Thor Joachim Haga
Forumsvar Lagt Inn
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Innlegg
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So, here are the erotica scores that I mentioned in the Donaggio thread. He’s done quite a few (and even wonderful nunsploitation stuff like LA MONACA DI MONZA), but I want to highlight L’ATTENZIONE (1985), which is a great, largely synth-infused score, and then COSI FAN TUTTE (1992), which obviously plays around with Mozart in fun (oops, there’s that word again!) pop arrangements, among other things.
Both are highly recommended:
Didn’t he have (a little bit like Alan Menken) a reputation of rather being a songwriter than a composer?
Yes, a little bit, if memory serves. Same as Tiomkin. They were considered somewhat “light”. But I don’t really hear that at all.
And yes, that’s a great Naxos album.
Well, imagine a teenager reading Stephen King´s book THE SHINING while listening to, say, SANTANA´S GREATEST HITS on the stereo. To him, “Black Magic Woman” will always be associated with the mood of the book….something mysterious, scary and evil.
“A teenager”? Hey, that was me! Stop being so vague, young version of myself.
It’s Friday again.
Having a few beers at home, and then meeting some friends for a belated birthday beer at a local pub! On Sunday, I’m watching the women’s cup final (football). Not normally something that interests me, but a friend of mine has secured some VIP passes at the national stadium, with free drinks and food. So I go for that. Any weekend plans?
Cheers!
Randy Miller is perhaps best known as an orchestrator, but he’s a fine composer in his own right (there’s an interesting topic idea, btw), and this promo from 1994 displays some of that. Most of it is taken up by the rambunctious western music for DREAM RIDER. Big, full, orchestral sound throughout (plus some synth).
Sad to hear about the death of Ton Werkman, the founder of soundtrackcollector.com. Obviously in and of itself, and what it means for his loved ones. But also on a more selfish level, as I’ve used that site extensively over the years. It has values that Discogs doesn’t. I do wonder what’s going to happen to it now. His son says this on the site:
16-Nov-2025 – I’m deeply saddened to share that my father, Ton, the founder of SoundtrackCollector.com, passed away on November 6, 2025 at the age of 84. His passion and dedication built a place where soundtrack enthusiasts from around the world could connect and discover music they loved. He will be greatly missed, and his legacy lives on through the community he created. At this moment, it’s not yet clear how SoundtrackCollector.com will be maintained going forward. I’ll share updates when I can. Erwin Werkman
A few thoughts on the new FLATLINERS release here, for anyone interested.
Huh. A man of many talents, that Yuri. Wish it had been caught on tape.
And yes, KILLING FIELDS is pitch perfect for the thread.
Did Forbidden Planet have a theremin? I don’t think it did, and I don’t recall a theremin sound in the score.
I always thought so, but apparently not. Wikipedia says:
“While the theremin had been used on the soundtracks of Spellbound (1945) and The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951), the Barrons are credited with creating the first completely electronic film score, preceding the development of analog synthesizers by Robert Moog and Don Buchla in the early 1960s.”
That’s an interesting piece of trivia. I wasn’t aware of any uses prior to FORBIDDEN PLANET, I think.
I think it’s important to distinguish between texture and timbre. As Copland describes in What to Listen for in Music, texture is more what we would call polyphony, homophony, or monophony, depending. Timbre is the use of instrumental color for effect. His main elements of music are rhythm, harmony, timbre, texture, form, and yes, melody. I feel bad for people who only listen for melodies. Interesting music comes form knowing when and how to use all the elements.
Yes, you’re no doubt right about the difference between texture and timbre, Schilke, but texture is kinda used in colloquial speech as these layered sounds. In my (now ancient) thesis, I used Leonard B. Meyer’s definition in his iconic book Emotion and Meaning in Music (1956):
“Texture has to do with the ways in which the mind groups concurrent musical stimuli into simultaneous figures /…/ a distribution of texture is not necessarily apprehended in terms of a figure-ground distribution but can quite readily be perceived as the co-existence of several, independent, well-articulated figures” (Meyer 1956: 185)
Less specific, but general enough to serve my purpose in that context.
Rami Nakhleh’s STRANGER (2024) — now here’s a good example of a score that is almost exclusively textural, but with INTERESTING, engrossing textures connoting foggy, earthy landscapes. Those nervous string instrument pluckings, the eerie use of reverb, some form of glass harmonica? Deep sense of melancholy. Doesn’t need any pronounced melody to function. Just totally hypnotizing as an album (I’ve not seen the film).
