I watch The Year Of Living Dangerously at least twice a year pretty much going back to the cinema viewing. Much of my fascination with and enjoyment of this film has to do with the score. And the soundtrack LP, one of the sides in particular, is a proven soothing experience.
Feels like we go through this same subject every 5 years or so.
Some of Jarre's electronic scores are quite arresting. Witness is arguably his best -- the "Barn Raising" cue is one of his finest moments.
The Mosquito Coast has a nice Vangelis-esque vibe to it.
I also like After Dark My Sweet, which is one of his most obscure an underrated synth efforts.
Fatal Attraction is quite effective dramatically and brings a lot to the film -- though most of it does not stand alone for me (the end title / love theme is gorgeous however). Sadly, his best cues were for the original ending, which was discarded...
No Way Out is surely one of Jarre's most dramatically-effective synth scores, and adds a powerful atmosphere of edginess and suspense (caution: spoiler)...
Jarre also had a unique method for recording his electronic scores. Most composers doing synth scores lay down one track, go back and lay down the next, etc. Jarre would instead assemble a small ensemble of keyboardists, as well as Nyle Steiner on the EVI (wind synthesizer) and conduct them "live" as he would an orchestra.
If you saw these movies with these Maurice Jarre synth scores in the 1980s they were great.
Not sure if they hold up now, probably pretty dated. But nostalgia is a powerful drug.
IMHO I don't think he handled the synths any better or worse than Goldsmith during this period. Synths were trendy and old-school orchestral guys like Jarre and Goldsmith wanted to stay contemporary and relevant to the time so they jumped onto the synthesizer bandwagon as best they could.
I understand that this may sound a little crazy, but I would love to ever see complete scores to Fatal Attraction and Ghost with quality sound and the right film mix.
I recently came across some current reviews of Jarre's Mosquito Coast, Witness, Dead Poets and Living Dangerously film scores on a UK site tearing apart all of Jarre's electronic scores.
Apparently the only decent scores are his orchestral ones and the electronic ones are crapola. Forgive me if this is old hat.
Is Witness a terrible score? Is Dead Poet's Society unredeemable? And is Fatal Attraction fatally ghastly?
My opinion is that Jarre , Goldsmith , Barry would have been better avoiding electronic film scores as the scores they did in this medium were in truth not that brilliant .
His Peter Weir scores - specifically THE YEAR OF LIVING DANGEROUSLY, WITNESS, and THE MOSQUITO COAST - are beautiful and mystical, and among the best electronic scores written for movies.
JACOB'S LADDER is outstanding as well. As close as film music gets to tripping.. Eerie and melancholic. GABY, A TRUE STORY has a beautiful melody for cello and electronic group.
SHADOW OF THE WOLF and ENEMY MINE are split evenly for electronic ensemble and huge orchestra. Great melodies, even Jarre-haters tend to like these scores.
His Peter Weir scores - specifically THE YEAR OF LIVING DANGEROUSLY, WITNESS, and THE MOSQUITO COAST - are beautiful and mystical, and among the best electronic scores written for movies.
JACOB'S LADDER is outstanding as well. As close as film music gets to tripping.. Eerie and melancholic. GABY, A TRUE STORY has a beautiful melody for cello and electronic group.
SHADOW OF THE WOLF and ENEMY MINE are split evenly for electronic ensemble and huge orchestra. Great melodies, even Jarre-haters tend to like these scores.
The rest are pretty much for fans only.
This covers my reactions as well, especially personal favorite JACOB’S LADDER which I rank very highly among all scores of its era, electronic or otherwise.
When it came to Maurice and Jerry, their all-synth 80s efforts SUCK, and suck hard, these classicly-trained musicians noodling around on Casio keyboards because it was what "the kids" were into in those days. There are all-electonic scores I like (like some of Carpenter's work), but Jarre and Goldsmith didn't have the ability to make an all-synth ensemble work.
In almost every case, the melodic content, the spotting, the structure of the electronic score itself is fine, but I feel it would have been a MUCH, MUCH better score if it was orchestral. WITNESS and GORILLAS IN THE MIST come to mind. WITNESS works OK in the film, but I feel it would have worked better as an orchestral score. And having heard an orchestral version of "Building the Barn", my point was proved.
I have to respectfully disagree. I'm sure the barn cue sounds fantastic via orchestra, but Jarre's electronic approach was perfect for the movie. It fits Weir's tonal style like a glove while also underlining the austere but also quasi-mystical treatment of the Amish as Weir frames it and the remove of Book within it. I think the juxtaposition between the electronic music and the handmade milieu really work for the story and not against it.
When it came to Maurice and Jerry, their all-synth 80s efforts SUCK, and suck hard, these classicly-trained musicians noodling around on Casio keyboards because it was what "the kids" were into in those days.
Well, they did not actually use Casio keyboards. They were using state-of-the art instruments. Neither did they "noodle". Jarre and Goldsmith wrote-out their scores on paper before going onto the recording stage.
There are a lot of reasons why electronic scores became en vogue in the 1980s. It wasn't always because "the kids" were into it. Yes, synths had come to dominate pop music -- and that was mainly because a) it was a new sound (and pop music is always about novelty) and b) it was much cheaper to use a synth for backup tracks as opposed to en ensemble of musicians (as was common in the 70s). And of course the meteoric success of Chariots of Fire convinced a lot of studio executives that every synth soundtrack was a potential cash cow.
But another reason is that newly-invented digital synths of the early 80s were much more efficient, user-friendly and portable -- and thus better-suited for scoring sessions. Composers were also fascinated by the expressive possibilities of these new instruments -- though maybe too fascinated in retrospect.
As far as Maurice Jarre, one of the things that set his electronic scores apart was his extensive use the EVI, which allowed for the intonation and breath control of a wind instrument. This enabled it to do a lot of things a keyboard could not. Note the use of the solo EVI in the love scene from Witness (which HowardL posted above).
There are all-electonic scores I like (like some of Carpenter's work), but Jarre and Goldsmith didn't have the ability to make an all-synth ensemble work.
It surprises me to hear you say that. I find Carpenter's scores adequate for low-budget horror flicks -- but they haven't a tenth of the musical technique which is bursting from the synth efforts of Jarre, Goldsmith or Vangelis.
It surprises me to hear you say that. I find Carpenter's scores adequate for low-budget horror flicks -- but they haven't a tenth of the musical technique which is bursting from the synth efforts of Jarre, Goldsmith or Vangelis.
When it came to Maurice and Jerry, their all-synth 80s efforts SUCK, and suck hard, these classicly-trained musicians noodling around on Casio keyboards because it was what "the kids" were into in those days.
Well, they did not actually use Casio keyboards. They were using state-of-the art instruments. Neither did they "noodle". Jarre and Goldsmith wrote-out their scores on paper before going onto the recording stage.
There are a lot of reasons why electronic scores became en vogue in the 1980s. It wasn't always because "the kids" were into it. Yes, synths had come to dominate pop music -- and that was mainly because a) it was a new sound (and pop music is always about novelty) and b) it was much cheaper to use a synth for backup tracks as opposed to en ensemble of musicians (as was common in the 70s). And of course the meteoric success of Chariots of Fire convinced a lot of studio executives that every synth soundtrack was a potential cash cow.
But another reason is that newly-invented digital synths of the early 80s were much more efficient, user-friendly and portable -- and thus better-suited for scoring sessions. Composers were also fascinated by the expressive possibilities of these new instruments -- though maybe too fascinated in retrospect.
As far as Maurice Jarre, one of the things that set his electronic scores apart was his extensive use the EVI, which allowed for the intonation and breath control of a wind instrument. This enabled it to do a lot of things a keyboard could not. Note the use of the solo EVI in the love scene from Witness (which HowardL posted above).
There are all-electonic scores I like (like some of Carpenter's work), but Jarre and Goldsmith didn't have the ability to make an all-synth ensemble work.
It surprises me to hear you say that. I find Carpenter's scores adequate for low-budget horror flicks -- but they haven't a tenth of the musical technique which is bursting from the synth efforts of Jarre, Goldsmith or Vangelis.
I think your explanation is perfect ! I also remember of an interview where John Barry said that the cost of recording of Witness was almost the same of an orchestra of 80 pieces. I think too Maurice Jarre was encouraged by Peter Weir to use electronic, on several occasions I would have preferred him to use an orchestra. Especially in the case of Gaby, a chamber orchestra would work wonderfully! On the CD of the Ahn Trio girls there is an arrangement of this score for a small accoustic group and it was spectacular.
In almost every case, the melodic content, the spotting, the structure of the electronic score itself is fine, but I feel it would have been a MUCH, MUCH better score if it was orchestral. WITNESS and GORILLAS IN THE MIST come to mind. WITNESS works OK in the film, but I feel it would have worked better as an orchestral score. And having heard an orchestral version of "Building the Barn", my point was proved.
I have to respectfully disagree. I'm sure the barn cue sounds fantastic via orchestra, but Jarre's electronic approach was perfect for the movie. It fits Weir's tonal style like a glove while also underlining the austere but also quasi-mystical treatment of the Amish as Weir frames it and the remove of Book within it. I think the juxtaposition between the electronic music and the handmade milieu really work for the story and not against it.
Hmm. I too heard Barn via orchestra, live and conducted by the composer himself, and pondered whether the score would have been better this way. Thinking back, though, the viewing in the cinema was mighty powerful; in fact, so powerful as to cut short the pondering and leave it there.
I think we all pretty much prefer acoustic vs. electronic in general. But that’s a thread of another color.
“Quasi-mystical.” Oh that’s good. And is a nice characterization, too, of the electronic approach specific to the Amish and Book, because his sojourn among them was something of a trip back in time to a whole other world. And electronic, time travel and otherworldly mix well, do they not?
I do take umbrage at the insinuation that the reviews are basically "durrr, synths bad, orchestra good," and I certainly never described anything as 'crapola'. In fact, I very specifically went out of my way to talk in detail about WHY I always felt that Jarre's electronic scores didn't work for me. The bottom line, in my opinion, is that the way Jarre wrote was not suited for keyboards/synths.
Composers like Vangelis, Harold Faltermeyer, Giorgio Moroder, Brad Fiedel, and others, wrote music specifically for synths in the first place, and never pretended otherwise, so their music always sounded authentic. Jarre’s electronic music always sounded like the work of a composer trying to capitalize on the popularity of a fad, shoehorning his compositions into a sonic world that did not suit the way he structured and thought about music. Instead, Jarre wrote like he always did, and simply transferred the music to keyboards, which for me created a weird disconnect that left his music sounding weird.
Some composers are superb at writing for orchestras, bringing out the nuances in the different instruments, coaxing delicate performances out of the musicians. Other composers are excellent at synth programming, meticulously placing layers of sound over each other to create a cohesive whole, making it sound seamless and organic. Some rare composers excel at both these techniques but, unfortunately, Jarre was not one of them. He was an old school orchestral romanticist at heart, as scores like Lawrence of Arabia and Doctor Zhivago attest; to me, his electronics always sounded clunky, and badly-arranged. You could tell that his music was written for violins, or horns, and then transplanted to keyboards, instead of being written for keyboards in the first place. This difference is subtle, but detectable, because no matter how hard you try you can’t make a 1980s synthesizer sound like an actual violin or an actual oboe. The phrasing is off, somehow. The people who excelled at this sort of thing – Harold Faltermeyer, Brad Fiedel, Giorgio Moroder, eventually Hans Zimmer – wrote for keyboards first and understood what they can and cannot do.
Anyway, I hope this clears up my point of view a little.
