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Tag: John Williams

Film Composers Beyond the Screen

Played out on the Oscars?

This Sunday night on “The Lost Chord,” enjoy a triple-feature of concert works by composers better recognized for their work in film.

First, Jerome Moross was ensured a kind of immortality in the hearts of moviegoers for his Academy Award nominated score for “The Big Country.” He composed music for 16 films in all – comparatively few, actually, on account of a bicoastal career. (He was based in New York City.)

Off-screen, he wrote music for five ballets, a symphony, a flute concerto, various works for orchestra and chamber ensemble, and a one-act opera, “Sorry, Wrong Number.” His best-known musical theatre piece is “The Golden Apple,” which spawned the ever-green “Lazy Afternoon.”

Tonight, we’ll hear his delightful “Sonatina for Clarinet Choir” of 1966.

Very little need be said of John Williams. The most successful film composer of all time, Williams has been a household name since the 1970s, thanks to the one-two punch of “Jaws” and “Star Wars.” But by then, he was already two decades into a career that’s now spanned 65 years. With 52 Academy Award nominations and five wins, he is the second most nominated figure in the history of the Academy, behind only Walt Disney.

For the concert hall, Williams has written music for just about every instrument, including an impressive body of concertos. Tonight, we’ll hear his “Essay for Strings,” composed in 1965, when he was 33 years-old.

Finally, English composer Laurie Johnson (pictured) – still with us at 94 – is appreciated for his contributions to, among others, Stanley Kubrick’s “Dr. Strangelove,” the Hammer cult favorite “Captain Kronos – Vampire Hunter,” and the classic TV series “The Avengers.”

Gramophone Magazine described his “Symphony: Synthesis,” composed in 1971, as a masterpiece. “The work becomes increasingly fascinating with each listening,” writes the critic. “This is perhaps the first truly successful combination of the Jazz and European music traditions.”

The recording we’ll hear, made under the composer’s direction, features a number of prominent jazz artists, including Tubby Hayes, Don Lusher, Joe Harriott, Kenny Wheeler and Stan Tracey.

It’s not always about images. Film composers cast themselves against type, on “Typecast IV: The Curse of Typecast.” It will be there for you when the Oscars sputter, this Sunday night at 10:00 EDT; or enjoy it later, as a webcast, on WWFM – The Classical Network and at wwfm.org.

April 25, 2021
Miklós Rózsa Centennial Celebration

Today is the birthday of the great Miklós Rózsa (1907-1995).

Rózsa receives his third Academy Award, from the hand of Gene Kelly. (BONUS: André Previn wins for his work on “Porgy and Bess.”)

Later, Rózsa conducted a suite from his most celebrated film score on the PBS series “Previn & the Pittsburgh.”

Previn interviews Rózsa, in the presence of John Williams. (Fun anecdote about Bernard Herrmann and slight regard for Herbert Stothart.)

Happy birthday, Miklós Rózsa!

PHOTO (right to left): Rózsa, Previn, and Williams in 1979

April 18, 2021
Jerry Goldsmith A Shadowed Genius

He may have been the older composer (by three years), but if we’re to go by dates on a wall calendar, Jerry Goldsmith was born two days after John Williams. And despite being one of the greatest film composers of his age, he never could wholly escape Williams’ shadow.

Blame it on the blockbusters.

By the late ‘70s, once the studios got their heads around the unprecedented box office of “Jaws” and “Star Wars,” Goldsmith started to get tossed either projects Williams passed on, or cheap knockoffs of Williams’ successes.

Williams got “Star Wars;” Goldsmith got “Star Trek: The Motion Picture.” Williams got “Superman;” Goldsmith (first choice, but he had to turn it down) got “Supergirl.” Williams got “Raiders of the Lost Ark;” Goldsmith got “King Solomon’s Mines” (the Richard Chamberlain version). Williams got “E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial;” Goldsmith got “Baby: The Secret of the Lost Legend.”

Don’t get me wrong: Goldsmith was an amazing composer, and his talents were matched to plenty of enduring classics: “The Sand Pebbles” (1966), “The Blue Max” (1966), “The Flim-Flam Man” (1967), “Planet of the Apes” (1968), “Patton” (1970), “Papillon” (1973), “Chinatown” (1974), “The Wind and the Lion” (1975), “MacArthur” (1977), “The Boys from Brazil” (1978), “The Great Train Robbery” (1979), “Alien” (1979, butchered in the sound editing), and numerous incarnations of “Star Trek” (beginning in 1979).

He could also write like the wind. He had just ten days to compose and record a replacement score for “Chinatown” (after Phillip Lambro’s original was rejected). The result is one of the most effective scores of the 1970s.

Sadly, the movies got weaker. In 1997, he stepped in for Randy Newman on “Air Force One.” Does anyone even care?

By his final decade, he was stuck writing music for garbage like “The Mummy” (1999), “The Haunting” (1999), and “Looney Tunes: Back in Action” (2003). A notable exception was “L.A. Confidential” (1997), but rarely were his later projects up to his talent.

Goldsmith himself expressed frustration at his music being drowned out by ever more-elaborate sound effects, which is why his scores became more streamlined – and less memorable – in the ‘90s. He would have lost his mind in these days of laptop editing, when films can be trimmed and shuffled within an inch of their lives, right up until the day of distribution.

But he was one of the last of the greats, and he lived through a great era, so we certainly have enough to cherish.

For television, he wrote music for “Dr. Kildare,” “The Twilight Zone,” “Gunsmoke,” “The Man from U.N.C.L.E.,” “The Waltons,” and “Barnaby Jones.” He was the recipient of five Emmy Awards.

Incredibly, despite EIGHTEEN nominations, he was honored with but a single Oscar, for his influential score to “The Omen” (1976). Goldsmith died in 2004, at the age of 75. If he were to come back today, he would mop the joint with all the Hans Zimmers of the world.

Happy birthday, Jerry Goldsmith. I sure does miss you.

The Man from U.N.C.L.E.:

Planet of the Apes:

Patton:

Chinatown:

The Wind and the Lion:

The Omen:

Star Trek: The Motion Picture:

February 10, 2021
Where Did All the Inspirational Movies Go?

Where are all the inspirational movies? Now, more than at any time in recent memory, there should be a wave of optimistic films to lift us up, out of all the dread, gloom, and rancor.

Over the course of his unparalleled career, John Williams almost always managed to convey the exhilaration of being alive, even in the darkest thrillers. Everyone remembers his theme for the great white, but it’s the swashbuckling third act that made “Jaws” a monstrous hit.

Not that everything has to be a march, necessarily, but how about a few interludes of light and beauty? Must these be totally absent from the movies these days? Is the best in life really reflected in the hip, the dark, the badass, and the ironic? Must the pace always be relentless?

The 1970s was far from the most hopeful decade. In the wake of Vietnam, Watergate, and all the political and social unrest of the 1960s, who could have predicted that a young generation of filmmakers would embrace imagination, wit, and adventure? After a hot afternoon of sweating it out on a gas line, the American public was hungry for affirmation and escape. They could still find it in a darkened theater, and these movies became enormous moneymakers.

But then, as usual, the Man got a hold of it and squeezed hard. A corporate mindset took root and bled everything of its fun and turned the world into a bleak thrill-ride.

There was plenty of grit in American movies of the 1970s, to be sure. But at some point, you’ve got to look away from all the crime and conspiracy, the dystopias and divorces, the horrors, real and supernatural, and celebrate the simple pleasures of biking to a friend’s house, sitting in a park with the sun on your face, or standing on a lawn in your bare feet.

Who knows, maybe it’s just not practical to expect any kind of soul, patience, or reflection anymore, with all the smartphones and computers. And the tighter deadlines for composers, and the ability to manipulate films virtually until the day they are released.

Does anyone watch the birds or the snow or the clouds, or even dream? Or breathe? Or is that considered boring? All I’m asking for is a little poetry, or even a smile.

Even when the movies weren’t the best, John Williams put his stamp on the music, so that you felt you were actually watching something ennobling. He’s one of few who still knows how to convey that life is worth living.

Happy birthday, Maestro. Now at work on a violin concerto for Anne-Sophie Mutter, John Williams turns 89.

The Reivers (1969):

The Fury (1978):

Jaws 2, for crying out loud (1978):

The Rise of Skywalker (2019):

February 8, 2021
Rollerball Tie-Dye Super Sunday Livestream

Roy and I seemed to regain our mojo last night. Chalk it up to ROLLERBALL. That, and a whole lot of tie-dye (to say nothing of the hoagies and buffalo wings). They don’t call it Super Sunday for nothing.

We’ll be back on Friday, to get you in the mood for Valentine’s Day, with THE FURY (1978). This Brian De Palma thriller is not just about Kirk Douglas and exploding heads. It also features a great score by John Williams from the same year he composed “Superman.” Happy birthday to the Maestro, who is 89 today!

You don’t need extrasensory perception to divine that Roy’s Tie-Dye Sci-Fi Corner will return, livestreamed on Facebook, this Friday evening at 7:00 EST!

https://www.facebook.com/roystiedyescificorner

A direct link to our discussion of ROLLERBALL (with snacks) here:

February 8, 2021

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