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Not remembering the film very well, I have no opinion on James's question.
That said, I'm surprised at the automatic-seeming alacrity with which many people have responded. "We don't want source music." Curious. I think of so many favorite scores that would be unthinkable without the source music cues. BEN-HUR without the Parade of the Charioteers? PHANTOM MENACE without the equivalent? STAR WARS without the Cantina Band? CITIZEN KANE without the opera scene? THE EGYPTIAN without Horemheb's March? MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY without the Polynesian stuff? DECEPTION without the Cello Concerto?
What do folks have against source music?
There's a big difference of opinion on the definition of that word 'source'. The pieces you cite, John, are diegetic, but not many people would call 'Parade of the Charioteers' or in fact ANY of those pieces 'source' music. 'Source' music is music that comes from an external 'source' REALLY. James is here referring to songs and pieces that were either traditional or by other writers, to be sung 'on-scene' (at least in illusion). It all depends whether Waxman particularly and deliberately arranged them. But he didn't write them.
'Fight for Calahorra' is based on two Cantigas and so 'source' to some, but it's been so arranged and personalised by Rozsa into the dramatic score, that, even though the tunes aren't repeated anywhere else, it's questionable if they'd be called 'source'. But you couldn't do without that piece, it's integral, even if not thematically integral. A piece like 'The Feast of Passover' in 'King of Kings' however is (I'm assuming) TOTALLY source, without really anything of Rozsa's hand in it. It depends on the degree of arrangement.
The 'Taras Bulba' songs are more about dialogue.
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Posted: |
Jan 18, 2011 - 8:23 PM
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By: |
Rozsaphile
(Member)
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Source music (the industry term) or diegetic music (used by film scholars) is simply that which emanates (or seems to emanate) from the on-screen action -- a character singing, a radio playing, etc. It can be original or adapted, good or bad, instrumental or vocal, written by the main composer or somebody else. If it is something that the characters might hear, it's source music.
It is also true -- and this is where the confusion arises -- that filmmakers have played around with the boundaries from the earliest days. Those dancers in KING KONG. We see the drums, so it must be source music. But how can Steiner's modern orchestra be laid on top of them? We see the Roman trumpeters, but how can they be playing Rozsa's 20th-century leitmotivs and modern harmonies?
Writers have been intrigued by the shifting boundaries for years. Claudia Gorbman and Royal S. Brown, for example, devote entire chapters to the phenomenon.
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Perhaps another label is recording the score?
If so I suspect it would be Varese, since Joel McNeely held that poll as to what people wanted as the next re-recording he did for them after North by Northwest. Quo Vadis was what won the poll. It's been a while now, and maybe Robert Townson is waiting for the Herrmann to sell out of 3000 copies first before he shells out any more dough or something.
Yavar
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It's rather depressing to think that somebody who is managing Rozsa's estate seems to think the composer's music is better served by having the score rot away in a box at Syracuse University rather than letting James record and present it to Rozsa fans across the world.
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It's rather depressing to think that somebody who is managing Rozsa's estate seems to think the composer's music is better served by having the score rot away in a box at Syracuse University rather than letting James record and present it to Rozsa fans across the world.
As I said before I think that maybe they believe that there is financial gain to be had from these type of recordings ....how wrong they are. Did a very rough costing on all the money I have spent on recordings over the past 6 years...and the payback from sales. So far it is running that I have made 55% to 60% recoupment on these titles ....so only lost 35% to 40% of the investment!!!!
OUCH!!!!
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) 
