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Posted: |
May 29, 2017 - 7:46 AM
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By: |
Grecchus
(Member)
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The Hanson is a pleasant enough piece, but I've always thought that its inclusion in Alien was the equivalent of painting a smiley face on a gravestone in an effort to cheer everyone up.
Goldsmith's musical solution was integral, elegant, and indeed exultant - "Ripley triumphs against the darkness!" It says it right there in the music for god's sake. There's no reason why the filmmakers should think otherwise.... unless they simply didn't "get" the idea of a "jazz trumpet solo" as the musical emblem of their monster movie. I honestly think that was the problem.
Of course it wasn't bloody jazz! But I bet they thought it was. For me, it's one the most brilliant musical concepts Goldsmith ever had. Ever. That and the alternating flute triad motif. Just stunning invention out of nowhere.
Now I've got that out of my system, I'll read the article. 
The Main and End titles music to the original Alien are great to listen to, even outside the film they didn't appear in. The trumpet solo opens up the story, whereupon the music takes an unsettled turn. The End Title starts with the trumpet solo and turns triumphant, finishing on that note. As for the simple flute triplet - that has come up maybe a few times - certainly, as the harmonica in Magic. As I mentioned somewhere else, why didn't Goldsmith use heavy electronica for Alien - because the challenge was to orchestrate with traditional instrumentation and a few star guests. Alien was a sort of Dracula in outer space, with the Nostromo standing in for Carfax Abbey. You couldn't synth fart to that, although he came quite close for when the creature gets Brett.
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Posted: |
May 30, 2017 - 9:25 AM
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By: |
Heath
(Member)
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As for the simple flute triplet - that has come up maybe a few times - certainly, as the harmonica in Magic.
To be fair, the flute triad motif is pretty unique to Alien - in fact it's pretty unique in music as a whole. I've certainly not heard anything exactly like it that predates the score, except perhaps a tiny hint of it in Stravinsky's Petrushka (played by horns in a different rhythm). I can sort of see why you think it has a precedence in Magic, but that's a quite different motif really - the chordal voicings are different, the rhythm is different, and of course the instrumentation is completely different, plus they're accomplishing very different things dramatically.
The harmonica has a breathing in-out nature, perhaps foreshadowing the "life" that Fat's possesses (it's also another more direct literary nod to Petrushka) while the Alien flute motif is almost like the poignant tick-tock pulse of a distant signal.
BTW, Goldsmith fans would be well advised to check out Petrushka in general if they haven't already, particularly the first 5-10 minutes or so.
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I always liked the Hanson at the end of Alien. Not only is it beautiful music, it "cleanses" the sonic palette and lets you know Ripley is finally free (until the next movie of course). Goldsmith's score, almost by definition, could never have done that.
Lukas
I have always felt exactly that way about it. He certainly could have scored complete relief, as is appropriate to that ending, but it's not what he did (as he may not have even been asked to). When there's one beastie, blown into space with no way to propel itself back, the danger is 100% over. No hints, no ifs, no evil droids - it's gone. She won. That's how the Hanson feels, like a huge sigh of safe relief, as different in feel as her situation is with the entire rest of the movie.
It would feel out of place on an album, like most source cues do, but it was always the right music for the film's end, absent Goldsmith having been asked to achieve that himself. Most of his Joe Dante music alone proves that he could have done it in spades. Think of Explorers! Not just its theme, but the casual, looking up at the stars music. And The Final Conflict shows us that he wasn't above introducing a brand new theme and feel at the very end of a score. I wish Ridley had been clearer with him, because it would have likely made a smashing cap for the album.
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I always liked the Hanson at the end of Alien. Not only is it beautiful music, it "cleanses" the sonic palette and lets you know Ripley is finally free (until the next movie of course). Goldsmith's score, almost by definition, could never have done that.
Lukas
I have always felt exactly that way about it.
Whoa, hey man!
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I always liked the Hanson at the end of Alien. Not only is it beautiful music, it "cleanses" the sonic palette and lets you know Ripley is finally free (until the next movie of course). Goldsmith's score, almost by definition, could never have done that.
Lukas
I have always felt exactly that way about it.
Whoa, hey man!
Yeah, I've tried to explain it a little better, undoing my trigger-happy post finger. I understand the purism arguments about ALIEN, and I'd be on board if I didn't think the film worked so perfectly, all of it. I even like the Freud cues where they are. Jerry's cues would have worked well in the scenes as scenes, but they had a lot more exclamation points in them, and the slower overall build, using Freud for the acid scene, for instance, helps overall. I think Scott made the right choices for the movie, even though he did accomplished them with all the finesse of a drunk person with a battle hammer.
Frankly, as far as his getting re-scores for the exploration scenes, that had a huge side benefit for me. I program all of those together, like one score, not two versions of the same score, and it plays so beautifully.
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No, I was saying hi! Haven't seen you in a long time!
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No, I was saying hi! Haven't seen you in a long time!
OH!
Well, hello, Shaun! Great to... um, 'see' you!
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