After two years of disappointing “winners,” the Academy awarded a well deserved Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Score to the Italian composer, Dario Marianelli for his score to ATONEMENT. Not since Alexandre Desplat have I heard such a terrific new voice in film music. Watch the film and listen carefully to his excellent work. If you like it, buy the soundtrack. There is much more music than what you hear in this extended trailer, but you get a rough idea. I love how the typewriter stroke first appears as an onscreen sound, and then as a found object for the underscore.
I watched the new Tim Burton realization of Stephen Sondheim’s “Sweeney Todd” the other day. I found it absolutely thrilling. But I realized that what I mean by “it” is probably different than what others may mean.
We went with Ronnie who looked at it as a musical trying to be a movie, as manifested by the many gory scenes. For her money the film was not a success. For me, I imagine myself to be Sondheim and would be thrilled to have had such a terrific realization of my music firmly fixed in a visual medium.
The music from the film was terrific of course. I couldn’t identify all of the underscore. It is perhaps underscore from the musical that didn’t make it to the recording, but I wondered whether Sondheim had done some of it fresh. It was all brilliantly orchestrated by Jonathan Tunick.
I was proud of Johnny Depp and Helen Bonham Carter for doing such good performances in the film. Carter’s voice seemed a bit meek and I was momentarily horrified thinking a whole new generation of Sweeney lovers would grow up knowing HER performance, and not someone like Angela Lansbury. I realized that I was starting to sound like an old fart so I’m learning to live with Helen’s fine performance.
After going on about what great music it all was, I realized that many people will have a hard time getting through the gore to find the music. And when I tell people how much I love this film, I don’t mean to be saying I LIKE this twisted character and what he does, I just love the music in the film.
This music is, musically, everything I would want from a smart musical. ["Smart" as opposed to a populist musical like a Disney musical, with that pre-canned Disney sound.] As I listen to the music, I hear influences from many of my favorite composers — Ravel or Puccini or Stravinsky. I don’t hear any explicit influence from his old teacher [Milton Babbitt], but I hear Lenny, and I hear Bizet’s “Carmen.”
If I were to articulate my greatest goal as a composer, it would be to compose large scale pieces in the tradition of “Carmen,” “West Side Story,” and “Sweeney Todd.” The mix of popular music and so-called classical music in all three is thrilling to me.
I just watched “The Mind Benders” a fascinating film directed by Basil Dearden and starring Dirk Bogarde about the alleged dangers of sensory depravation, a topic that predates “Altered States” by ten years. The score was by French composer Georges Auric (1899 – 1983). The score seems over-composed, like he’s working too hard. It takes the mickey-mousing technique of music following action to an extreme that becomes tiresome. His technique is flawless, the music is lovely: it just tries too hard. Dearden clearly wanted it as there are whole stretches of the film where there is no sound or dialog, just music.
Nonetheless, this was an interesting film and one worth watching, and hearing.
The moment you’ve all been waiting for: POSSUM DEATH SPREE 3! With music by Roger Bourland and directed by Mike Horowitz and Gareth Smith. I went to a screening this week of all three, and got to meet the cast and crew. The film worked well in large format, and I was happy to see how each film is complete unto itself. Mike and Gareth were happy with the music, and I had a blast doing it.
The LA Times had an interesting article about the Beatles place in the memories of teenage girls! ACROSS THE UNIVERSE, the terrific new film by Julie Taymor, was a great success in my book. I love the film, and especially the psychedelia, but I was mostly surprised at how much I loved the Beatles arrangements. Being a Beatles snob, I like very few covers that have been done of their music. But the guy (Jim Sturgess) that sings in the movie is terrific. Not that he imitates Paul or John, it just works for the music. And the arrangements by T-Bone Burnett and Elliot Goldenthal were superb.
Here is a video made by Graham Streeter of the recording session of POEM for piano and orchestra that was used in his film called CAGES (2006). Here, the UCLA Philharmonia is conducted by Jon Robertson, then Chair and conductor, and Walter Ponce plays the piano solo.
Yesterday I was amazed by the desperation of a young composer who came to visit me. Jean Claude flew all the way from Paris to interview me about the UCLA new Masters degree in film composition, er, visual media. He was SOOOO excited that we were about to launch this degree. In the course of our conversation, I really felt that I as speaking to a Jew trapped in Nazi Germany begging for asylum. He kept starting sentences and I would finish them.
In Paris, as a composer you…
….have to compose in a post-Boulezian style.
Right! If I were to try to…
…use a major and minor triad it would be unacceptable.
Yeah! I would be an outcast, thrown out of school; everyone would…
…laugh at you. You would no longer be cool.
It drives me crazy: there is only ONE style of music that can be written one school one can go to, it’s like…
…nazi Germany.
Yeah, I guess you’re right.
I talked to him about what it is that film music needs to do, and one of those things is to allow the listener to cry. I asked him:
Can you imagine any passage in Boulez’s music making anyone cry?
He laughed and then asked:
Does your school have a stylistic imperative?
No, we are a very catholic school (with a small “c”) so if you really want to write a 12-tone ballet, or a tonal film score for your masters thesis, that’s up to you. We try to help you become who you are, not try to create yet another Boulez clone.
This information was cathartic evidently. He was brimming with happiness. Seeing that he clearly needed some articulation of this newfound freedom, I grabbed my Chair’s Wand and zapped him saying “YOU DO NOT HAVE TO WRITE LIKE PIERRE BOULEZ EVER, EVER AGAIN! and you can quote me.”
The exorcism was complete.
I related this story to Byron Adams last night who claimed that HE was the true heir to the French tradition. “Boulez” is a German” is sputtered as he forcefully put down his wine glass.
[Sketch by Ted Norman of a rehearsal with Pierre Boulez of Le Marteau signed by the performers: Catherine Gayer, Les Remsen, Arthu Gleghorn, William Kraft, Dorothy Remsen, Milton Thomas, Pierre Boulez]
My favorite Danny Elfman song of all time from THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS, “This is Halloween” is here sung in German. The influence of Kurt Weill is clearly heard in this terrific song.
I stumbled across a treasure trove (or something like that) of a 2 CD collection of rejected and unused scores. I made tremendous efforts trying to find whether it was ever actually published or whether this was something privately created by a film fanatic who has an enormous collection of film music. I’ve been sitting here for the past few hours listening to not-quite-good enough music by major film composers. Even though I have no idea what this music is being played with on the screen, there is something in each one that is, well, kinda irritating, or hack. We all need to take a break every once in a while, but what in your an in-demand film composer, you don’t always have that luxury. But sometiimes you get a wake up call. All film composers have had to do rewrites, but I am amazed that there are no John Williams scores here. [If you are curious here are two film blogs that can kill the cat. La Leyenda de Star Wars and You Don't Have to Visit this Blog.]
Rejected & Unused Scores, Vol.1
01. Jerry Goldsmith – [#01] – Two Days In The Valley [8:33]
02. Alan Silvestri – [#02] – Mission Impossible [6:37]
03. Winton Marsallis – [#03] – Rosewood [2:42]
04. Ennio Morricone – [#04] – What Dreams May Come [6:40]
05. Alex North – [#05] – 2001 [4:06]
06. John Ottman – [#06] – Holloween 20 [6:30]
07. Graeme Revell – [#07] – People Under The Stairs [4:26]
08. Coil – [#08] – Hellraiser [5:55]
09. Paul McCartney – [#09] – The Family Way [3:09]
10. Marco Beltrami – [#10] – Texas Rangers [7:43]
11. John Barry – [#11] – The Appointment [4:22]
12. James Horner – [#12] – Streets Of Fire Suite [11:52]
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