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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?
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I think a lot of them do ok with setting a mood, they can be quite evocative. It's when he tries to make them work in action mode that the synths are just jumbled, grating noises.
That's fair enough. Jarre's action music is grating like Tenet but with ten percent of the agro.
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I think they are all good/decent scores. Trying to enjoy them apart from the film is what I find hard.
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Some of them are good, or at least have their moments. The majority of them are pretty bad, IMO.
Yavar
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Some of them are good, or at least have their moments. The majority of them are pretty bad, IMO.
Yavar
Oh so you're the one writing under the name of Jonathan B at the UK movie music site under a pseudonym? You and he should get together and dis these scores :-) ;-) :-)
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I am not that person and I don't know who they are. If you're talking about MovieMusicUK.us, I haven't posted on that forum in like a decade and I wasn't aware it still existed. It was active for a while and was a lot nicer place than here, to interact with fellow film music fans. Maybe you're talking about a different site though.
In any case, I've got no agenda to "dis" Jarre's electronic output (and I didn't mention any scores by name, that I disliked). Most of it that I've heard just doesn't work, for me. The Jarre electronic scores I rather like are Dead Poet's Society (very powerful in the film) and Witness. I'm not sure that the latter wouldn't have been better as a traditional orchestral score (I like the orchestral arrangements of it Jarre has conducted), but I understand his rationale for making that one all synth and it worked well enough for me.
Yavar
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I am not that person and I don't know who they are. If you're talking about MovieMusicUK.us, I haven't posted on that forum in like a decade and I wasn't aware it still existed. It was active for a while and was a lot nicer place than here, to interact with fellow film music fans. Maybe you're talking about a different site though.
In any case, I've got no agenda to "dis" Jarre's electronic output (and I didn't mention any scores by name, that I disliked). Most of it that I've heard just doesn't work, for me. The Jarre electronic scores I rather like are Dead Poet's Society (very powerful in the film) and Witness. I'm not sure that the latter wouldn't have been better as a traditional orchestral score (I like the orchestral arrangements of it Jarre has conducted), but I understand his rationale for making that one all synth and it worked well enough for me.
Yavar
Yes. I was talking about that site. But I was being ironic. Sorry, no offense meant.
I would have loved to hear Witness as an orchestral score. It's so hard to differentiate between what was intended - very cool music - and what was realized - very one-D music. I love the film Witness but I find the disparity of electronic music with the depiction of an Amish society - no electricity etc - disconcerting.
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Yes. I was talking about that site. But I was being ironic. Sorry, no offense meant.
None taken; I was just confused about what you were saying. Jonathan B. would no doubt be Jon Broxton of MovieMusicUK then. I didn't even remember his opinion about Jarre's synth scores to be honest, but I certainly never posted under his name. I think I've always posted under my own. If I ever didn't, it was in my mid-teens when I first discovered the Internet and started posting at Filmtracks Scoreboard. I can't remember if I used a name like "Nerf Herder" or something initially there.
I would have loved to hear Witness as an orchestral score. It's so hard to differentiate between what was intended - very cool music - and what was realized - very one-D music. I love the film Witness but I find the disparity of electronic music with the depiction of an Amish society - no electricity etc - disconcerting.
Wasn't the idea that they also didn't believe in playing musical instruments? So using non-acoustic synths for the score was somehow a way around that? (Though no actual Amish person would be on board, I suspect.)
Yavar
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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?
Not a fan of electronic scores in general. No feeling, no heart, weak melodically if their is one and usually very monotonous.
After 50+ years arranging, orchestrating, etc. I find there is no replacement for air through a horn or a bow across a string.
Also it puts musicians in the unemployment line.
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Not a fan of electronic scores in general. No feeling, no heart, weak melodically if their is one and usually very monotonous.
After 50+ years arranging, orchestrating, etc. I find there is no replacement for air through a horn or a bow across a string.
I can't agree when you generalise like this.
Yes, I prefer orchestral scores; I think that they're capable of expressing a vast range of emotions and moods. I tend to enjoy synth scores less, as I tend not to experience the same emotional range with them.
However ...
I think that Vangelis' scores to "Chariots of Fire" and "Blade Runner", to use two well-known examples, demonstrate that a talented composer can produce extraordinary music with electronics.
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Not a fan of electronic scores in general. No feeling, no heart, weak melodically if their is one and usually very monotonous.
After 50+ years arranging, orchestrating, etc. I find there is no replacement for air through a horn or a bow across a string.
Also it puts musicians in the unemployment line.
Oh dear, where to start.
Electronic scores weak melodically and no feeling? You surely can't have heard many of them.
It puts musicians in the unemployment line? So if a composer wants to write an electronic score as an artistic choice, he should rather contact 50 musicians so they can perform it instead? So they will get their income? Sorry, that's not how it works anymore. Maybe 50 years ago.
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Posted: |
Jun 15, 2021 - 2:41 PM
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By: |
ray92
(Member)
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It's not even the instrument itself, but often the composer himself. Much depends on the talent and person's ability.
I agree with First Breath, maybe you haven't really listened to many ...? 
At one time, I could not listen to orchestral scores at all - for me it was just a boring, monotonous symphony, from which I want to sleep in 10 seconds  .
But over the years I decided to take a closer look at orchestral music and started with the popular and more famous orchestral scores - Home Alone, Titanic, First Blood, Braveheart ... Although now my favorite genre of film music is electronic, I also love many orchestral soundtracks. Now I realized that both genres have their pros and cons. I'm not prejudiced against orchestral music ... After all, everyone has their own taste in music.
If you assert that synth scores are insensitive and there are no melodies, do not forget to write after these words that this is only your personal opinion. 
Much in this world is relative and music is no exception ...)
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Posted: |
Jun 15, 2021 - 3:18 PM
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By: |
Ray Worley
(Member)
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Maurice Jarre has long been one of my favorite composers. Easily in the top 10. That said, most of his electronic scores are my least favorites in his output (with a couple of exceptions). 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.
Early in his career, when he used electronics sparingly, like the Ondes Martenot in LAWRENCE OF ARABIA, I had no complaints. But his '80s all-synth scores are a low point.
I never heard one way or the other, but I sometimes wonder if these scores were so heavy on electronics more for economic reasons (producers wanted the score on the cheap) then for purely aesthetic reasons...as in, was it Jarre's own choice, free from economic pressure or producers' insistence on "modern" electronic sounds?
If anyone has a quote from Jarre or a reliable source, I'd be interested to hear.
BTW, I have nothing against electronic scores themselves. I LOVE me some Tangerine Dream, Wendy Carlos, Gil Mellé, Harold Faltermeyer, Brad Fiedel and other masters of electronica. When an electronic score goes wrong for me is when it tries to substitute for an orchestra...tries to sound like an orchestra. Then it just comes off tinny and cheap.
Some of Jarre's score have that problem, and a few of Goldsmith's for that matter, though his success record was higher, IMHO.
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When an electronic score goes wrong for me is when it tries to substitute for an orchestra...tries to sound like an orchestra. Then it just comes off tinny and cheap.
Some of Jarre's score have that problem, and a few of Goldsmith's for that matter, though his success record was higher, IMHO.
I absolutely agree. Synths should sound like synths, not like sn electronic orchestra.
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Not a fan of electronic scores in general. No feeling, no heart, weak melodically if their is one and usually very monotonous.
After 50+ years arranging, orchestrating, etc. I find there is no replacement for air through a horn or a bow across a string.
Also it puts musicians in the unemployment line.
Oh dear, where to start.
Electronic scores weak melodically and no feeling? You surely can't have heard many of them.
It puts musicians in the unemployment line? So if a composer wants to write an electronic score as an artistic choice, he should rather contact 50 musicians so they can perform it instead? So they will get their income? Sorry, that's not how it works anymore. Maybe 50 years ago.
exactly.
I appreciate everyone's comments and I will listen to these scores with a more open mind. Over and out.
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