FILM SCORE FRIDAY 8/23/02

This November, Silva Screen will release "SOMETHING HERE," a collection of newly recorded suites from the film scores of Debbie Wiseman, including Tom & Viv, Wilde, and many others, performed by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. For more information, go to Debbie Wiseman's website.

I am returning from Alaska today, so again if there was any major late-breaking news I will have to wait until next Friday to report it, or else get to it a hundred years from now after I'm thawed out completely intact from the glacier I fell into. (If in fact I do fall into a glacier, this little joke will seem bitterly ironic, and with any luck will make it into News of the Weird. Though perhaps not until they thaw me out. A hundred years from now.)

Fear Dot Com - Nicholas Pike - Varese Sarabande
Possession - Gabriel Yared - RCA Victor
Simone - Carter Burwell - Varese Sarabande

September 10
City by the Sea - John Murphy - Varese Sarabande
Invincible - Hans Zimmer, Klaus Badelt - Milan
The Lathe of Heaven - Angelo Badalamenti - Milan
Rebecca - Franz Waxman - Varese Sarabande
Spirited Away - Joe Hisaishi - Milan
September 17
Trapped - John Ottman - Varese Sarabande
September 24
Red Dragon - Danny Elfman - Universal

One Hour Photo - Johnny Klimek, Reinhold Heil - Score Album on Superb due Aug. 27
Serving Sara - Marcus Miller
Simone - Carter Burwell - Score Album on Varese Sarabande
Undisputed - Stanley Clarke - Song Album on Universal

Rachel Portman's score for THE EMPEROR'S NEW CLOTHES is typically lovely and moving, securing her position as the Georges Delerue of the 21st century.

Alan Silvestri's score for STUART LITTLE 2 is much more inventive and much less cloying than his work on the original, while Christopher Young gives THE COUNTRY BEARS far more craft and sensitivity than this misguided theme park tie-in deserves. James L. Venable's score for THE POWERPUFF GIRLS, like his music for the TV series, is full of energy and catchy hooks.

Randy Edelman's predictably synth-dominated score for WHO IS CLETIS TOUT? gives this at-times unwatchable film an extra layer of bland cheese, while his music for XXX, though forgettable, is much more effective and the inevitable synths seem more appropriate. Surprisingly, XXX's endless end titles are accompanied largely by Edelman music instead of the expected song montage -- and this is a film, after all, that has a two-disc song album.

Lennie Niehaus' jazzy opening and closing titles for BLOOD WORK give the film a pleasant seventies feel, while the rest of the film is sparsely spotted in the extreme, most of the cues being Niehaus' usual low-key, brooding suspense music. Alexandre Desplat's string-based score for the French noir READ MY LIPS is effectively restrained and would fit equally well in an American thriller, unlike much European film music.

In this new department of Film Score Friday, I pay tribute to my favorite film critic, the dear departed Pauline Kael, with a series of her opinions on individual film scores. It is a measure of my respect for Ms. Kael that she remains my favorite even though she frequently panned my three favorite composers -- Goldsmith, Herrmann, and Williams. However, in this first installment, I am including mostly favorable quotes to help ease readers into the Kael-ian universe.

BATMAN

The plangent symphonic score, by Danny Elfman, might be the musical form of his [Batman's] thoughts; it's wonderfully morose superhero music.

(from Movie Love, published by Plume)

The music here [the museum sequence] is subdued (the friend next to me whispered, "It sounds like Bernard Herrmann on Quaaludes") and though it becomes more frantic the chase still has an eerie sheen of culture.

And the way that cinematographer Ralf Bode's images connect with the slightly debauched music -- it's like a rhapsody on forties movies -- by Pino Donaggio seems exactly right.

(from Taking It All In, published by Henry Holt & Co.)

There's also a fourth major collaborator: John Williams, who has composed what may be as apt and delicately varied a score as any horror movie has ever had. He scares us without banshee melodramatics. He sets the mood under the opening titles: otherworldly, seductively frightening. The music cues us in. This isn't going to be a gross horror film; it's visionary, science-fiction horror.

(from When the Lights Go Down, published by Henry Holt & Co.)

Sometimes, just when we are holding our breath at what we're seeing, music, by Mike Oldfield, is poured on top of the images to pump up our emotions. During the evacuation scenes at the American Embassy, there's loud chanting. When the central characters have been taken prisoner, and they watch other prisoners being killed and expect to be killed themselves, there's music -- it suggests that Oldfield was weaned on Tangerine Dream -- to make the panic and hysteria more heart-poundingly intense. The executions are so convincing that I would have thought the audience had all the emotions it could handle -- there are fresh corpses all over. But the music insists on hyping death. It gets between the imagery and our responses; it tries to mythologize the scenes, and it deprives us, I think, of honest feelings. When we see the dull-eyed young-boy soldiers of the Khmer Rouge forcing the entire population of Phnom Penh onto the roads out of the city -- masses of people, lost children, the wounded, the aged -- the soundtrack cries of the people are turned down and we get loud Oldfield. The only bit of appropriate music -- or, rather, music that through some cross-cultural mystery seems appropriate -- is heard under the final credits, and it's balm to the ear.

[David] Puttnam was also the producer of Chariots of Fire, and in a recent interview he said "When you're in post-production, the composer becomes vastly important. I've seen Chariots of Fire without a score and can speak with great authority: I don't think it would have won the Academy Award or very much else without Vangelis." I believe him, and if The Killing Fields had been made by the director of Chariots of Fire, it, too, might have needed souping up. Bu the music is an insult to [director Ronald] Joffe and to [cinematographer Chris] Menges, even if they don't know it.

It's highly doubtful that Sydney Schanberg let Dith Pran stay on with him in Phnom Penh because -- as the film's innuendo has it -- he was looking ahead to a Pulitzer. But it's a cold cinch that David Puttnam is hoping that the kind of musical inflation which won the Best Picture Award for Chariots of Fire will do the same for The Killing Fields.

(from State of the Art, published by Bookthrift Co.)

The original Kong had long passages without dialogue -- just Max Steiner's music heaving, shrieking, and portending doom, and Kong grunting and beating his chest in triumph. (Oscar Levant once said that the film "should have been advertised as a concert of Steiner's music with accompanying pictures on the screen.") The new score, by John Barry, doesn't heighten the imagery with quite so many premonitory rumblings; it's more of a love poem -- a great big swatch of mood music sweeping you along. It gives the picture an amplitude that goes well with Guillermin's big, bright-colored storybook imagery.

(from When the Lights Go Down, published by Henry Holt & Co.)

And the Alex North score, with its lush, parodistic use of Puccini, and some Rossini, a little Verdi, and a dash of Donizetti, too, actively contributes to the whirling texture of the scenes. Even the musical jokes that you're not quite conscious of work on you, and the music seems to bring out the lustre of Andrzej Bartkowiak's cinematography.

(from State of the Art, published by Bookthrift Co.)

For long stretches during The Split, I mostly listened to the Quincy Jones music; that's not so much a tribute to Quincy Jones as a comment on the action. Standard movie music is naïve program music carried to absurdity -- a dramatic supplement designed to make you swoon in the romantic scenes or to shock you to attention at some brutality, but never encouraging you just to listen. It's a relief to hear the Quincy Jones music, which goes along independently, at its own rhythm, but one tends to forget about what is going on on the screen. It's like what one might see from a train window, and so some stretches of the movie are concerts.

(from Going Steady, published by Marion Boyars)

And Jerry Goldsmith's spare, melodic score (one of the best movie scores I've ever heard) features a bamboo flute from the Andes with a barely perceptible electronic shadow effect -- a melancholy sound that takes you back. It tugs at your memories.

(from State of the Art, published by Bookthrift Co.)

The Great Escape March
Words by Al Stillman, Music by Elmer Bernstein
(This is not a joke: these are from the actual published lyrics)

Mabel
I love you, Mabel
Love you as much as I am able

But, oh, Iím crazy
For little Daisy
She is the one girl for me

Fickle
I may be fickle
But it's a dollar to a nickel

That when I'm kissin'
The one I'm kissin'
She is the one girl for me

Originally Published by United Artists Music Co, Inc.

You lift my eyes
To everything
To the dreams I never knew
Dreams only you could inspire

Though my eyes
May be wise
To the wonders of the world
One thing I long to behold

Will you unfold
The miracle
That my eyes have never seen
Show me the heart of Justine

Originally published by Fox Fanfare Music, Inc.

Our latest odd couple are two composers who made their mark early in their careers with a distinctive, pop-oriented sound, and were soon steadily employed in both commercial smashes and Oscar® winning prestige films - John Barry and Thomas Newman.

Beat Girl - Girls Just Want to Have Fun
Body Heat - Whispers in the Dark
Boom - Meet Joe Black
The Cotton Club - Road to Perdition
The Day of the Locust - The Player
Frances - Up Close & Personal
Hearts of Fire - Light of Day
The Horse Whisperer - The Horse Whisperer
Indecent Proposal - The Favor
Inside Moves - Pay It Forward
Jagged Edge - Deceived
King Rat - Red Corner
Midnight Cowboy - American Buffalo
Mike's Murder - The Salton Sea
Out of Africa - Oscar and Lucinda

From: "Pulliam, Ron<ron.pulliam@acgov.org>

Subject: Current poll

What?

No Williams & Spielberg??

No Williams & Lukas??

Aughghghghghghgh!

As far as Williams & Lucas (I presume you don't mean Lukas Kendall) are concerned, they've only done three movies together where Lucas was the director, and all three were Star Wars films, so there isn't the variety of subject matter that you'd find in other collaborations.

I was more concerned about having to leave off some other Hans Zimmer collaborations, like Tony Scott and Penny Marshall. I am curious if the person(s) who inevitably stuffs the ballots for Zimmer and his Media Ventures pals (not that these composers aren't popular -- it's just I'm pretty sure they're not twenty times as popular as everyone else) is trying to show his support for Zimmer or to knock him out of the running, since an obviously inflated winner only encourages one to ignore that entry.

From: "James Phillips" <jpteacher@nyc.rr.com>

Paul Andrew MacLean did a nice job comparing John Williams and John Corigliano, especially when you listen to the music to REVOLUTION (1985) and THE PATRIOT (2000).

Corigliano enlisted James Galway for the flute solos in this almost forgotten film, although he won the BAFTA for Best Original score.

One other point: John Corigliano graduated from Columbia University in New York in 1958, with a BA in Music. He has taught at Julliard, the Mannes School of Music, and has been on the faculty of Lehman College, City University of New York for many years.

Date: Fri, 9 Aug 2002
Subject: I saw John Williams last weekend

Hello. Let me start by telling you how much I look forward to coming home and finding your magazine in my mailbox. I have been collecting cd soundtracks for many years, and have somewhere in the neighborhood of 2000. My father used to listen to them when I was younger and it was something that just stuck with me. I love reading your reviews, the upcoming assignments, the mailbag and most recently the "Concerts"!! The following story tells why:

Last weekend, Collette (my fiancee) and I drove up to North Hampton, Mass from our home in New Jersey to visit her cousin Megan. Megan obtained tickets to see Andre Watts perform with the Boston Symphony Orchestra. The Concert was at Tanglewood and was very nice. We had lawn tickets and a good time was had by all.

The next day we were driving home and I was reading a "Film Score Monthly Magazine" in the car. I discover in the "Film Music Concerts" section that John Williams was going to reunite with The Boston Pops Orchestra to celebrate his 70th birthday on Saturday August 3rd and do music from some of his best film scores. Naturally I was dying to go the minute that I read about it. As soon as I got home I started working on getting my 15 hour shift at work covered for Saturday. No easy task due to the fact that most of the help was away on vacation. On Wednesday I finally had all of my hours covered and Collette began the ticket purchasing process online. As luck would have it Collette managed to get awesome seats for all three of us (We stayed at her cousins apartment again and took her with us). Are you ready for this...... We had 16th row orchestra seats dead center!!!!! It was the most amazing night ever.

1- A SALUTE TO THE FILM COMPOSERS (excerpts from):Casablanca (Steiner), Citizen Cane (Herrmann), 20th Century Fox Fanfare(A. Newman), Star Wars (Williams), The Sea Hawk (Korngold), Spellbound (Rosza), Titanic (Horner), Psycho (Herrmann), Jaws Williams, The Pink Panther (Mancini), Exodus (Gold), Out Of Africa (Barry), Dr. Zhivago (Jarre), Bridge On The River Kwai (Arnold), Patton (Goldsmith), Rocky (Conti), The Magnificent Seven (E. Bernstein), The Natural (R. Newman), Cinema Paraiso (Morricone), The Godfather (Rota), E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial (Williams), Gone With The Wind (Steiner)

2-Cowboys Overture (Williams actually dropped his baton during this piece letting everyone know that he is indeed human!)

3-Selections From Far and Away:County Galway, June 1892-The Fighting Donelly's-Joseph and Shannon-Blowin' Off Steam(The Fight)-Finale

4-Two Concert Pieces from Angela's Ashes:Theme from Angela's Ashes-Angela's Prayer, MARTHA BABCOCK, solo cello

5-Film Music Montage One(Scenes from the movies being played on screens simultaneously ): Star Wars-Raiders Of The Lost Ark-Jaws-Superman-E.T.

INTERMISSION

6-Hooray For Hollywood

7-Theme from The Patriot (with the Fifes of the Middlesex County Volunteers Fifes & Drums)

8-Selections from Star Wars:Imperial March-Princess Leia's Theme-Throne Room and Finale

9-"Evergreen" (written by Williams and Streisand arr. by Freebairn-Smith) sung by Lara Fabian

10-"For Always"(written by Williams/Weil) from A.I. Artificial Intelligence sung by Lara Fabian(who sang it on the soundtrack as well).

11-Selections from "Sabrina"(These were added on at the last minute due to Josh Groban being to sick to sing his two songs)

12-Film Music Montage Two (Scenes from the movies being played on screens simultaneously):Jurassic Park-Home Alone-Star Wars II-Hook-Close Encounters Of The Third Kind-Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.

He says good-bye and then come the encores:

13-Main Title to "1941"

14-The Channel 7 Eyewitness News Theme(written by J. Williams)(He said he was playing this in case we couldn't get home in time to hear it on TV!!)

He decided to do ONE MORE!!

15-Stars and Stripes Forever (In addition to conducting the orchestra he conducted the audience in clapping during various parts of the music!!!

In the end he was given flowers and a balloon dinosaur by people in the audience. The flowers he passed off to the guest violinist he kept the dinosaur for himself though and I have a picture to prove it!!

It was an amazing night for me as a lover of film scores to see this master of film scores himself in person and from such a close vantage point!! The seats must have been complimentary seats that weren't used and so were sold at the last minute. Lucky for me!!! It was a night that I'll not soon forget!!