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Tag: Film Music

Moross’s Wild West Film Music

“[A]s we hit the Plains I got so excited,” recollected composer and pianist Jerome Moross. It was 1936 and, at George Gershwin’s invitation, he was en route to Los Angeles to participate in the West Coast premiere of “Porgy Bess.” When he stepped off the bus in Albuquerque, it changed him forever. “…I got to the edge of town and then walked out onto the flat land with a marvelous feeling of being alone in the vastness, with the mountains cutting off the horizon. The whole thing was just too much for me… it was marvelous, and I just fell in love with it.”

He would recall this powerful communion with the American West decades later when he came to write his best-known music, the Academy Award-nominated score for “The Big Country” (1958). Indeed, the “western” sound would color many of his future film and concert works, with the energetic syncopations of his native New York City supporting an easy lyrical gift that could easily pass for genuine American folk music.

This week on “Picture Perfect,” we’ll saddle up for selections from four of Moross’ big screen westerns. The success of “The Big Country” put Moross much in demand as Hollywood’s troubadour of the great outdoors. The trail was still fresh when he was enlisted for “The Proud Rebel” (1958). The film starred Alan Ladd, as a Civil War veteran with a troubled past, and the late Olivia De Havilland, as the ranch owner who takes responsibility for him. Tensions mount as a corrupt landowner and his sons attempt to drive the woman off her ranch.

While “The Proud Rebel” tapped into predictable western archetypes, “The Valley of Gwangi” (1969) exploded all expectations. A cross-genre western that might best be described as “Annie Get Your Gun” meets “King Kong,” the film’s premise hinges on the discovery by an enterprising band of cowboys of an Allosaurus in a lost valley in Mexico, which of course they press into service at their Wild West show. What could possibly go wrong? In a time before starships and superheroes dominated the cinematic landscape, “Gwangi” must have been very heady stuff for six-year old boys everywhere.

The project was conceived decades earlier by Willis O’Brien, the special effects legend who created Kong. But it was left to his protégé, the great Ray Harryhausen, to bring the film to fruition. The result, while never scaling the operatic heights of “Kong,” is a fascinating mélange, a movie that is part cowboy, part creature-runs-amok.

For those of a certain age, one of Moross’ most recognizable melodies must surely be the theme to the television series “Wagon Train.” Unfortunately, that music was soon discovered to bear a striking resemblance to a secondary theme in “The Jayhawkers” (1959). Fortunately for Moross, competing studios were willing to look the other way. “The Jayhawkers,” which starred Jeff Chandler and Fess Parker, is set in the days of Bleeding Kansas.

We are borne west on music of great vitality. Breathe the open air with Jerome Moross, on “Picture Perfect,” music for the movies, this Friday evening at 6:00 EDT, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.

July 31, 2020
Close Encounters’ Hidden Musical Genius

Is “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” the most musical non-musical blockbuster ever made?

I don’t know at what point I recognized Zoltán Kodály’s contribution to “CE3K.” It was certainly not as an 11-year-old boy, which is how old I was at the time I was first spooked and awed by Steven Spielberg’s UFO masterpiece. But somewhere along the way, Kodály took on more significance than simply an exotic-looking name on a chart.

In addition to being one of Hungary’s most respected composers – with his friend, Béla Bartók, at the forefront of the whole Hungarian nationalist movement – Kodály was extremely influential in the field of music education. The hand signals employed by François Truffaut’s Claude Lacombe, when he addresses a conference of UFO scientists and researchers, correspond to specific musical tones. The signals are an integral part of the Kodály method, and they contribute to the film’s memorable climax. Millions who have never heard of Kodály outside the context of “CE3K” will be familiar with the five-signal sequence.

Of course, music imbues just about every aspect of Spielberg’s storytelling. Composer John Williams went through over 300 permutations of the five-notes-to-a-theme before arriving at the now-iconic motive that ties the whole film together. There was no “aha! moment.” It was only after Spielberg learned there were over 130,000 possibilities that they just settled on a sequence they thought would be effective. A significant portion of the score for the last half hour of “CE3K” would be recorded in advance of the actual filming. It’s a rare luxury for composers to have a film cut to their music, as opposed to the other way around, but this is what was done, necessarily, for the film’s climactic encounter.

At the time, Williams’ “CE3K” theme was widely parodied and likely as well recognized as his theme for “Jaws.” His score would be nominated for an Academy Award in 1978. He actually wound up losing to himself, for “Star Wars.” A banner year for John Williams!

Interestingly, the composer tailored a cello solo specifically for Eleanor Aller Slatkin, formerly of the legendary Hollywood String Quartet. Aller was the widow of violinist Felix Slatkin and the mother of conductor Leonard Slatkin. She had been active in Hollywood since the 1940s, introducing Erich Wolfgang Korngold’s Cello Concerto in the film “Deception,” with Bette Davis and Claude Rains. Paul Henreid “played” the concerto onscreen.

French pianist and educator Odette Gartenlaub, a Messiaen pupil and solfège authority who taught at the Paris Conservatory, has a cameo during the climactic extraterrestrial communication scene.

And of course, “When You Wish Upon a Star” is heard on a music box early in the narrative, only to be picked up in Williams’ underscore during the film’s apotheosis. Spielberg said that he relied on the spirit of the song as a kind of guide for the overall feeling he wanted “CE3K” to convey.

“Close Encounters” is a work of great humanity, wonder and hope. Is it any wonder that music would play such an important role? In a story in which so many of the human characters experience frustration in their spoken interactions, running up against all kinds of barriers to effective communication, the key to universal understanding turns out to be music. It is one of the most satisfying and uplifting movies about music ever made. Unusually, it also seems to get everything right.

There were many experienced hands involved in the writing of the film, but in the end it was Spielberg who received the sole screen credit. Somebody really knew their music. I wonder who directed Spielberg to Kodály?

For further reflections on “CE3K,” join Roy Bjellquist and me – with a special appearance by my brilliant cousin, Joseph R. Metz – on the next “Roy’s Tie-Dye Sci-Fi Corner,” to be live-streamed on Facebook this Friday evening at 7:00 EDT.

https://www.facebook.com/roystiedyescificorner

More about the Kodály Method here (with hand signals):

And an interview with Kodály, in English!

July 30, 2020
Lost Worlds in Film Music on WWFM

It’s the second day of WWFM’s end-of-the-fiscal-year membership campaign, and we’re hoping you don’t get lost! We’ll be looking for your pledges of support from noon to 6 p.m., at 1-888-232-1212. Or join us anytime at wwfm.org.

At 6:00, reward yourself with a trip into the unknown. This week on “Picture Perfect,” it’s music from movies about lost worlds and forgotten civilizations.

While the concept of the “Lost World” dates at least as far back as Plato’s Atlantis, it wasn’t until the Victorian Era that the idea really blossomed in the public consciousness. At the time, of course, lost civilizations were genuinely being discovered – which might help explain, in part, the incredible success of “King Solomon’s Mines.” The author, H. Rider Haggard, wrote the book on a bet that he could churn out an adventure story half as good as Robert Louis Stevenson’s “Treasure Island,” which had been published two years earlier.

“King Solomon’s Mines” became the literary sensation of 1885. Its protagonist, Allen Quatermain, is a direct ancestor of Indiana Jones. The book inspired reams of sequels and at least five film adaptations.

The two best known starred Stewart Granger, in 1950, and Paul Robeson, in 1937. Robeson, who played Umbopa, a king in disguise, received top billing. Mischa Spoliansky wrote the music
.

Haggard achieved another “Lost World” hit with “She,” first issued in book form in 1887 – another adventure about Europeans in Africa, who meet a seemingly immortal white queen known as the all-powerful “She,” or “She-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed.”

“She” has been adapted to film six times. The 1965 version starred Ursula Andress, Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee. The music was by Hammer Studios house composer, James Bernard. It’s nice to hear Bernard, who mostly wrote horror scores for the likes of Dracula and Frankenstein, provide something a little more nuanced for a change.

Rudyard Kipling’s “The Man Who Would Be King,” published in 1888, was clearly influenced by the writings of Haggard. In this case, two British adventurers in India strike out for a remote corner of Afghanistan to set themselves up as kings. The story was made into one of the great adventure films of the 1970s, directed by John Huston, and starring Sean Connery and Michael Caine. That Christopher Plummer appears as Kipling himself is only icing on the cake. Maurice Jarre wrote the rousing score.

Finally, James Hilton’s “Lost Horizon,” published in 1933, imagines Shangri-La, a Utopian society nestled in a sheltered valley somewhere in the mountains of Tibet. A British diplomat is one of a handful of passengers who survives a plane crash to be taken into the lamasery.

“Lost Horizon” was made into a film twice. The less said about the 1973 version, a musical with songs by Burt Bacharach, the better. Frank Capra directed the classic 1937 version, which starred Ronald Colman, Jane Wyatt, and outstanding character actors of the day, people like Edward Everett Horton, Thomas Mitchell, Sam Jaffe, and H.B. Warner.

The score, Dimitri Tiomkin’s first major contribution, was also one of his most ambitious. Seldom was it so obvious that he had studied at the St. Petersburg Conservatory under Alexander Glazunov.

Let music be your map, this week. The journey is the destination, on “Picture Perfect,” music for the movies, this Friday evening at 6:00 EDT.

Remember, this program is made possible in part through YOUR support of WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org. Thank you for your contribution by June 30th!

https://wwwfm.secureallegiance.com/wwfm/WebModule/Donate.aspx?P=DEFAULT&PAGETYPE=PLG&CHECK=vOU2bz5JCWmgCDbf53nm9ezWDeZ%2BeA1M&fbclid=IwAR14UCd7VY5wZ1F7yKcFbu2VLPzehKCqvunBZCAZirehbC2OwYyT1C8TNTI

PHOTO: Connery (right) with the man who would be Caine

June 26, 2020
Kurosawa Film Music WWFM Friday

Carve out some time for music from the films of Akira Kurosawa, on “Picture Perfect,” this Friday evening at 6:00 EDT, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.

May 1, 2020
Kurosawa Samurai Film Music Mifune’s Centenary

Nothing says May Day like samurai movies!

This week on “Picture Perfect,” in this, the centenary of the birth of Toshiro Mifune (born April 1, 1920), it’s music from the films of Akira Kurosawa.

We’ll hear selections from three classic historical adventures:

“Seven Samurai” (1954) is a 3 1/2 hour epic on a deceptively simple premise: a party of ronin band together to defend a farmers’ village against invading brigands. Of course, that capsule synopsis doesn’t begin to hint at what a marvelous achievement it really is. “Seven Samurai” is regularly included on short lists of the greatest films of all time. It was remade in the United States as “The Magnificent Seven.” And though “The Magnificent Seven” enjoys great popularity, a terrific cast, and an unforgettable score, it stands only knee-high to the original, with music by Fumio Hayazaka.

“Seven Samurai” may have been Kurosawa’s first, full-out samurai film, but it was not his first crack at jidaigeki (literally “period drama”). Already, a samurai features as one of the characters in his earlier, international break-out hit, “Rashomon” (1950). In this instance, the discovery of a murdered samurai leads to a series of courtroom-style examinations, during which everyone present at the killing gives his or her own account of what transpired – including (through a medium) the murdered man himself! The conflicting testimonies reveal the slippery subjectivity of what we ordinarily accept as “truth.” The film, the first from Japan to receive wide exposure abroad, had such an impact that the term “Rashomon effect” entered the English language.

Kurosawa had great respect not only for American movies, but also Western classical music. This led him, on occasion, to request of his composers that they emulate certain well-known pieces. In the case of “Rashomon,” Hayazaka was encouraged, during one of the segments, to channel Ravel’s “Bolero.” “Rashomon” was remade as, among other things, “The Outrage,” a middling western starring Paul Newman.

Masura Sato sought out Hayazaka as a teacher on the merits of his music for “Rashomon.” Following his master’s early death from tuberculosis at the age of 41, Sato stepped in to fill the void and became Kurosawa’s new composer of choice. Sato would score eight of Kurosawa’s films (his first, a completion of Hayazaka’s score for “Record of a Living Being”). He too could be called upon to conjure the spirit of Western composers, with the ghost of Verdi hovering over “Throne of Blood,” Haydn and Brahms coloring “Red Beard,” and in the case of “Yojimbo” (1961), Franz Liszt lending attitude to masterless samurai Mifune, who wanders into a remote town and sets about playing two rival families off one another to his own profit.

“Yojimbo” provided the basis for the first of Sergio Leone’s spaghetti westerns, “A Fistful of Dollars.” What’s interesting about that is not only Leone’s scene-by-scene reliance on the original, but also Leone’s composer, Ennio Morricone, emulating Sato’s goofy juxtapositions and funky orchestrations. Kurosawa himself was inspired by the western tropes of John Ford movies and the pulp fiction of Dashiell Hammett.

As a bonus, we’ll hear just a little music from one of my least favorite Kurosawa films (beside “Rhapsody in August”), “Dodes’kaden” (1970). “Dodes’kaden” marked a break with Kurosawa’s classic style. For one thing, it was his first film shot in color – truly lurid Technicolor – and the first made after his break with Mifune. The title can be translated, roughly, as “clickety-clack,” the sound of an imaginary trolley car in the fantasy world of a mentally-challenged boy who literally lives in a dump. Though it earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Foreign Film, its commercial failure drove Kurosawa into a deep depression, even to the point of attempted suicide.

For as much as I personally dislike the film, the composer of its soundtrack, Toru Takemitsu is regarded as one of Japan’s most important classical concert composers. Interestingly, like Sato, Takemitsu was a protégé of Kurosawa’s friend and frequent colleague, Fumio Hayazaka.

It will be three-quarters Mifune, and more than fifty-percent samurai, on “Picture Perfect,” music for the movies. We’ll have you runnin’ for the ronin, this Friday evening at 6:00 EDT, on WWFM – The Classical Network and at wwfm.org.

May 1, 2020

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