Over the last several months I’ve been listening to much more concert hall music than film music. Regular readers will know that I’ve gone gaga over Polish/Soviet composer Mieczyslaw Weinberg and it’s so notable that I’ve taken on board the joys of a new composer after being devoted to the same ones for 30/40 years that I’ve pondered why it should be.
And indeed why film music has appealed since I first heard The Alamo and You Only Live Twice on LPs as a youngster.
For some time, I’ve thought it was dramatic music that I liked. In fact, I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s URGENT music that appeals most to me.
Consider The Alamo. “Raid For Cattle” – urgent music. YOLT’s “A Drop in the Ocean” is totally different from the Tiomkin, but is undoubtedly urgent music. Morricone’s longer tracks in the vein of Revolver, or the repeated Ballad from Il Prefetto di Ferro are great examples, as is John Williams’s “Anderton’s Great Escape” from Minority Report. I recall a great fugue from Rozsa's Naked City that really appealed. Shostakovich’s music is rarely far away from a climax (!), particularly the symphonies, which in the finale of the 5th, the louder parts of the 11th, the second movement of the 10th, the third of the 8th etc etc embody a need to move on quickly and imperatively. Weinberg is no different. If any one bit of music brought this thought home to me, it’s the first movement of his violin concerto, but it’s there in several of his symphonies as well. It’s a sound to which I respond particularly well. In the violin work, it starts as a headlong run through rainy city streets, pausing to get its breath at dark corners, before flinging itself into harm’s way again, zig-zagging across hostile roads.
So what’s the difference between urgent music and action music? I remember that thread about our favourite examples of action music. Many of them sounded pretty generic to me, having rhythm and colour but lacking in some way and falling short of what I was hoping to hear. The Bond scores from the last 20 years can be included in that, too, with only flashes of what I really appreciate. There’s clearly an overlap. Because I know a lot of people here react to mentions of Jerry Goldsmith , the best example I can think of from his work is “The Dogs Attack” from The Omen - which is my favourite track of his, from just about my favourite of his scores. The Klingon music from STTMP is also pleasantly spiky and urgent in places.
I don’t recall any discussion specifically on “urgency in music” but I’d be interested to know if anyone else has come to this conclusion about their tastes.
One of the ironies of urgency and tension building is that one of the best ways to build the tension is to refuse to speed up the music ... time is running out and the music is beating the time out but it won't speed up.
Think Bond's encounter with the bomb at the end of Goldfinger. Barry's music beats out time regularly at a steady pace and only speeds up right at the very end.
Action music, or more specifically 'urgent music' was unquestionably what made me interested in film music when I was a wee lad (well, early teens). It was also what I listened to the most during my teens and way up into my 20s. However, over the last 10-15 years, I've veered more and more towards the calmer, the ethereal, the explorative, the textural etc. At least when it comes to film music. I still very much obsess over rhytmic/funky stuff, but mostly in electronic or pop music. That's my evolution, really. What bored me as a teen, is what I enjoy the most today, and vice versa.
I'm still trying to wrap my head around the difference you delineate between 'action music' and 'urgent music', though. Not quite sure I've understood the difference. Are you putting 'urgency' as a sub category of action-driven music, perhaps?
I find this topic VERY interesting, TG. I think there is a difference between “regular” action music and “urgent” music. I will try to articulate my ideas.
To me “action” in a TV show or film usually signifies movement underscored by rather quick or speeded up music. There are always those ubiquitous fight scenes between the hero and the villain at the end of a TV show or movie. Fast action music plays behind those scenes. (And we usually know the hero will win.)
Action implies movement but not necessarily a CRITICAL situation.
To me an urgent situation “may” be very scary and fearful. Something is happening that is very pressing, scary maybe, imperative and also critical. If something doesn’t change soon or immediately, the consequences may be horrible or deadly. On the lighter side, the consequence might be a missed opportunity but not necessarily something fearful.
A scenario might be where a hostage has been buried alive and only has a few hours to live before suffocating. The music backing up the rescuers’ attempts might be urgent music, not action music. I vaguely remember Michael Convertino composing such music in Guarding Tess. I think this type of music was also used in the first Dirty Harry where he beat on the villain to find a hostage. In Aliens, Horner’s music seems very urgent when Ripley saves Newt, runs out of ammunition, goes up the elevator and doesn’t see the ship that was supposed to pick her up. Meanwhile, a ticked-off Queen alien is coming up in the other elevator.
A lighter example is from Sleepless In Seattle. (A great guy’s flick.) Meg Ryan sees the Empire State Building and knows she must rush there before it closes. The music is a combination of Shaiman’s themes and the theme from An Affair to Remember. I could only find a snippet of that scene with the music from .24 through .36, but she was urgently trying to get to the top to meet Tom Hanks before the building closes.
I also remember that the director of The Ten Commandments asked Elmer Bernstein to “speed up” the music when the Jews were exiting Egypt; however, this “quickened” pace didn’t seem like action music to me. It seemed like urgent music that sent the message, “Get out quickly before Rameses changes his mind.”
Am I making sense? (Well, of course I am. I’m female.)
Interesting topic. What comes immediately to mind was James Horner's "Wolf Totem". I wouldn't necessarily call it action music, but there's several tremendous cues that are bursting with energy and the feel of urgency.
All interesting replies and rather than respond to each in turn I'll try to pin down what I mean a little more clearly. The first Wolf Totem cue includes a great example. I'd say that the first 1'50" or so is urgent action music and it segues into "standard" action music. What's different about the two sections is pretty obvious when they're compared end to end. The first part has insistent repeated phrases that build up some tension whereas the next part is perhaps a release of it.
That said, it isn't easy to set down the rules for what delineates the two. Is urgent music a sub-section of action music, Thor? I'd rather say that they overlap. The reason is the concert hall aspect - which admittedly can be programmatic, but isn't necessarily. For example, Shostakovich's first cello concerto starts with an urgent insistence that has no real characteristic of action music.
I've said before that I love a fugue, and much of the music I've listed in the first post has a fugue element. Quality is of course subjective but also comes into it because I've heard hundreds of fugues, some by absolutely world-class composers, that have simply washed over me without any great effect.
Neither is it just tension - Mr Woolston cites Goldfinger as an element of urgent music, and I think that John Barry produced a perhaps surprising amount of this type of music - and not just in Bond. He does tend to keep it slow and regular, and the tension just ramps up. Just think of the climactic scene of Day of the Locust. There's a slow build up and a slow pay off but shot through with accents. A better example might be FRWL's "Stalking", which is a slow piece in the main, full of tension and enough urgency for me to qualify.
Joan has undoubtedly a very good point with the contrast between mere action and action plus some critical element in the film that translates into the music. I'd say that definitely depends on the ability of the composer to do this without lapsing into Mickey Mousing.
I'll try to think of some more examples to illustrate where I think the differences lie.
TG said, "Joan has undoubtedly a very good point with the contrast between mere action and action plus some critical element in the film that translates into the music."
Well duh. Don't I always make good points? Some of you guys just need more training.
Seriously, I like your examples, TG, and I'll try to find a few more to add if I can. Abstractions like "urgency" are not always easy to identify, and I find this topic an enjoyable challenge. (So much better that "ordered.")
It's interesting, because I often use this term to describe music that has a powerful impact on me, but I don't necessarily associate it with action music. Urgency means different things in different contexts, after all. Sure, you can urgently flee for your life while monster-robots chase you down the highway, but you can also urgently try to confess your feelings to a secret crush before she gets on that plane, or urgently work around the clock trying to find a cure for some awful disease before it takes a loved one, or urgently try to persuade your interrogators that you're innocent and the killer's still on the loose and he's RIGHT BEHIND THEM.
When I think of urgency in film music, I think of things like Alex North's "Grant Me an Honorable Way to Die" from Cleopatra - it couldn't be further from action music, but the way it captures Anthony's frenzied despair as he pleads with his former soldiers to pick up a sword against him and salvage his reputation is, for me, urgency encapsulated.
Pedestrian Wolf, your examples of urgency in various and different contexts are wonderful as is your example from North's Cleopatra. "Frenzied despair" doesn't require obvious outward movements; it can be the war unseen in our hearts but still viewed outwardly in our words and faces.
While i cogitate further, here's an example of an urgent song: "Run Man Run" from The Big Gundown. It's not the lyrics that do it, it's how Christie is on the ragged edge of completely losing it at certain points, yet j-u-s-t manages to keep control in a wonderful performance.
And sorry, Joan - that you make good points should indeed be taken as read...
The piece of music that almost instantly came to my mind in reading this thread is the finale from Prokofiev's 5th symphony. Not film music, but from a composer who not only wrote some pretty fine film music but who has been one of the fountainheads of film music for the last 80 years.
One of my favorite 20th century concert works, the final movement starts off sedately with a kind of summation of what came before. At 1 minute in the main driving tempo begins, something that reminds me of Goldsmith's train music in The Great Train Robbery (and other train evocations). After the melody is stated, you'll hear (at about 1:15) the first threads of what I think of as the urgent undercurrent. As the music continues through the next seven minutes, the music slows down and speeds up (though notice the conductor essentially keeps to the same tempo - it's the note values that change). But here and there the urgency rears up (3:53; 5:12; 5:50-6:15; 6:46). Until starting at 8:00 the music builds and builds until the astonishing last 30 seconds, which sounds like some demonic toy winding up and exploding.
Speaking of Prokofiev and urgency, here's the other piece that I think speaks more to urgency than outright evocation of action. The third movement of his 7th piano sonata (one of the so-called "War Sonatas" written during WWII). Called, fittingly - Precipitato!
And of course I thought of another James Horner score! The cue from Apollo 13 when they were leaking oxygen. (Or was it the batteries going dead?) Probably both.
"Urgency." Hmm. Underscoring moments of urgency/scene of urgency/sense of urgency? Apart from "action" scenes, per se?? The subway station climax of Crocodile Dundee comes to mind immediately.
I think in most of the cited examples above, there is a created tension between different orchestra sections.
Like a rider holding the reins on a horse who's intent on bolting.
Urgency could be a matter of major becoming minor, crescendo (subtle), or the bass section being very fast rhythmic ostinato, like a scherzo, against a slow, holding back main theme statement higher up that refuses to bolt with the bass horse ... or vice versa. Maybe a dissonance subtly added to a line.
But the composer's sense of drama is instinctive too.
I've been playing some of these suggestions to see/hear if I can get the idea. One piece which I think fits and is a fugue (I think) is a particular favourite of mine ... though I rarely push this composer's works to the front ...
Hans Zimmer: The Da Vinci Code (2006): CheValiers de Sangreal
This track really shines when played loud over the hi-fi () and I so want it to continue for another round of the repetitive theme. It's the sort of theme which keeps me listening to Mr. Zimmer when most of his work does nothing for me.
I like MusicMad's example. It just builds and fits the idea of urgency. Also, William used the word "tension." Yes, absolutely. I would imagine that anything that is urgent would have the parallel twin of tension.
If I may respond unbearably fussily to MusicMad: Zimmer's Chevaliers de Sangreal is a modern, minimalist-influenced passacaglia rather than a fugue. Some definitions may be helpful here.
Fugue: a contrapuntal composition in which a short melody or phrase (the subject) is introduced by one part and successively taken up by others and developed by interweaving the parts. (Doesn't really happen here, instead it's a couple of variations on accompaniments over the melody which elaborates on its repeats.)
Passacagila: an instrumental musical composition consisting of variations usually on a ground bass in moderately slow triple time. (Bingo! - Chevaliers is moderately slow, in triple time, and consists of variations of the initial pattern plus repeats of the melody. EDIT: I'm wrong, it is NOT in triple time - it would be conducted four beats to to the bar. But it's actually in 12/8, so each beat is 1-2-3, 1-2-3, 1-2-3, 1-2-3 - which still gives the feeling of triple time.)
Ground bass, also called basso ostinato (Italian: “obstinate bass”), in music, a short, recurring melodic pattern in the bass part of a composition that serves as the principal structural element. (But in this case the recurring "ostinato" pattern is not in the bass, because the melody starts in the bass, so the pattern is in the mid-range.)
The sine qua non (ooh, such a pedant!) of fugal urgency in film music is John Williams' masterful Shark Cage Fugue in Jaws. Starts about 1:45 into this video.
And by the way - Zimmer's Chevaliers de Sangreal was the piece that once and for all convinced me that he is a film composer of the first rank.
, the best example I can think of from his work is “The Dogs Attack” from The Omen - which is my favourite track of his, from just about my favourite of his scores. The Klingon music from STTMP is also pleasantly spiky and urgent in places.
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