Film Composers and Composing: AFI's Master Class The Art of Collaboration Spielberg/Williams

Randy Newman

Ragtime

Original soundtrack (remastered)
(Elektra/Rhino R2 78245)

"Randy Newman made his reputation as a talented, if quirky, songwriter (remember "Short People?"). His score for 1981's Ragtime served notice that he was capable of more. Since this initial success, he has been an active film composer, perhaps best known for his scores and original songs for the Disney/Pixar productions Toy Story, Toy Story 2, and Monsters, Inc.

This 2002 release is the first time the soundtrack for Ragtime has appeared on CD. It's a welcome treat for Newman fans, many of whom have treasured their vinyl copies for years! In this case, the long wait was worth it. Rhino's CD transfer is very clean, with an excellent sense of space and fullness surrounding the often sparse instrumentation. While composing the score, Newman studied the music of early 20th-century America, and created music that fits the period beautifully. Simple melodies predominate, particularly "Main Title," "Ragtime," and the song "One More Hour." You'll discover peppy, period-inspired work in "Clef Club No. 2," "Atlantic City," and "Newsreel." It's a nice reminder that movie music doesn't have to be on an epic scale to be effective.

Randy Newman trivia: Newman holds the all-time record for most Oscar nods without any wins with 16 nominations. He finally won in 2003 for Best Song ("If I Didn't Have You," from Monsters, Inc.)."

 

I think Newman's best film score is Pleasantville; flawed as that movie was, that was a tremendous score.

 

Thomas Newman

The Shawshank Redemption

Original soundtrack

(epic soundtrax EK 66621)

"I'll be the first to admit that this one of my favorite movies of the 1990s, and Thomas (cousin of Randy) Newman's great music is one of the reasons why. The innovative and evocative score for The Shawshank Redemption (1994) mixes electronics, piano, percussion, and orchestra to create a mysterious, moody, and dark soundscape ? an excellent match for this prison drama.

Shawshank displays many of the elements that make Newman's music so distinctive. For a quick taste of this, go to the track "Shawshank Redemption." Listen carefully as eerie synthesized and sampled effects loom behind the dark, slow-moving melody, then allow yourself to be swept up as the music rises to a climax, only to fade away as enigmatically as it appeared. Although Newman's use of electronic effects and odd-sounding combinations of instruments is a hallmark of his work, he can also craft a fine melody. Listen to the affecting and sentimental "End Title" ? a nice piece of "Americana" style composing. The album will provide an excellent test of your systems ability to reproduce quiet passages with depth and detail. To really experience the full effect of Newman's music, program your CD player to skip tracks 6, 12, and 16 ? these tracks are non-original pieces of source music that are important to the story of the film, but seem out of place next to Newman's music. By the end, you'll feel you've completed a rewarding journey, guided by a talented composer.

Thomas Newman trivia: Prior to beginning his career as a composer, Newman assisted in the orchestration of the music for 1983's Return of the Jedi."

 

Newman has two modes, essentially; the Romantic and the Quirky. As mentioned there, they occasionally collide, but in general, you've got American Beauty on one side and Meet Joe Black on the other.

This is definitely Newman at what, I consider at least, his most romantic. It's dark and melancholic, but undeniably moving. The climactic music is just . . . gorgeous.

 

Miklos RozsaThe Epic Film Music of Miklos Rozsa

City of Prague Philharmonic, Kenneth Alwyn
(Silva America, SSD 1056)

"At a time when sharp distinctions were often drawn between film work and "serious" composing, Miklos Rozsa was a well-respected composer in both fields. From the time of his 1940 arrival in Hollywood, his services as a film composer were constantly in demand. Rozsa distinguished himself as a preeminent film noir composer in the 1940s, but the scale and scope of his works changed as different commissions began to come his way. By the 1950s Rozsa was the composer of choice for the great biblical and historical epics then in vogue, culminating in his Oscar-winning score for Ben Hur in 1959.

This 1996 collection of rerecorded material emphasizes Rozsa's "epic" scores. If you want an example of this big, epic sound, try the "Overture" from El Cid (1961), with its brilliant fanfare and driving, Spanish-influenced rhythms, or sit back and enjoy the majestically brassy "Parade of the Charioteers," from Ben Hur. The preponderance of massively-scaled compositions in this collection can leave the impression that Rozsa was something of a one-trick pony. For a different take, listen to the gentle "Love Scene," from El Cid, or the lushly romantic and energetic "Waltz," from Madame Bovary (1949). The Prague Philharmonic, conducted by Kenneth Alwyn, performs the selected works with verve, energy, and solid musicianship. Silva America's recording has an excellent sense of presence and will give you plenty of opportunities to test your system at high volume.

Miklos Rozsa trivia: Rozsa composed the theme music to the classic TV series Dragnet."

 

Howard Shore

Lord of the Rings ? The Fellowship of the Ring

Original soundtrack

London Philharmonic Orchestra, Howard Shore
(Reprise, 9 48110-2)

"Composers dream of getting a canvas as big as The Lord of The Rings to work with. Howard Shore has delivered a massive work in the romantic orchestral tradition that is every bit as evocative and moving as the glorious landscapes and massive battles of this history-making film trilogy. Throughout the entire trilogy Shore has crafted, intertwined, and reworked musical themes that carry forward the emotion and action of the story. Listeners love it, as the soundtracks for the LOTR movies have been regular visitors at the top of the classical music sales charts. There's little doubt that the music of these movies will be well studied (and often imitated) in years to come.

With three excellent soundtracks to choose from it was difficult to decide which to include in this compilation. I chose 2001's Fellowship of the Ring since it is the starting point from which the music of all the films flows. In Fellowship, the style and scale of the music is firmly established and most of the main themes are presented. Of course, there's no reason you shouldn't listen to all three soundtracks! The London Philharmonic Orchestra, recorded at the famous Abbey Road Studio, tackles the music with real vigor, and the recordings invariably sound excellent, whether presenting light and delicate passages or delivering massive orchestral thunder strokes. To see how well your system can reproduce dense and extremely heavy passages, go to "The Bridge of Khazad Dum" and see if your subwoofer can keep up with the pounding percussion.

Howard Shore trivia: Howard Shore was the first musical director of the house band for Saturday Night Live, way back in 1975."

 

One of my favorites. The first film has the best score, I think, with all the Shire music and, particularly, The Breaking of the Fellowship. But RotK has moments; I think End of All Things is particularly stunning. Staggering, really.

 

I liked Gollum's song from the Two Towers.

The tone of the music was haunting, depressing, and vengeful just like Gollum himself.

 

The Minas Tirith theme is my favorite from the whole trilogy.

 

I love how memorable the music is. It isn't just background music- it is very hummable.

 

Maurice Jarre, 1924-2009

 

Very sad. He was a brilliant composer, at least some of the time. I find his score for Doctor Zhivago a bit irritating. Lara's theme is a total earworm, if you know what I mean. But his Lawrence of Arabia is a stunner from start to finish.

 

Someone once said the score for "Dr. Zhivago" was "atwitter with balalaikas". Cruel but accurate. But "Lawrence" is brilliant.

 

I just feel that Zhivago hasn't dated well at all in general. Guiness is almost the only character who really registers. Courtenay isn't bad.

 

Because Lean took so long to shoot Lawrence (May of 1961 to August of 1962!), and because the Royal Premiere for the Queen was set on December 10th, 1962, the amount of time for editing, post-production and scoring was extremely compressed, especially for such a big and complicated movie.

As a result, Maurice Jarre had to write the score for a nearly 4 hour movie in FIVE WEEKS.

(I read this in the definitive book on Lawrence.) He basically moved into a small office in London (near Lean's editing facilities), rolled up his sleeves and went to work. The office had a piano in it and a couch. Jarre worked, composed and slept in the office until the score was completed.

To put this feat into perspective, John Williams has said that because there is so much orchestral music in the Star Wars films, it always took him about 3 months of very hard work to compose the score for those films and those are about two hours long.

Comparatively, Jarre was forced to write a score for a 4 hour film in 5 weeks. Think about those figures.

And what an extraordinary and iconic score that is. He richly deserved the Academy Award for it.

One of the all-time great film scores, and I think it will live forever.

Maurice Jarre conducts a live performance of the main theme from Lawrence, performed by the London Philharmonic Orchestra.

http://www.wikio.com/video/968048

He had an amazing career and his son Kevin was a success as a screenwriter.

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0003574/

 

Scores that Pop from Pop Composers

 

Peter Gabriel did a spectacular score for Rabbit Proof Fence, which is a great, great movie from Phil Noyce.

 

Carl Stalling
The Carl Stalling Project: Music from Warner Brothers Cartoons, 1936-1958

(Warner Bros. 2-26027)

"Many of us grew up looking forward to Saturday morning cartoons, particularly the classic Warner Brothers animations. As much as anything else, the success of these short films lies in the frantic musical scores that back them up. The master behind these classic soundtracks was Carl Stalling. After getting his start writing music for the cartoons of fellow Kansas City native Walt Disney, Stalling moved to the Warner Brothers animation studio in 1930. Stalling developed a unique style, with bursts of manic music suddenly starting and stopping; musical moods shifting rapidly; and slyly interwoven musical themes matching the action and characters on the screen.

The Carl Stalling Project is a collection of original material rescued from the vaults of the Warner Brothers studio. You'll hear the limitations of the original recordings (mono playback, tape hiss, somewhat tinny highs), but if you're like me you'll be too busy enjoying the music to care. This 1991 release includes several complete cartoon scores, like the 1950 Bugs Bunny short Hillbilly Hare or 1956's Roadrunner cartoon There They Go Go Go. You can almost see the on-screen action in your mind's eye as you listen. These complete shorts are interspersed with thematic medleys, like "Anxiety Montage" and "Dinner Music for a Pack of Cannibals." Most interesting, perhaps, are short snippets taken from actual rehearsal sessions, like "Putty Tat Trouble, Part 6." Listening to conductor Milt Franklyn put the Warner Brothers Orchestra through their paces as they do multiple takes on a short, amazingly complex snippet of music puts a very human face on the process of creating movie music.

Carl Stalling trivia: Stalling did the voice of Mickey Mouse on several of Walt Disney's early cartoons."

God. I had no idea this existed. I'm going to try to get a copy forthwith.

 

Has anyone got this CD?

 

I guess not.

John Williams

The Spielberg/Williams Collaboration

Boston Pops Orchestra, John Williams

(Sony Classical SK 45997)

"If you asked most people to name one movie composer, they would probably pick John Williams. Perhaps no other composer is so well identified with his work, be it the theme from Star Wars, Jaws, Raiders of the Lost Ark, or any number of other blockbusters. Williams' long, productive, and rewarding career (five Academy Awards) can certainly stand on its own merits. Yet his success is tightly interwoven with the many fine films of director Steven Spielberg, no slouch himself in the awards department (three Academy Awards). This crisply-recorded collection of Williams' music from Spielberg films has a wide dynamic range and full presence, due to the excellent acoustics of Boston's Symphony Hall and an outstanding performance by the Boston Pops Orchestra, conducted by Williams himself.

There's a wide selection of music in this collection, ranging from an energetic rendition of "The Raider's March" from Raiders of the Lost Ark to the lush melodies of the "Theme" from Always, as well as the soaring "Adventures on Earth" from E.T. To get a crash course in the craft of this fine composer, go directly to "Out to Sea" and "The Shark Cage Fugue," from Jaws. Sit down and hold on tight as a light and airy nautical tune transforms itself into a dark and predatory fugal theme that swirls through the entire orchestra before resolving into a crashing climax.

If there is any problem with this recording, it's that it can't cover all of Williams' many fine scores, in particular his more recent works. Still, it's a great place to start!

John Williams trivia: During his early composing career Williams composed some of the music used on the TV show Gilligan's Island."

 

The iconicness of John Williams' and Steven Spielberg's collaboration is such that only Spielberg film Williams didn't score was The Colour Purple.

 

TheBoogieMan used to say, quite often, that if he was Spielberg, he'd just stop making movies altogether once Williams dies.

And what a sad, sad day that will be. I think I'll probably actually cry that day. Scorsese, Williams, Dylan; those people I've never met, I think I'll actually cry over when they die.

 

I expect John Williams will get a spectacular sending off from the media. The newspapers will probably have his obituary on the front page, TV news and radio will have minute long pieces on the him featuring his music, and the Oscars and other award ceremonies will probably have prominent features dedicated to him.

 

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