Herrmann's TAXI DRIVER, Elliot Goldenthal's HEAT, maybe Vangelis' BLADE RUNNER.....what are some other scores that conjure up the beauty and majesty and maybe moral corruption of urban cityscapes?
I'm not necessarily thinking about jazz stuff for urban 70's cop thrillers and such; more the steamy, throbbing, busy atmosphere. Imagine a sunset over skyscrapers and how you would score that.
I'm not exactly sure what you mean? Would Roy Budd's sparse score for a grim 1970's Northern England count?
For GET CARTER, you mean?
I'm thinking more about bigger cities, which gives the opportunity for almost operatic treatment in music. Use as benchmark the aching, haunting sax/string sounds of TAXI DRIVER and HEAT.
not a film score, but have you heard Steve Reich's 'City Life' ?
Nope.
Of course, you have a score like METROPOLIS, but it's a bit too symphonically traditional. It doesn't quite get to the core of the SEETHING, melancholic atmosphere of contemporary, urban society.
Another one just occured to me - James Newton Howard's FALLING DOWN.
Herrmann's TAXI DRIVER, Elliot Goldenthal's HEAT, maybe Vangelis' BLADE RUNNER.....what are some other scores that conjure up the beauty and majesty and maybe moral corruption of urban cityscapes?
I'm not necessarily thinking about jazz stuff for urban 70's cop thrillers and such; more the steamy, throbbing, busy atmosphere. Imagine a sunset over skyscrapers and how you would score that.
Thor, the "Bustling City Cues" thread I started some years ago may be of interest (but then again, it probably won't):
not a film score, but have you heard Steve Reich's 'City Life' ?
Nope.
Of course, you have a score like METROPOLIS, but it's a bit too symphonically traditional. It doesn't quite get to the core of the SEETHING, melancholic atmosphere of contemporary, urban society.
Another one just occured to me - James Newton Howard's FALLING DOWN.
Isham must have something along those lines... how about 'Romeo is Bleeding'?
not a film score, but have you heard Steve Reich's 'City Life' ?
Nope.
Of course, you have a score like METROPOLIS, but it's a bit too symphonically traditional. It doesn't quite get to the core of the SEETHING, melancholic atmosphere of contemporary, urban society.
Another one just occured to me - James Newton Howard's FALLING DOWN.
Thanks, Jim, but it's less the 'bustling' or 'concrete and steel' and more the 'organic' quality of the cityscape. The poetic or mythological side, if you will.
Would Goldsmith's "Chinatown" qualify? or Barry's "Body Heat". Perhaps also Shire's "Farewell My Lovely"? All sort of orchestral, moody, cityscapes in part.
Would Goldsmith's "Chinatown" qualify? or Barry's "Body Heat". Perhaps also Shire's "Farewell My Lovely"? All sort of orchestral, moody, cityscapes in part.
Some of those border more on regular film noir, where the music isn't necessarily intended for the portrayal of cityscapes per se (is the city really a character in BODY HEAT?). But they definitely have some of those elements yes. The 'seediness' etc.
A bit too upbeat (that's more back to the 'bustling' bit), but there are other themes from MV that fit the atmosphere I'm looking for better - Crockett's Theme, One Way Out, Flashback, Last Flight.
