Classic Ross Amico

Tag: Miklos Rozsa

Great Detective Movie Music

This week on “Picture Perfect,” what do Sherlock Holmes, Hercule Poirot, Sam Spade, Dick Tracy, and Inspector Clouseau have in common? Get clued in, with music from movies about the great detectives.

Billy Wilder’s “The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes” (1970) is an unusually melancholy meditation from a director often celebrated for his hard-edged comedies. That’s not to say Wilder didn’t make more serious films, or that his Sherlock Holmes lacks humor or irreverence, but the lasting impression is somewhat elegiac.

A good part of the reason was his request of composer Miklós Rózsa (who had written music for the director’s much earlier classics, “Double Indemnity” and “The Lost Weekend”) to adapt his own Violin Concerto, a recording of which Wilder had played incessantly during pre-production. The heart-rending slow movement, especially, appears prominently, and mirrors Holmes’ sense of isolation, to say nothing of his retreats into music and drug addiction.

The great Albert Finney memorably portrayed Agatha Christie’s fastidious detective, Hercule Poirot, in “Murder on the Orient Express” (1974). The first and best of the all-star Christie thrillers, this one featured, among others, Lauren Bacall, Martin Balsam, Ingrid Bergman, Sean Connery, John Gielgud, Anthony Perkins, Richard Widmark, and Michael York. Bergman’s performance was recognized with an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.

The catchy score, by Richard Rodney Bennett, was also nominated, but the Oscar that year went to Nino Rota and Carmine Coppola, for their music for “The Godfather, Part II.”

Warren Beatty’s amusing homage to comic strip hero “Dick Tracy” (1990) is worthwhile for its starry cameos, sharp production design, and retro score by Danny Elfman. Elfman’s love theme sounds as if it could have been written by any number of composers from Hollywood’s golden age, all under the influence of George Gershwin.

Lending a touch of noir, Humphrey Bogart plays private dick Sam Spade, in John Huston’s adaptation of Dashiell Hammett’s “The Maltese Falcon” (1941). Bogart, at his hardboiled best, is bolstered by a game supporting cast, including Mary Astor, Peter Lorre, Sidney Greenstreet, and Elisha Cook, Jr.

The music is by Adolph Deutsch, one of the less remembered names of Hollywood’s heyday, although he scored such enduring films as “Father of the Bride,” “Little Women” (1949), and “Some Like It Hot.” He also provided background music for the big screen adaptation of “Oklahoma,” and conducted the orchestra in musicals like “Seven Brides for Seven Brothers” and “Annie Get Your Gun.”

Finally, to wrap things up on a lighter note, we’ll enjoy a potpourri assembled from the “Pink Panther” comedies of Blake Edwards. Peter Sellers plays the bumbling Inspector (later Chief Inspector) Clouseau. The insinuating, breezy, and “cool” scores are by Henry Mancini.

I hope you’ll join me for this hour with the great detectives, on “Picture Perfect,” music for the movies. To miss it would be a crime, this Saturday evening at 6:00 EST, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org

February 5, 2022
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
Film Noir Shadows & Moral Ambiguity

This week on “Picture Perfect,” as the shadows lengthen, we revisit the world of film noir, a genre notoriously slippery to define, but easy to know when you see it – with its long shadows and moral ambiguities; cock-eyed camera angles and snappy repartee; isolation and innuendo. It’s a genre where a pair of gams is an invitation to the gallows; where a man’s best friend – and sometimes his worst enemy – is his Colt .38; where only cigarettes and bourbon can ease the pain.

The labyrinthine mystery at the heart of “The Big Sleep” (1946) is so disorienting, even the book’s author, Raymond Chandler, couldn’t tell whodunit. Who cares? Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall get some more steamy dialogue to satisfy fans of “To Have and Have Not,” and there’s plenty of Bogey pounding the pavement and tossing off tart one-liners in pursuit of the truth. But my favorite scene involves Dorothy Malone, who runs the hottest bookstore in town.

Whenever there are gallows to be built or gangsters to be beaten, Warner Brothers could be counted on to assign Max Steiner.

“Chinatown” (1974) is one of the best of the neo-noirs of the 1970s. This time, Jack Nicholson plays private dick J.J. Gittes, who takes on a seemingly routine case that begins to spiral out of control. When producer Robert Evans rejected Philip Lambro’s original score, Jerry Goldsmith stepped in as a last-minute replacement. The composer was hired with the understanding that he had only ten days to write and record new music. For his effort, Goldsmith received an Academy Award nomination.

The Coen Brothers clearly love noir, from their first feature, “Blood Simple,” to their Academy Award winners, “Fargo” and “No Country for Old Men,” to their absurdly entertaining reimagining of “The Big Sleep,” “The Big Lebowski.” “Miller’s Crossing” (1990) was one of the more underappreciated of these. The film follows the well-worn device of an anti-hero playing two sides off of one another, until he is the last one standing – shades of Dashiell Hammett’s “Red Harvest,” with a healthy dose of “The Glass Key” thrown in, for good measure. The Irish-inflected score is by Coen regular Carter Burwell.

Before he became stereotyped as a composer for epic films like “Ben-Hur,” “King of Kings” and “El Cid,” Miklós Rózsa was the king of noir, providing scores for genre classics such as “Double Indemnity” and “The Strange Love of Martha Ivers.” We’ll hear a suite assembled from three such projects: “Brute Force” (1947), a hard-hitting prison drama, starring Burt Lancaster as a desperate inmate and a contemptible Hume Cronyn as a sadistic guard; “The Killers” (1946), also starring Lancaster as a marked boxer; and “The Naked City” (1948), with Barry Fitzgerald leading a police investigation into the murder of a young model. The suite is titled “Background to Violence.”

Put on your rumpled linen suit, draw the Venetian blinds, and play the sap for nobody this week. It’s film noir in the gritty city, on “Picture Perfect,” music for the movies, this Saturday evening at 6:00 EST, on WWFM – The Classical Network and at wwfm.org.

The theatrical trailer for “Brute Force”:

PHOTO: Bogart and Malone talk literature

November 14, 2020
Hungarian Night Music & Bela Lugosi

“Children of the night – what beautiful music they make!” So says Hungarian superstar Bela Lugosi in his signature role of Dracula. The observation (spoken in response to the howling of wolves) might equally be applied, under less chilling circumstances, to three of Lugosi’s composer-compatriots, whose nocturnal meditations we’ll enjoy this Sunday night on “The Lost Chord.”

Miklós Rózsa, himself a figure with cinematic associations, wrote nearly 100 film scores and won three Academy Awards – for “Spellbound” (1945), “A Double Life” (1947), and “Ben-Hur” (1959). He was also an active concert composer, writing concertos for Jascha Heifetz, Leonard Pennario, Gregor Piatigorsky, and Pinchas Zukerman.

In the summer of 1962, Rózsa composed “Hungarian Nocturne” on a commission from Edward B. Benjamin, a New Orleans millionaire with a fondness for quiet music. However, in order to maintain interest, the composer realized, there was no way he could remain quiet for the entire span of the piece. So the nocturne eventually builds to a climax before returning to the serene mood of its opening. His patron wasn’t entirely pleased, though he did draw enjoyment from the quieter parts. The piece was an attempt by the composer to recapture the rare beauty of nights on his estate in rural Hungary.

Though Antal Doráti would ultimately become world famous as a conductor, he studied composition at the Franz Liszt Academy under Zoltán Kodály and Leó Weiner. He also studied piano with Béla Bartók. A fine Bartok interpreter, Doráti would later conduct the world premiere of his teacher’s Viola Concerto.

Doráti’s own music has always been regarded as something of a sidelight. His “Night Music,” from 1970, is a collection of evocative miniatures for flute and orchestra. We’ll hear it performed by Alison Young, now a host for Minnesota Public Radio.

Unlike Rózsa and Doráti, who were both natives of Budapest, Zoltán Kodály was born in a small town in Southern Hungary. He claimed that his first exposure to folk music was through the singing of servant girls in his own home. He went on to become one of the most important figures in Hungarian musical life, as composer, ethnomusicologist, and educator.

Kodály will be represented by his orchestral idyll, “Summer Evening,” music originally composed in 1906, then revised in 1929, to fulfill a commission from Arturo Toscanini. Kodály himself will conduct, on a gorgeous recording with the Budapest Philharmonic.

That’s “Children of the Night” – Hungarian composers take wing – this Sunday night at 10:00 EDT, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.

IMAGE: “New Moon,” by Mihály Zeller

August 9, 2020
Arabian Nights Cinematic Delights

Open sesame! It’s an Aladdin’s Cave of cinematic delights.

This week on “Picture Perfect,” the focus is on tales from “The Arabian Nights.”

These traditional folk stories from the Orient have come down to us filtered through the sensibilities of Western translators. Further translation was required to get the stories from page to screen; so it’s hardly surprising to find Sinbad, for instance, fighting a giant walrus at the North Pole.

The film versions are often showcases for the work of production designers and special effects artists, but composers have certainly gotten in on the act with suitably imaginative scores.

Bernard Herrmann lent plenty of color and wit to the skeleton duel in “The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad” (1958) by employing a battery of castanets, xylophone, and brass. Stop motion artist Ray Harryhausen was responsible for the memorable effects. “Sinbad” proved to be a dry run for the climax of “Jason and the Argonauts,” in which Harryhausen outdid himself by animating not one, but seven skeletons, and again, Herrmann supplied the music.

Harryhausen animated two further Sinbad adventures – “The Golden Voyage of Sinbad” (1974) and “Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger” (1977). Over the course of the three “Sinbad” films, audiences were treated to fantastic encounters with, in addition to the skeleton, a Cyclops, a roc, a dragon, a statue of the goddess Kali, a centaur, a giant walrus, and a saber-tooth tiger, among others.

“Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger” was scored by Roy Budd. Budd’s reputation was largely that of a jazz musician and composer. He wrote scores for over 50 films, including “Get Carter” and “The Wild Geese,” before his early death of a brain hemorrhage, at the age of 46, in 1993.

Walt Disney created a modern classic in “Aladdin” (1992). The music was by Alan Menken, with lyrics by Howard Ashman and Tim Rice. “Aladdin” won Academy Awards for Best Original Score and Best Original Song (“A Whole New World”). Menken has a whole shelf full of Oscars for his work for Disney. Need I say, Robin Williams was the voice of the manic, freewheeling Genie?

Rex Ingram’s Genie steals the show in “The Thief of Bagdad” (1940). Ingram emerges from his magic lamp and looms over a cowering Sabu, whom he addresses as “Little Master of the Universe.” The beach resounds with his maniacal laughter. There was an earlier, justly celebrated, silent version of “Thief,” with Douglas Fairbanks. The remake splits the thief and the prince into two separate characters. Sabu plays the incorrigible Abu (the thief), and Conrad Veidt is his nemesis, the treacherous vizier Jaffar.

The score is by three-time Academy Award winner Miklós Rózsa. Rózsa was in London, in the employ of Alexander Korda, when the lavish Technicolor production was moved to Hollywood on account of the Blitz. Rózsa would go on to become one of Hollywood’s greatest composers. His music for “Ben-Hur” alone has earned him a place in the film music pantheon. He never wrote a more charming score, however, than he did for this.

I hope you’ll join me for an hour of cinematic enchantments. That’s “A Thousand and One Nights at the Movies,” on “Picture Perfect,” this Friday evening at 6:00 EDT, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.

July 10, 2020

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