Nick Zwar
Forumsvar Lagt Inn
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Innlegg
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I admit, when I read “Italian Soundtracks”, I tend to go by composer, but of course Italians have written music for non-Italian movies, and non-Italians have written music for Italian movies. (I usually go by composer, but of course, that’s but one option.)
There’s certainly a lot more than easy listening to Morricone’s Italian scores, in fact, I find Morricone wrote some of his most challenging scores for Italian horror/giallo/crime genre. But it’s usually also often not sweeping or symphonic but more experimental, perhaps inspired by his work with the “Gruppo di Improvvisazione Nuova Consonanza”.
Of course, asides from Morricone, I know other Italian film composers, and have albums by such composers as Pino Donaggio, Nino Rota, Riz Ortolani, Mario Nascimbene, Dario Marianelli, Giorgio Moroder, Guido & Maurizio De Angelis (aka Oliver Onions)… and some more, but I’m sure not an expert.
Of these I personally have and do not have:
John Williams – Goodbye Mr. Chips (3CD)
I’m afraid I don’t have that one… missed it. Can’t have everything.John Williams – Superman IV: The Quest for Peace (2CD)
Yes, that one I have via the FSM Blue Box.John Williams – Live in Vienna (Blu-ray)
Yep, Bluray/CD version. I haven’t actually watched the Bluray yet, though I have heard the CDs.John Williams – Live in Berlin (Blu-ray)
Yep, same as Vienna, Bluray/CD version. Once again, I haven’t actually watched the Bluray yet, though I have heard the CDs.John Williams – Live in Tokyo (Blu-ray)
No, I don’t have that one… just didn’t feel like buying every single concert outing by John Williams, especially not in light of the fact that most of the material is the same. The Tributes! (for Seiji) would be nice to have though. I thought I’ve got Vienna, I’ve got Berlin… that’s John Williams conducting two of the premier orchestras of Europe, which both have a very different sound and performance tradition. That’s pretty cool.John Williams – Across the Stars (Deluxe Edition)
Yep, got that.John Williams – Violin Concerto No. 2
Got that one too.The interesting question here is rather, how long are your lists of albums that are missing to complete your collection?
I don’t really have a list… obviously, there are some albums I would love to have but that have not been released, like Maurice Jarre’s 5 CARD STUD and William Lava’s THE GOOD GUYS AND THE BAD GUYS. The latter is a long shot, I know, but heck if I know why the former has never had a proper release. It was composed by an A-list composer and even features a Dean Martin title song.
Of those soundtracks that have been released that are definite “missing” to “complete” my collection, as in, I have to get it one day, I cannot think of too many… let’s see… there is..
Ennio Morricone: THE HILLS RUN RED
Fred Karlin’s FUTUREWORLD
It’s been released years ago, but I missed it, and never got around to picking it up. Unfortunately, it’s not available digitally either.There are some others that I’d like to have that for some reason have not yet turned up in my collection, like John Cacavas AIRPORT 1975 or Peter Schickele’s SILENT RUNNING, though I’ve got the LP of the latter, and both of these scores are available on Qobuz, so I can listen to them.
That doesn’t mean that’s all… I’m sure there are others that I would like to have that I just cannot think of right away. But over the years, I managed to “complete” many gaps in my collection.
When I started collecting music, I was about 14. First LPs, then later my first CDs. Much later again digital downloads (I bought my first one in 2018… but I count them with the rest). I imagined one day, a future version of myself standing in front of my shelf, not just filled with discs, but with a representative collection classical and film music, a shelf filled with emotion and memories… and I guess I am now at that point.
All the major film scores by the likes of Jerry Goldsmith, John Williams, Ennio Morricone… they are there. Classical works from Vivaldi and Bach to Penderecki? They are there.
I don’t necessarily have ALL of their film scores, I certainly don’t have ALL Ennio Morricone scores, but quite a few. iTunes says I have 240 Jerry Goldsmith albums, that’s certainly almost all of his released film scores, but not quite all.
That does not mean my collection is literally “complete”. Can it ever be? “Completeness” implies a certain fixed immobility; I do not like that. Obviously, I still discover new music or new composers to explore. The universe is expanding, and so is the world of music. Take Carl Nielsen, for example. My first Nielsen CD landed on my shelf sometime last century. I liked it, but didn’t pay all that much attention to it. For years, it stood alone. Then in 2016, something shifted. I began exploring him seriously. Now, shelf space has filled up with four complete symphony cycles, plus chamber works and more.
Another more recent revelation was Arnold Bax. No idea why I skipped him for so long. But when I finally tuned in, I heard something raw and luminous. Music that punches and haunts. Some of it sounds like it could have written for mysterious science fiction worlds.
So while my collection is not “literally” complete, and cannot really be for as long as I live, it is complete in another way. It is complete in the sense that it became everything I once hoped it would be. And more. My 14 year old self would be proud of me. Well, at least in that regard. 🙂
Apart from a few doubled up CDs etc. which I keep boxed up in our garage, (some of which I actually got rid of a few years ago), my music collection is an integral part in our living room, always has been. It’s on USM Haller highboards (which means, theoretically, I can expand them), but it’s got room for them all and still some space left. Of course, I have doubled up rows here and there, but since I don’t actually need to access my CDs to play them anymore, that doesn’t bother me.
Anyway, it happens that guests notice the music shelf; it has certainly been a conversation piece now and then.Yes, while I do have THE RED HOUSE on CD, it’s ripped and I only play the files. I only ever play files, actually, so how the CD is split doesn’t really matter to me all that much. Though disc two is 25 minutes long, so it’s not that short. 🙂
My first Miklós Rózsa album was “Miklós Rózsa – Classic Film Music”, Elmer Bernstein conducting the Nuremberg Symphony Orchestra. It was also the first CD I ever bought in a store. I didn’t have a CD player back then, but the album was available as a beautiful double LP set or a a single CD… they contained the same tracks and cost the same (at that time, CDs were more expensive than LPs, but since it was two LPs but only one CD, they cost the same.) So I picked the “future proof” CD, even though I had no way to playback the CD then. I bought quite a few more CDs before I ever bought a CD player. (I always buy “software” before “hardware”.) So that album holds a special place in my heart.
But back to business… when you ask about my 5 favorite Miklós Rózsa albums, it starts for me with Rhino’s lavish presentation of BEN HUR. Surely, that is one of the most beautiful soundtrack albums ever produced. It’s just gorgeous, like a book (and it does have a nice booklet). Sure, there was the more extensive presentation by FSM, which featured various additional presentations of the music, and Tadlow’s wonderful new 2CD recording of the score, but as far as presentation goes, the Rhino set wins.
It really is one of the most beautiful presentations of one of the greatest film scores to one of the greatest films of all time… so I’d say the superlatives are justified. Just all around great.But since you asked for five favorite albums, let’s see… right now I’d pick
1. BEN HUR (Rhino 2CD set)
2. DOUBLE INDEMNITY, THE LOST WEEKEND, THE KILLERS / Sedares: NZSO (Koch)
This is a wonderful album. Each score is presented as a three movement composition, expertly arranged. The scores here all belong to Rózsa’s darker “noir” works. Especially LOST WEEKEND may the the closest Rózsa ever came to write a horror score. Good stuff.3. EL CID (Nic Raine: CPPO, Tadlow)
Just a great recording of perhaps my favorite Rózsa score. I also love Sedares on disc presentation, but Tadlow’s set is just splendid.4. JULIUS CAESAR (Bruce Broughton: SoL, Intrada)
Wow, does this thing sound great. Was a big deal when it was released, new recordings of classic film scores were rare in those days.5. THE RED HOUSE (Wilson: RSNO, Intrada)
May be the most impressionist score Rózsa ever wrote. There is a haunting melancholy weaving through the score, this is one of Rózsa’s must beautiful pieces of music. Never saw the movie, but the music sure stands well on it’s own. Rózsa was of course the most “romantic” of all film composers, but here, his music style seems to take a hint or two from Debussy and Ravel, which makes for a very inspiring sound.I just noticed that the albums I listed are 50% male and 50% female… I assure everyone that was purely coincidental.
A selection of ten of my favorite pop albums, just to show I’m not all Alex North and Pierre Boulez. 🙂
Talk Talk – The Colour of Spring
Peter Gabriel – US
Sting – Ten Summoner’s Tales
Tori Amos – Scarlett’s Walk
Johnny Cash – American IV
Madonna – Confessions on a Dance Floor
Heather Nova – Redbird
Justin Timberlake – FutureSex/LoveSounds
Aimee Mann – @#%&! Smilers
Lana del Rey – Ultraviolence
I like unusual approaches, or perhaps challenges, to generic conventions.
Sure, if they work, if they are good. In the same way that a score obviously is not good merely for following convention, I don’t think a score is good merely because it is unusual or challenges convention, it has to proof itself with the result.
It’s fine to disagree; reaction to these things is obviously personal and subjective. I saw LADYHAWKE once in the late 80s, and found the music obnoxiously annoying, as if it actively worked to undermine the action on screen. Literally all music? Of course not, I didn’t even remember most of the music, but I did remember that it repeatedly worked against the movie, enough for me to tune out of the movie (and I haven’t seen it since). But if you love the movie or the score, well, good for you, more power to you. I sure don’t want to talk anyone out of it.
Indeed, I like the music on album now as it is. 🙂I know Thor loves LADYHAWKE, which is surely one of the most controversial film scores of all time. First time I saw LADYHAWKE, the music really put me off, and I know I was not the only one. It’s not so much that it is “anachronistic”… I mean, one can rightly argue a romantic film score performed by a symphony orchestra in BEN HUR is just as “anachronistic”. It’s a film score, not source music, so it doesn’t have to be “of the time”.
The synthesizers in Vangelis’ score for THE BOUNTY were certainly “anachronistic”, and the electronic music approach for a historical drama a new one, but it worked well, the music supports the movie. That’s where LADYHAWKE failed for me… the music did not support the movie, it distracted from it, it often felt like an intrusive distraction in the movie and worked even against it. I have since come around to enjoy it on album though. 🙂 (Haven’t seen LADYHAWKE in decades.)
What sounds “cheap”? Sounds like an orchestra with additional synthesizers.
(Presumably more expensive than just the orchestra without synthesizers.)I don’t know any of his 80s scores that sound “cheap”…. Even the purely electronic ones, like CRIMINAL LAW, tend to be very well constructed.
Goldsmith used almost always “standard” samples, because he treated synthesizers like any other instrument, preferring to find out what he could do with the standard sounds rather than have custom sounds made.
I have always enjoyed Goldsmith’s blend of orchestral and electronic sounds, it gave many of his scores a very unique and individual sound palette.
