Classic Ross Amico

Tag: John Williams

Film Composers Beyond the Screen

If after about three hours you find yourself getting played out on the Academy Awards– once Ennio Morricone finally wins his first competitive Oscar, that is (fingers crossed) – you might consider tuning in to “The Lost Chord.” We’ll both complement and enjoy counterprogramming to the ceremony by listening to concert works by composers better known for their work in film.

Franz Waxman was a two-time Academy Award winner, honored with back-to-back Oscars, in 1950 and 1951, for his work on “Sunset Boulevard” and “A Place in the Sun.” Some of his other classic scores include those for “The Bride of Frankenstein,” “Rebecca,” “Rear Window,” “Peyton Place” and “The Nun’s Story.”

In 1955, he was traveling from California to Zurich to conduct a new piece commissioned by Rolf Liebermann. When Waxman reached New York he was met with a request from Lieberman’s office for program notes for the impending premiere. Waxman was forced to admit he hadn’t yet begun work on the piece, which he had planned to write during the ocean voyage. Fortunately, he was accustomed from his experience in Hollywood to write very quickly. The result was his “Sinfonietta for String Orchestra and Timpani.”

Five-time Academy Award winner John Williams – whose 50th nominated score, for “Star Wars: The Force Awakens,” is in contention tonight – is of course very well-known for his collaborations with George Lucas and Steven Spielberg. Over the years, he’s also accrued an impressive quantity of concertos. One of the more immediately attractive of these is his Tuba Concerto of 1985, written for the 100th anniversary of the Boston Pops.

Finally, we’ll turn to three-time Academy Award winner Miklós Rózsa, honored for his work on Alfred Hitchcock’s “Spellbound” in 1945, the Ronald Colman thriller “A Double Life” in 1947, and “Ben-Hur” in 1959. He also composed quite a bit of concert music, including concertos for Jascha Heifetz, Gregor Piatigorsky, Janos Starker, Leonard Pennario and Pinchas Zukerman.

Rózsa, Hungarian by birth, turned to film after a period of struggle as a young artist in Paris, where he learned from Arthur Honegger that he was able to pay the rent by supplementing his concert music with cinematic efforts. Rózsa’s “Theme, Variations and Finale,” Op. 13, of 1933, preceded the start of his film career by a few years. He revised the piece in 1943, by which time he had already completed his classic fantasy scores for Alexander Korda’s “The Thief of Bagdad” and “Jungle Book,” and was on the verge of becoming a leading composer of film noir.

“Theme, Variations and Finale” received performances by Charles Munch, Karl Böhm, Georg Solti, and Eugene Ormandy. It was also one of the works that featured on the legendary concert that launched Leonard Bernstein with the New York Philharmonic, on November 14, 1943, when the young assistant conductor substituted at the last minute for an ailing Bruno Walter.

I hope you’ll join me for an hour of concert music by composers better known for their work in film – “Against Type” on “The Lost Chord” – this Sunday night at 10 ET, with a repeat Wednesday evening at 6; or that you’ll listen to it later as a webcast at wwfm.org.

PHOTOS: Has anyone here seen Kelly? (Clockwise from left) John Williams wins the Oscar for “Star Wars;” Franz Waxman and Miklós Rózsa receive their awards from the hands of Gene Kelly

February 28, 2016
Classic Film Scores for Academy Awards Weekend

We’re heading into Academy Awards weekend. This week on “Picture Perfect” we’ll do our best to get you in the mood, with a baker’s dozen of classic film themes. We’ll hear music from “Gone With the Wind,” “Ben-Hur,” “The Lord of the Rings,” “Out of Africa,” “Exodus,” “Schindler’s List,” “The Adventures of Robin Hood,” “Around the World in 80 Days,” “The Godfather Part II,” “Tom Jones,” “Lawrence of Arabia,” “Titanic” and “E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial.”

The 88th Academy Awards, need I say, will take place on Sunday night.

Join me this evening at 6:00 ET, with a repeat tomorrow morning at 6; or listen to it later as webcast at wwfm.org. I’ll try to exert my influence to get the sound file posted by Sunday, if you’d like to call up the stream for a little pre-Oscar fun. Last week’s show, devoted to this year’s nominees, has already been posted.

#AcademyAwards #Oscars #FilmMusic #FilmScores

February 26, 2016
2016 Oscar Best Original Score Nominees

This year’s Academy Awards ceremony will take place on February 28. We’ll do our best to get you in the mood this week on “Picture Perfect,” by sampling from the nominations for Best Original Score.

In the Cold War drama, “Bridge of Spies,” Tom Hanks plays an American lawyer who is recruited to defend a Soviet operative, then enlisted to facilitate an exchange with the Soviets for a captured American pilot. Director Steven Spielberg’s regular collaborator, John Williams, had been engaged to write the score, but when Williams fell ill, Thomas Newman stepped in to provide the music.

Over the years, Newman has been nominated for 13 Academy Awards. He is the most nominated living composer to have never won an Oscar. He is surpassed in that regard only by Alex North, who was nominated 14 times. North finally received an honorary Oscar in 1986.

Though active as a film composer for over 30 years, Carter Burwell – composer of choice for the Coen Brothers – has never even been nominated – until now. “Carol,” starring Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara, is based on Patricia Highsmith’s 1952 novel, “The Price of Salt.” A departure for Highsmith, who is known for her thrillers, which became the basis for such films as “Strangers on a Train” and “The Talented Mr. Ripley,” “The Price of Salt” defies expectations to explore the relationship between an aspiring young female photographer and an older woman going through a difficult divorce.

Burwell captured the Academy’s attention with his tender score that nonetheless owes a bit to Philip Glass.

Icelandic composer Johann Johannsson has received his second Academy Award nomination. Last year, he was nominated for his music to “The Theory of Everything,” which won the Golden Globe. This year, he has been nominated for his work on “Sicario.”

Emily Blunt plays an idealistic FBI agent enlisted by a mysterious government official (played by Josh Brolin) to join a task force in the escalating war on drugs. Benicio del Toro also stars in this thriller set along the U.S.-Mexico border. Here is a sample of Johann Johannsson’s music for “Sicario.” It’s not exactly feel-good music, and it’s probably very effective in the film. Your enjoyment may depend on your tolerance for processed sounds.

Five-time Academy Award winner John Williams is the 800-pound gorilla of film composers. His music for the latest installment of “Star Wars,” “The Force Awakens,” features a preponderance of action cues and rare moments of poetry and lyricism. The score has earned Williams’ his 50th Academy Award nomination. He is not only the most-nominated person alive, he is the second most-nominated ever, behind only Walt Disney.

The great Ennio Morricone, despite having scored over 500 film and television projects in a career which has spanned 60 years, has never won a competitive Oscar. He received an honorary award from the Academy in 2007. His music for “The Hateful Eight” has earned him his sixth nomination. Having already collected this year’s Golden Globe and BAFTA awards, he is a favorite to win. Above and beyond the usual fine craftsmanship in evidence, there seems to be a wave of sentiment in favor of the beloved 87 year-old composer, who will be making a rare trip to the United States to attend the ceremony and the dedication of a star on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame.

“The Hateful Eight,” of course, is Quentin Tarantino’s synthesis of slow-burn Agatha Christie mystery and ultra-violent western. The music is one of its stronger elements.

Tune in tonight to find out what’s been deemed award-worthy in 2016. “Picture Perfect” airs at 6:00 ET, with a repeat tomorrow morning at 6; or you can listen to it later as a webcast at wwfm.org.

PHOTOS: John Williams, at the center of the film score universe, surrounded by (clockwise from bottom left) Johann Johannsson, Carter Burwell, Oscar fave Ennio Morricone, and always-a-bridesmaid-never-a-bride Thomas Newman

February 19, 2016
John Williams Scores Presidents for Presidents Day

Presidents Day is on the way.

Over the course of his 60-year career, John Williams has had the opportunity to score just about every kind of film. Not surprisingly, this would include several fictionalized accounts of American presidents. This week on “Picture Perfect,” we’ll sample music from four of them.

“JFK” (1991) was one of three collaborations between Williams and director Oliver Stone. The film had more to do with conspiracy theories surrounding Kennedy’s assassination than anything to do with his presidency. A controversial feature, no doubt – still, a compelling piece of cinema. It certainly inspired an effective score.

Kevin Costner plays New Orleans district attorney Jim Garrison; Sissy Spacek, his wife; Gary Oldman, Lee Harvey Oswald; Tommy Lee Jones and Joe Pesci are unforgettable as a pair of outlandish conspirators; and Donald Sutherland is a government whistleblower who identifies himself merely as “X.”

Williams and Stone had previously worked together on “Born on the Fourth of July.” Later, they would team on a second presidential collaboration, a character study of Richard Milhous Nixon, called – well, “Nixon” (1995). Anthony Hopkins played the president, heading an impressive cast, which included Joan Allen, Powers Boothe, Ed Harris, Bob Hoskins, E.G. Marshall, David Hyde Pierce, Paul Sorvino, Mary Steenburgen and James Woods.

Williams also wrote the music for Steven Spielberg’s “Amistad” (1997). The film, about a mutiny on board a slave ship in 1839, and subsequent courtroom drama, featured two American presidents: Nigel Hawthorne plays Martin van Buren, the sitting president; and again, Anthony Hopkins appears, in a memorable supporting turn, as aging former president John Quincy Adams. Adams argues the defense of the Africans who took part in the mutiny.

Daniel Day-Lewis plays the nation’s 16th president, in Spielberg’s “Lincoln” (2012). He’s lent able support by Sally Field as Mary Todd Lincoln, David Strathairn as Secretary of State William Steward and Tommy Lee Jones as Thaddeus Stevens.

It’s a bold assessment, but Day-Lewis elevates “Lincoln,” the film, to greatness, with arguably one of the most amazing performances in cinematic history. Day-Lewis’ gentle – but shrewd – Man of Destiny would go to any lengths to hold the country together. Williams tapped into America’s proud musical heritage, clearly influenced by Copland and Ives, to create a score of stirring nobility. BTW – In case you missed it, today is Lincoln’s birthday.

I hope you’ll join me, as John Williams does the presidents, on “Picture Perfect,” tonight at 6 ET, with a repeat tomorrow morning at 6; or that you’ll listen to it later as a webcast at wwfm.org.

PHOTOS: (clockwise from left) Day-Lewis as Lincoln; Hopkins as Nixon; poster for “JFK;” Hopkins as John Quincy Adams

February 12, 2016
Happy Birthday John Williams The Greatest Film Composer

In a career which has spanned 60 years, you’ve garnered 50 Academy Award nominations, 5 Academy Awards, 3 Emmys, 22 Grammys, and 7 BAFTA Awards.

You’re the composer for eight of the top 20 highest-grossing films of all time. You’ve written Olympic fanfares, the theme to NBC News, the theme to PBS’ “Great Performances,” and both themes to “Lost in Space.”

You’re the last in the line of the great Hollywood composers. You’ve also amassed an impressive body of concert music.

Thanks for the extended childhood, John. You’ve made life so much more bearable.

Happy birthday, John Williams, 84 years-old today.

#johnwilliams

The cast of “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” joins Jimmy Fallon and The Roots for this “a cappella” salute:

John Williams records the “Great Performances” theme, in his signature black turtleneck:

Theme to “Lost in Space” (season three):

Olympic Fanfare and Theme (Los Angeles games, 1984):

PHOTO: Williams, with John Boyega and Daisy Ridley of “The Force Awakens”

February 8, 2016

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