Reply To: Do you separate between person and composer?
Interesting question… Quite some artists – especially those who don’t only work for hire – seem to be or have been complicated personalities. While I feel the same regarding your examples especially since I don’t know any composer personally, its hard to separate the artist from its work since the work transports a message. Maybe it is different on more “commerical” or work for hire artists.
I once read a book about film music on “famous” films from the dark NS times in Germany and lots of composers did work for propaganda movies. According to the book they even musically/technically actually quite good but of course the message they transported was not. Not sure if you can listen to that without context…
It’s always hard to judge if people “arrange” within a political environment. Regarding McCarthy and Trump. Maybe it was just a work of hire, he needed money and/or he believed in it to some extent, too. Don’t know. In general US americans seem to have a totally different relationship to their country and patriotism than Europeans. Hollywood movies and series certainly are full of that since for ever with more or less extend. And even Goldsmith scored Rambo 2 + 3… I somehow just take it as it is often…