Best Use of Classical Music in Films

[Kullervo]

There are a two directors who seem to do this very well:

Terrence Malick: Aquarium from Saint-Saëns's Carnival of the Animals in Days of Heaven; Fauré's In Paradisium and Ives's The Unanswered Question in The Thin Red Line (even though I didn't care for the movie, these were well-placed); prelude to The Rhinegold in The New World (really enhances the sense of discovery, like the sun rising on a strange coast)

Robert Bresson: The andantino from Schubert's D. 959 sonata in Au Hasard, Balthasar (and my introduction to Schubert); Lully's Atys in Pickpocket; Monteverdi in Mouchette; Bach's Chromatic Fantasy in L'Argent (only appears because one of the characters is playing it, but memorable for the story behind the player)

Others: The Barry Lyndon soundtrack (Handel and others); The finale of Beethoven's 9th at the end of Tarkovsky's Stalker; Liszt's Consolation No. 3 at the beginning of All That Heaven Allows (fits perfectly the deceptively idyllic, color-saturated world Sirk creates)

What are some other great instances of (pre-existing) classical music used in films?

Edit: Ha, I completely left out the first thing everyone thinks of when they think classical music in film: 2001: A Space Odyssey

[Brian]

Edit: Ha, I completely left out the first thing everyone thinks of when they think classical music in film: 2001: A Space Odyssey

I was going to mention this film, not for the obvious choice but for the scene featuring Gayaneh's Adagio, by Aram Khachaturian. So perfect for the solitude of the scene it appears in...

[Drasko]

Edit: Ha, I completely left out the first thing everyone thinks of when they think classical music in film: 2001: A Space Odyssey

On this very day is 40th anniversary of its theatrical release.

[Great Gable]

Two films were instrumental in the genesis of my love of classical music - "2001..." and "A Clockwork Orange". It's no surprise that I still hold both in high esteem and a lot of that is down to the music.

Of recent years - "Death in a French Garden" uses music to great effect - Granados and Schubert.

[samuel]

a recent one - the third movement of brahms violin concerto in there will be blood. i was sitting in the theater and all of a sudden i was like omg its brahms!

[Drasko]

Few that stuck in mind:

Visconti - Senso - Bruckner's 7th (and film opens at La Fenice during act III Trovatore)
Visconti - Vaghe Stelle dell'Orsa - Franck's Prelude, Choral et Fugue
Visconti - Death in Venice - Mahler's 5th Adagietto
Bergman - Cries and Whispers - Chopin a minor Mazurka 17/4
Bergman - Autumn Sonata - Chopin 2nd Prelude
Malle - Le Feu Follet - various Satie piano pieces
Boorman - Excalibur - Wagner - Siegfried's Trauermarch

[Bogey]

Here is one for your island Corey

Sibelius Finlandia -- The Hunt for Red October

and while we are out on the ocean, the following from one of my favorite, if not my favorite, movies made in the last decade, Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World

Thomas Tallis Fantasia on a Theme  
Boccherini La musica notturna delle strade di Madrid, Op.30 No.6 <Quintetto>
Bach Prélude (1st movt) from Cello Suite No. 1
Corelli  Concerto Grosso Op.6 No.8 <Adagio>
Mozart Violin Concerto No. 3 <3rd movt>

[Kullervo]

Boorman - Excalibur - Wagner - Siegfried's Trauermarch

Reminds me of another Boorman movie, Zardoz, and the second movement of Beethoven's 7th at the end. Pretty much the quintessential "bad" movie, but one of my guilty pleasures.

Here is one for your island Corey

Sibelius Finlandia -- The Hunt for Red October

I've never seen it. Should I have?

and while we are out on the ocean, the following from one of my favorite, if not my favorite, movies made in the last decade, Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World

Thomas Tallis Fantasia on a Theme 
Boccherini La musica notturna delle strade di Madrid, Op.30 No.6 <Quintetto>
Bach Prélude (1st movt) from Cello Suite No. 1
Corelli   Concerto Grosso Op.6 No.8 <Adagio>
Mozart Violin Concerto No. 3 <3rd movt>

I remember liking it a lot when it came out several years ago. I need to rewatch that soon.

[Bogey]

I've never seen it. Should I have?

It held up when it came out, but as the years have passed it has lost a bit.  Give it a try.  I am guessing you will find it so-so.

I remember liking it a lot when it came out several years ago. I need to rewatch that soon.

One of the few dvds that I have actually "bought and watched". 

[marvinbrown]

There are a two directors who seem to do this very well:

Terrence Malick: Aquarium from Saint-Saëns's Carnival of the Animals in Days of Heaven; Fauré's In Paradisium and Ives's The Unanswered Question in The Thin Red Line (even though I didn't care for the movie, these were well-placed); prelude to The Rhinegold in The New World (really enhances the sense of discovery, like the sun rising on a strange coast)

Robert Bresson: The andantino from Schubert's D. 959 sonata in Au Hasard, Balthasar (and my introduction to Schubert); Lully's Atys in Pickpocket; Monteverdi in Mouchette; Bach's Chromatic Fantasy in L'Argent (only appears because one of the characters is playing it, but memorable for the story behind the player)

Others: The Barry Lyndon soundtrack (Handel and others); The finale of Beethoven's 9th at the end of Tarkovsky's Stalker; Liszt's Consolation No. 3 at the beginning of All That Heaven Allows (fits perfectly the deceptively idyllic, color-saturated world Sirk creates)

What are some other great instances of (pre-existing) classical music used in films?

Edit: Ha, I completely left out the first thing everyone thinks of when they think classical music in film: 2001: A Space Odyssey

  In the movie Children of a Lesser God there is  a very powerful moving scene where a deaf woman asks her boyfriend, an instructor for deaf students, to visually express the 2nd movement of J.S. Bach's Double Violin Concerto in D minor- that scene makes the whole movie worthwhile.

  PS:  the film also won the Academy Award for Best Actress!! 

  marvin

[hornteacher]

I remember the Bond film "The Living Daylights", they used Mozart's 40th, the Act 2 Finale to the Marriage of Figaro, and Dvorak's Cello Concerto.  Needless to say its my favorite Bond film.

[Haffner]

The first half an hour or so of "Thumbelina".

[ChamberNut]

Two films were instrumental in the genesis of my love of classical music - "2001..." and "A Clockwork Orange". It's no surprise that I still hold both in high esteem and a lot of that is down to the music.

Exactly the same for me!  But I have to add Barry Lyndon to that list also.  Schubert's Adagio from his Piano Trio Op. 100 left me spellbound, and the Handel Sarabande provides so much dramatic tension, especially how they used it in the duel scenes. 

[Brian]

Has nobody mentioned THE PIANIST?

[Bogey]

Has nobody mentioned THE PIANIST?

Should have, but did not.  It is what got me interested in Chopin's music.  Thank you Brian.

[Symphonien]

I find that Stanley Kubrick's movies in general tend to make great use of Classical music. People have mentioned 2001 and A Clockwork Orange, but I also think The Shining does a great job with Bartok's Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta. And of course the Ligeti and Penderecki, although various Penderecki pieces are layered on top of each other most of the time.

[lachlanbutch]

Educating Rita 1983

Trish declares, "Wouldn't you just die without Mahler?"

In the film, Trish has the Andante of the Sixth Symphony playing at full bore on her turntable all the time.. kinda like me...

Peter Franklin, Mahler biographer, says this was a significant stage in Mahler's popular canonisation.


-LB

[Great Gable]

Has nobody mentioned THE PIANIST?

Indeed! Being a huge Chopin fan this was a must. Because the C sharp minor was often omitted from nocturne sets I was relatively unfamiliar with it. This gorgeous piece is now one of my most listened to works.

[Florestan]

Olivier Assayas's Les destinees sentimentales (2000) has a fabulous soundtrack, featuring among other gems a gorgeous piano trio by Guillaume Lekeu.

[val]

Pasolini's "Il Vangello secondo Matteo": music from Bach's St. Matthews Passion, Mozart "Adagio and Fugue", Prokofiev "Alexander Nevsky". To me the movie that better uses classical music.

"The Hunger" with Catherine Deneuve: splendid use of Schubert's Andante of the 2nd piano Trio, Ravel "Le Gibet" from "Gaspard de la nuit", Allegri's Miserere and Delibes Duo of Lakme.