FILM SCORE FRIDAY 6/21/02
By Scott Bettencourt
CDS AVAILABLE THIS WEEK
Masquerade - John Barry - Prometheus CD Club
Minority Report - John Williams - Dreamworks
The Scorpion King - John Debney - Varese Sarabande
IN THEATERS TODAY
Lilo and Stitch - Alan Silvestri - Song and Score (20 min.) album
on Disney
Minority Report - John Williams - Score Album on Dreamworks
Sunshine State - Mason Daring - Soundtrack on Daring Records
DID THEY MENTION THE MUSIC?
THE BOURNE IDENTITY - John Powell
"The film skillfully retreads better work such as The Day Of The
Jackal and a host of John Frankenheimer thrillers, punching up the
action with a techno-inflected score and jackhammer sound effects."
Scott Tobias, The Onion
"Techno-slanted score by John Powell is tremendously propulsive, combining
with Potente's presence to remind viewers at times of Run Lola Run"
Todd McCarthy, Variety
"But [Chris] Cooper is standing over them screaming "Do it now!" while
the music heats up like Styx on an amphetamine bender"
Stephen Hunter, Washington Post
THE DANGEROUS LIVES OF ALTAR BOYS - Marco Beltrami, Joshua Homme
"In keeping with this approach, Marco Beltrami's score is evocative
rather than nostalgic."
Kevin Thomas, Los Angeles Times
WINDTALKERS - James Horner
"Composer James Horner quotes other composers -- this time, Aaron Copland
and Jerry Goldsmith"
Robert Koehler, Variety
WHERE ARE THE MARK SNOWS OF YESTERYEAR,
ROUND EIGHT
This week we pair two Academy Award winning composers from Europe, known
for their gentle, sensitive, intimate scores which give special attention
to soloists -- Georges Delerue and Rachel Portman.
Agnes of God - Beloved
Beaches - Marvin's Room
Confidentially Yours - The Truth About Charlie
Crimes of the Heart - Home Fries
Escape From Sobibor - Hart's War
The French Revolution - The Emperor's New Clothes
Joe vs. the Volcano - Only You
King of Hearts - Benny & Joon
The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne - Used People
Man Trouble - Addicted to Love
Our Mother's House - Ratcatcher
Partners - To Wong Foo, Thanks For Everything, Julie Newmar
Rich and Famous - Antonia and Jane
Steel Magnolias - The Joy Luck Club
A Summer Story - Where Angels Fear to Tread
YET EVEN STILL MORE TOLKEIN BASED MUSIC
From: "Gianmaria Caschetto" <caschetto@tiscalinet.it>
First of all, let me say how much I appreciate your mag,
still one of the best about movies and television. This post is meant to
bring to your attention the remarkable work done by Stephen Oliver on the
score of "The Lord of the Rings Radio Drama" for BBC. It's an original
score that features a bunch of impressive themes and songs, and it could
be a perfect topic for an essay on your magazine.
I'm sorry I can't say much more, I've heard the drama more than
a year ago, and my knowledge of musical language is poor, that I fear to
say silly things trying to describe it to you.
But I'm sure that someone can do a great job analyzing it.
Just one more note on the magazine. Given the increasing number
of CD releases by FSM, the pages engaged by FSM Marketplace are now too
many. Consider the option of putting them separately, on normal paper.
Give reviews, interviews and essays more columns, they are what make your
magazine great!
Keep up the good work!
Stephen Oliver also scored the 1986 film Lady Jane, and the marathon
stage version of Nicholas Nickleby as well as its TV version. He
died in 1992.
CLONES OF THE ATTACK
From: Odeex@aol.com
Subject: Attack of the Fastidious Nitpicking
A Star Wars movie HAS to be tinkered with. The final editing has
about a million issues to be dealt with and the music editing is only one
of them. To sit with folded arms sighing at music edits and sound mixes
during such a fun kids' movie is creepy. I think Williams is a big boy
and understands. I also think that Williams' music, when NOT tinkered with
and left intact and cranked up can be overblown and tiring (while watching
the movie). I thought it worked perfectly as edited in Clones. The lack
of music in the arena fight was exactly right, and the re-used Menace music
in the Anakin/Padme early morning scene worked nicely too. Sometimes a
vague familiarity in the music is good for the scene. The re-used music
during the final battle is a non-issue to everyone but anal audiophiles
because the sound effects are SO loud and dominant. As they should be.
It is a Star Wars Battle, not a concert.
I saw Attack of the Clones a second time recently and enjoyed it
much more, but the music editing of the conveyer belt scene was particularly
distracting and with good reason. More than probably any other movie music
series, the Star Wars scores are based on leitmotifs, specific themes
relating to specific characters.
This doesn't mean that each theme has to only play when that character
is onscreen. I feel that "Duel of the Fates" playing when Anakin races
off to rescue his mother is a perfectly valid choice, since Anakin's decision
is a crucial step down the slippery slope to the dark side.
However, splicing in a slow rendition of Yoda's theme in the middle
of the conveyor belt scene is mindless and distracting -- Yoda is nowhere
to be found, and the thematic integrity of the five scores is instantly
reduced to gibberish.
ZIMMER: SPIRIT OF THE JABLONSKY
From: Emerging Design <emerging@rogers.com>
Hans Zimmer only wrote a few themes for the film before
it was handed over to Steve Jablonsky, so anything in the film is most
likely Jablonsky's re-working of Hans' themes. There was a scheduling conflict
and that's why Zimmer pulled out, handing the job to Steve Jablonsky. I
haven't seen the film, but I do own the CD and thought the score was OK,
nothing new for Zimmer.
I have an advanced copy of the CD which lacks the credit list, so I don't
know what credit Jablonsky receives. If the situation is as our letter
writer describes, one would think they should have given the film a more
accurate credit -- like Corrina, Corrina's "Themes by Thomas Newman,
Score by Rick Cox" -- instead of the prominent "Music by Hans Zimmer" that
more than implies that it's all Hans's baby.
From: "Tom Linehan" <tojosline@hotmail.com>
I love animated films but I've been holding off on SPIRIT,
due to the lack of dialogue,it would be wall to wall Zimmer. I'm not a
big of his work cause it's rather limited. I actually prefer his protege,
Trevor Rabin 's work more. I do like Bryan Adams music, so I might get
the cd. Considering the inventive work that has been featured in animated
movies like IRON GIANT, SHREK ,BALTO and CHICKEN RUN. I don't expect much
from SPIRIT, but I could be wrong, the trailer I've seen for it, the movie
looks GREAT.
P.S. Who believes that THE PRINCE OF EGYPT would have been better
without the 154 songs in it -- It seemed like 154 --
I actually like some of the Prince of Egypt songs -- Stephen Schwartz
is a much more accomplished song/storyteller than most of the people writing
scores for musicals -- though I suspect it was one of those cases where
they decided it was a musical because it was an animated film and at that
time (that long ago period of 1998) animated films were almost invariably
musicals, without actually pondering why the story should be told as a
musical.
Since this topic began last Friday with a letter about James Horner,
let's return to film music's beloved/hated enfant terrible. Who
out there has seen Windtalkers?
I was rather shocked at how dramatically off-key the battle scoring
was for Windtalkers. Especially in the opening Solomon Islands battle,
the music sounded like it was tracked in from somewhere else.
Whatever people say about Horner, there's little argument that he's
a skilled dramatist, and these cues seemed surprisingly wrong. This was
especially odd because there's probably no composer of Horner's generation
who has scored more historically based battle scenes -- Glory, Legends
of the Fall, Courage Under Fire, Braveheart, Enemy at the Gates.
And it's not like the post-Saving Private Ryan era demands unscored
battles for dramatic realism, since the Windtalkers battles are
shot (with surprisingly unattractive cinematography) in a stylized way
which, though equally as gory as Saving Private Ryan, lacks that
film's attempts at you-are-there cinematic verisimilitude.
WE WHO ARE ABOUT TO DIE SALUTE YOU
At Film Score Monthly, we like to pit our readers against each other
in the arena:
From: Robert Righetti <records@pe.net>
Subject: Mr. Miller's Comments
I just wanted to state my position on your release of the score
"36
Hours." Maybe Mr. Miller has taken the time to really listen to that
score, but I have and I love it! When I heard you were releasing it, I
could not wait to get my hands on it for the experience of hearing it all
the way through. Good job, and please keep them coming out. In spite of
the "Millerites" out there, there are a number of collectors who will take
anything we can get. So, don't let his remarks dissuade you from pulling
other similar scores out of the pit.
I have well over 10,000 score LP's, and I treasure most of them.
But every new CD of expanded or new material is truly welcome!
Let the battle begin!
WHEN GEORGE MET OSCAR®
I'm currently reading Writing Home, a collection of essays and
journals by the acclaimed British writer Alan Bennett (Beyond the Fringe,
The Madness of King George, the movie Prick Up Your Ears).
Bennett is friends with composer George Fenton, and one journal entry depicts
Fenton's first experience as an Oscar® nominee:
17 April. George Fenton, who got an Oscar® nomination
for his Gandhi music, has been to Hollywood for the ceremony. By far the
most striking people attending were young couples, faultlessly dressed
and very glamorous, who stood in the aisles throughout the evening. When
anyone in the audience left to go to the loo (the ceremony was interminable)
their seat was immediately taken by one of these groomed and gorgeous creatures,
who then gave it up without demur when the rightful seat-holder returned.
Thinking they were hangers-on, George found himself slightly resenting
them, as also their grooming and their glamour. Leaving for a break himself,
George found a young man promptly sliding into his place and on his lapel
a badge: 'Seat-Filler.' They were all extras employed by the organizers
to make sure nothing so shocking as an empty seat should ever appear on
the television screen.
MailBag@filmscoremonthly.com
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