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It might be less a matter of making his synths sound orchestral, but more about how he composed music overall, with his unique colors, rhythms, and intonations, which synths exposed and amplified and, as a result, made more obvious, like demo templates to finished works. He never created experimental melodies like Goldsmith or relied heavily on ostinatos as Remote Control does, but the color and depth remained.
I haven't heard much of his synth oeuvre, but of what I have, most of it works in and outside the film for me, with the glaring exception of Dreamscape, which I still swear was Tangerine Dream.
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I also wonder how "new" posters coming out of the blue always start useless threads on questionable topics about which we are all sick and tired.
I've actually quite enjoyed reading everyone's thoughts on this topic. And that's going way back to previous discussions as long ago as the 1990's. Calling the topic questionable and the thread useless is a bit over-the-top.
I do enjoy most of Jarre's electronic scores. Just got done listening to "Ghost" for the first time in years. Not sure if I'm just in the right mood, but it was a lot more enjoyable than I remember. And I think the ghostly qualities of the synth fit the film perfectly, even by today's standards.
My favorites are "No Way Out" and "Witness". The original album of "No Way Out" was the ideal length, and had really no weak moments. And while some find the use of synth in "Witness" (an Amish movie) to be jarring, I disagree. I actually can't imagine a real orchestral score for that film. The music matches the almost ethereal rural landscapes so well!
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Posted: |
Jun 24, 2021 - 3:16 PM
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By: |
mark_so
(Member)
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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.
LOL i appreciate a strong opinion! used to feel this way about MJ's and also Horner's electronic scores, but have since 'evolved' quite a bit. it is in my opinion simply fatuous to pretend that these kinds of scores are merely signs of the conservatory composer going commercial; Jarre was an out-there composer from the start, writing some generally quite 'jarring' (sorry...) pieces for avant-garde music festivals through the 50s, generally for chamber and percussion ensembles. to my ear they have a dated air of kitsch modernism, but that's neither here nor there -- the neoromantic orchestral scores he later became known for were really the "selling out" point (something Wojciech Kilar bemoaned first-hand when i interviewed him in the 90s). i think his big symphonic scores vary quite drastically between classic and not so much. very few of them are recorded well (i can't even listen to The Damned, Gorillas in the Mist, Grand Prix, Winter Kills, etc etc), which complicates my ability to appreciate them, i suppose. even in this area, it's mostly the oddballs, which have some combination of diverse ensembles and/or electronics, that stand out for me: Mad Max 3, Enemy Mine, Judge Roy Bean, The Man Who Would Be King, The Message. i do think Lawence and Passage to India are great, but by far, the small electronic ensemble scores have for me the most personality, and really exist in their own territory, true blue (or beige, or gray, whatever), for better or worse. i'm continually surprised that the discussion around Witness to this day centers around whether or not electronics are appropriate to the Amish, which strikes me as being as reactionary as Hitchcock's objection to the use of cello in Lifeboat because where would it be coming from. for me, it's all about establishing the tone and color of a spiritual, archaic society, a way of building atmospheric tension and mystery by being oblique/opaque (much like Chinatown, or Alien), conjuring a total sense of a world without giving anything away. Jacob's Ladder and No Way Out are masterpieces, utterly inseparable from the impact of their films. By another token, i've worn out my record of The Year of Living Dangerously (though i haven't seen the film in decades) -- which i find as satisfying an album listen as Goldsmith's Under Fire. i also perennially play my tape of After Dark, My Sweet, with the added 'secret' discovery that the opening is incredibly beautiful when paired alongside Morton Feldman's A Very Short Trumpet Piece...
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my favorite is enemy mine. the rest of it sounds always strange to me.
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One of Jarre's electronic efforts that tends to be overlooked is his score for the Cable film APOLOGY which is a lovely and moody effort the we released on CD.
If you haven't heard it, it's available on Spotify to stream.
Ford A. Thaxton
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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.
Listening to THE YEAR OF LIVING DANGEROUSLY right now for the first time in... I don't know.... when the movie came out?
What a gorgeous, well composed electronic score. Terrific.
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It was this piece (L 'enfant) - I thought it worked really well in the film!
https://youtu.be/BCfRrTaqkGI?feature=shared
I just listened to the YOLD album - really great. I'm actually a fan of all Jarre's electronic scores. Only time I sometimes don't enjoy them is when he goes into banging action mode. Solarbabies had some really awful bits to be sure
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Jarre's synth action is usually....not good. Saying this as an uber fan. It does still however make me smile, either at the audacity of his writing (Gorillas in the Mist spins into some ELP style prog, as does No Way Out at times!!!) or the visual I have of hos synth group playing live alongside the great Mike Fisher or Akex Acuna on live percussion. Somehow,,knowing that, makes a big difference to me, and i can hear the distinction.
-Sean
hahahah. Totally
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