Yesterday was so busy, I didn’t get around to submitting my annual “March Madness” show until this morning. The program includes 12 marches by nine composers. (And yes, John Williams is one of them.) Enjoy it on “Sweetness and Light,” this Saturday morning at 11:00 EDT/8:00 PDT, exclusively on KWAX, the radio station of the University of Oregon. Stream it wherever you are at the link.
Tag: John Williams
-
Golden Age Movie Music on KWAX
Musically, the Academy Awards lost me some time ago. I’m an orchestra guy and a product of the 20th century (if not the 19th). This morning on “Sweetness and Light,” we’ll hark back to a halcyon era when indelible movie themes were indispensable components of the overall cinematic experience.
I don’t want to give it all away in my Facebook teaser – in fact, during the course of the show, I won’t even identify the pieces until after each one of them is played, so that you’ll have the added enjoyment of guessing along at home – but trust that you’ll likely recognize most of them, all Best Original Score winners or nominees from highly-decorated films.
As a bonus, the show will open with a 90-second montage of introductory fanfares from the great studios of Hollywood’s Golden Age. So you’ll want to be there when the lights go down. Celluloid memories will be stirred by reel music, on “Sweetness and Light,” this Saturday morning at 11:00 EST/8:00 PST, exclusively on KWAX, the radio station of the University of Oregon!
Stream it, wherever you are, at the link:
PHOTO: Oscar-winner John Williams (right), with presenters Henry Mancini and Olivia Newton-John, in 1978
-
Jerry Goldsmith Overshadowed Genius
Two days after John Williams’ birthday falls the anniversary of the birth of Jerry Goldsmith. Unfortunately, this would essentially become the story of Jerry’s life, as despite being three years Williams’ senior and having cracked the A-list ahead of his younger colleague, Goldsmith often seemed to be caught in Williams’ wake.
Sure, he distinguished himself with some of the great film scores of his time, including those for “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 “Star Trek: The Motion Picture” (1979). For television, he wrote for “Dr. Kildare,” “The Twilight Zone,” “Gunsmoke,” “The Man from U.N.C.L.E.,” and “The Waltons.”
But by the 1980s, the films began to get weaker. It seemed like Goldsmith was always getting tossed the projects Williams passed on, or cheap knockoffs of Williams’ successes. By his final decade, he was stuck writing for such garbage as “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. I can recall many a moviegoing experience in which Goldsmith’s music wound up being the only redeeming quality.
Furthermore, he had a reputation for being able to compose at white heat, so he was frequently called upon to write replacement scores for films like “The River Wild” (1994), “Air Force One” (1997), and “The 13th Warrior” (1999). He composed and recorded the score to “Chinatown,” one of the best of the 1970s, in only ten days.
Criminally, he was honored with but a single Academy Award, 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 this world. Like the John Henry of Hollywood composers, he’d be churning out quality film scores to put all the cheap-ass computer steam-drillers to shame.
Happy birthday, Jerry Goldsmith!
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
-
John Williams Birthday Radio Tribute
In common with just about everyone of a certain age, I fell in love with John Williams’ transporting, often inspirational music through repeated listenings to the soundtracks for a string of blockbusters he scored, primarily from the late ‘70s, through the early ‘80s – “Star Wars,” “Superman,” “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” “E.T.,” and so forth.
This week, on “Sweetness and Light,” to mark Williams’ 93rd birthday (he was born on February 8, 1932), we’ll hark back to some of these, but we’ll also hear a surprising number of “B-sides,” as they were once called. You know, like on a classic 45-RPM, with the hit tune on side A, and a lesser-known number on the flip-side. Yes, I’m dating myself, but if you’re old enough to have seen those movies in the theater, you know just what I’m talking about.
One of the things I absolutely love about Williams’ music is that, even in his most intense scores, he’s always able to find moments of light, warmth, and humanity. When you listen to John Williams, you remember how wonderful it is to be alive, in a world of limitless possibility. Moreover, he’s introduced countless people (I among them) to the delights of the symphony orchestra.
At the peak of his influence – a period of decades – he basically defined the sound of the movies. Sadly, Hollywood has given it all up to save a few pennies in settling for a computer-manipulated shorthand of ominous drones and heart-pounding but anonymous chase rhythms.
I hope you’ll join me in saluting the Last of the Movie Music Lions. It’s a John Williams’ miscellany – 15 selections in all, ranging from the 1960s to the 2000s – as we wish the composer a very happy birthday, on “Sweetness and Light,” this Saturday morning at 11:00 EST/8:00 PST, exclusively on KWAX, the radio station of the University of Oregon!
Stream it, wherever you are, at the link:
-
Spielberg Hitchcock Herrmann Williams Radio
When Steven Spielberg was introduced to Bernard Herrmann during a scoring session for Martin Scorsese’s “Taxi Driver,” he wound up going all fan-boy.
“Oh, Mr. Herrmann!” Spielberg gushed. “I’m such an admirer of your work! You’re such an amazing genius!”
Herrmann, who was notoriously prickly, looked him up and down and scowled, before replying, “So why do you always hire John Williams?”
Interestingly, not long before, Spielberg, buoyed by the box office success of “Jaws,” worked up the courage to meet Herrmann’s one-time employer, Alfred Hitchcock, on the set of Hitch’s final film, “Family Plot” (which, coincidentally, Hitchcock also hired Williams to score).
Before Spielberg could say anything, Hitch had him escorted off set, commenting to actor Bruce Dern, “Isn’t that the boy who made the fish movie?”
The very night Spielberg met Herrmann (albeit briefly), the composer wrapped-up recording his music for “Taxi Driver,” went back to his hotel and died of a heart attack, in his sleep, in the wee hours of December 24, 1975. Hitchcock would follow his erstwhile collaborator in 1980.
I establish these connections, because two of my three radio shows this weekend focus on the music of Bernard Herrmann and John Williams.
In the mid-1950s, Herrmann and Hitchcock came together for a string of commercial, critical, and artistic successes, including, most notably, “Vertigo,” “North by Northwest” and “Psycho.” But the two collaborated on no less than nine films, if we count “The Birds,” on which Herrmann acted as sound consultant.
Today, on “Picture Perfect,” we’ll have selections from the other five – among them, “Marnie,” “The Trouble with Harry” and “The Wrong Man.”
Herrmann’s reworking of Arthur Benjamin’s “The Storm Clouds Cantata” was used at the climax of the 1956 version of “The Man Who Knew Too Much,” as a frantic James Stewart attempts to thwart an assassination plot at Royal Alert Hall. (In the film, Herrmann himself appears on the podium.)
We’ll also hear a portion of the rejected score for “Torn Curtain,” the project that ended the Herrmann-Hitchcock association. Hitchcock fired Herrmann, when the composer ignored his instructions to write something light and popular, under studio pressure. John Addison was hired as his replacement, and the film was a failure at the box office.
In recent years, Herrmann admirers have had several opportunities to sample the composer’s original thoughts. Quentin Tarantino is obviously a fan. He used some of Herrmann’s “Torn Curtain” music in “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.”
I hope you’ll join me for lesser-heard Herrmann-Hitchcock, on “Picture Perfect,” music for the movies.
But wait – there’s more!
Tomorrow is John Williams’ 93rd birthday. To celebrate, I’ve assembled a miscellany of the composer’s music for film, television, and the Olympic Games for “Sweetness and Light.” Among the offerings will be selections from several scores written for Spielberg and one (“Family Plot”) written for Hitch.
Hitch yourself to Herrmann, this Friday at 8:00 EST/5:00 PST; then send well-wishes to Williams, this Saturday morning at 11:00 EST/8:00 PST, on “Picture Perfect” and “Sweetness and Light,” respectively – exclusively on KWAX, the radio station of the University of Oregon!
Clip and save the start times for all three of my recorded shows:
PICTURE PERFECT, the movie music show – Friday at 8:00 PM EST/5:00 PM PST
SWEETNESS AND LIGHT, the light music program – ALL NEW! – Saturday at 11:00 AM EST/8:00 AM PST
THE LOST CHORD, unusual and neglected rep – Saturday at 7:00 PM EST/4:00 PM PST
Stream them, wherever you are, at the link!
Tag Cloud
Aaron Copland (93) Beethoven (95) Composer (114) Film Music (141) Film Score (143) Film Scores (255) Halloween (94) John Williams (195) KWAX (229) Leonard Bernstein (103) Marlboro Music Festival (125) Movie Music (156) Mozart (89) Opera (212) Philadelphia Orchestra (89) Picture Perfect (174) Princeton Symphony Orchestra (108) Radio (88) Ross Amico (244) Roy's Tie-Dye Sci-Fi Corner (290) The Classical Network (101) The Lost Chord (268) Vaughan Williams (103) WPRB (396) WWFM (881)