Film Scores, Classical music Options

[Mad Tom]

My favourite film sound tracks are not the dramatic pseudo-classical style epics, or twelve-tone horror movie backgrounds, but those American "coming of age" type films that are packed with lots of great 50's, 60's and 70's popular songs - all those you like best, and can sing along with, but never bothered to find out what their titles were or who recorded them.

[Robodoc]

My favourite film sound tracks are not the dramatic pseudo-classical style epics, or twelve-tone horror movie backgrounds, but those American "coming of age" type films that are packed with lots of great 50's, 60's and 70's popular songs - all those you like best, and can sing along with, but never bothered to find out what their titles were or who recorded them.

I know what you mean about film sound tracks: I love "The Blues Brothers" and "The Commitments", as well as the more recent "The Boat That Rocked". I am also not a great fan of pseudo-classical style (or anything to do with horror movies - despite my day job even bad horror movies give me nightmares!)

However, my original post was about film scores as opposed to film sound tracks, and was partly based on the question of what would make a film score classical (in the sense of Western Art Music, not 1750-1825 period music) as opposed to pseudo-classical. I can easily see how people might have reservations about the score for "The Lord of the Rings" being thought of as classical music but as I said in my original post, I don't see how anyone could argue against, for example, Korngold's score for "The Sea Hawk" being counted as classical music.

[karslima]

Last night I saw The Tree of Life and am sorry to say it was just about OK, despite the awards and brilliant reviews.

There was a lot of good classical music in the film and yet it felt very disjointed - one scene Bach Toccata and Fugue, another Smetana Ma Vlast. I love that music and yet it didn't feel right. Perhaps I've got used to film music having a theme that keeps recurring so this chopping and changing seemed a bit random. I felt as if I was watching a series of home movies to the soundtrack of Classic FM. (Here is a list of the film music.)

[BadStrad]

Well it changes from day to day but at the moment I'm really loving the Ladies in Lavender music.

OH just bought that for him and my violin teacher to play. Really looking forward to hearing them as I don't know the piece, but OH says it's lovely.

Have just had a three day LotR marathon (OH's new Blueray box) and I do very much like the music.

I have nothing much to add to the debate regarding what is classical music or not - I don't feel I know enough to contribute, but while we're naming favourites - of the top of my head:-

I like Thomas Newman - especially American Beauty soundtrack.
David Lean film music - eg Lawrence of Arabia
I loved the Star Wars theme as a kid and still hold it in great affection.

[1993allende]

I have to say that my favourite soundtrack from the lord of the rings.

Whether film scores find their way into classical repertoire depend on their quality and how time treats it. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[linda.ff]

I have to say that my favourite soundtrack from the lord of the rings.

Whether film scores find their way into classical repertoire depend on their quality and how time treats it. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

Well, there's quite a bit of snobbery about film music, but I think those who write (well) for films are the really skilled composers and musicians of our day. To anyone who turns up their nose at the notion of film music having validity in any musical contect which also embraces, say, symphonies, I'd suggest that it has no less balidity than music for ballet - and you'd hardly put Prokofiev's Romeo & nJuliet out in the cold, would you?

"Oh, what's the world coming to, they never included <shudder> film music in programmes of serious music a century ago." Er, think about it - serious composers eschewed film as a medium in which to express themselves because... it was a genre which didn't really exist until at least the 1920s!

I think this snobbery extends to the singling out of music by people such as Korngold and VW because they had "form" in other musical genres. True, the music for film, apart from the "big theme" type music at the beginning and particularly thye end, is of necessity often very splintered by the needs of the film, and it's been suggested that the best film music is that which you don't even notice, it's doing its job of enhancing the atmosphere and drama so effectively.

Is a craftsmanlike composer a "valid" classical composer or not? Two names spring to mind particularly - John Williams and Carl Davis. Davis wrote an entire score for the silent film version of Ben Hur, as well as a few others in similar genre. I've seen the film performed with live orchestral accompaniment all the way through, and extremely effective the music was too. Both Williams and Davis, together with others such as Malcolm Arnold are/were craftsmen par excellence.

John Williams/Harry Potter rocks!

[Dulcet]

But ballet scores are straight through and (non-silent) film scores aren't, so they need considerable adaptation to work in the concert hall. There are some film scores that I like IN THE FILM but hate in isolation (The Piano, anyone?) and there are also some arrangements that are too much like badly made patchwork.

I loved Carl Davis' music for "Private Schulz".

[Ehkzu]

Hasn't anyone mentioned Prokofiev's Alexander Nevsky? That's the definitive classical music-film score. It has entered the classical repertoire as an oratorio, and by now I suspect more people have heard the oratorio than seen the movie, which was brilliant for its time but a bit dated now (and very heavy-handed propaganda).

As for the question--I don't think there's a bright line. I could imagine doing a concert just of film music, including the aforementioned oratorio plus pieces of classical music that have become strongly identified with films, though not written for them--the opening of "Also sprach zarathustra" and "2001" for example, plus shorter pieces like Bernard Heerman's title credit music for "North by northwest" which is quite compelling.

Of course it can be classical music and not be performable by a symphony orchestra, just as you can use a symphony orchestra to perform advertising jingles and they'll still be jingles.

I'm thinking of Louis and Bebe Barron's all-electronic music score for "Forbidden Planet," which I love. Is that classical?

For more conventionally classical-ly stuff, there's "The Red Violin," "Schindler's List," and "Henry V"--Patrick Doyle's score for the Kenneth Branaugh version, not the 1945 one.

Few movies have enough music to weave into a full-fledged piece, as was possible with "Alexander Nevsky" but there are a lot of shorter themes and whatnot that are, I think, viable if you packaged them in a concert correctly. Could be quite a crowd-pleaser in fact.

Unfortunately, my favorite movie music of all time is not classical, sorry to say. It's the zither solo for "The third man," which is absolutely unforgettable--its simple cheerfulness becoming more and more fraught as the film progresses, giving it ironic depths by the end that show how simple means often produce the strongest results.

Well, that and Kubrick's edit of Ligeti's "Atmospheres" and some other of his works for the last segment of "2001." I'd never heard Ligetic before seeing it and it made me a fan.

[karslima]

I really enjoyed the music for the film The Princess of Montpensier written by Phillipe Sarde.

It's modern music written to sound old, so probably not for the purists. Still I enjoyed it and am considering buying it.

[DebLewis]

I just have to add some of my favorites...

My new all time favorite..

How to Train You Dragon - John Powell

This inspires me so much I keep a little stuffed "toothless" on my music stand while I practice..

Not movies exactly but anything by Trevor Morris
Which includes all Four Seasons of The Tudors, The Pillars of Earth, and now The Borgias.. Showtime must own this guy.. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) The Tudors seasons 3 and 4 are probably my favorites..

The Lord of the Rings - Howard Shore

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[The Flute Fanatic]

Just a few that come to mind in no particular order: Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, Princess Mononoke and Rocky Horror Picture Show. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wub.gif)

I'll leave the classical music/film music debate to those whose knowledge far surpasses the insignificant intellect of my own (IMG:style_emoticons/default/tongue.gif)

[linda.ff]

Just a few that come to mind in no particular order: Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, Princess Mononoke and Rocky Horror Picture Show. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wub.gif)

I'll leave the classical music/film music debate to those whose knowledge far surpasses the insignificant intellect of my own (IMG:style_emoticons/default/tongue.gif)

Some wonderfully atmospheric Armenian-inspired music in Ararat. Good enough to spur me to buyinbg the CD, which I rarely do with a film