Nils Jacob Holt Hanssen
Forumsvar Lagt Inn
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Innlegg
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Hmm, not sure I can list 10 examples. Not that I dislike jazz in film scores, it’s just that I don’t have a lot of them. In fact, I had to look through my collection to remind myself of jazz-influenced scores I have enjoyed. And some of these may be bordeline cases regarding the “jazz” label.
But anyway, in no particular order (and it seems that I landed at almost 10):
THE TAKING OF PELHAM ONE TWO THREE (Shire) (OK, this HAS to be at the top of the list. 12-tone jazz-rock-funk?! Love it! 🙂 )
CHINATOWN (Goldsmith)
THE RUSSIA HOUSE (Goldsmith)
CHECKMATE (Williams)
LUCKY YOU (Chris Young)
CASINO ROYALE (Bacharach)
THE YAKUZA (Grusin)
I, SPY (Grusin)
SNEAKERS (Horner)The ALIEN movies are among my favorites, for sure – at least the first two. But I like all of them, to a greater or lesser degree. I’m not as into it as I am into STAR TREK, for instance, so Thor, I guess my interest in the ALIEN franchise is at about the same level as your interest in STAR TREK, and vice versa. 😉
I do have both the DVD and Blu-Ray boxes of the first four films, and upgraded to 4K discs of ALIEN and ALIENS as soon as they became available. For the others I’ll probably be content with streaming them when I want to watch them again.
I was scared out of my pants the first time I watched ALIEN as a youngster, but now, of course, I enjoy it for the great piece of filmmaking that it is.
And the scores are up there as well, of course, with Goldsmith’s ALIEN doing an absolutely incredible job of increasing the suspense and dread, and Horner’s ALIENS is full of fantastic high-octane thrills. Goldenthal’s ALIEN 3 is also terrific.
There’s a limit to how much dystopian sci-fi I want to watch, but ALIEN I have no trouble with.
I’m putting ALIEN: EARTH on my “to watch” list of TV shows (although I see that reception is mixed). 😊
Try the great SOLARIS/STALKER/MIRROR album, showcasing three of his greatest scores for Tarkovsky. That album was my gateway drug into Artemiev, anyway, and features a good selection from SOLARIS. I can’t seem to find it on Spotify, but it’s on YouTube in its entirety.
Thanks! 👍
When you guys talk about the (excellent) Martinez score for SOLARIS, let’s not forget the even more excellent Artemiev score for the original Tarkovsky film. Also very much based on texture, although the variations of the Bach theme is obviously the most famous. I would consider both of these classics in their own way.
I’ve never listened to Artemiev’s score outside of the film, but you’ve made me want to give it a try :). Is it on Spotify? There’s an album there that seems to be “SOLARIS by Eduard Artemyev” (the title is in Russian/Ciryllic letters), but it sounds like a modern synth version (?). Also, it’s 76 minutes long, so it’s doubtful it’s an original OST album from back in the day..
I don’t remember any music that I enjoyed that I then some point later didn’t enjoy anymore. As I said, there was a lot of music that I discovered along the way or learned to like, but never the other way around, I never stopped liking something I once liked.
It’s the same for me, actually. I can’t think of any music I’ve liked earlier that I don’t enjoy any longer – only the other way around. So while I said earlier that one’s musical tastes “change” and “develop”, I agree that “broaden”, which you used, is a better term.
This reminds me — I remember many years ago, you and I had a very different opinion of SAVING PRIVATE RYAN. Of course, it has themes, but it’s rather static and slow-developing in nature. I didn’t like that as a restless youngster, while you recognized its more subtle details. Well, these 20+ years later, I can see more clearly what you saw, and now love it. Don’t know how that relates to the discussion at hand, but I just thought of that.
Right! Had I been much younger the first time I heard SAVING PRIVATE RYAN, that probably would have been my reaction, too. It’s fascinating how one’s tastes and preferences change and develop. I guess (hope..?) it has something to do with maturity? 😊
Great post, Nick! You describe very well how different types of music require different “listening contexts” and various degrees of attention. Totally agree about Mahler (one of my favorite classical composers, too!). You just can’t have Mahler on in the background, and his symphonies needs to be listened to in full (although I might allow myself to give the gorgeous Adagio movement from his 5th symphony a stand-alone listen 😉).
And as you say, things like SOLARIS is something different altogether, and works fine as background music, but I sometimes find it rewarding to give this my full attention, too. With minimalist music even the smallest shifts, like a subtle chord change, become important, and these things can be fascinating to follow.
And indeed, STAR WARS and STAR TREK: THE MOTION PICTURE were among the scores that ignited my passion for film music too, and they’ll probably remain among my favorites forever.
And I liked the music of the Klingon attack until I recently found out, that this is pretty much exactly copied from The Wind and the Lion.
There is a similarity, sure, but it’s basically just an interval (open fifth) being repeated several times, functioning as a fanfare-ish motif in both cases. The instrumentation, rhythm and overall sound is very different between the two scores, and I wouldn’t go as far as calling one a copy of the other.
Orchestral scores with big, brassy themes was definitely what got me into film music in the first place, but that isn’t really that important anymore. Sure, I still can enjoy a big orchestral score, but it has to be done really well to hold my attention these days. So yeah, I’ve gradually been drawn to quieter and more textural, ambient and moody stuff, and recognizable themes are no longer a requirement. But of course, this also has to be done right. Just some dude hitting some buttons or running a program on his synth won’t cut it 😊.
I have no problem with dissonant or atonal stuff either – I often found them difficult to listen to when I was younger, but now, if done right, instead of finding them disconcerting, they just «tickle the ear» and can be very enjoyable.
Some examples of ambient, textural scores I’ve enjoyed a lot are APOLLO: ATMOSPHERES AND SOUNDTRACKS (Brian Eno), SOLARIS (Cliff Martinez) and BLADE RUNNER (Vangelis). (BLADE RUNNER does have some themes, though)
What about biking? 🙂
Not so much… but sometimes, yes. I also combine them from time to time. And it’s the alternative when my achilles is acting up. 🙂
It’s one of my favorite activities, for sure. But I AM considering doing something else for a change (not this year, though). For instance, there are several cities in Europe I’d like to visit that I haven’t been to yet (Rome, Barcelona, Paris..). But, as you say, summers in Norway are the best, as long as the weather is OK, and it’s not tempting to go to southern Europe during summer with the temperatures there these days. I get uncomfortable if it creeps above 25C… Of course, having the option to take my vacation at any time of the year, I could go in March or October instead. Maybe next year. 🙂
Hope you’re having a good time in Denmark!
I’m starting my vacation this weekend. Five weeks – yay! 🙂
Nothing extravagant planned, I’ll be in Norway for the duration (although I had a nice trip to Gotland some weeks back).I’ll stay home for the first few days. I live close to Oslo, but there are great hiking areas basically just outside my door, so I plan to take advantage of that. Then it’s off to the family cabin in Trysil (more hiking), before I head off north to Tromsø and some midnight sun, loaning the house of a friend for ten days (and even MORE hiking), before I finish off with a week in a rented cabin in the Jotunheimen mountain range (JEEZ! – what’s with all this hiking!!?)
Did I mention I plan to do some hiking this summer?
THE MUSIC OF STAR TREK by Jeff Bond (great, and there’s a new one due)
Oh yeah – this Trekkie is definitely looking forward to that one, too!
Better get the upcoming John Williams biography. 😉
Yes, looking forward to that, of course! 🙂
Thanks for the recommendations. Are these focused on music theory?
Not really. Thomas’ books are mostly about the life and work of a selection of composers, as well as the studios and music departments they worked for. FILM SCORE has 25 chapters, 10-20 pages each, devoted to a specific composer, while MUSIC FROM THE MOVIES is a more general history of film music (from the 30s to the 70s), but still with a focus on the most important composers of each period.
I would say most of the books I have are aimed at the general film music enthusiast (and collector :)), and only ON THE TRACK has some music theory in it, being, as Thor mentioned earlier, intended for the composers themselves. It has chapters on things like harmony, rhythm and orchestration, but it’s really mostly focused on the more practical and technical issues a composer has to deal with. Since it was written in the 90s it’s probably a bit outdated, with all the digital tools available now that has changed the way many composers work.