Movie Soundtracks: Classical?

[Bogey]

These movie soundtrack threads usually are short-lived here, but what the heck.

Just curious where you file these?  That is, do you consider some movie scores to be classical, or do they belong in their own category?  I have noticed that soundtracks are sometimes posted on the classical listening thread, but others put them on the non-classical?  If they are non-classical, then why are the following samples available at Arkive Music, which claims to be one's source for classical music?



I do not have a strong opinion one way or the other, but just curious about your thoughts.

[Robert]

These movie soundtrack threads usually are short-lived here, but what the heck.

Just curious where you file these?  That is, do you consider some movie scores to be classical, or do they belong in their own category?  I have noticed that soundtracks are sometimes posted on the classical listening thread, but others put them on the non-classical?  If they are non-classical, then why are the following samples available at Arkive Music, which claims to be one's source for classical music?

http://www.arkivmusic.com/graphics/covers/non-muze/full/028947134725-Cvr_178.jpg[/img]

I do not have a strong opinion one way or the other, but just curious about your thoughts.

"MYSTERY OF RAMPO" amongst many.....

[Mark]

I consider movie soundtracks to be 'classical' wherever they use instruments which I typically associate with Western Art Music. So I file my 'Titanic', 'Finding Neverland' and 'The Piano' soundtracks along with my other classical discs.


<awaits derision for confessing to owning the first of the above-mentioned soundtrack CDs>

[71 dB]

Movie soundtracks are not classical music for me. So, my John Williams soundtracks are separated from classical music.

[Bogey]

Movie soundtracks are not classical music for me. So, my John Williams soundtracks are separated from classical music.

As are mine.....but curious why they are seperate.

[hornteacher]

<awaits derision for confessing to owning the first of the above-mentioned soundtrack CDs>

<hornteacher hangs his head in shame> 


They do say the first step to recovery is admitting the problem.......

[Bogey]

most film music is merely 3rd or 4th rate bastardizations of what classical composers had already did, and riddled with cliches and tricks etc...not only that, but the a film composer usually doesnt have the last say, a director can step in at any point and say "i dont like it, change it", so theyre under the gun and dont have the last say....'real' composers are to deep and serious to handle that kind of shit....

I'll inform the likes Erich Wolfgang Korngold, William Walton, and Dmitri Shostakovich that they are merely figments of our imagination.  

[Mark]

<hornteacher hangs his head in shame> 


They do say the first step to recovery is admitting the problem.......

[Israfel the Black]

Several great ones:

1. Sergei Prokofiev's Alexander Nevsky
2. Philip Glass' Koyaanisqatsi
3. Nino Rota's La Strada
4. Shostakovich's The Gadfly
5. Nino Rota's The Godfather, The Godfather Part II, The Godfather Part III
6. Bernard Herrman's Vertigo
7. Ennio Morricone's Once Upon A Time In America
8. Philip Glass' The Hours
9. Ennio Morricone's The Mission
10. Clint Mansell's Requiem For A Dream

[Bogey]

yeah, thats true and then it was virgin territory and those composers did some very good work in that area...but i was just more generally saying that most serious composers are far too artistic to JUST do that, or deal with that kind of grind/condition...

It would be interesting to hear what the above composers I listed had to say about their movie music....were they simply doing it as a "job" to earn income, or did they truly "get into" the experience.

A point of yours that should not be lost here James, due to my previous response of yours, is:

but the a film composer usually doesnt have the last say, a director can step in at any point and say "i dont like it, change it", so theyre under the gun and dont have the last say

I do wish soundtracks were released in their entire recorded format.....I wonder what wonderful and full scores we are missing due to the chopping process.  I know that they have re-released some of William's Star Wars work with at least all the music from the movie (http://www.amazon.com/Star-Wars-Episode-Ultimate-Recording/dp/B000051VYS/ref=sr_1_6/102-7134284-2880939?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1180135131&sr=1-6), but even this seems to be fairly rare.

[Mark]

The 'Finding Neverland' soundtrack is an interesting one, as there is material on the CD which never made it into the movie. Apparently, they had time left in the recording studio after everything was in the can, so the composer sat and played at the piano and recorded extra works. These sound terrific, and I sometimes wish they'd been included in the film.

[Bogey]

The 'Finding Neverland' soundtrack is an interesting one, as there is material on the CD which never made it into the movie. Apparently, they had time left in the recording studio after everything was in the can, so the composer sat and played at the piano and recorded extra works. These sound terrific, and I sometimes wish they'd been included in the film.

Just count your lucky stars, especially the second star to the right, that the extra piano music made it on the cd at all Mark. 

[Mark]

Now you've made me want to hear Kate Bush's lovely track, 'In Search Of Peter Pan' from her 1979 album, 'Lionheart'.

[Sergeant Rock]

That is, do you consider some movie scores to be classical...

Yes, for the same reason incidental music to plays (the pre-film era soundtrack) can be classical music. If Beethoven's Egmont, Mendelssohn's A Midsummer Night's Dream, and Grieg's Peer Gynt are classical then so are "some" film scores.

Sarge

[Sergeant Rock]

probably a bit of both bogey, no doubt, but i highly doubt that they would have ranked/considered that music as much as other works they did...

I doubt Beethoven ranked Egmont as high as op.110, 132, and the Ninth Symphony either.

Sarge

[Bogey]

probably a bit of both bogey, no doubt, but i highly doubt that they would have ranked/considered that music as much as other works they did...

I doubt Beethoven ranked Egmont as high as op.110, 132, and the Ninth Symphony either.

Sarge

Good points.

[Don]

Don't have any movie soundtracks.  If I did, I'd file them under "M".  That's consistent with my one and only non-classical cd from Don Fagen - "F".

[Robert]

Heres a few adding to Israfels list....
Alien
Altered States
Anatomy of a Murder
Dead Again
Mystery of Rampo
Mulholland Drive
The Blue Max
Lion in Winter
Dracula (Kilar)
Ghost and Mrs Muir
Kill a  Mockingbird
Somewhere in Time
Out of Africa
Round Midnight
Shawshank Redemption
Sleepers
Untouchables

[The new erato]

Now you've made me want to hear Kate Bush's lovely track, 'In Search Of Peter Pan' from her 1979 album, 'Lionheart'.

Another GREAT Kate Bush fan here.

[Greta]

I have a lot of film scores, and consider the genre my "back door" into classical. I see them as definitely separate though because the medium is so different. Even though good film music can certainly stand on its own, it's purpose is to accompany pictures and classical (or concert music) is meant for the concert hall.

I tend to file film music by Shostakovich, Prokofiev, and other well-known classical composers in with their classical works, and then put well-known film composers' concert works (like the Yo-Yo Ma/John Williams CD) over with their film stuff.

I do think film scoring is a worthy art, but there are some film composers who I wish would've spent more time writing interesting works for the concert hall above writing interesting scores for ho-hum movies.

Often their "real" concert self is quite radically different than their film composing side (ex. J. Williams), which shows of course, that after all it is a job and they must do what the director desires. The film is temp tracked with Le Sacre and Planets, and the director says, "Yes, yes I like this, go write me something like that!" And if he doesn't - the score is rejected and the director finds someone else who will.

And more recently, a temp track may even be by one of their own colleagues, which can make for some quite embarrassing situations. The new King Kong by Peter Jackson had that kind of mess happen.