Film (movie) Music

Started by vandermolen, August 12, 2008, 12:33:38 AM

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Mirror Image

Bought one more Goldsmith soundtrack:



I think this will be it for awhile as now I have 10 Goldsmith soundtracks on the way.

Cato

From the Movie topic:

QuoteGreetings!

I have been somewhat overwhelmed by assorted things recently, and so have had little time to drop by GMG.

This came up a few days ago: great news!

Sergei Bondarchuk's digitally restored, four-movie version of War and Peace, with the great score by the late Vyacheslav Ovchinnikov, will be available as of June 25th on Blu-Ray thanks to Criterion.

https://www.youtube.com/v/3DqanxfecIA


See:

https://www.criterion.com/films/28891-war-and-peace

See also:

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/15/movies/war-and-peace-bondarchuk-lincoln-center.html

Perhaps this restored version will catalyze interest in Vyacheslav Ovchinnikov's oeuvre in general, both concert works and the film scores.
"Meet Miss Ruth Sherwood, from Columbus, Ohio, the Middle of the Universe!"

- Brian Aherne introducing Rosalind Russell in  My Sister Eileen (1942)

vandermolen

Quote from: Cato on April 16, 2019, 08:37:39 AM
From the Movie topic:

Perhaps this restored version will catalyze interest in Vyacheslav Ovchinnikov's oeuvre in general, both concert works and the film scores.
I very much hope so Leo - that release is great news.
"Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm" (Churchill).

'The test of a work of art is, in the end, our affection for it, not our ability to explain why it is good' (Stanley Kubrick).

vandermolen

Quote from: Mirror Image on April 16, 2019, 08:12:57 AM
Bought one more Goldsmith soundtrack:



I think this will be it for awhile as now I have 10 Goldsmith soundtracks on the way.

I have all the first three Alien scores. Alien (Goldsmith) and Aliens (Horner) are the best, especially 'Alien'. The other great score that I know by Goldsmith (I don't know 'Rambo' but will track it down) is 'Capricorn One', so I hope that is on your list John.
:)
"Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm" (Churchill).

'The test of a work of art is, in the end, our affection for it, not our ability to explain why it is good' (Stanley Kubrick).

Mirror Image

Quote from: vandermolen on April 16, 2019, 12:16:29 PM
I have all the first three Alien scores. Alien (Goldsmith) and Aliens (Horner) are the best, especially 'Alien'. The other great score that I know by Goldsmith (I don't know 'Rambo' but will track it down) is 'Capricorn One', so I hope that is on your list John.
:)

It's on my list now. ;) Kudos for mentioning it.

vandermolen

Quote from: Mirror Image on April 16, 2019, 04:15:25 PM
It's on my list now. ;) Kudos for mentioning it.
:) I liked the film as well.
"Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm" (Churchill).

'The test of a work of art is, in the end, our affection for it, not our ability to explain why it is good' (Stanley Kubrick).

André

Cross posted from the WAYL thread

Quote


Film directors Fritz Lang, Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau and Georg Wilhelm Pabst reigned on the german film scene during the era of silent movies. Lang's Metropolis (1926) is a classic that is regularly presented in specialized theaters, either in b&w or in a colorized version. Pioneer film music composer Gottfried Huppertz composed the music to be played in the theater, meaning that a full symphony orchestra was on hand to play the 2 1/2 hour score during the film screening. Lang and Huppertz' previous collaboration was for the 5 hour epic The Nibelungs, shot in two parts, Siegfried and Kriemhilds Rache (Kriemhild's Vengeance).

When I first saw these films some 40-45 years ago it was assumed that they were silent films, period. Nowhere in the writings of the time (I had a few dictionaries of movies) was there any mention that a full symphony score existed. My 1976 edition of the Oxford Companion to Film fails to mention any music in the entries to Metropolis or Die Nibelungen. The Film Music entry devotes a short paragraph to silent film scores, with a mention of The Birth of a Nation or Abel Gance's Napoléon, but none on composer Gottfried Huppertz. Silent films then were definitely silent. No recordings existed either, obviously. I would have been startled at the time to discover that Lang's epic masterpieces were meant to be seen and heard with their own music music played by an actual orchestra!

Conductor Frank Strobel is an old hand at film music conducting. Here he has the fine Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra playing the score Huppertz composed. Well, not all of it. The team did record a 4 1/2 hour, 4 disc set of the whole shebang. This single disc presents a sensibly assembled 75 minutes selection. Similarly, the Metropolis score exists in full (2 1/2 hour) or abridged (77 minutes) compact disc releases. The full score heard shorn of the visuals is not a winning proposition IMO. A disc of excerpts works perfectly fine and this sumptuously produced disc makes a fine job of presenting some of The Nibelungs' main scenes.

Scenarist Thea von Harbou (quite a character unto herself) went for the nordic saga characters and events, not Wagner's adaptation, so we are not tempted to draw comparisons. What emerges is a fine post-romantic score with a nice sense of the film's narrative. Huppertz was quite good with themes (none having any resemblance to the well-known Wagner leitmotifs), and his orchestration is very effective. Composers like Max Steiner, Erich Wolfgang Korngold and Franz Waxman learned their film music trade in part from Huppertz' composing techniques.

I would now expect to see a DVD or theater screening with the full musical accompaniment. Lang clearly expected music to be played during the film screening. It's quite a new paradigm.

Andy D.


About four years ago I became a huge fan of the works of Alfred Newman, Jerry Goldsmith, Bernard Herrmann, and Miklos Rozsa. Here are some of my favorite scores (I am happy to give CD and recording reccomendations upon demand):

Miklos Rozsa: Ben-Hur, Red House, El Cid, Sodom and Gomorrah, King of Kings, Double Indemnity.

Bernard Herrmann: Vertigo, Fahrenheit 451, North By Northwest.

Alfred Newman: Greatest Story Ever Told, The Robe, How the West Was Won, Keys of the Kingdom.

Jerry Goldsmith: Argh there are so many! Boys From Brazil, the Omens, Star Trek, Alien.



Andy D.

Quote from: Mirror Image on April 16, 2019, 08:12:57 AM
Bought one more Goldsmith soundtrack:



I think this will be it for awhile as now I have 10 Goldsmith soundtracks on the way.

The Intrada is such an incredible release; I also highly recommend "Freud" (Varese Sarabande) to hear the parts later interpolated into the Alien score. It's quite a fine score in itself as well, with shades of Bartok (very welcome shades imo).

Jerry is second only to Alfred Newman in my favorite film score composers.

vandermolen

Quote from: Andy D. on July 20, 2019, 04:15:20 AM
The Intrada is such an incredible release; I also highly recommend "Freud" (Varese Sarabande) to hear the parts later interpolated into the Alien score. It's quite a fine score in itself as well, with shades of Bartok (very welcome shades imo).

Jerry is second only to Alfred Newman in my favorite film score composers.
Very much agree with your choices Andy although, on balance, I prefer Jerry to Alfred. The Alien special addition looks great but those Intrada releases are sometimes prohibitively expensive, over here at least. Ok, which is your recommendation for 'Ben Hur'?
Jeffrey
"Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm" (Churchill).

'The test of a work of art is, in the end, our affection for it, not our ability to explain why it is good' (Stanley Kubrick).

Andy D.

Ben Hur might be my favorite! (Toss up between Greatest Story Ever Told and that one...Vertigo is up there, too).

I have the FSM deluxe edition (4 cds iirc) which feature the actual film soundtrack and some really interesting (i.e. play more than once) extras such as two excellent live performances. My absolute favorite, definitely.

But don't miss the re-recording by Tadlow, it is just plain stellar! The modern recording is terrific (no over compression evident) and the performances sound loving throughout.

If you love Ben Hur, do yourself a huge solid and grab both my friend.

vandermolen

Quote from: Andy D. on July 23, 2019, 05:00:29 AM
Ben Hur might be my favorite! (Toss up between Greatest Story Ever Told and that one...Vertigo is up there, too).

I have the FSM deluxe edition (4 cds iirc) which feature the actual film soundtrack and some really interesting (i.e. play more than once) extras such as two excellent live performances. My absolute favorite, definitely.

But don't miss the re-recording by Tadlow, it is just plain stellar! The modern recording is terrific (no over compression evident) and the performances sound loving throughout.

If you love Ben Hur, do yourself a huge solid and grab both my friend.
Thanks v much Andy!
"Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm" (Churchill).

'The test of a work of art is, in the end, our affection for it, not our ability to explain why it is good' (Stanley Kubrick).

Roy Bland

Bruno Nicolai is unjustly neglected:

Andy D.

Quote from: Roy Bland on July 25, 2019, 05:10:25 PM
Bruno Nicolai is unjustly neglected:

One of the Italian masters!

vandermolen

Quote from: Roy Bland on July 25, 2019, 05:10:25 PM
Bruno Nicolai is unjustly neglected:

Never heard of him. Must investigate. Thanks  :)
"Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm" (Churchill).

'The test of a work of art is, in the end, our affection for it, not our ability to explain why it is good' (Stanley Kubrick).

Andy D.

Quote from: vandermolen on August 06, 2019, 12:29:00 AM
Never heard of him. Must investigate. Thanks  :)

Have you ever checked out lesser known scores by John Williams like Family Plot or The Fury? Both were somewhat influenced by Bernard Herrmann (in a delightful way), and great in their own way (Family Plot is comedy-mystery, while the Fury is out and out totally epic).

Speaking of Bernard, if you haven't heard the rerecording of Fahrenheit 451 by Stromberg you are missing out, my friend. Sounds terrific, and some feel that's the best thing Bernard ever did. A rerecording of "Obssession" is out there now too and is similarly outstanding.

Andy D.

Quote from: Mirror Image on April 16, 2019, 04:15:25 PM
It's on my list now. ;) Kudos for mentioning it.

There's also Patton and Boys from Brazil, each amazing packaged and great sounding from Intrada.

Roy Bland

It is surely influenced from Goldsmith's Omen but there is also its own voice

a less known composer

vandermolen

Quote from: Andy D. on August 06, 2019, 12:39:22 AM
Have you ever checked out lesser known scores by John Williams like Family Plot or The Fury? Both were somewhat influenced by Bernard Herrmann (in a delightful way), and great in their own way (Family Plot is comedy-mystery, while the Fury is out and out totally epic).

Speaking of Bernard, if you haven't heard the rerecording of Fahrenheit 451 by Stromberg you are missing out, my friend. Sounds terrific, and some feel that's the best thing Bernard ever did. A rerecording of "Obssession" is out there now too and is similarly outstanding.
Too much to listen to - too little time!
The Fahrenheit 451 score especially interests me. My favourite BH scores are Noth by Northwest, The Ghost and Mrs Muir (a beautiful score), Jane Eyre. Another score I really like is Michel Legrand's for 'Wuthering Heights'.
"Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm" (Churchill).

'The test of a work of art is, in the end, our affection for it, not our ability to explain why it is good' (Stanley Kubrick).

Andy D.

Quote from: vandermolen on August 06, 2019, 03:07:43 AM
Too much to listen to - too little time!
The Fahrenheit 451 score especially interests me. My favourite BH scores are Noth by Northwest, The Ghost and Mrs Muir (a beautiful score), Jane Eyre. Another score I really like is Michel Legrand's for 'Wuthering Heights'.

Those are all great. The 451 has a terrific sound via modern technology...can't recommend that strongly enough. A tremendous effort.