Wow! Alfred has now managed to top your previous favorites, Herrmann and Rozsa? He used to be a little bit behind them, as I recall...I think he may have been the most versatile of the three, even though I love them all of course.
Wow! Alfred has now managed to top your previous favorites, Herrmann and Rozsa? He used to be a little bit behind them, as I recall...I think he may have been the most versatile of the three, even though I love them all of course.
Yavar
Alfred's music moves me even more often than Bernard and Miklos. That said, I won't stop listening to any of them (and Jerry) any time soon I love all four.
As you are quite aware, Yavar, Alfred not only had a very distinctive, emotion-bringing musical voice, he was a deservedly dominating force of nature within the Hollywood ranks in general...his early death (we could have used another 20 years of Alfred, minimum!) couldn't change the stunning impact of his life. From what I've gathered, his influence was beyond widespread among film composers, everyone (even crotchety Bernard!) seemed to admire him.
Finally, all I have to do is take out Towering Monuments like How the West Was Won, A Certain Smile, the Robe, David and Bathsheba, How Green Was My Valley, Diary of Anne Frank, Song of Bernadette (I could go on, and so could you ) to reinforce my favoritism.
Having my current Jerry experience has made it tougher to rank my favorites (the man was simply a score god, no doubt there). But Alfred moves me more often than any other, and I have to go with my heart on this one.
I wanted to mention (since you opened the door for my Alfred-gushing...regret it yet? lol) that I feel maestro Jerry was in some ways very like Alfred, in that he was more than capable of writing in countless contexts (not that Miklos and Bernard weren't, but they were more inclined toward the genres we know them best for).
Yavar and I agreed yesterday (paraphrase coming) that those four composers have such a range and breadth to their repetoire that a music lover could be YEARS appreciating their many works. That to me only reinforces their greatness (and my love for them) even more. I think I picked the right four to concentrate on
I have to give it up for Maestri Williams and Morricone as well, to me they remain the greatest living in film music (and quite possibly music in general). They are the current overlords imo, and I admire the iving heck out of both of them.
I can't go without mentioning something that had me rotfl. Allmusic (not exactly the gold standard of film music reviews...or anything else) had this to say about David and Bathsheba:
"Alfred Newman's score for Henry King's David & Bathsheba (1951) is a somber one, in keeping with the seriousness of the movie's Old Testament drama. The material is highly melodic and well played but it also lacks the memorable nature of Newman's best work, being more of a matter of great orchestrations than great composition. Even a piece called "The Rapture of Love" is more introspective and reflective than rapturous, and this is a good example of a score that works best in association with the movie for which it was written."
Lacks the memorable....are they kidding? How exactly is something both highly melodic and not memorable? This is an undisputed masterpiece with some of the most interesting (genre defining) melodies in film. He smashed through all kinds of boundaries on D&B, in some ways that score helped write the book on future epics in that mode. You could hum those melodies until your lips fall off.
I'll be forgiving and chalk it up to their reviewing an inferior release of that score, but it still makes them look really ludicrous. Of course, that's just one fumbled review among so many others on that site. Hard for anyone who loves film music to take them seriously (as a rule) in my humble opinion (their original review for Ben Hur was...try not to crack up...three stars out of five).
Serenade to the stars of Hollywood by Alfred Newman, c1956
includes: Forever yours (from A man called Peter) (piano solo) -- The girl upstairs (from The seven-year itch) -- My love for you (from The president's lady) -- Rapture of love (from David and Bathsheba) (piano solo) -- Someday you'll find your bluebird (from The blue bird) -- The song from Désirée (We meet again) -- The song of Bernadette (from The song of Bernadette) (piano solo) -- Through a long and sleepless night (from Come to the stable) -- To Ava (from The snows of Kilimanjaro) (piano solo) -- Your kiss (from Life begins at 8:30).
Has anyone heard or read the lyrics to the song version of the ANASTASIA theme?
They're weird.
I don't have the lyric version of the song but I have a piano solo arrangement by Roger Williams that uses the descending broken thirds which he used in his "Autumn Leaves" arrangement.
Has anyone heard or read the lyrics to the song version of the ANASTASIA theme?
They're weird.
I don't have the lyric version of the song but I have a piano solo arrangement by Roger Williams that uses the descending broken thirds which he used in his "Autumn Leaves" arrangement.
I love all four.
) to reinforce my favoritism. 