Film (movie) Music

[Karl Henning]

Karl, who are some film score composers that you enjoy the most?

I've been going back to the Hitchcock films just to hear the Herrmann scores, Greg.

And of course, I go back to the Kozintsev Shakespeare films just to groove anew to the late Shostakovich.

[starrynight]

Sometimes I feel I have a problem with film music being put under classical.  Any kind of music, or combinations of different kinds, can be put in films.  Also you could compare it to something like ballet music where most of it is probably forgettable and largely serves another purpose than just being music and yet there can be some great exceptions too (like Psycho).

[Bogey]

Sometimes I feel I have a problem with film music being put under classical.  Any kind of music, or combinations of different kinds, can be put in films.  Also you could compare it to something like ballet music where most of it is probably forgettable and largely serves another purpose than just being music and yet there can be some great exceptions too (like Psycho).

Then this seven page thread is for you:

http://www.good-music-guide.com/community/index.php/topic,1096.msg26713.html#msg26713

[TheGSMoeller]

Sometimes I feel I have a problem with film music being put under classical.  Any kind of music, or combinations of different kinds, can be put in films.  Also you could compare it to something like ballet music where most of it is probably forgettable and largely serves another purpose than just being music and yet there can be some great exceptions too (like Psycho).

In many cases, the score is just to accompany and enhance the images with very little distractions, which can be very effective but not as enjoyable on its own.

But, some very famous and well-known scenes in film history feature previously composed classical music, Kubrick and Terrance Malick have used classical music in their films, also the famous Apocalypse Now/Wagner helicopter scene, Platoon with Adagio for Strings, 2001 with The Blue Danube...In these cases I find the music not only enhanced but improved the scenes, for example, what would be so interestingly new about a group of helicopters...

[Cato]

I decided to buy this, as I wrote on "Recordings You Are Considering."

Bernard Herrmann's score for



This is the original performance with Herrmann conducting: monaural sound, and part of the performance could only be salvaged from somewhat damaged recordings.  In the stereo era, Charles Gerhard conducted one great excerpt from the score (The Death Hunt) for a Herrmann sampler.  Perhaps somebody will record a 21st century version soon!

The movie is now available on DVD (Nicholas Ray, director) and is a distant, indirect ancestor to Clint Eastwood's "Dirty Harry."  An abusive out-of-control detective is nearly fired, but is sent to a rural area to investigate a murder.

[starrynight]

In many cases, the score is just to accompany and enhance the images with very little distractions, which can be very effective but not as enjoyable on its own.

But, some very famous and well-known scenes in film history feature previously composed classical music, Kubrick and Terrance Malick have used classical music in their films, also the famous Apocalypse Now/Wagner helicopter scene, Platoon with Adagio for Strings, 2001 with The Blue Danube...In these cases I find the music not only enhanced but improved the scenes, for example, what would be so interestingly new about a group of helicopters...

Yeh that's what I mean, it isn't meant to be listened to on it's own often.

And yeh they do reuse classical pieces.  I suppose ballet can also reuse pieces, in a dance context.  Though the pieces would work well in the original context too, maybe better in some cases.


And I didn't say there were no good film scores, just not a huge amount perhaps.  And it does straddle the border between classical and other genres.  A bit like some new age music does that people often call classical but I'm not sure it is always as classical as some say it is.  Sometimes it might distort the view of some people less familiar with classical music with what the main genres and styles are within that continuing tradition.

[mahler10th]

Yeh that's what I mean, it isn't meant to be listened to on it's own often.
And yeh they do reuse classical pieces.  I suppose ballet can also reuse pieces, in a dance context.  Though the pieces would work well in the original context too, maybe better in some cases.
And I didn't say there were no good film scores, just not a huge amount perhaps.  And it does straddle the border between classical and other genres.  A bit like some new age music does that people often call classical but I'm not sure it is always as classical as some say it is.  Sometimes it might distort the view of some people less familiar with classical music with what the main genres and styles are within that continuing tradition.

Yes, it makes me a bit annoyed when 'New Age' music is passed off as Classical.  Classical music works within its own paradigm, albeit an ever expanding one, and so called 'New Age' Music does not fit it - where are the sonata forms, etc?  Just because 'a music' may use the same instruments, it does not mean it's classical.  Music in Operas, Ballets and movies are written as accompaniments to keep 'moving' the visual stimuli and enhance the the experience of the performance and storyline...moulded and performed from 'classical' instuments, but not Classical Muisc per se.  Still, that doesn't stop me from listening to exciting movie music by Herrmann, Williams, Zimmer and in particular Danny Elfman, or great ballet scores by Tchaikovsky, or thundering brilliant music seperated from Richard Wagners operatic contexts.  But it is for different reasons and a different listening experience that I listen to things like that.   

[starrynight]

Yes, it makes me a bit annoyed when 'New Age' music is passed off as Classical.  Classical music works within its own paradigm, albeit an ever expanding one, and so called 'New Age' Music does not fit it - where are the sonata forms, etc?  Just because 'a music' may use the same instruments, it does not mean it's classical.  Music in Operas, Ballets and movies are written as accompaniments to keep 'moving' the visual stimuli and enhance the the experience of the performance and storyline...moulded and performed from 'classical' instuments, but not Classical Muisc per se.  Still, that doesn't stop me from listening to exciting movie music by Herrmann, Williams, Zimmer and in particular Danny Elfman, or great ballet scores by Tchaikovsky, or thundering brilliant music seperated from Richard Wagners operatic contexts.  But it is for different reasons and a different listening experience that I listen to things like that.   

Well there can be some overlap between new age and classical, mainly on the minimalist side of things.  But sometimes I think people confuse something which is obviously new age with classical.  And similarly some film music (not all) isn't really that classical it is more popular background music, just like if someone put some excerpts together from musicals that wouldn't really be classical either.  I love the popular music side of things but it is different.  Except for some jazz it tends towards a more direct simpler approach, whereas classical tends towards a more involved complex sound.  That's a big generalisation but sometimes you have to make those in discussing music.

[Karl Henning]

. . . 2001 with The Blue Danube...In these cases I find the music not only enhanced but improved the scenes . . . .

The Strauss waltz really sets a tone for those scenes which is a marvelous discovery.

[Karl Henning]

Now that I have seen all the the Lord of the Rings movies in their extended versions, I give Howard Shore a B for that assignment: overall, did the job well.

Personally, I don't fancy the music out of the context of the movies; and (fair disclosure, I suppose) for a long time I've thought of a piece of my own, which I probably shan't write for a long while again, so Shore and I have different ideas, generally . . . and more than one specific idea of his, I did not care for his choice(s).

[Bogey]

Now that I have seen all the the Lord of the Rings movies in their extended versions, I give Howard Shore a B for that assignment: overall, did the job well.

Personally, I don't fancy the music out of the context of the movies; and (fair disclosure, I suppose) for a long time I've thought of a piece of my own, which I probably shan't write for a long while again, so Shore and I have different ideas, generally . . . and more than one specific idea of his, I did not care for his choice(s).

It would be neat if you broke it down a bit more for specific pieces, Karl.  I have enjoyed the scores, but try to keep each que isolated.  Fun to see which you thought could use a change.  Speaking of LOR, rolling out this one this evening:

[Bogey]

Well, the LOTR above was not working for me, so I switched to a composer I always seem to enjoy greatly, Rachel Portman.

[eyeresist]

I've been going back to the Hitchcock films just to hear the Herrmann scores, Greg.

And of course, I go back to the Kozintsev Shakespeare films just to groove anew to the late Shostakovich.

Undoubtedly a more rewarding experience than watching Scott of the Antarctic for the Vaughan Williams score! A terribly clunky film, with technique thirty years out of date when it was made, and solidly wooden acting (don't give me that "stoic", "understated" crap - it was WOODEN).

I've been enjoying (if that's the word) the scores for the two recent Texas Chainsaw Massacre films. They are useful for setting the mood while working on my novel. Steve Jablonsky uses lots of "advanced" techniques interweaved with electronic noises, but has some fresh and varied sounds compared to most scores I've heard in this genre (which are usually a half-and-half mix of sad piano fragments and Penderecki rip-off). Recommended if you are planning a haunted house next Halloween, which I understand is something you Americans like to do?
[ASIN]B000I2IQ9W[/ASIN]

[TheGSMoeller]

Georges Delerue wrote some beautiful and at times mesmerizing music for Godard's Le Mépris (Contempt) and Truffaut's Jules and Jim .
Here are some sound clips...

Contempt: Camille's Theme by George Delerue - includes shots from the film...
http://www.youtube.com/v/S5BcdmkiuaY

Jules and Jim: Brouillard by George Delerue - the video is just footage compiled from whomever uploaded the video, it's not from the film.
http://www.youtube.com/v/mm23uWy7pbk

[Karl Henning]

Undoubtedly a more rewarding experience than watching Scott of the Antarctic for the Vaughan Williams score! A terribly clunky film, with technique thirty years out of date when it was made, and solidly wooden acting (don't give me that "stoic", "understated" crap - it was WOODEN).

Greg, the upside to that must be: it's all the easier to focus on Vaughan Williams's music! Je-je-je!

[Cato]

Georges Delerue wrote some beautiful and at times mesmerizing music...

A Little Romance with music by Delerue is one our favorites.

It seems not to be available on a CD.

[Sergeant Rock]

A Little Romance with music by Delerue is one our favorites.

It seems not to be available on a CD.

It is available at Amazon DE:

http://www.amazon.de/Little-Romance-Georges-Delerue/dp/B000025HS2/ref=sr_1_cc_1?s=aps&ie=UTF8&qid=1327961141&sr=1-1-catcorr


Sarge

[eyeresist]

Greg, the upside to that must be: it's all the easier to focus on Vaughan Williams's music! Je-je-je!

Erm, I'm not Greg.

Any other examples of poor films with outstanding scores?

[Karl Henning]

Sorry, I have a cold . . . .

Sorry to have mistook you, feller.

[eyeresist]

Sorry, I have a cold . . . .

Ohh, I got that one!

Reminds me of a weird Spike Milligan joke for some reason:
Q: Is it a man or a woman?
A: I can't tell - doesn't have any clothes on!