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I have a tin ear when it comes to Franz Waxman. I don't get the guy. THE BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN and PEYTON PLACE are pretty decent, but I don't get swept up.
Granted, the only thing I have to go on is the Charles Gerhardt compilation CD, but it seems both well-selected and well-performed. There's nothing wrong with Gerhardt. That just leaves me and Waxman.
A lot of Golden Age men around here have said he's absolutely great. Does that mean he's controversial, or am I just missing the boat?
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That's interesting Zap, because just today I was mentally pigeon-holing composers into "Like/ Don't Like", and I couldn't situate Waxman easily in any compartment. I know that I SHOULD like him, because I've always read about how great he is (in the sense that it seems like I should love all his stuff), but when I play his scores I'm often left fairly cold. It's as if his music washes over me. It doesn't touch me as much as I wish it would. I don't feel that way about Max Steiner for example. At least I KNOW why he isn't amongst my favourites.
Having said that, I absolutely adore THE NUN'S STORY, HEMINGWAY'S ADVENTURES OF A YOUNG MAN, THE SPIRIT OF ST. LOUIS, DEMETRIUS AND THE GLADIATORS and a fairly long etcetera, but on the whole I find that I simply don't connect with much of his stuff. BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN? It fails to do anything for me. REBECCA? Standard fare to me. I wish I could love his scores more, but there's an obstacle there, and I don't know what it is.
In a way I almost feel disappointed in not "getting" him. I feel like a guy who's constantly told how great Miklós Rózsa is, and then only hears SPELLBOUND (which is one of my least favourite scores from one of my most favourite composers).
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You all posted short posts as I was posting, very slooowly and labooouriously, a long one. So I didn't see those until now.
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What sort of music sweeps you up?
I'm a Silver Age fan. Horner, Barry, Williams, and Goldsmith would be the (big-screen) four food groups, and I like a lot of other stuff as well, but mostly from the mid-1960s onward. I haven't heard the other Waxmans beyond Gerhardt.
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I know that I SHOULD like him, because I've always read about how great he is (in the sense that it seems like I should love all his stuff), but when I play his scores I'm often left fairly cold.
I was going to say that in practically those words.
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Having released a LOT of Waxman (more coming, I think), I have to say he's a favorite of mine. His score for Sunset Blvd. borders on genius, and his melodic invention is pretty incredible - A Place in the Sun and Peyton Place being two superb examples of melodic themes as good as they get. But I haven't heard a bum score by him. That said, you connect with who you connect with. I'm not sure the Gerhard album would give any hints about how wonderfully his music actually plays in the medium for which it was composed - FILM. I also find the complete score releases the way to go, but that's just me.
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Don't write him off 'til you've tried "Prince Valiant."
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By the way, Zap, I forgot to mention that I love your title for this topic and the movie reference.
Thanks, Joan! I went over your prior thread. Interesting.
And it seems there might be something to my suggestion that Waxman is controversial. He's a polarizing figure. I mean, this is the Golden Age version of a very heated discussion.
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