@ Stage and Screen feature Music of the movies With the bestselling success of the Titanic soundtrack, film music has never been ‘more popular. Michael Scott Rohan hails an end to snobbery about film scores. vo bands played on while Thanic sank - one on the ship, the other fon the soundkrack. It's this second band which really drives home the rama, Aled Hitchcock once des cribed an innocuous scene of people chatting ina sunny room — and its total ansformation when the audience discovered there was a compse behind the door. ‘Music can subtly subvert that innocent atmosphere even before the audience knows anything “reaching out as Bemard Hermann once sad, “and enveloping all into one single experience. This is no mean art to command, and yet over the last half-century the musical establishment has constantly undervalued film scoring. As recently as the late 1960 an otherwise go-ahead young music lecturer informed me tha the Sinfonia Arnarsica couldn't be a real symphony because it was just cobbled.together flim musi.” Where did this kind of blindness come from? In considering the answer wwe can restore ret to some, at leas, of nema’ underrated musical gins, Music and drama are natu partners, with 3 ‘common origin in ancient hunting chants and das es. Music, filing a barren stage with atmosphere and raising the emotional temperature, has been an ‘essential element of theatre since the chore chants fof Greek drama and the gory pageantey of Rome, sccompanied by the deafening hydrauls or water forgan,a sor of ancestral Mighty Wurlizer. The gallery band of Shakespeare's Globe grew into the full-scale orchestas ofthe nineteenth century. Many ‘of the greatest composers turned their powers to ‘tage music Purcell, Bethoven, Mendelssohn, Grieg, Sibelius, 0 name only a few, and nobody thought the worse of them, ‘When silent flm appeared, lacking dialogue or any means of conveying ambiance, it naturally picked up the theatrical trltion. Often music was played on the set, to create atmosphere and help 8 Classic CD duly 1998 the actors pacing, and in the cinema it was all> important ~ rarely the tinkling piano of legend, but often full orchestras playing scores specially ‘commissioned and cued, Saint Sans, no les, was probably the fist major composer to create one, foe ‘The assassination ofthe Duc de Guise. Such sophis: tiation even allowed the ming of “silent” operas, With the more photogenic prima donnas such as, Mary: De Miles Carmen. MUSIC 2228s Deen tothe stage. Why, then, di i suddenly become so much less acceptable? Film aiden in Thats, or Geraldine Farrar in Cecil created a new dramatic vocabulary, fast-moving, intense, forever Nui, foreing musi ro evolve with it This created new styles and techniques, but could also reduce composers to stereotyped fects, such as “spine-chiling” sting serubs, or punctating every action and cut on screen ~ Known as “Mickey: Mousing’. Most detrimental, curiously enough, ws the coming of sound Early soundtracks were so dls that music became more a distraction than an enhancement, and many ealy talkies did without it almost completely. By the time recording improved the tse of Nazism was bringing an inlux of Euro- pean refugee composers to Hollywood, including Vienna's prize conservative and revolutions respectively Komgold and Schoenberg = the laters fone attempt ata fm score was a predictable dlsaster. Good musicians were ten a penny, and ‘inevitably their standing declined, increasinely the studio system reduced music, like writing, ta salt product for which the head of department would take credit even if he had not composed 3 not. This tended to force film musi 10 conform to the lowest common denominator of tat. It became a refuge for banal radon, jadged reactionary by the advanced, vulgar by the taitionalists, The rept tion of Hollywood composers suffered necordingly “All Herrmann got for his concert works was a patronising pat on the head”Less biased musicians might applaud the Berce originality of Max Steiner's King Kong, or the young Bernard Herrmann’ score for Citizen Kame, but i won them no place inthe concert hall. Korngold like Franz Waxman and Alfred Newmar In other countries film could sill command the anention of “real” composers, Richard Strauss im self provided the score fora silent Rosenkeavalier — and very bad it was, too; Ibert wrote songs fr CChaligpin in Pabs's Don Quésote, Conversely, Berg wrote a film interlude in Zulu, In Russia, cinema's official satus made ita legitimate arena for serious mposers: Prokofiev's scores for Eisenstin's lexander Newly and Ivan the Terble were among the ies to penetrate th In England, altho lightweight music, it occasionally attracted more imaginative work such as Arhur Bliss score for Korda's Things to Come. An enthusiast among established composers was Vaughan Willams, who wanted 10 score cowboy films after the pastoral 1s of Joanna Godden be mace his mark with wartime epics 49th Parallel and Coastal Command, and the postwar masterpiece Sot ofthe Antarctic Walton with encouragement and material for his immensely popular music to Olivie’s Henry ¥: The rise of the documentary led Benjamin B create Night Mail and The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra. Bax, Alwyn and Malcolm Arnold all wrote fil Scores, while hortor fs provided a useful outlet for serials such as Benjamin Frankel and Humphrey Searle, Elsewhere, 100, ava sade ‘composers tured to the cinema, such as Japan's Tora Takemsi inthe films of Akiro Kurosawa HOLLYWOOD han develop them, Berard Hermann, however, tended to Jbsorb them rather career stretched from the 1930s tothe 1970s, was @ case in point. Graduate of New York's prestigious Julliard schoo, friend of leading mains composers, he produced! substantial non-cinematic ‘works such asthe cantata Moby Dick and the opera Wurbering Hetgbis, but at best they won him patro- rising pats on the head. In Hollywood itself he was often regarded 2s just one more good jabbing professional lke Hans Sater, provider of stock spookiness for Howse of Prankenstein and its ilk Al too often Hernmann’s musi dignified really inferior material ike disaster-mastr Irwin Allen's Journey fo the Centre of the Earth. Only with such masters as Hitchcock, Trffaut and Scorsese, and perhaps als Ray Haryhausen's fantasies, do the films achieve anything lke the sume level of sophistication and ‘Starwars not ony oe ofthe reas smohenic mastoree that wou ot FO) ogStage and Screen feature ‘originally. His scores for Psycho, Taxi Driver, and Sibelius's or Nielsen's theatre musi; but only i recent years have they received it The change begin, itonically, around the time of lermann’s death, in 1975 ~the day he finished Taxi Driver. As Scorsese, Coppola and other creative new directors begin to jolt Hollywood out of ts old ris, their work demanded a mone sophisicate ‘musical approach. John Willams, who scored the Spielberg and Lucas block-busters, was crucial for raising audience awareness, His high-profile orches teal poweshouses, sinister and discordant for Jaws, wildly grandiose for Star Wars and Raiders ofthe Lost Ark, caught audience imagination as Remy as the rest ofthe film, and soon mainstream conductors such as Zubin Mehta were performing and recording them. The new Hollywood inspired a whole new ‘eseradon of composes auch at Brion james Homer, and seemed to revivify even established figures like Jery Goldsmith, Young composers 84 Classic CD duty 1988 appeared from wildly divergent backgrounds, Dann Elfman from rock and Michael Kamen from Julie, both sound and original musicians, Elsewhere, cinema became less of a ghetto, Michael Nyman's ‘music infused Peter Greenvsay’s enigmatic Th Draught Patrick Doyle's caught the vigour of Kenneth nan's Contract and Prospero's Books Branagh’s popular classics. Minimalist Philip Glass's new score for Cocteau's dreamlike Beauty and th Beast is as central to his work as any of his operas, ay an increasingly sophisticated public willingly accepts both the traditional and the les conventional with their films ~ more open-minded than most concert audiences. And they are more willing to appreciate the genius of such figures as Steiner and Waxman, Hermann, Miklos Rost and even that sueculently ripe ham Komgold. Ironically this outbreak of musical energy and awareness in the cinema may well be instrumental in creating the new audiences the embattled mainstream so badly needs Rac) Coed eee eet pee eens ee ery rs reer ey Epes eresHerrmann ~ ‘ Driver — Night Piece U PhivSaloren O'Connor saci = ° oe he P “ ee Vaughan Williams ~ Pian EMI CD‘ Steiner ~ Kin Walton ~ Henry V (restored Palmer Sarde - La Fille de d'Artagnar Nyman ~The Piano Williams@ Stage and Screen reviews Rep ATi RG, G on Naa ina acees rom 9) Nine Sener’ brews botng King "Koa on arco Polo Eat eet 8% lassie CD July 1888 Stage and Screen reviews John Williams, Philip Glass: Kundun (Nonesuch 7559 79460-2 wx) Having fled his ambition to work with Pip Glass on this fim Biography ofthe Daal Lama, cSractor Martn Scorsese admits that he cannot naw imagine his Images without the entrancing loco ethic score which has become the pulse of the picture. Fortunately the reverses not true of the music wich alone has the power to transport even the most sedentary listener to the serene Deauty ofthe Himalayas. At the risk of straining ‘te motaphor k could be said that these 18 short pisces blossom on repeated Isterings with the simple beauty ofthe unfolding lotus that ie the symbol ofthe Buda hivsopty. An indispensible disc Fora aferent perspective on the ‘same subject spare no efforts to track down Joha Wiliams sive sound impr to Seven ‘Years In Tibet (Manclay/Sony Music SK 60271 ss) ‘This may be abolated recommendation, outa soundtrack of this statwze is jst too good to ‘Whit Philip Glass, as a practising Buddhist 3808 his subject with an insider's eyes Wiliams could be sid o take the perspective ofthe outsider, namely the ‘Austrian mountaineer Heinrich Harter, on whose memoirs the fim Is based. Tho main theme, wth a cote solo by Yo-Yo Ma, i rather ‘once Harer enters the Tibstan's spirtual Shangri-La the heady bland cf ethnic instruments and exotic ‘orchestral colour proves an 10 Rota and Max Steiner are the giants of film music celebrated in this latest batch. Paul Roland listens to them along with exciting new ballet scores ‘ntoxicating concoction Collections Nino Rota: Music For Film (Sony Classical SK 63359 +++) La Scala Philharmonic Orchestra Riccardo Mut The regard with which the tate Nino ota is hel in ‘serious music’ cectes can be gauged fom the fact that Sony Ciasscal engaged no leas 8 figuce than the incomparable Muti to holm tis belated tribute to one of the maestros of movie music. Rta composed mora than 160 ‘serious’ places, but is best known for is impassioned pacans toa things taian in fms such as The Goatather, Franco Zefirl's Romeo ‘and Jule which is inexplicably ‘excluded ror this programme) and Frederico Folin's masterpieces 8 1/2, Orchestra Rehearsal and La Dolce Vita. As with mary of the leading characters in the fms for wich he composed Rota’s music sports a brash lager-han-ife exterior, but undemeath wells the sentimental heat of his beloved Ita. A fine colection Connoisseur's Corner Fw of Nino Rots scores have the ardent passion and bold colour of Flomeo & Juliet, the firm which made his name back in 1968, For those who cant get enough ofthe perennially popular “Love Theme the original soundtrack has just been released featuring half a dozen ‘variations on this tly anchanting piece plus much equaly eegiac ‘music with a pseudo-Renaissance ‘tayour. Had the Bard been alve to hear this CO I'm sure he would have 2d“ musi be the food of ove, play on”. But ashe is nat, | wil, ‘Strongly recommended. (Siva ‘Screen FILMCD 200 #48) ‘@ CLASSIC CD CHOICE Max Steiner: King Kong Moscow Symphony Orch Stromberg (Marco Polo 8 228763 wie) When King Keng premieres in 1988 Oscar Levant remarked that it shoud have been bil as a Max Steiner concert with accompanying pictures. Steiner's majestic breast beating scores dramatically ‘competing threughout, setting the standard for al the major fantasy — adventure fis to folow culminating in John Wiliams recent pastiche for the Lest World, Howaver, the cuts and compromises which the ‘composer was forced to make for logistical and technical reasons ‘meant that the score has romaine inthe shadow ofthe visual ftlacts unt now. Much othe music inched on this CD was not, in fact, featured inthe original 1923 fim, but thanks to mmusicologst John Morgan it has ‘been painstakingly restored trom ‘Steiner's own sketches for this full: scale orchestral recorcing, For anyone stil harbouring reservations concering the entertainment value of fim soundtrack CDs this axcelant diac