Nils Jacob Holt Hanssen
Forumsvar Lagt Inn
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Innlegg
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Yes, it would be great to get some feedback from those of you who have read it (the book, that is) on where you think I’m way off the mark in my review. 😉
One also has to wonder why he didn’t do more “serious” music, in light of his recent statements that he doesn’t think too highly of film music, if he had the financial security to do so.
That statement does sound a bit shocking, at least the way it was originally reported in the media. But unfortunately, it seems the quote (which is from one of the many interviews Tim Greiving did with Williams while working on the biography) is often is taken out of context, and that Williams’ main point was the problems of making film music work properly in a concert setting, as Greving explains here:
And the fact that he’s been writing film music all his life must mean that he can’t dislike it that much. 🙂
I love Jerry Fielding, definitely one of the greats.
Absolutely! Too bad he left us way too early. As I understand it, he basically worked himself to death. After being blacklisted during the McCarthy era, he couldn’t find work, and when he finally could work again, it seems he said yes to more or less everything.
Three TV and one feature score (JOHNNY GOT HIS GUN) from Fielding. I already had JOHNNY GOT HIS GUN and A WAR OF CHILDREN on other releases, but not HONKY TONK or MR. HORN, so I’ve started with those. I really enjoy Fielding’s tight, lean orchestral writing, and both of these are great examples of that. Although HONKY TONK is more lightweight and lively, and at a times a bit too, uh, honky tonk for my taste.
Great sound quality, with that clean, close-miked recording style that Fielding favored.
Yes, I play the clarinet in a wind orchestra – but you know that, Thor, having been the host of several of our concerts (and doing a great job of it, I must say! 😊) . We’re having another concert in a couple of weeks – not a film music concert (a little bit of everything, really), but we will be playing SILVERADO (my suggestion, of course). And a BOND (song) medley.
But I’m pretty lost without the sheet music. Would have loved to know how to improvise! It’s never too late to learn, of course. Maybe some day…
I know what you mean about Rudy, but it’s nice as background music while half asleep on the couch.
Yes, I’m sure it’s very well suited for that. Multi-purpose music. 😉
Medicine Man and Rudy. I’ve been trying to love, rather than only appreciate, Goldsmith. Familiarity breeds affection (or contempt), so they say. I’m aiming for the former.
MEDICINE MAN is great. RUDY is kinda nice, and a lot of people seem to love it, but it gets a bit to saccharine for my taste.
I think I can echo most of what Nick has said here. I always appreciate an elaborate booklet with a well written essay, and I usually read it before putting in the CD. The background information on both the film and the score gets me into the mood – and sometimes even stoked – for listening to the CD.
But I’m of two minds about track-by-track analyses. That’s not really common anymore, though, although most of the FSM (and some of the other labels’) releases had them back in the day. On the one hand, it’s interesting to get an understanding of what the composer tried to accomplish in a given scene, and what he did to achieve it. But it really doesn’t enhance the listening experience itself. Also, it chops it up, since you basically have to put the player on pause between each track, to read about and get ready for the next. So I hardly do that anymore.
I’m not the world’s biggest Horner fan, but I do enjoy many of his scores – STAR TREK II and III among them. As BATTLE BEYOND THE STARS is supposed to be a precursor to those, I wanted to give it a try. And a precursor it is, for sure, with many of the trademarks of harmonization, instrumentation and orchestral color that Horner would develop further in his TREK scores and others. There are also quite a few melodic motifs and phrases that would be reused and expanded upon later. And there are plenty of nods to STAR TREK: THE MOTION PICTURE and STAR WARS, too.
The recording has a reputation of sub-par performances, so I was a little apprehensive about that – you get a bit blasé from listening to all those scores being performed by the world’s best studio musicians or the London Symphony Orchestra. And yes, there is trouble with the intonation here and there, especially in the brass, and some flubbed entrances. But it’s far from as bad as I’d feared. I understand they managed to “hide” some of it in the mastering of this 2023 Intrada release – which has great sound quality, too.
All in all, a surprisingly energetic and entertaining listen. And pretty mature-sounding for a 26-year-old.
So improvisation, while a key component component of jazz, is not the only or ultimate criterion for assessing whether something is or is not jazz
Agreed. I would say that things like syncopation and the use of certain harmonies are elements that will define something as “jazz”, just as much as improvisation will.
Although, I just read in the Williams biography that he considers improvisation to be the most important thing in jazz – at least from the musicians’ point of view (Williams calls it “freedom”). 🙂
Oh, how could I forget about CATCH ME IF YOU CAN? I think that definitely qualifies as a jazz score, as quite a few cues in it are more or less pure jazz. So that would also go on my list.
And I see now that I probably deviated from Thor’s original question, about listing 10 of the greatest jazz scores in film history. While I just listed scores that I personally enjoy. And not just film scores, but TV scores also. 🙂
