This is a work of exquisite beauty, that perfectly defines the most popular sound/style of Delerue..
Like Barry, Jarre, Rosenman, he had a signature voice that was inimitable. A true musical genius. And his lullaby-like melodies have sent our boys to slumberland many a time these past 6 years
I've heard that Delerue was very amicable about the whole Colour Purple/Our Mother's House hoohah and Spielberg rewarded him with some plum scoring assignments, by way of gratitude. Don't know how true that is.
Maybe Elliot Goldenthal could have done with some of Delerue's 'chill' after the TITUS/300 debacle
Personally speaking I regard his music for "Something Wicked This Way Comes" as the best unused score ever. A real shame it was ditched but thankfully available to enjoy.
This is a work of exquisite beauty, that perfectly defines the most popular sound/style of Delerue..
Like Barry, Jarre, Rosenman, he had a signature voice that was inimitable. A true musical genius. And his lullaby-like melodies have sent our boys to slumberland many a time these past 6 years
That is incredible. Thanks so much for posting.
Agreed! Really beautiful. This is fun to put these new suggestions into the categories and see if they hold up or change slightly. I'd add this to "Symphonic Romanticism".
Reading his website, it talks about how much he liked Baroque music which matches what I was saying about symphonic music and concertos. I think he's practically a classical composer and his music makes classical music more accessible by composing through the modern lens of film music which gets to the heart quicker and simplifies some of the more mundane parts of classical symphony compositions. Where he really seems to have mastered composing is with a lot of musical forms that he brings to his works. Symphonies, Concertos, Etudes, Chorales - and while they never quite escape the formal restraints of those forms, he always manages to give them a modern evolution with interesting instrumentation or chamber-style writing. Fascinating.
Never been a fan of his music. However I do must confess that I truly love his Main Title music from Salvador. That is in my mind the very best thing he have ever done. If I would make a list of top ten Main Titles then his Salvador Main Titles should belong on such a list, I really love that music.
For me, Oliver Stone bottled it when it came to PLATOON. Delerue gave him an equally searing adagio, in a similar style to the Samuel Barber piece, that would have been borne out of the film. That's what I think anyway (even if I admit the Barber piece worked well enough).
Yes, there was the previous connections too. The Delerue adagio is phenomenal.
I think the familiarity is what Stone wanted to give it a more "real", documentary-like feel. It also fits sonically better than most of Delerue's in that it's all violins and maybe violas, so there is room in the low-end for all the combat sound effects. Delerue's version does have a section with only high strings as well, but his doesn't have the build that Barber's has, which I think was a large part as well. Delerue's is very full and beautiful sounding but doesn't build up to a crescendo like Barber's piece does, which is good for conveying the growing intensity of disillusionment the characters experience.