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Posted: |
Jan 27, 2015 - 3:19 AM
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By: |
Graham Watt
(Member)
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once more i must apologize for this one-fingered typing - a few more weeks before the plaster casts come off, then rehabilitation. ouch.
but enough of me... this thread is to draw attention to composer michael andersen... i was doing a little research and found out that he's still alive and celebrated his 77th birthday just yesterday, so this is coincidentally timely.
i remember as a lad being very impressed with his score for the 1962 version of tower of london, but never saw anything with his name on it since... until, thanks to the new super-science of the internet, i decided to explore....
but there ain't much out there on him... and be careful - there's more than one michael andersen... i'm interested in the scores of the old one.
info is very scant... imdb mentions that he's a classical and film composer, naming a few concert pieces plus his handful of movies... it also says he studied under miklos rozsa and ingolf dahl, but that's about it.
anyway, i wonder if anyone has any news or opinions on his work... there are three scores which are particularly good, going by the main titles at least, and you can hear them on youtube - sorry i can't post direct links, but i am a bit crippled for the time being... his music is just the kind i like - very striking, busy and contrapuntal... whatever, you can judge for yourselves on the tube -
the tower of london, 1962 - you may have to go to the spanish dubbed version to hear it - la torre de londres - great titles and very noticeably miklos-inspired, while retaining its own striking voice.
12 to the moon - i didn't even know what that was until a few minutes ago, but again, the main titles are way above average.
terrified - very low-budget shocker with a really interesting score.
check them out if you wish, and post your thoughts... thanks.
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Posted: |
Jan 27, 2015 - 1:24 PM
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By: |
Graham Watt
(Member)
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if there's anything worse than a wazzock, it's a tall wazzock, smiley.
if anybody is interested in hearing this music on youtube, the best way would be a direct link - but my one finger doesn't stretch that far - literally - so the next best thing is to use your gumption and type in the film and the date...
tower of london 1962 - takes me directly to a spanish-dubbed version of the whole movie... just listen to those titles... great stuff, rich chords, full of little mini-fugues and contrapuntal writing... andersen sure knows his rozsa.
twelve to the moon 1960 - again, great music, and with lots of overlapping little fanfares spread throughout... again the shadow of rozsa is long.
terrified 1963 - freed a little more from the rozsa devices, this is pretty damn good, with a very inventive kind of staccato piano in the mix.
this stuff really goes way beyond the run-of-the-mill to my ears... this guy is someone who deserves attention, but he's so obscure that even the imdb takes you to a million people who aren't him before settling on the real one, whoever he is... where are the recordings of the concert pieces mentioned, for example... the biggest influence does seem to be miklos, but there's also a kind of british concert hall approach to the harmonic language, not unlike clifton parker.
if nobody replies, i'll make a better rabbit with direct links when my hand gets better, so that you can all just click on and hear this wonderful music... i like sharing these things... it'll also be nice if you agree with me in that this bloke is damn good, smiley face icon.
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Posted: |
Jan 30, 2015 - 4:23 PM
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By: |
Graham Watt
(Member)
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bless you, tg and kev -
tg - got stookie off part of the hand at least... i fear that the rehabiltation may be more painful than the actual injury... but i always was a wimp.
kev - thank you so much for doing those direct youtube links... that means that a million people will overcome their ennui, click on, and tell me how great michael andersen is...... ah - i see you did, and didn't think much of him... no fear, we are still friends... i totally understand why you, or anyone, may have little connection to the golden age - i have little connection to anything at all nowadays - nowadays in inverted commas... but it is intriguing to see that you like the robe, because some of andersen's passages which you posted from youtube remind me of that absolutely amazing newman masterpiece.
but yes, he does seem to channel rozsa a lot more than alf newman... in one of my earlier posts i said that he freed himself a bit from the rozsa shackle in the piano-dominated theme for terrified - i hope all you three are following this - terrified is the name of the film, 1963 - but now i hear rozsa's julius caesar as the template... but what a wonderful template to have.
i'm still surprised that andersen hasn't had more recognition... i was just listening again to tower of london, and my god that's great stuff - to me at least.
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Posted: |
Jan 31, 2015 - 10:11 AM
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By: |
Graham Watt
(Member)
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYbSqIp_03A
Well, as much out of sympathy as anything I listened to the three samples. After the first two I was ready to side with Kev's assertion that, as a child of the silver age, this wasn't my thing. However, the third one, above, was something of a revelation. Edgy and threatening, it was still perhaps a little naive and of its time, but I really rather enjoyed it.
There's hope for Mr Anderson yet...
TG
PS Don't do anything with your hand that I wouldn't do.
oh, do pay attention tall guy - that's andersen with an e.
anyway, thanks tg and kev... kev's generally cold on andersen, tg is cold but with lukewarm enthusiasm for clip 3... you know, film music fans were always a bit of a clique, so i must say that i feel very proud indeed to be the only person in the entire universe who thinks all that stuff is brilliant... makes me feel somewhat superior to you all, tee hee, smiley.
tg, can't do anything at all with the knackered hand, but the leftie's getting quite good at nearly everything... i don't know where to draw the line.
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