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.
Thor, I appear to have just added to that conversation, but only because I was looking back at earlier threads, not because you told me to… 🙂
Such a bummer this thread died. Sooooo many great religioso scores and tracks that are worth showcasing. I DID share the John Williams playlist earlier, but there are so many others. Maybe I should just share a track here every now and then (just by going through my iTunes collection), if no one else has any more to share.
Obviously, there’s “Bud on the Ledge” from THE ABYSS, which everyone knows. Moving on to THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY by Alex North – again a famous score, but always been one of my favourite religioso scores (and certainly my favourite by North) with a slightly modern twist.
I love that kind of sound too. I didn’t see E.T. on your list, Thor. That “alone in the woods” stuff near the beginning is very religioso. I must admit that I adore the full “in yer face” religioso scores for the classic religiosos movies. My favourites come from Rózsa and Alfred Newman. As an antitheist, I wonder what I’m actually responding to here… Maybe it’s a bit like how I still get a thrill out of (some) horror films and scores, but I don’t believe in vampires either.
What about classical music? Top of my list would be some of Vaughan Williams. I also listened to Alan Hovahness’ “Mysterious Mountain” the other day. That fits the mold, and it’s not specifically “religious”, just kind of generally spiritual.
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