Classic Ross Amico

Tag: Film Scores

Nuns and Missionaries Film Scores Picture Perfect

Every once in a while, when faced with the challenge of programming film music for Easter, I try to shake it up a bit, so that I’m not playing Biblical epics every year. With this in mind, the focus on this week’s “Picture Perfect” will be on four scores from films about nuns and missionaries.

“Black Robe” (1991), directed by Bruce Beresford, is based on a novel by the Irish Canadian writer Brian Moore. The film tells the tale of a Jesuit priest who treks through 1500 miles of Canadian wilderness on a mission to convert the native tribes of the Huron and the Algonquin. The evocative score is by Georges Delerue.

The Powell-Pressburger classic, “Black Narcissus” (1947), is one of those amazing films that just sort of sneaks up on you. Psychological and emotional tensions abound in a tale of repressed nuns struggling to maintain their composure in a voluptuous Himalayan valley. Somehow it manages to inspire a kind of awe in the viewer, as the wheels begin to spin off the tracks.

The stunning cinematography is by Jack Cardiff. Incredibly, the entire film was shot in England, mostly on soundstages, at Pinewood Studios. Brian Easdale (of “The Red Shoes” fame) wrote the music.

Audrey Hepburn gave one of her most impressive performances in Fred Zinnemann’s “The Nun’s Story” (1959). A young woman enters a convent of nursing sisters and undergoes many trials in the hopes of becoming a missionary in the Belgian Congo. The film also features Peter Finch, Edith Evans, Peggy Ashcroft, and, in a memorable early role, Colleen Dewhurst. The music was by Franz Waxman.

We’ll conclude with selections from one of Ennio Morricone’s best-loved scores, that for “The Mission” (1986). Jeremy Irons plays a Jesuit priest, who penetrates the South American jungle to convert the native Guarani to Christianity. Robert DeNiro plays a reformed slave hunter. The moving score has received a great deal of exposure over the years through its use in television commercials and by figure skaters, who have made “Gabriel’s Oboe” a recognizable hit.

I hope you’ll join me for music from films about nuns and missionaries this week on “Picture Perfect,” this Friday evening at 6, with a repeat Saturday morning at 6; or that you’ll listen to it later as a webcast at wwfm.org.

March 25, 2016
Early Music in Film Scores

March is Early Music Month. While the concept may seem quite remote from the world of film music, this week on “Picture Perfect,” we’ll endeavor to tie in with four scores that employ melodies and modes of the Middle Ages.

We’ll hear selections from “Becket” (1964), by Laurence Rosenthal. In the film, based on a play by Jean Anouilh, Richard Burton plays the Archbishop of Canterbury, and Peter O’Toole, King Henry II. The music is reliant on chant, with a quotation from the familiar Gregorian melody, “Dies Irae” (“Day of Wrath”), occurring fairly early in the action.

Then we’ll hear music from “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” (1939), by Alfred Newman. This time based on a novel – “Notre Dame de Paris,” by Victor Hugo – the film features Maureen O’Hara as Esmeralda and Charles Laughton as Quasimodo, with Cedric Hardwicke, Thomas Mitchell, Edmond O’Brien, and Harry Davenport in the supporting cast. The project was one of nine scored by Newman that year, which many historians regard as Hollywood’s finest. Again, the composer evokes the era through sacred choral passages and secular dances.

“The Warlord” (1965) starring Charlton Heston, Richard Boone and Rosemary Forsyth, is the tale a knight who falls in love with a peasant woman, and in order to keep her, claims his right of “droit du seigneur” – his prerogative to spend the first night with any new bride among his serfs. She falls in love with him, and all hell breaks loose.

It was an unusual project for the composer, Jerome Moross, who is best-known for the kind of breezy Americana sound employed in his best-known score, that for “The Big Country.” Here, he evokes the 11th century with an underscore that, again, takes its inspiration from authentic music of the era.

Finally, we’ll turn to “The Lion in Winter” (1965), adapted from a play by James Goldman, an historical drama set at the Christmas court of Henry II – again, as in “Becket,” played by Peter O’Toole. Henry spars with his estranged wife, the temporarily paroled Eleanor of Aquitaine (played by Katherine Hepburn), in a familial power struggle, which also involves their three sons, played by Anthony Hopkins, Timothy Dalton and Nigel Terry.

The film was the winner of three Academy Awards, including one for Best Original Score. The composer was John Barry. Yet again the music is steeped in that of the Middle Ages, yet given a distinctly modern edge.

I hope you’ll join me for these cinematic forays into Early Music, on “Picture Perfect,” this Friday evening at 6 EDT, with a repeat Saturday morning at 6; or that you’ll listen to it later as a webcast at wwfm.org.

#EarlyMusicMonth
Early Music America

While you’re waiting, here’s the cast of SCTV in “The Man Who Would Be King of the Popes” – which employs music from “The Lion in Winter!”

PHOTOS: Peter O’Toole as dueling Henrys, in “Becket” (left) and “The Lion in Winter”

March 18, 2016
Princeton Symphony Silver Screen Salute Tonight

All right, you’ve enjoyed the Irish-themed music on “Picture Perfect.” Now you have exactly one hour to hit the concession stand before the start of the Princeton Symphony Orchestra “Silver Screen Salute” at 8:00 ET. Hurry back to hear selections from “Ben-Hur,” “Jaws,” “Psycho,” “Superman,” “Star Wars,” and more, at 89.1 FM and wwfm.org.

PLEASE NOTE: There will not be a webcast for this program. It airs only once, then disappears into the ether.

March 12, 2016
Quiet Man & Irish Film Scores for St. Patrick’s Day

“He’s a nice, quiet, peace-lovin’ man come home to Ireland to forget his troubles.”

John Wayne gives Victor McLaglen a lathering in the epic climax of “The Quiet Man,” and composer Victor Young’s palette is all green. Join me for this alternately romantic and boisterous, folk-inflected score, alongside music for “The Luck of the Irish” by Cyril J. Mockridge, “Angela’s Ashes” by John Williams, and “Circle of Friends” by Michael Kamen,” featuring the talents of The Chieftains.

We set the tone for St. Patrick’s Day this week on “Picture Perfect,” tonight at 6:00 ET, with a repeat Saturday morning at 6; or listen to it later as a webcast at wwfm.org.

Then stick around, if you’re so inclined: there’s more film music at 8, as the Princeton Symphony Orchestra presents “A Silver Screen Salute.” I’ll be your host for this special concert, featuring guest conductor Lucas Richman and Broadway vocalist Jessica Hendy. The program is a mix of classic scores and more contemporary favorites, all of them tied in one way or another to the big screen.

I echo Barry Fitzgerald in stating, “Homeric!”

March 11, 2016
Oscar Score Nominees Webcast Preview

For anyone interested in previewing this year’s nominees for Best Original Score, last week’s “Picture Perfect” has been posted as a webcast, as has this week’s “Oscar Party” of classic film themes. It’s a great way to kill two hours as you anticipate the Academy Awards.

http://wwfm.org/webcasts_picture_perfect.shtml

February 27, 2016

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