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Posted: |
Mar 8, 2009 - 6:20 PM
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By: |
Nix
(Member)
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I've been trying to get my friends to be able to recognize certain composers, to the point where if they watched a movie with no credits at the beginning, they'd be able to guess who it was at the end.
Unfortunately, some of them have little to no musical education, so this can be difficult- but I've been trying to create a list for composers that are still working today.
Here's what I have so far:
John Williams: flute and trumpet twirls, traditional use of bombastic brass and romantic strings, rarely any piano, rarely any synthesizers or electronic instruments and if using a choir, they carry the melody.
Hans Zimmer: Lots of percussion, synthesizers, rarely uses piano
Danny Elfman: lots of choir- has them do "oohs" and "ahhhs," horn glissando's, chimes, synthesizers
James Newton Howard: piano solo's weaved in with orchestra, "galloping trumpets" during action sequences, lots of string and woodwind melody
Thomas Newman: uses odd worldly instruments, simple drawn out piano solo's
James Horner: that percussive rhythm he always uses (dun, dun, du-du-du-du-dun), Celtic instruments in not always Celtic settings, piano just playing deep chords, sudden stops, crashing piano
Any other suggestions- to add on to these composers or others... particularly James Newton Howard- he seems to be the most difficult for them to get, which I guess is a good thing.
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Rife with signatures is Leonard Rosenman.
People call one of them a "tone pyramid": an ascending (rising in pitch) series of notes, the first played by one grouping and the note is held, the next note by another grouping and held. This continues until 4 notes have sounded and are all being held in unison. Often in the brass, often when something revelatory or shocking is happening.
Another is a rhythmic figure of 4 short, marcato notes with the first heavily accented: "ONE, two, three, four..." A frequent suspense motive of his.
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The king of film-musical signatures (extending well into his concert works and maybe even into what he whistles while shaving, for all I know) is Philip Glass.
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Rozsa had a habit in his early career of playing a melody in the "soprano" range of the orchestra and then (I haven't heard one in a while, so correct me on this) using it or a fragment of it as a counter-melody in the "tenor" or "baritone" range in subsequent iterations in the piece.
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I could probably bore you stiff with signatures of Raksin, North, Newman, et. al. once I go back and listen and remember them, but I don't want to be a hog.
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It gets easier to tell the signatures when the composers are good. So the further into the Golden Age, the easier it is ....
Dimitri Tiomkin ...
BONGGGG ... bum-bum-deedle-um-bum squeeeeel-de-de, de-dum-pum BONGGGG .... pum pum ta ta TA pum-pum-pom long tongued mute brass blaaaaaare ... bomp-bum.
(I like Dimi though.)
Miklos Rozsa ....
Big parallel fifths fanfare .... folk tune ...'Are you going to a Hungarian version of Scarborborough Fair?' ..... contrapunto bass rondo .... Hero theme, love theme, CRESCENDO AS 'MIKLOS ROZSA' NAME APPEARS ON CREDITS .... hero theme reprise, Foreword (spelt 'Forward' Dahlinks).... cymbal crash.
Bernard Herrmann ....
eight big horns play a descending semitone, echoed in big fat trombones ... 93 bull-roarers reinforce suicidal 'boy doesn't quite get girl' theme.... big coda with major/minor clash
It goes on.
But, hey .... that's STYLE. It don't make it bad.
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Danny Elfman: lots of choir- has them do "oohs" and "ahhhs," horn glissando's, chimes, synthesizers
I got the feeling that Elfman must own one of the few celestes in the Hollywood area and must rent it out for his scores, thus earning himself a few more bucks.
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I instantly "recognize" Newman, Rozsa, Korngold, Steiner, North, Waxman, Bernstein, Williams, Goldsmith, Rosenman, Moross.
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Posted: |
Mar 9, 2009 - 5:45 PM
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By: |
MRAUDIO
(Member)
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I was ALWAYS able to identify Morton Stevens' music, even before seeing his name in the end credits of a TV show or movie - that trademark clarinet and "jabbing" brass statements in his music always did it for me...:-)
He did this thing with close harmony horn clusters, played fortissimo and flutter tongued, sometimes doing a gliss-up rip. Now THAT'S a Morton Stevens signature! Actually, when his bit appears at the end of Goldsmith's Outland, it stands out a mile!  Same goes for List Of Adrian Messenger. But don't get me wrong, it's a great sound.
And you're right about his solo clarinet writing. There were some lovely, nifty, quite playful clarinet noodles there.  He should have written a concerto for the instrument. Maybe he did!
For sure - Stevens also did some beautiful things with the French Horn - just take a listen to his great theme for "Backstairs At The White House" (TV, 1979) - now, talk about another Stevens signature, especially when he closes THAT theme - simply wonderful stuff!!!:-)
--
Sent on a phone using T9space.com
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Posted: |
Sep 10, 2014 - 4:39 AM
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By: |
Hurdy Gurdy
(Member)
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Picking this up, from something counterpoint said in my Snow Dogs thread about Debney's lack of musical signature against David Newman's, does it matter to you if you can recognise a composers individual style coming through?
Like hearing a band on the radio and knowing right away who it is, I love it when I hear something in a film, not knowing the composer but guessing right away if it's Leonard Rosenman or Bruce Broughton or Bill Conti.
Many of our favourite composers have very distinctive styles (Barry, Williams, Goldsmith, Morricone) while others have very little (George Fenton?) or if they do, it's buried under other people's more obvious styles (Debney, McNeely).
Do you rate a composer higher if he imbues his own individual style/signature to his scores, or do you take them as they come?
I suppose we must appreciate the times we are in now though.
Chris Beck recently defended his drony score for Edge Of Tomorrow as being what the makers wanted, despite him trying to work in more themes and motifs.
Did the old guard have it easier in applying their own signatures?
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