FILM SCORE FRIDAY 3/14/03
By Scott Bettencourt
JOHN LANCHBERY 1923 - 2003
Composer/conductor/arranger John Lanchbery died on February 26th in
Melbourne, Australia, of cancer. Lanchbery was born on May 15th, 1923,
in London, England, studied at the Royal Academy of Music, and served in
the Royal Armored Corps during World War II.
Lanchbery scored a handful of films in the early fifties -- No Trace,
Blackout, Colonel March Investigates, Double Exposure, and Delayed
Action -- but he achieved his greatest success with the ballet. He
was the principal conductor of the Royal Ballet from 1960 to 1972, and
was especially acclaimed for his work with choreographer Frederick Ashton.
His collaboration with Ashton led to his score for the 1971 movie Tales
of Beatrix Potter, which Ashton choreographed, and his music was an
Oscar finalist in the Adaptation category. He was the music director of
the American Ballet Theater from 1978 to 1980, and arranged the music for
Herbert Ross's ballet-themed films The Turning Point and Nijinsky.
Perhaps his most memorable film work was for the 1982 Agatha Christie
adaptation Evil Under the Sun. The third film in the Hercule Poirot
series (and the second to feature Peter Ustinov in the role), Lanchbery's
score was based on the songs of Cole Porter (Diana Rigg and Maggie Smith
perform a competitive duet of "You're the Top" in the film) and gave the
film the feeling of a lighthearted musical, contrasting with the comparatively
serious approaches Richard Rodney Bennett and Nino Rota brought to Murder
on the Orient Express and Death on the Nile, respectively.
Little of Lanchbery's film music has been released on CD. In 1994, EMI
released his score to Tales of Beatrix Potter, but the disc is out
of print. Just a few years ago, DRG brought out the first ever release
of the Evil Under the Sun score as a budget priced entry in their
"Incurable Soundtrack Collectors Series," though oddly both the booklet
and the disc itself spelled his name "Lanchberry."
Divorced from the late ballerina Elaine Fifield, Lanchbery is survived
by their daughter Margaret and his companion Thomas Han.
In a recent article
in the New York Times, Anthony Tommasini (author of the first-rate
biography Virgil Thomson: Composer on the Aisle) discussed several
recent film scores, devoting much of the article to a harsh critique of
Philip Glass's music to The Hours, which many consider the front
runner for the Best Score Oscar. Tommasini calls the Glass score "mindless"
and "an inexplicable miscalculation."
On the other hand, he offers praise for Alberto Iglesias's Talk to
Her (a "masterpiece of subtlety"), Rolfe Kent's About Schmidt ("like
a collection of fidgety dances and tuneful ditties that, below the beguiling
surfaces, are musically fractured, rather weird and sometimes dangerous"),
and John Williams' Catch Me If You Can (he compares it favorably
to Williams' "hushed, spare, quietly shimmering score" to A.I. and
prefers it to the Schindler's List score).
He's complimentary but critical of Thomas Newman's Road to Perdition
-- "though solid work, [it] is overly lush, too insistent on investing
every story turn with somber momentousness." Oddly, he discusses The
Pianist at length without even mentioning Wojciech Kilar's fine score
-- "rejecting a traditional score, the director Roman Polanski mostly uses
solo piano works by Chopin." There may be only a couple minutes of Kilar
on the soundtrack album, but there's plenty of it in the film, though it
is used with admirable discretion.
For those interested in more information on how the expanded
Bond CDs came to be, Lukas is interviewed on the subject at www.shatterhand007.com.
He is also planning to write an article on that topic for an upcoming issue
of Film Score Monthly.
CDS AVAILABLE THIS WEEK
The Hunted - Brian Tyler - Varese Sarabande
IN THEATERS TODAY
Agent Cody Banks - John Powell - Song CD on Hip-O with 2 Powell
cues
Bend It Like Beckham - Craig Pruess - Song & Dialogue CD
on Milan with 2 Pruess cues
The Hunted - Brian Tyler - Score CD on Varese Sarabande
Nowhere in Africa - Niki Reiser - Score CD Nirgendwo in Afrika
released on Virgin in Germany
Willard - Shirley Walker
COMING SOON
March 18
Children of Dune - Brian Tyler - Varese Sarabande
Tears of the Sun - Hans Zimmer - Varese Sarabande
March 25
Thunderbirds - Barry Gray - Silva
April 1
Dreamcatcher - James Newton Howard - Varese Sarabande
The Guys - Mychael Danna - Sony Classical
April 15
Identity - Alan Silvestri - Varese Sarabande
April 22
Varese Sarabande 25th Anniversary Collection - Varese Sarabande
Date Unknown
Amerika - Basil Poledouris - Prometheus
The Big Sky - Dimitri Tiomkin - Screen Archives/BYU
Captain From Castile - Alfred Newman - Screen Archives
Dr. Phibes Rises Again - John Gale - Perseverance
From Beyond - Richard Band - La-La Land
Invasion of the Body Snatchers - Denny Zeitlin - Perseverance
Mighty Joe Young, etc. - Roy Webb, et al - Monstrous Movie Music
Monte Walsh/The Crossfire Trail - Eric Colvin - La-La Land
The Spirit is Willing/The Busy Body - Vic Mizzy - Percepto
A Summer Place - Max Steiner - Screen Archives/BYU
This Island Earth, etc. - Herman Stein, et al - Monstrous Movie
Music
THIS WEEK IN FILM MUSIC HISTORY
March 14 - Quincy Jones born (1933)
March 15 - Max Steiner wins Oscar for Since You Went Away
score (1945)
March 15 - Ry Cooder born (1947)
March 16 - John Addison born (1920)
March 17 - Alfred Newman born (1901)
March 17 - Ernest Gold died (1999)
March 18 - John Kander born (1927)
March 19 - Dimitri Tiomkin wins Oscars for High Noon
score and song (1953)
March 20 - Miklos Rozsa wins second Oscar for A Double Life
score (1948)
March 20 - Franz Waxman wins second consecutive Best Score Oscar
for A Place in the Sun (1952)
March 20 - Georges Delerue died (1992)
DID THEY MENTION THE MUSIC?
BRINGING DOWN THE HOUSE - Lalo Schifrin
"But 'Bringing Down the House' is cursed with a dull script, cookie-cutter
characters, a grocery-aisle musical score by Lalo Schifrin of all people,
and bland-on-bland direction from Adam 'The Wedding Planner' Shankman."
Ty Burr, Boston Globe
THE SAFETY OF OBJECTS - Emboznik
"Her [director Rose Troche's] touch is not always sure: the delicacy
of certain scenes is spoiled by intrusive music, and the strain of editing
together so many different narratives is sometimes apparent."
A.O. Scott, New York Times
TEARS OF THE SUN - Hans Zimmer
"Hans Zimmer's generally low-key score incorporates African motifs to
OK effect."
Todd McCarthy, Variety
"The audience's tears are more likely to result from boredom, irritation
at Hans Zimmer's wretched fake-world-music score and inadvertent amusement
at the thunderously earnest dialogue and Ms. Bellucci's awkward line readings.
(She has now made movies in three languages; whether she can act in any
of them is an open question.)"
A.O. Scott, New York Times
"Though Fuqua doesn't actually show us these acts, he does make us feel
their brutality, although his images are often accompanied by swollen string
music courtesy of Hans Zimmer, in case we're so inhuman as to fail to connect
with their inherent drama and sorrow. During the climactic battle sequence,
the music on the soundtrack isn't Samuel Barber's Adagio for Strings --
but it's pretty damn close."
Stephanie Zacharek, Salon.com
"It's too bad that Fuqua resorts to a war-movie cliché: the 'Adagio
for Strings' type music that begins a few seconds before people we care
about get shot."
David Edelstein, Slate.com
MORE ON MORRICONE
FROM: "Preston Neal Jones"
SUBJECT: re: "ON
ENNIO & OTHERS," 3/7/03
I'm glad that Don Campbell recognizes, in his final sentence, that
his entire diatribe was nothing but "spleen venting." However, as they
used to say during WWII rationing, "Was this trip really necessary?" Until
reading Mr. Campbell's essay, silly me, I had the impression that Ennio
Morricone was one of the most admired and respected of living film composers,
not the object of resentment and scorn posited by his would-be defender
(and supposed admirer), Mr. Campbell. Also prior to reading Campbell's
piece, fool that I was, I had no idea that in order to love Morricone it
was apparently necessary to hate so many other composers. I simply loved
Morricone for his own, brilliantly talented sake.
Such a mean-spirited barrage, seeming to come out of nowhere, I
would submit does no service to Morricone in particular or music appreciation
in general. I must thank Mr. Campbell for one thing, however. He did get
me to put on Malcolm Arnold's First Symphony when I got home, and since
Arnold is a wonderful composer to whom I never seem to listen often enough,
I am in Mr. Campbell's debt for that. However, as to that passage which
was supposed to constitute some sort of "Gotcha!" against the originality
of Goldsmith's trumpet fanfares in PATTON -- I can only say: "Pul - lease!"
Aside from an interesting similarity -- I said similarity, not sameness
-- we're talking about a passing, "throw-away" moment in Arnold's splendid
symphony which in no way should invalidate the recurring motif which Goldsmith
created and gave great musical and dramatic stress in his splendid film
score. Mr. Campbell might just as educationally have pointed out that Goldsmith
used the same G-Clef that Arnold had used in his symphony. For a fellow
who listens to so much music, Mr. Campbell seems to have a singularly unsoothed
savage breast. I wish him -- and all of us -- peace.
FROM: "Ron Pulliam"
Thank you SO MUCH for printing that hysterically funny
letter from Don Campbell.
Nothing is so stultifyingly dull as someone offering pretentious
musicological evidence of the inferiority of one composer and the superiority
of another. That Mr. Campbell avoids this pretension makes his letter much
more naively charming, as well as humorous. After all, attempting to "prove"
one's assertions by offering no "proof" other than his personal preference
has got to tickle everyone's funny bone.
That he cannot fathom someone listening to, and enjoying, BOTH Morricone
and Goldsmith speaks volumes.
I'm sure Maestro Morricone appreciates the devotion of everyone,
including the naifs!
THE PAGE COOK DEBATE, PART SIX
FROM: "Bill Harnsberger"
I read "Bubba Bubba's" email
about the Page Cook column, and he is wrong. I remember that column like
the back of my hand (well, mostly) because 1982 was such a fantastic year
for movie scores and I was dying to read about Cook's thoughts. This is
what I remember:
E.T. was indeed, Cook's first choice as best score of 1982, edging
out Basil Poledouris's Conan the Barbarian. Cook called Williams' score
"A joy with inspiration to spare" (please don't ask me how I remember that).
Poltergeist was toward the top of the list (he also mildly praised some
of Goldsmith's other 1982 efforts, including Night Crossing and First Blood),
and Philippe Sarde's Quest For Fire made it, too. I remember he disliked
Horner's scores for Star Trek 2 and 48 Hours quite a bit, and really hated
Maurice Jarre's "jarring" score from Firefox and Wendy Carlos's Tron. Bill
Conti's Rocky 3? He hated it. And as much as he liked E.T., he disliked
Williams's scores for Yes, Giorgio and Monsignor.
Although you fine ladies and germs at Film Score Monthly don't drop
the hammer on film scores like Cook did, I commend you for your year-end
lists. They're almost ? almost -- as fun to read as Cook's vitriolic poetry.
A minor correction - John Williams only wrote the song (an Oscar nominee)
for Yes, Giorgio. Michael J. Lewis wrote the score, and I believe
Cook praised it, especially Lewis's love theme. I also remember that First
Blood was one of the few Goldsmith scores that year which Cook didn't
especially care for.
OTHER PEOPLE TALK ABOUT THE STUFF I LIKE
FROM: "Miguel Angel Perez Perez"
SUBJECT: Rozsa favorite scores
You are absolutely right when you state that making a list (and
again I must say that you love making lists too much) of favorite composers
is a matter of personal taste. But I can't help being highly surprised
when I see that your favorite scores by Rozsa are those for "The Golden
Voyage of Sinbad" and "Power". They are great in themselves, but what about
"The Thief of Bagdad" "Spellbound", "Ben-Hur" or "El Cid"?
All those other Rozsa scores you mention are wonderful, especially Ben-Hur
and Thief of Bagdad (which has one of the most beautiful movie love
themes of all time), but I find that for many people (such as myself),
the works that first make us fall for a composer are the ones that remain
our favorites. Golden Voyage of Sinbad was one of the very first
soundtracks I ever bought, and both the film and score are still favorites
of mine nearly thirty years later.
FROM: "Kirk Henderson"
SUBJECT: Updated Top Composer's List
Scott, I was so amazed at how different your taste was to mine,
even though many of the composers on your list are also among my favorites.
Among other changes, I would put Goldsmith much farther down and move North
to the top, but rather than make a new list, I've just kept your list the
same and put in my own choices. The only name I couldn't address was Shirley
Walker, who I don't know well enough to comment on. Of the 50 titles we
only agree on about 7. It just goes to show that even though we listen
to many of the same composers, the music we actually listen to is quite
different.
1. Jerry Goldsmith (Blue Max, Chinatown)
2. Bernard Herrmann (Psycho, Vertigo)
3. John Williams (Jane Eyre, Superman)
4. John Barry (Ipcress File, The Knack)
5. Elmer Bernstein (To Kill a Mockingbird, Magnificent 7)
6. Basil Poledouris (Conan, Starship Troopers)
7. Miklos Rosza (El Cid, Ben-Hur)
8. Jerome Moross (Big Country, War Lord)
9. Thomas Newman (American Beauty, Little Women)
10. David Shire (Taking of Pelham 1-2-3, Farewell My Lovely)
11 Bruce Broughton (Young Sherlock Holmes, Old Man and the Sea)
12. Christopher Young (Hellraiser, Copycat)
13. Richard Rodney Bennett (Enchanted April, Nicholas and Alexandria)
14. Danny Elfman (Edward Scissorhands, Sleepy Hollow)
15. Henry Mancini (Hatari!, Experiment in Terror)
16. Elliot Goldenthal (Aliens, Batman Forever)
17. Howard Shore (Dead Ringers, Ed Wood)
18. Georges Delerue (Day of the Dolphin, A Little Romance)
19. Alex North (Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf, Spartacus)
20. Franz Waxman (Sunset Blvd, Bride of Frankenstein)
21. Hugo Friedhofer (One Eyed Jacks, Boy on a Dolphin)
22. James Newton Howard (Sixth Sense, Falling Down)
23. Laurence Rosenthal (The Miracle Worker, Becket)
24. Shirley Walker (?)
25. Rachel Portman (Emma, Joy Luck Club)
You have certainly listed many marvelous scores, including plenty of my
own favorites. I have to admit that picking two favorite scores for each
of my favorite composers is difficult at best and arbitrary at worst. ST:TMP
and Train Robbery happened to make the Goldsmith list, but Alien,
Planet of the Apes and Twilight Zone are hardly far behind.
Accidental Tourist and Empire of the Sun are special favorites
of mine (partly because they're among my favorite films -- they're certainly
not his best scores), but if Williams had not scored those two movies he'd
have just as high a place on the list based on Family Plot, Close Encounters,
The Fury, Empire Strikes Back, Temple of Doom, Witches of Eastwick, A.I.,
Catch Me If You Can, and too many others to name.
HANS DOWN
FROM: "Cerasini"
SUBJECT: NICE POLL ON ZIMMER BUT--
But where was "BLACK HAWK DOWN" which is hands down (excuse the
pun) my favorite Zimmer score, next to GLADIATOR?
FROM: "Eric Jamborsky"
For your Hans Zimmer poll you really need a "None Of The
Above" button. The popularity of this hack continues to amaze me.
MailBag@filmscoremonthly.com
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