Jordan's next three films, Michael Collins, The Butcher Boy and In Dreams. Goldenthal didn't score The End of the Affair, but is doing Double Down/ The Good Thief/ The Honest Thief (whatever they eventually call it!), so the partnership is obviously on-going.

From: "John Schuermann" <jsmusicsound@wcubed.net>

Let's not forget Akira Ifukube/Ishiro Honda! (GODZILLA, RODAN, THE MYSTERIANS, GHIDRAH -THE THREE HEADED MONSTER, etc.)

From: "Randy Derchan" <rderchan@visualdatainc.com>

What a great piece. Very interesting. This is the kind of stuff I love to read. I think the composer-comparison piece is a waste of time. That separated at birth stuff doesn't do anything for me when it deals with composers. I like facts, not games. Kudos for putting this relationship piece together!.

From: Ryan Keaveney <rkeaveney@filmmusic.com>

The vocal in A.I. sounds like a stock recording. I believe it was also used in David Newman's THE PHANTOM score. The "techno" in A.I. is straight out of the box, pre-prepared stuff. Sort of like Lunchables for film composers.

From: Steve Kilfoy <steve@bloodpage.com>

Please allow me to point out that Shostakovich's Shakespearean scores have also appeared on the German label Capriccio. KING LEAR (Capriccio 10 397) contains 26 minutes of his incidental music for a stage version and 27 minutes of score for Kosintsev's 1970 film adaptation, performed by the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Michail Jurowski. HAMLET/THE GADFLY (Capriccio 10 298) contains 35 minutes of music for Kosintsev's 1964 film version of Hamlet, along with 44 minutes of score to THE GADFLY, these performed by the same ensemble under the baton of Leonid Grin.

Capriccio is responsible for a whole series of re-recordings of Shostakovich's film scores, including such obscure titles as THE NEW BABYLON, ALONE, THE FALL OF BERLIN, and SOJA. Capriccio gets my enthusiastic thumbs-up for this undertaking, as it makes available music not to be found anywhere else, or else found only in abbreviated suites. I don't know what the current availability of these CDs might be, but I urge those interested to seek them out.

On your comprehensive list of Shakespeare, you forgot to include the Timon Of Athens score composed for a 1963 production by Duke Ellington and released on CD by Varese Sarabande in 1993. Oh and wasn't "Get Over It" also an adaptation of Shakespeare too?

From "Jeff Bond":

Hey "Scott"--I want to be the lone nutcase actually defending Pumpkin. I agree it's a mess but I found it pretty funny and effective in a kind of lurid '50s soaper way, with funny performances. I also thought the overall music mix (meaning choice of music, not the sound mix) was unusually good. I thought Ottman's score was unusually deft in finding a tone that mixed an eerie sincerety with open satire, and I also quite enjoyed the songs put into the picture. Regarding the "rumble" cue--this and another wild, '60s-style cue used during a tennis match are both taken from the incredible album "The Power and the Glory: Music from NFL Films"--we did a cover story on this music and its composer, Sam Spence, a few years ago in FSM. Strangely enough, these music cues didn't seem to be credited during the music credits for the film, which is a crime if true--if Pumpkin does nothing else, maybe it'll cause some people to buy that CD. I'm doing my part!

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