[Nick Zwar]

I do have some music film music related books, such as Steven Smith’s biographies “The Epic Life of Max Steiner” and “A Heart at Fire’s Center: The Life and Music of Bernard Herrmann”.

Also, Jeff Bond’s book on STAR TREK music, and Doug Adams “The Music of The Lord of the Rings Films”. The latter is probably the most in depth analysis I have ever read about any film score ever, as it examines all the motifs, themes and developments in the Lord of the Rings music, many of which are highly illuminating if you are particularly interested in the aesthetics and underlying concepts of music (not just film music) in relation to drama and narrative. Just fascinating explorations how Howard Shore developed ideas and concepts for the music for the Lord of the Rings to cover the vast landscape and inhabitants of Middle Earth. (To give just a couple of memorable examples, such things as the aleatoric music within the music for the “Watcher in the Water”, as that is a creature that is always only partially visible and flexible and therefore had to fight without getting a handle on it, so the music reflects that in containing random elements, or the eight-note motif for the spider Shelob, which gets then developed, fitting for a spider that has eight legs, eight eyes, etc. Or how the different music for various tribes of Elbes both differ but share some things in common, just like the culture/race has a common “root”.)

I also have a few “full scores” from the likes of Omni Publishing and Chris Siddall. I am not really a musician or even an expert score reader, but these are a dream come true because I always wanted to see how certain things are notated. I was especially always interested in how some Goldsmith scores were written, as some of his music is highly complex and features unususal instruments, such as synthesizers, yet when he comes to the recording studio, the musicians have to perform all that stuff basically from sight reading, so the scores have to be very clear… and they are. It was a real revelation for me to have the chance to take a look at some of these scores in full (years ago, in the 90s, I had the opportunity to see some actual Goldsmith sketches for some scores (like THE RIVER WILD and BASIC INSTINCT) and notes from which the orchestrator worked… so I had a good idea how detailed these sketches were.)
So these full scores, some of them with annotations, allow an in depth look at the blueprint of these works.

Ah, yes, of course, there are also two books by Tony Thomas, and the book “Screencraft: Film Music” — this one I have in a German issue called “Filmkünste: Filmmusik”. An interesting book for anyone who is looking for a “introductory work”, it features introductions to about a dozen or so then current — the original book is 25 years old or so — film composers, and mostly each film composer then explains in more detail their thoughts on about three of their film scores, how they came to compose it the way they composed it.

And lest I forget: Fred Karlin’s giant “On The Track”; that one features lots of examples and discussed the various approaches from different film composers, but also how they navigate the Hollywood landscape and talk to directors, producers etc. That book is somewhat targeted at aspiring Hollywood film composers who want an insight look. (As it was then… I mean, I have the book for over thirty years now.)