Nick Zwar
Forumsvar Lagt Inn
-
Innlegg
-
Yes, I hear you. I don’t rebuy all these things either; there are some soundtracks I have bought several times, and in some cases I cannot resist, but I weigh individually when I do this and if it’s worth it. In case of CLOSE ENCOUNTERS I make an exception though, as it may be my favorite John Williams score. When it comes to CLOSE ENCOUNTERS and E.T., I have the original album releases (on LP and CD), the original expansions (Arista/MCA) and the La-La Land 2CD sets. I think the earlier expansions were certainly fine and sufficient. I do like that the La-La Land E.T. contains the mysterious, spooky “Main Title”, I think that’s the only album which has that included, but it’s only a minute long, so only fanatics would buy the album for that. All CLOSE ENCOUNTERS expansions play slightly differently, but they are all great. CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND is perhaps my favorite John Williams score, and I do have every single version of it. The original Arista expansion plays fine and is great, I was very happy when that was released. The La-La Land 2CD set offers basically two expanded versions of the score: on Disc 1, the tracks are selected to reflect John Williams originally intended 2LP soundtrack album at the time of release (but which never happened, as we all know only a single LP version with a “pop single” was released), and on Disc 2 basically another version of the score made from versions of cues not on Disc 1. So all three “Close Encounters” expansions released offer a somewhat different listening experience.
ROSEWOOD as presented by La-La Land is not so much an “expansion” (as that implies it’s a sort of original album plus additional cues, or a longer presention), but a different presentation altogether. The film score as presented on Disc 1 is more dramatic, instrumental, less choir, the OST as presented on Disc 2 is a beautiful, introspective dramatic “Gospel” album. Both are very good and worth listening to, but “expansion” doesn’t really fit the description.
John Williams is interesting, as there are some scores by him I prefer on the original album edit, some I prefer as full film scores, and some where I find I continue to enjoy both.
For example, E.T.-The Extra Terrestrial is a great soundtrack album, flows well, so I still enjoy that. However, it omits some of the darker material Williams composed for the movie, so I like the full score as well. I play either. On the other hand, the original album for CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND was quite a disappointment, it’s much better presented on the expanded Arista or La-La Land albums, so I don’t play the original album cut at all anymore. I don’t play the OST for JAWS anymore either; I know it has its adherents, and that’s fine, but I far prefer the full film score for that one. It is much more savage, brutal, more Stravinsky-like, and so I much prefer that. Adios, album edit. Same with A.I., that was an awful album, not just omitting much substance of the composition, but instead including one track twice (which of course reduces re-use fees quite a bit), and putting the (more or less) same pop song twice on the album, once even in the album flow.
In case of MONSIGNOR, Williams rearranged his material a bit for the album, but it’s mostly there. Both the film score and the album are just fine the way they are, but I prefer the album arrangement Williams did for listening purposes.
One of my favorite Williams scores is ROSEWOOD, and here you have two very different albums. The original Sony OST was basically a Gospel Choir album with orchestral interludes, I enjoy that very much. The film score has far less choral songs and is more dramatic in tone, I very much like that as well. So that’s one case where the expanded film score edition La-La Land put out is not a mere “expansion” as in “longer”, but both albums have a very different tone. That was quite a revelation when La-La Land put the film score out, I’m very happy to have picked that one up.A few, I’ve seen composers like John Williams, James Newton Howard, Ennio Morricone live in concert. Sadly, not Jerry Goldsmith or James Horner.
I saw Philip Glass live in concert — must have been in 1987, long before these things became fashionable — perform his score for KOYAANISQATSI live to picture, that was pretty cool.
Film music has been an important part of the music that interests me for as long as I can think back, though I only started to seek out film music on album in my early teens. Not sure my “origin” story is particularly interesting… since I’ve always noticed the music, even in the TV shows when I was a kid. I remember actively starting to tape music of the TV as early as elementary school, and, well, yes, that was the only way to get that kind of music. I didn’t even know one could actually get film music on albums until I was in my early teens.
There was always music in our household, though my parents weren’t actual musicians. But we had a piano at home, and I heard a lot of classical music as a kid just naturally growing up. I also fondly remember an excellent music teacher I had when I was in second grade, who taught us well how and what to listen for in music, and inspired us elementary school kids to check out Bartók! How cool was that in retrospect.
As I said, I always notice music when it is playing. Even when I watch a movie, and there is dialog, sound, and music, my ears’ attention tends to focus on the music. It did that even before I started to listen to film music on its own. So there were movies (and TV shows) I had audio taped off the TV set (fortunately, I could connect my radio tape recorder with the TV with a cable, not via mic, so that I could get the TV sound without any “room noise”), stuff like HIGH NOON, THE HIGH AND THE MIGHTY, WAR OF THE WORLDS, THE BIG COUNTRY, LAWMAN… I played those audio tapes and was fascinated by the music of these movies. I thought it would be great to really get this music apart form the dialog and sound effects…
First thing I told my dad when I had seen STAR WARS for the first time and he picked us up at the theater, asking how it was: “Wow, you’d have loved the music! The music was great!”. So I was a kid who just saw STAR WARS for the first time, and the first thing I could think about when I came out of the theater weren’t the special effects, the light-sabers, the story, but the music. (My father was a movie and (classical) music buff himself (his favorite film composer was Dimitri Tiomkin).)
When I see a movie, I often tend to follow the music more than the images or the dialogue. Sound trumps image for me.One day, a friend lend me two soundtrack albums: John Williams STAR WARS and Jerry Goldsmith STAR TREK – THE MOTION PICTURE; I audio taped them and must have listened to them up and down. That was a pivotal time, no question, because from then on, I was hooked, and soon, I had some Williams, Goldsmith, Barry, and Morricone albums of my own. Never stopped to this day. In school, I had lots of friend with various interests in music, and we learned from each other. No one (in my friend circle) thought interest in film music, in classical music, in jazz, in rock/pop/prog-rock, etc. was “odd”, we really liked to exchange “our special interest music” with others.
I have always been a more “composer” oriented listener though, so once I am interested in a particular composer, I seek out more of his (or of course her) work. (Instead of buying film music based on movie or movie genre…)
That’s why in my CD shelf, film scores are grouped by composer, not by film title.One side note of interest: looking back, I remember the first “John Williams” music I really loved was not STAR WARS, or SUPERMAN, it was much earlier, it was his theme for the movie THE COWBOYS, which I knew from an old short lived TV series (based on the movie) I watched when I was still in elementary school. Of course, back then I didn’t know or remember the name “John Williams”. Many years later, when Varèse Sarabande released John Williams’ music for the movie THE COWBOYS, it put a smile on my face to finally hear that great old “cowboy theme” again, because I have never seen any snippet from the TV show again… it’s pretty much forgotten.
Well, those two are very good ones for sure, both of the recording you mention I have and would highly recommend. The Salonen recording of Debussy’s Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune may be the one I would pick if I could keep only one of the recordings I have. I’ve got more Salonen (Mahler, Bartók, Lutoslawski, etc.); of all the recordings of Stravinsky’s Le Sacre du Printemps I have, I think Salonen’s is my favorite (packs a lot of whop).
My first encounter with Salonen as a composer was an album with five of his compositions, which I picked up in 2001: LA Variations, Five Images After Sappho, Giro, Mania, Gambit
I don’t think I ever listened to them all at once in a row, as I like to let them sink in, I started with “L.A. Vartiations” and then “Gambit”, and the others at a later time (even after I had some other Salonen albums). The last was “Five Images after Sappho”, which was beautiful when I finally listened to it, I just had to wait for the right moment. It’s a great album if you are interested in contemporary classical music by a great composer/conductor. Top album. That was my start with Salonen as a composer, I have since picked up most of what is officially recorded/released (violin concerto, piano concerto, etc.)As a starting point, the album “Wing on Wing” may be a good album for those with a film music background, it contains very “filmic” orchestral pieces, such “Foreign Bodies” and “Insominia”.
My most recent acquisition is his cello concerto with Yo-Yo Ma (released on Pentatone), but I haven’t yet listened to it.
Salonen is a superb composer. Like Mahler in his day was more known as a superb conductor, so it is with Salonen, but he is a very original, fascinating and modern composer. Salonen actually only became a conductor so he could ensure at least someone would perform his music.
My favorite current “Nordic” composer is hands down Esa-Pekka Salonen. What a terrific and unique composer. He has not actually composed any film music, though he has conducted some.
I normally don’t use playlists either, nor do I re-sequence or edit albums. I expect albums to function as a musical listening experience on their own. So unless the release screwed up and sequenced the album in a way that that makes no sense (musically…. soundtrack albums were often sequenced “commercially” rather than “musically”), as in Morricone’s THE UNTOUCHABLES. Or if the cues just don’t fit, as in “That’s real music” from the Prometheus BASIC INSTINCT. The latter is presented chronologically, when it should have been on there as a bonus track, as it just is not part of the actual “BASIC INSTINCT” musical fabric.
I don’t think it has ever happened that I started to dislike anything that I once liked, but I have started to like some things that I once disliked.
Not so much a “composer”, but the type music I disliked and loathed the most before all others was “easy listening”… anything that was in the direction of Lawrence Welk or Ferrante & Teicher or Bert Kaempfert… you know the style… and that included most of Mancini’s soundtrack albums of the day and what not. When I seriously started listening to music as a teenager, you could give me Stravinsky, Ligeti, Boulez, Schnitte, anything with thorns and spikes, but if you gave me “easy listening”, and you ensured my disdain.
I’m much more mellow about that type of music nowadays and can take it for what it is.Or is it a constant negotiation to have your physical media out and about in the general area of the house/apartment?
Sort of… I got my wife drunk one evening and had her sign this:
Yes, it’s a Weißbier; I don’t think I ever had that particular one myself… I just bought a mixed crate of weißbier and picked that one.
CLOUD ATLAS has a great score by Tom Tykwer & Co and is probably the most expensive German movie ever produced. I love the movie (it is based on my favorite novel of this century) and the music fits.
I also like Terrence Malick’s A HIDDEN LIFE AS, which was a German/US co-production I think, with an excellent score by American composer James Newton Howard.
I guess we need to distinguish… Do we mean film scores by German composers (such as Zimmer, which we excluded because everybody knows him anyway), or German movies, which of course may have non-German composers (like THE NAME OF THE ROSE). I guess it’s more German composers for now.
