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Yesterday, I was wondering what scores were the favorites of my favorite composers. The intriguing part of this was that I couldn't definitely think of any particular examples. I seem to remember reading here and there that Rozsa enjoyed EL CID a great deal, but that doesn't necessarily mean it was his personal favorite. (In fact, everything I've ever read of Rozsa, including his own works, states that his concert works were closer to his heart than anything he ever wrote for the movies.)
Anyone here have any further input? See if you can also cite your sources.
Thanks,
John
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I got the impression that Jerry Goldsmith's favourite score was the one he was working on.
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Judging from his devotion to it, I should think that Herrmann's favorite work was his opera, WUTHERING HEIGHTS, which includes a lot of cues from both his scores for JANE EYRE and THE GHOST AND MRS. MUIR. Though, technically, it's not a film score.
I woder what kind of input Manderly could add to this thread.
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Posted: |
Mar 14, 2005 - 6:18 PM
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By: |
manderley
(Member)
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.....I woder what kind of input Manderly could add to this thread.....
I suspect that most creators who work "in the business" don't have a "favorite" as such, because the good ones are perfectionists.
Most likely, they may well love a particular film they have worked on because the original material was good, the experience of doing the film was good, the other people they associated with on the production were good and supportive, and the critical reception for the project upon release (at least for their part of it) was good. All of these aspects tend to cloud your creative assessment.
But, what is probably true is that they liked PARTS of many projects over the years, not all of any one, due to time constraints on their creativity, budgets, or unfulfilled creative expectations after-the-fact.
Perhaps that is the reason certain themes or melodies of some composers were used over and over by them in new scores --- it's something they liked and remembered.
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solium, I actually wasn't being sarcastic. I know that Jerry Goldsmith often cited ISLANDS IN THE STREAM as being a favourite, but he would also say quite often (and in that kind of charmingly diffident manner of his) - "My favourite score of MINE? Well, the one I'm working on it the moment is shaping up to be one of the best." I'm not sure if that's just indicative of his sly sense of humour, or maybe just a bit of understandable self-promotion for whatever film he happened to be doing at the time.
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Interestingly, there's another aspect to this question: what are composers' favorite scores, composed by another composer?
Some years ago, Stephen Sondheim came up with a list of songs he wished he'd written, including many surprises (such as "You Have Possibilities" from the Broadway musical version of SUPERMAN).
I know that Bernard Herrmann admired Rosza's score for JULIUS CAESAR enough to record a suite from it on one of his Phase 4 albums. (A first on several levels: not only was the notoriously prickly Herrmann actually verbalizing admiration for another composer's work, this was also the first time that a suite from this score, largely unheard for more than 2 decades, was recorded.)
I also recall someone mentioning at some point that they wish they'd written Bronislau Kaper's theme from LILI, but I don't know if that was due to artistic envy, as much as envy of a more lucrative nature, as that theme became a tremendous hit.
Curious that there is so little information along these lines. I once found myself, during an intermission at the Hollywood Bowl, actually standing next to Elmer Bernstein, David Raksin, and Jerry Goldsmith, all conversing together. Fascinating experience, though I don't recall anything they actually said. Further, I never spoke to any of them, because I realized the only compliment I would have given would have been to Bernstein, for his AGE OF INNOCENCE, while compliments I could have given to the other two would have concerned scores they'd written decades before. So, I, perhaps wisely, refrained from saying anything, and just stayed where I was, until the intermission was over, and everyone returned to their seats. They were all nattily dressed, though. (That night was a premier of a suite from Goldsmith's FOREVER KNIGHT, conducted by John Mauceri.)
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From the old Bazelon book, some of the composers interviewed were asked that question. It's a kind of unreal situation, because they would have felt obliged to answer even if they didn't REALLY admire the other composers' works that much. Bear in mind that this is donkey's years old too, but at the time....
Elmer Bernstein - Goldsmith, Rosenman, Herrmann and David Raksin.
John Williams - Goldsmith, Herrmann and Maxwell Davies ("not so much for his film work").
Alex North - Rosenman, Goldsmith and Rosenthal.
Lalo Schifrin - "Most of the people you have interviewed for your book" (!)
Bernard Herrmann - Prokofiev, Karl Rathaus and Copland.
David Raksin - Friedhofer, Herrmann, Rosenman, North, Rosenthal, Goldsmith... and Billy Goldenberg (good on ya, Dave)!
Bernardo Segall - Goldsmith.
Laurence Rosenthal - Prokofiev, Copland and Goldsmith.
Johnny Mandel - Goldsmith, North, Friedhofer, Williams and Rosenthal.
EDIT// Oops, didn't read the question. Favourite SCORES by others? I'm not getting that book out again!
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I heard this question posed to Rozsa many times, and the answer was almost invariably BEN-HUR. The quality of the film and the luxury of the extended composing period were obviously factors. I think that a composer's pleasure (or lack thereof) during the working period are factors in such a memory. The exception came in late years when he once mentioned THE THIEF OF BAGDAD. I'm sure that nostalgic memories were a factor.
Curiously Rozsa always refused to mention a favorite among his concert works: "They are all my children."
Yes, when it comes to being close to his heart, BH is by far the most consistent answer I've seen from Rozsa. And imo it's for obvious reasons, a masterpiece that stood up there with some of the greatest music since Richard Strauss. He knew he had a real Classic there.
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Bernard Herrmann - Prokofiev, Karl Rathaus, Ives, and Copland.
Added one. Iirc Bernard was a huge fan of Waxman's Taras Bulba. He also had some pristine words for Alfred Newman.
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