The Religious Sound
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OK, so I needed to have a topic on this – one of my dearest “sounds” in all of music.
By ‘religious sound’, I mean a calm, pastoral sound with almost psalm-like chord structures. If you want to call it ‘spiritual’ instead, that’s okay with me. John Williams is an expert on this, it is – in fact – one of the main reasons for why he’s my favourite composer. “Angela’s Prayer” from ANGELA’S ASHES, for example, or “The Penitant Man Will Pass” from INDY 3, or “Restoration” from JANE EYRE, etc. etc.
I have a BUNCH of examples, but I wonder what are yours?
I would think of Rozsas to some extent. For sure Delerue’s BLACK ROBE or William’s INDY AND THE LAST CRUSADE. More I probably remember when I read the titles here.
I’ve never been an atheist. Just your regular loose and liberal Christian, with plenty of doubt. But I see my interest in this sound kinda independent of that. I think it’s something about the minor modes…I think there’s something called the “Phrygian scale”(?)….but hard to pinpoint in musical terms as a layman.
Well, this topic didn’t exactly take off the way I had hoped.
Here’s a screenshot of a John Williams “Religious Sound” playlist I made way back when. That’s a start. There are obviously many more soundtracks and individual cues that could be mentioned, from other composers as well.
Isn’t Immolation from Schindler’s List more of religious sound?
And definitely Gloria from Monsignore is missing here.“Immolation” is a good suggestion.
Somehow, I never found MONSIGNOR particularly religioso-sounding, which is ironic given the subject matter of the film. More romantic, like an old Italian film or something. “Gloria” is rather modern in its phrasings, not a lot of psalm in it. In fact, I’d argue that “Exultate Justi” from EMPIRE OF THE SUN is more religoso, in the jubilant “Hosannah!” kind, than “Gloria” ever was.
Ok. I get closer to what for you means religioso. Then pieces like Anthem of Evil from The Rise Of Skywalker or the underwater passages from A.I. are not sounding religioso to you?
But I would claim that the theme from Jurassic Park has definitely a Hosannah vibe to it.
Not really, but they have a definite spiritual quality. I mean, “The Temple of Doom” from INDIANA JONES AND THE TEMPLE OF DOOM definitely concerns spiritual and occult going-ons, but I’ve never considered it particularly religious.
But I would claim that the theme from Jurassic Park has definitely a Hosannah vibe to it.
Most certainly!
Morricone has plenty of this type of music in his catalogue. As well as the genuinely spiritual stuff in his various scores to films about popes, the original “What Dreams May Come” and similar, you can find tangentially religious tracks in Moses the Law Giver and The Mission.
There’s also grotesquerie in The Temptress (Il Sorriso del Grande Tentatore) where liturgical chanting merges with hard rock and abstract jazz.
Indeed, TG. That is also something that occured to me while expanding my Morricone collection a few years ago. GIORDANO BRUNO, PADRE PIO, LA CACA BRUCIATA and others.
Btw, there’s a Morricone thread here that requires your input, even though the parameters may be too wide for your taste.
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