Classic Ross Amico

Tag: Miklos Rozsa

Restoration Era Film Scores & Charles II

Get out the pancake makeup, and don’t skimp on the beauty marks. This week on “Picture Perfect,” the focus will be on Charles II and the Restoration.

The film “Restoration” (1995) featured quite a cast, with a pre-“Iron Man” Robert Downey, Jr., as a young doctor torn between duty and debauchery. He succumbs to the latter at the court of Charles II, played by Sam Neill, before finding redemption as he battles the Great Plague and braves the Fire of London. The film also stars David Thewlis, Polly Walker, Meg Ryan, Ian McKellan and Hugh Grant.

The main title of James Newtown Howard’s score takes its impetus from Henry Purcell’s “The Fairy Queen.” And indeed there are baroque inflections throughout.

George Sanders plays Charles in “The King’s Thief” (1955). Edmund Purdom is a highwayman who pilfers an incriminating book from David Niven. An aristocratic schemer, Niven will stop at nothing to get it back. The swashbuckling score is by Miklós Rózsa.

I don’t recall Charles making an appearance in “The Draughtsman’s Contract” (1982), Peter Greenaway’s saucy though strangely aloof Restoration opus. However, there is plenty of licentiousness and an abundance of outlandish wigs. And, it being a Greenaway film, it is certainly strange in more ways than one. Michael Nyman’s score puts a minimalist spin on baroque sources.

Finally, “Forever Amber” (1947) is based on a then-scandalous novel by Kathleen Winsor, about an ambitious young woman’s rise through the bedchambers of the Royal Court. The film was directed by Otto Preminger. Linda Darnell is Amber. Once again, George Sanders plays Charles, eight years before reprising the role for “The King’s Thief.” Cornel Wilde, Richard Greene and Jessica Tandy are also in the cast. Philadelphia-born composer David Raksin, of “Laura” fame, plays fast and loose with music of the era.

Bwoo-hoo-hoo-hoo! It’s so naughty! Join me for music from movies set during the Restoration, on “Picture Perfect,” this Friday evening at 6, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.

September 15, 2017
Thief of Bagdad Rozsa Score Rediscovered

If your three wishes would encompass a complete recording, in up-to-date sound, of one of the most enchanting film scores by Miklós Rózsa, you needn’t hold out for the discovery of a magic lamp. I hope you’ll join me for a recent release of a two-CD set, on the Prometheus label, of music from the classic 1940 fantasy-adventure “The Thief of Bagdad.” The City of Prague Philharmonic and Nic Raine have recorded the score, note-complete, with ample bonus material. Tune in to be transported. Take the magic carpet ride, this Friday at 6 p.m. EDT, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.

June 23, 2017
Medieval Movie Music on “Picture Perfect”

Ladies, lords, and gentlepersons all…

Hearken ye to “Picture Perfect” this week for sweet airs from movies set in the Age of Chivalry.

Peradventure ye will encounter sounds and delights from “The Warlord” (Jerome Moross), “El Cid” (Miklós Rózsa), “Lionheart” (Jerry Goldsmith), and “The Adventures of Robin Hood” (Erich Wolfgang Korngold).

Verily, chivalry is not dead, this Friday evening at 6 EDT, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.

June 2, 2017
Remembering Robert Osborne TCM Host

I don’t know about you, but I’m still reeling from the death of Robert Osborne, primary host of Turner Classic Movies: TCM since the network’s inception in 1994. Osborne died earlier this week at the age of 84. As someone who has had his television set welded to one channel for the better part of two decades, I feel as if I’ve lost a personal friend.

I hope you’ll join me on Thursday morning on WPRB, as I pay tribute to Osborne with a program of music by composers associated with the kinds of films we both loved. The morning will be made up of scores written for the silver screen and concert works by Miklós Rózsa, Franz Waxman, and Erich Wolfgang Korngold, among others.

Included will be selections from some of the films Osborne acknowledged as personal favorites – films like “Laura,” “A Place in the Sun,” and “Hobson’s Choice.” There will be ample symphonies, concertos, and chamber music, as well.

We’ll roll the credits for Bob tomorrow, from 6 to 11 a.m. EST, on WPRB 103.3 FM and at wprb.com. The music will all be in black and white, on Classic Ross Amico.

March 9, 2017
Oscars La La Land & Film Composers Concert

They don’t make ‘em like they used to. That statement could just as easily apply to the Academy Awards ceremonies as to the films they celebrate.

Certainly, they don’t write film scores like they used to, which is what makes the unabashedly retro romanticism of “La La Land” so refreshing. Best wishes to Princeton High School alumnus, director Damian Chazelle, and his Harvard roommate, composer Justin Hurwitz.

If you are immune to “La La Land” fever, you might consider tuning in tonight to “The Lost Chord” for an alternative to the Oscars, as I’ll present concert music by three composers generally associated with film.

Maurice Jarre was the recipient of three Academy Awards, for his work on the David Lean epics “Lawrence of Arabia,” “Doctor Zhivago,” and “A Passage to India.” Big orchestral gestures don’t tell the whole story, however, and late in his career, Jarre turned increasingly to electronic music and electronic-acoustic blends.

It was not an entirely new wrinkle in his development. He had met Maurice Martenot in the 1940s, and immediately recognized the potential of his invention, the ondes Martenot, an electronic instrument sounding somewhat like the theremin but offering more precision due to the addition of a keyboard. Jarre was in his mid-20s when he composed “Three Dances for Ondes Martenot and Percussion.”

Composer Thomas Newman has never won a competitive Oscar, despite his having been nominated 14 times. (He’s up for his music for “Passengers” tonight, but against “La La Land,” he doesn’t have a prayer.) He’s still one nomination short of the record-holder, poor Alex North, composer of “A Streetcar Named Desire,” “Spartacus,” and “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf,” who was finally recognized with an honorary Oscar in 1986. Tonight, we’ll feature North’s rarely-heard “Holiday Set,” from an old Spa Records 33 ½ LP.

Finally, Miklós Rózsa was the recipient of three Academy Awards, most notably for his music for the 1959 version of “Ben-Hur.” Rozsa’s colorful and energetic “Three Hungarian Sketches,” composed in 1938, draws on musical inflections of his homeland.

If you just can’t bear the Oscars, I hope you’ll join me for another installment of “Typecast” (we’ve visited this topic before), film composers in the concert hall, this Sunday night at 10:00 EST, on WWFM – The Classical Network and at wwfm.org.

February 26, 2017

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