 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Me, too, considering almost nobody here watches, say, a Norwegian art-house movie whose score probably wouldn't be available either. What's the point analyzing movie scores (almost) nobody's heard. Hollywood dictates what's "en vogue" in commercial film making, extending to the music. Which in turn is being imitated for most other genre-movie scores around the world (be it China, Germany, or Russia).
Personally, I'm trying to keep up with what's going on in European film and TV (mostly, TV) music. Not too much. Especially since there's a general mistrust against music being used in films in some countries in Europe, like there's always been.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
I think this blog post makes an intelligent case - but not for the death of film music, only for the change in scoring a picture.
And although I have been guilty of traditionalism (hey, look at my screen name) and blaming the Zimmer-factory for making scores worse...
... I must admit that the accusation of "wall-to-wall"-scores of today was raised at John Williams, Jerry Goldsmith and James Horner during the late 70´s and 80´s as well. I remember many critics longing for the good old days of early 70´s cinema when there were no scores at all, just carefully selected rock songs, instead of the orchestral bombast brought in by those composers so many (like me) adore and fondly look back to.
So, let´s just all admit that the style of making movies and scoring films is a cycle. Zimmer will not rule forever. Someone else will come along and be considered much more interesting and current.
And maybe this new guy will bring back traditional orchestral scoring, just like John Williams did.
It only takes one gigantic hit that no one expects. Like STAR WARS.
P.S. I also think that there are fantastic scores nowadays. And some of them, ahem, are written by Hans Zimmer.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
Posted: |
Dec 11, 2013 - 10:27 AM
|
|
|
|
By: |
Jon Broxton
(Member)
|
20 excellent scores just from 2013? OK, you got it:
- Roque Banos, Evil Dead
- Bartosz Chajdecki, Baczynski
- Sarah Class, Africa
- Alexandre Desplat, Philomena
- Ilan Eshkeri, Justin and the Knights of Valor
- Laurent Eyquem, Copperhead
- Laurent Eyquem, Winnie Mandela
- Joe Hisaishi, Miracle Apples
- Joe Hisaishi, The Wind Rises
- Federico Jusid, Isabel
- Abel Korzeniowski, Escape from Tomorrow
- Abel Korzeniowski, Romeo & Juliet
- Maurizio Malagnini, The Paradise
- Mark McKenzie, The Ultimate Life
- Atli Örvarsson, Colette
- Victor Reyes, Grand Piano
- Carlo Siliotto, Instructions Not Included
- Benjamin Wallfisch, Summer in February
- John Williams, The Book Thief
And that's just off the top of my head.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: |
Dec 11, 2013 - 10:56 AM
|
|
|
|
By: |
Morricone
(Member)
|
There are still good scores coming out, for sure. Desplat alone keeps a nice supply coming.
And there were probably always bad ones too, it's just that they get forgotten in the march of time.
However, I share the general idea that the recent era of film music is less inspiring overall than past eras and the post makes some good points about style.
My pet peeve is the ubiquity of two-hour films with three-hours of music scored for the beefed-up crash-bang-wallop orchestra and great grand choir of the apocalypse — and yet for all the crashing and bashing and Carmina Burana-ing, almost nothing of distinction to remember.
Put it this way. If you put the film score decade of the 00s head-to-head with the 50s, or the 60s, or the 70s, or the 80s, I think the 50s, 60s, 70s or 80s, whichever one it's head-to-head with, beats it.
But, still, let's not throw the baby out with the bathwater. There are good scores, always. And maybe our perceptions are distorted by our biases.
Cheers
Maybe. I always thought about the irony that the composers I really admired thought movies of the past had been overscored. The difference being Max Steiner was using a sound popular for his time as Horner does for ours. I find both would indulge in terrible overkill, no matter how much I like both of their "sounds". And Steiner would use more of his overkill on sentimentality rather than action. I also found many "synthplayers" from the Golden Age, they had all strings play the same line, kept counterpoint out of it and added pretty much library music to the film they were working on (because of time or money constaints or sometimes because they were simply hacks). BTW I have to thank William Stromberg for showing me how Steiner would have sounded on the scoring stage as opposed to the tinny sound that much of his stuff seemed to be, based on the recording equipment of the time. This is an exaggeration as there are some wonderful Alfred Newman scores that are practically main and end titles only. But then, as now, the practice is if the film sucks let's inject it with music to artificially pump it up. And, then as now, I know plenty of "fans" who eat it up. I personally like filmscores that give a variety of fair. Where they try to do more than the meat and potatoes that is always demanded (action and sentimentality). These composers give me a view of a whole world of music that could be quizzical, luxurious, subliminally tense, anxious, pastoral, antic, ironic, lightly primitive, foreboding, gradually chaotic, playful, intimate or stately.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
Posted: |
Dec 11, 2013 - 10:59 AM
|
|
|
|
By: |
Morricone
(Member)
|
20 excellent scores just from 2013? OK, you got it:
- Roque Banos, Evil Dead
- Bartosz Chajdecki, Baczynski
- Sarah Class, Africa
- Alexandre Desplat, Philomena
- Ilan Eshkeri, Justin and the Knights of Valor
- Laurent Eyquem, Copperhead
- Laurent Eyquem, Winnie Mandela
- Joe Hisaishi, Miracle Apples
- Joe Hisaishi, The Wind Rises
- Federico Jusid, Isabel
- Abel Korzeniowski, Escape from Tomorrow
- Abel Korzeniowski, Romeo & Juliet
- Maurizio Malagnini, The Paradise
- Mark McKenzie, The Ultimate Life
- Atli Örvarsson, Colette
- Victor Reyes, Grand Piano
- Carlo Siliotto, Instructions Not Included
- Benjamin Wallfisch, Summer in February
- John Williams, The Book Thief
And that's just off the top of my head.
Man, 8 of those I haven't even heard. Thanks Jon!
Jon is a film music lover. He digs for treasure.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: |
Dec 11, 2013 - 11:00 AM
|
|
|
|
By: |
Solium
(Member)
|
20 excellent scores just from 2013? OK, you got it:
- Roque Banos, Evil Dead
- Bartosz Chajdecki, Baczynski
- Sarah Class, Africa
- Alexandre Desplat, Philomena
- Ilan Eshkeri, Justin and the Knights of Valor
- Laurent Eyquem, Copperhead
- Laurent Eyquem, Winnie Mandela
- Joe Hisaishi, Miracle Apples
- Joe Hisaishi, The Wind Rises
- Federico Jusid, Isabel
- Abel Korzeniowski, Escape from Tomorrow
- Abel Korzeniowski, Romeo & Juliet
- Maurizio Malagnini, The Paradise
- Mark McKenzie, The Ultimate Life
- Atli Örvarsson, Colette
- Victor Reyes, Grand Piano
- Carlo Siliotto, Instructions Not Included
- Benjamin Wallfisch, Summer in February
- John Williams, The Book Thief
And that's just off the top of my head.
Only one I've heard was The Book Thief and it was as understated and redundant as one can get. Serviceable at best. Edit: I've heard Abel Korzeniowski's, Romeo & Juliet and it's just a lessor version of the far superior Copernicus Star.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: |
Dec 11, 2013 - 11:44 AM
|
|
|
|
By: |
Solium
(Member)
|
Only one I've heard was The Book Thief and it was as understated and redundant as one can get. Serviceable at best. Edit: I've heard Abel Korzeniowski's, Romeo & Juliet and it's just a lessor version of the far superior Copernicus Star.
Well, you're just a bundle of sunshine, aren't ya?
In reflection there have been some really nice scores over the last decade or two, just not in the arena of the Hollywood summer blockbuster's which is what got me into scores to begin with. Hamlet, Love's Labour's Lost, A Little Princess, Dangerous Beauty, Shakespeare In Love, are all top quality scores. 
|
|
|
|
|
|
That's why nowadays I stick mainly to european composers (and their work for european movies) like Kaczmarek, Marianelli, Desplat, Martichelli, Korzeniowski, Einaudi etc. The americans just don't do it for me anymore. Outside of the occasional John Williams and James Newton Howard.
Yawn.Yet another article and thread to state that ' Oh film music was much better when i was growing up as a kid in the 70s, you youngsters today dont know what REAL film music is with all your world wide interwebs and zimmerisms '
By that by, i just want to say that Brian Tyler in my opinion, is the best ever composer for action movies.Yep, even better than the mighty Goldsmith.
|
|
|
|
|
|
20 excellent scores just from 2013? OK, you got it:
- Roque Banos, Evil Dead
- Bartosz Chajdecki, Baczynski
- Sarah Class, Africa
- Alexandre Desplat, Philomena
- Ilan Eshkeri, Justin and the Knights of Valor
- Laurent Eyquem, Copperhead
- Laurent Eyquem, Winnie Mandela
- Joe Hisaishi, Miracle Apples
- Joe Hisaishi, The Wind Rises
- Federico Jusid, Isabel
- Abel Korzeniowski, Escape from Tomorrow
- Abel Korzeniowski, Romeo & Juliet
- Maurizio Malagnini, The Paradise
- Mark McKenzie, The Ultimate Life
- Atli Örvarsson, Colette
- Victor Reyes, Grand Piano
- Carlo Siliotto, Instructions Not Included
- Benjamin Wallfisch, Summer in February
- John Williams, The Book Thief
And that's just off the top of my head.
Holy crap, I'm almost halfway through this list—I'm streaming 'em on YouTube—and I'm fighting to stay awake here!
Most of this stuff feels like it was composed in Digital Performer. Only Desplat has held my interest for any length of time—the rest felt like over-programmed pablum.
Is this what passes for good film music today? Synth french horns and choirs? Long string lines that go nowhere? Evil Dead sounded like a demo track for an orchestral sampler effects articulation patch for fuck's sake!
If this is the future of film music, you fuckers can have it.
EDIT: And what's with all the solo piano in these? Where is the orchestra!?!
EDIT 2: Hold the phone! Sounds like Federico Jusid actually studied music. That's 2 for 10!
EDIT 3: Man, Abel Korzeniowski wants to grow up to be John Barry, huh?
EDIT 4: Hola, Victor Reyes! Fun and inventive stuff at last! 3 for 16.
FINAL EDIT: Final count is 3 for 19. Even my beloved JW came up short. It seems that my personal and narrow focus of a genre IS indeed outdated. Oh well, at least I tried to look elsewhere. Turned out most of elsewhere is boring as fuck.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
