I like a lot of his scores but my favourite is The Other Side of Midnight. Such a lush beautiful theme and score. The main theme reoccurs a few times during the score but you just don't mind because it is so good. Intrada released it on CD two or three years ago.
I also like his work for the Jacques Demy films. The Universal France Box set is a great representation of these scores.
When I started collecting film music (early 1970s) his was one of the first names I got to know ... and yet then, and even today, I have so few works by this hugely talented composer/arranger.
I suppose it is his iconic theme, known as I will wait for you, of which I have 9 recordings (5 vocal, 4 instrumental), which first attracted me ... absolutely wonderful melody. Of course: The Windmills of your Mind and The Summer Knows were close-runners for that top tune ... though the lyric for the latter was too weak.
On vinyl I think I only bought his score to Ice Station Zebra (1968) but I did buy his concept album Themes and Variations (1972) and I think that stopped me looking further. I was too young to appreciate his jazz-influenced variations ...
On CD I have eleven scores and it is amusing/sad to note that three of these are unused (I prefer this to rejected) but I've never acquired Les Parapluies De Cherbourg (1964) despite this score providing that favourite tune.
I know it has its detractors (see another recent thread) but I do think the FSM release of the full score to Ice Station Zebra is my favourite of his ... I don't listen to it often but it's so powerful that it stays with me for ages.
I did play an album of his a couple of days ago ... the Frankie Laine album Reunion in Rhythm (1959) ... enjoyable but not quite to my taste.
The Three Musketeers is my personal favourite. Swooningly romantic, vibrant, jolly and highly entertaining. Lalo Schifrin turned in an effective score for the sequel, but Legrand's original stirs the heart and had a character the sequel sorely missed, despite Schifrin's best efforts.
Michel Legrand undoubtedly stands amongst France’s greatest musicians and composers. To celebrate his 85th birthday, Stéphane Lerouge is busy preparing another box set for Universal Jazz. I don’t know yet what stuff will be featured on this forthcoming release but I certainly look forward to it. As the previous one containing 15 CD's, it will combine both filmic and non-filmic material.
My favourite score remains THE THOMAS CROWN AFFAIR but there are many others I do enjoy a great deal, such as LES MARIES DE L’AN II and LE SAUVAGE, both films directed by Jean-Paul Rappeneau. If you’d like to be introduced to his film music output, I would recommend this outstanding long box without any hesitation:
As Thor stated, one of the last of the legends..... His melodic gift is second to none and his orchestrations listening nirvana. Just a handful of the great ones remaining and that handful is thankfully still composing.
I find I've only got Ice Station Zebra, The Thomas Crown Affair and his section of The Appointment, which I only recently gave another spin. It has this hypnotic, almost endless variations on a theme, repeating quality.
Don't have any of his musicals or jazz arrangements, but will always revere Ice Station Zebra.
One of those composers I wish I had more stuff of. I have to go with Umbrellas Of Cherbourg as I only saw that film for the first time the other day and fell in love with it at first sight. I have Young Girls of Rochefort to watch too.
In terms of instrumental scores I do especially love Three Musketeers. And I'm going to be the first and probably the only person on here to say this....but I am extremely fond of Never Say Never Again, Legrand often does the unexpected, and I admire that....plus the CD is a great album full of musical diversity [we need a complete release though!].
The Three Musketeers is my personal favourite. Swooningly romantic, vibrant, jolly and highly entertaining. Lalo Schifrin turned in an effective score for the sequel, but Legrand's original stirs the heart and had a character the sequel sorely missed, despite Schifrin's best efforts.
This is just how I feel as well, both the choice and the comparison. But it's a sentimental favorite, as it was one of the first scores I bought in the 70's, and certainly my first Legrand. And I also agree with Dr Lenera about Never Say Never Again - a score and album I enjoyed for years before I found out round these parts that many don't care for it.
But I've also got to shout out for The Thomas Crown Affair - The Crowning Touch is one of my favorite score climaxes ever (in the film and out). And though I've yet to see The Go Between, I love the album version for two pianos and orchestra paired with the Cherbourg suite (which is also of course a brilliant score, but aren't they all). And I've really enjoyed Intrada's Other Side of Midnight album, and to a lesser extent The Mountain Men (which I just haven't listened to as much). So there's a lot.
And Onya is right about Legrand Jazz - if you love the maestro, you must have that.
BUT - all that said, my single favorite number remains Brian's Song as heard in the movie. Still about the best score ever for that rarest thing in movies, a well-earned tearjerker.
In honor of M. Legrand's 85th, allow me to share one of my very favorite videos on YouTube - Michel Legrand and Claude Bolling performing a double grand piano improvisation on The Windmills of Your Mind.
I have only seen two films scored by Legrand - Pret-A-Porter and Never Say Never Again. I can't say none of them made a lasting impression. Pret-A-Porter had a good song by Deep Forest called Marta's Song, which was the highlight of the soundtrack.
Happy 85th birthday! Love all of the above scores but would like to ad Castle Keep. Would live to ad this to my CD collection some day. Still not available except for a few short minutes on a French compilation I believe. Also, thanks FSM for the fantastic Ice Station Zebra.
) but I've never acquired Les Parapluies De Cherbourg (1964) despite this score providing that favourite tune.
