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Posted: |
Jul 25, 2015 - 3:33 PM
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By: |
bobbengan
(Member)
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Great idea for the thread, and in my opinion this is something that truly exists on a case-by-case basis.
Let's look at two very different scores yours truly regards as "masterful" in their functionality, musical storytelling, memorability and craftsmanship: Miklos Rozsa's BEN-HUR and Chris Young's FLOWERS IN THE ATTIC.
One's an epic tour-de-force concerned with a hugely romanticized, sweeping mode of musical storytelling, the proportions "Biblical" in their gravity and portentousness. It's a very external score, largely, but that's not to say it's shallow or lacking depth in its application of the various themes or ideas. It's got a big overture, another big main title, a brilliant sweeping love theme, great secondary ideas with intelligent application and development, big battles cue, an epic summation and coda - It is EXACTLY what I want from a big epic score. It is, as epic symphonic filmic musical storytelling is concerned, a brilliant work, and one that is rightly loved away from and in the context of the film.
Then we have FLOWERS IN THE ATTIC, a score concerned with musical remembrances of pain, broken childhoods, distant memories of loss, suffering, despair - Very internal emotions. It is largely mono-thematic, with a single idea carrying the bulk of the heft throughout, with tonal variations allowed and ominous colorations fragmenting it, as opposed to the myriad ideas present in Rozsa's score. And yet, I cannot possibly imagine a score that does a more adept job of evoking these emotions, and it stirs my soul deeply and with a uniquely intoxicating aural soundscape. Its ingredients are very different than Rozas's: Solo voice, harp, flute, strings, prepared percussion. No brass, no other winds besides the flute. And yet, this ensemble represents the perfect musical voicing for the story. It is written for and performed by a subdued ensemble. As a musical portraiture of the aforementioned emotions, it is a masterfully evocative and moving work, its musical genius comparable to that which Rozsa put forth fin his own score, but obviously with differing emotions in mind.
What I'm trying to say here, I guess, is that "Ideal Ingredients" differ greatly from genre-to-genre and film to film, at least for me. Young probably wouldn't have delivered the breadth or staggering drama of Rozsa's monumental work, and Rozsa certainly wouldn't have been able to deliver the sublime sensitivity or internal emotional handling of what Young delivered for his respective work. And yet both are amazing scores by craftsman at the top of their game and with a keen understanding of musical narrative.
I for one am glad there are so many different tools in the arsenals of the film composer, and even within the same genres, there can be wonderful diversity. Case in point: CONAN THE BARBARIAN, KRULL and THE DARK CRYSTAL. Three early 80's epic fantasy scores that are incredibly wonderful and different despite many of the same "essential" ingredients - Vast heroism yielded by a central dramatic theme, fanfares, sweeping love themes, battle cues, evocative secondary melodies, tragedy, triumph, joy, terror - All delivered in the respective composers' voice in a fashion that's uniquely their own, and uniquely brilliant.
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Great idea for the thread, and in my opinion this is something that truly exists on a case-by-case basis
I share this opinion.
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Posted: |
Jul 26, 2015 - 6:39 AM
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By: |
Francis
(Member)
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I like scores that bring across the mood, story and characters of a movie in a way that isn't cliché but rather a fresh take. The ingredients (instrumentation, themes, sound) need to be able to work together to support the movie and bring out the emotions and journey of the characters or the story. In that regard you have to go case by case, genre by genre.
On the subject of Young (and I agree FLOWERS IN THE ATTIC is too good a score for that movie), I recently listened to his interview segments in the new Hellraiser LEVIATHAN documentary where he discusses his music for HELLRAISER. He recalls at first thinking an orchestral score was the wrong way to go because of the claustrophobic setting of the movie. Yet a synth approach didn't work for Barker as Coil's synth score got rejected prior. Young also thought Barker wanted disturbing, bombastic and twisted music, but instead Barker requested to be seduced by the music with a little as possible and have it include a lullaby. Barker also told him "I don't want Nightmare on Elm Street"; can you imagine this today? A director telling a composer I dont want this to sound like your previous work at all lol. I think this kind of restrain can work wonders for a composer instead of having them go all out with the obvious approach. Once those guidelines are in place, I imagine the score and creativity happens and the mood, orchestration etc. will all follow suit.
I also believe you can tell from listening to a score where the composer was allowed to work and do his own thing, rather than have his or her cues undergo gazillion mockups and versions of cues of which the end result is nowhere near as effective had those guidelines for what ingredients to use and not to use had been laid out in the first place.
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