Intrada has announced three new releases - a four-disc set of the Emmy winning score for the miniseries MASADA, composed by Jerry Goldsmith and Morton Stevens, featuring an expanded and remastered version of the original score tracks as well as the LP rerecording; John Debney's score for the recently released feature film version of CLIFFORD THE BIG RED DOG; and a remastered and slightly expanded release of Robert Folk's score for the teen thriller TOY SOLDIERS.
Quartet has announced four new end-of-year releases -- THE PINK PANTHER FINAL CHAPTERS COLLECTION, a 3-disc set featuring Henry Mancini's scores for the three final three Blake Edwards-directed Pink Panther movies: TRAIL OF THE PINK PANTHER, CURSE OF THE PINK PANTHER (both previously released) and an expanded version of SON OF THE PINK PANTHER, the final film for both Mancini and Edwards; a two-disc, expanded version of Nino Rota's score for Federico Fellini's IL BIDONE (The Swindle); a remastered, slightly expanded release of John Barry's brief but popular score for ZULU; and a remastered 50th anniversary edition of Ennio Morricone's score for MADDALENA, which introduced his popular "Chi Mai" theme.
CDS AVAILABLE THIS WEEK
Anemos/Una Sconosciuta - Pino Donaggio - Quartet
Clifford the Big Red Dog - John Debney - Intrada
Colpo Rovente - Piero Piccioni - Quartet
Masada - Jerry Goldsmith, Morton Stevens - Intrada Special Collection
Toy Soldiers - Robert Folk - Intrada Special Collection
IN THEATERS TODAY
Being the Ricardos - Daniel Pemberton
Citizen Ashe - Jongnic Bontemps
Don't Look Up - Nicholas Britell
The Duke - George Fenton
The Hating Game - Spencer David Hutchings
Influencia - Luis Obregon
Louis van Beethoven - Music Supervisor: David Marlow
Off the Rails - Mario Grigorov
The Only One - Vincent J. Edwards, Ian Merrigan
Red Rocket - Music Supervisor: Matthew Hearon-Smith
Torn - Danny Bensi, Saunder Jurriaans
West Side Story - Leonard Bernstein (music), Stephen Sondheim (lyrics) - Song CD on Hollywood
COMING SOON
December 17
Altrimenti ci arrabbiamo - Guido & Maurizio De Angelis - Digitmovies
Lo Chiamavano Trinita - Franco Micalizzi - Beat
The Serpent - Dominick Scherrer - Svart
Zombie Flesh Eaters - Franco Micalizzi - Beat
December 24
Encanto - Germaine Franco, Lin-Manuel Miranda - Disney
January 7
The Wheel of Time: The First Turn - Lorne Balfe - Milan
January 28
All Creatures Great and Small: Series 2 - Alexandra Harwood - Silva
Without Remorse - Jonsi - Krunk
Date Unknown
Byleth il demone dell'incesto - Vasco Vassil Kojucharov - Beat
Don't Go in the House - Richard Einhorn - Howlin' Wolf
Gli occhi freddi della paura - Ennio Morricone - Beat
Gli occhiali d'oro - Ennio Morricone - Caldera
Good Tidings - Jean Michel Noir - Howlin' Wolf
Holiday Hell - Semih Tareen - Howlin' Wolf
Il Bidone - Nino Rota - Quartet
Il Dio Sotto La Pelle - Piero Piccioni - Quartet
Love Gets a Room - Victor Reyes - Quartet
Maddalena - Ennio Morricone - Quartet
The Pink Panther Final Chapters Collection - Henry Mancini - Quartet
Terminal Exposure - Hans Zimmer - Notefornote
Zulu - John Barry - Quartet
THIS WEEK IN FILM MUSIC HISTORY
December 10 - Morton Gould born (1913)
December 10 - Alexander Courage born (1919)
December 10 - Chad Stuart born (1941)
December 10 - Milan Svoboda born (1951)
December 10 - Jack Hues born (1954)
December 10 - Jerry Goldsmith begins recording his score for Shock Treatment (1963)
December 10 - Leigh Harline died (1969)
December 10 - Recording sessions begin for Claude Bolling’s score for The Awakening (1979)
December 10 - Roy Webb died (1982)
December 10 - Gershon Kingsley died (2019)
December 11 - Rogier Van Otterloo born (1941)
December 11 - Rachel Portman born (1960)
December 11 - Paul Haslinger born (1962)
December 11 - Anthony Collins died (1963)
December 11 - Jon Brion born (1963)
December 11 - Benny Carter records his score for the Alfred Hitchcock Hour episode “Crimson Witness” (1964)
December 11 - Benny Golson records his score for the Mission: Impossible episode “Incarnate,” the final score composed for the original series (1972)
December 11 - Johnny Mandel begins recording his score for Escape to Witch Mountain (1974)
December 11 - Velton Ray Bunch records his score for the Enterprise episode “Silent Enemy” (2001)
December 11 - Jay Chattaway records his score for the Enterprise episode “Catwalk” (2002)
December 11 - Malcolm Clarke died (2003)
December 11 - Ravi Shankar died (2012)
December 12 - Carlo Martelli born (1935)
December 12 - Michael Kamen begins recording his score for Road House (1988)
December 12 - Karl-Heinz Schafer died (1996)
December 12 - Marcello Giombini died (2003)
December 13 - Teo Usuelli born (1920)
December 13 - Reijiro Koroku born (1949)
December 13 - Dimitri Tiomkin begins recording his score for Land of the Pharaohs (1954)
December 13 - Harry Gregson-Williams born (1961)
December 13 - Adam Fields born (1965)
December 13 - Alexander Courage records his score for the Lost in Space episode "The Girl from the Green Dimension" (1966)
December 13 - Jerry Goldsmith begins recording his score for Psycho II (1982)
December 13 - Dennis McCarthy records his score for the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode “Past Tense - Part 1” (1994)
December 13 - Rene Cloerec died (1995)
December 13 - Emil Richards died (2019)
December 14 - John Du Prez born (1946)
December 14 - John Lurie born (1952)
December 14 - Jon Ekstrand born (1976)
December 14 - Fred Karlin begins recording his score for Ravagers (1978)
December 14 - Ron Jones records his score for the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "The Defector" (1989)
December 14 - Jay Chattaway records his score for the Star Trek: Voyager episode “Shattered” (2000)
December 15 - Gone With the Wind has its world premiere in Atlanta (1939)
December 15 - The Man with the Golden Arm opens in New York (1955)
December 15 - Alan Ari Lazar born (1967)
December 15 - Ennio Morricone begins recording his score for Days of Heaven (1977)
December 16 - Lud Gluskin born (1898)
December 16 - Noel Coward born (1899)
December 16 - Georgy Sviridov born (1915)
December 16 - Camille Saint-Saens died (1921)
December 16 - Marco Frisina born (1954)
December 16 - Adam Gorgoni born (1963)
December 16 - Recording sessions begin for Cyril Mockdridge’s score for Donovan’s Reef (1963)
December 16 - Jerry Goldsmith begins recording his score for In Harm's Way (1964)
December 16 - Richard Band records his score for Terrorvision (1985)
December 16 - Jerry Goldsmith begins recording his unused Timeline score (2002)
December 16 - Paul Baillargeon records his score for the Star Trek: Enterprise episode “Chosen Realm” (2003)
December 16 - Freddie Perren died (2004)
DID THEY MENTION THE MUSIC?
SPENCER - Jonny Greenwood
"Her discomfort is exacerbated at every turn by Larraín’s filmmaking, which often employs the feverish language of psychological horror -- and more than a whisper of camp -- to conjure a mood of relentless extremity. The camera, wielded by the great cinematographer Claire Mathon ('Portrait of a Lady on Fire,' 'Atlantics'), chases Diana down corridors and stalks her around her chambers where she seethes and despairs. The music shudders with all the raw-nerves lyricism you’d expect from Jonny Greenwood (adding another remarkable score to an oeuvre that includes 'There Will Be Blood' and 'You Were Never Really Here'). Diana’s wardrobe becomes a gorgeous prison, from the string of pearls that repeatedly tightens around her neck to the stunning Chanel gown she wears as she retches into a toilet."
Justin Chang, Los Angeles Times
"In order to immerse the audience in Diana’s dissolving mental state, Larraín enlisted composer Jonny Greenwood to create the increasingly unnerving soundtrack, which includes everything from high-pitched strings to the clinking of glass chimes, to demonstrate Diana’s overwhelming experience. Cinematographer extraordinaire Claire Mathon ('Portrait of a Lady on Fire,' 'Atlantics') recreates a somewhat-faded look of photographs from the era, visually matching the scenery and costumes."
Monica Castillo, RogerEbert.com
"The largely interior cinematography by Claire Mathon is stark, cold and beautiful, backed by a soundtrack that ranges from funereal chamber music to discordant jazz-noise meant to inspire dread. If that sounds uncomfortable, well, that’s the point of being her."
Jim Slotek, Original Cin
"One is left to admire the textures, the way Larraín at once delivers and undercuts the glamour of his extravagant setting. 'Spencer' was shot on celluloid by 'Portrait Of A Lady On Fire''s Claire Mathon, and it has a sometimes gauzy, beatific glow that suits Diana’s feelings of drowning in decorum, the rules enveloping her as surely as the billowy dresses it’s insisted she wears. Larraín has also commissioned a typically hypnotic score from Jonny Greenwood, whose almost free-jazz noodling here might be better suited to a wilder, less cleanly managed character study. Or at least one that found a better window into the haunted house of Diana’s head."
A.A. Dowd, The Onion AV Club
"Spall’s character, much like the ghostly Boleyn, speaks to the more menacing readings of the royals, which Larraín clearly sees as an essential part of the Diana mythology. Coupled with Stewart’s exposed nerve of a performance, the suffocating intensity of Larraín’s filmmaking, and Jonny Greenwood’s droning score, the movie brings a fresh sense of tragedy and loss to a tale that might otherwise feel familiar. 'Spencer' is far too absurd to function as a realistic biopic, but it’s an effective emotional portrait of a figure who seems fated to endless dissection in the public eye."
David Sims, The Atlantic
"By the time the two finally congregate, the audience has been breathlessly awaiting an encounter between Diana and the mythical, apparently formidable queen for nearly half of the film’s runtime. Paired with Jonny Greenwood’s haunting, ominous score, interactions between Diana and just about everyone in 'Spencer' -- the frosty Gonet; Jack Farthing, who plays Diana’s famously unfaithful husband Prince Charles; and the always ornery Timothy Spall as the delightfully inhospitable Major Alistair Gregory -- are shrouded with an air of acrimony. Through these performances, not least of which is Stewart’s cowering portrayal of Diana, director Pablo Larraín does not allow us to forget the positions of these characters. Diana is the victim. The Royal Family, her oppressors. Still, much of 'Spencer' is beautifully conceived. Portrait of a Lady on Fire cinematographer Claire Mathon delivers impeccable pastel shots that both emphasize Sandringham’s fairytale-esque quality and Diana’s claustrophobia in breathtaking close-ups. A scene where Diana reminisces on her more joyful memories plays like a tender dance sequence. The brilliant costume design paired with Mathon’s camera -- which adds to the dreamlike quality of the moment by dollying around Diana as characters enter the frame and she seamlessly changes into new outfits -- makes for a beautiful spectacle. The film’s real star, however, might be Greenwood, whose score oscillates between freeform jazz and simple yet sublime piano melodies -- both perfectly capturing Diana’s haunting essence, while maintaining a precarious bubble of tension that remains throughout the film. Where Spencer’s direction can be confused, its style is clear. For all its flaws, the film interrogates the limits of a biopic. And what better subject to do it with than the most beloved media fixation in recent history?"
Aurora Amidon, Paste Magazine
"Often reacting wordlessly against an oppressive Jonny Greenwood score of dissonant strings and wailing horns, Kristen Stewart meets her character halfway, adopting Diana’s posh inflection while playing her with the same waifish and haunted affect the actress put to such good use in her work with Olivier Assayas. So brash in its affectations as to occasionally cross the line into pure camp, the film finds little use for subtlety and no secret of its intent. When a patrolman catches Diana walking the grounds late one fog-filled night, the princess begs the guard not to report it. 'Say you saw a ghost,' she offers instead. More narratively threadbare than 'Jackie' if not quite as formally rebellious as 'Ema,' this latest in Larraín’s eclectic filmography stakes out an interesting middle ground between those previous two. For nearly all of its running time, 'Spencer' charges forward as a series of set pieces tracking the acute psychological damage being in this gilded prison does to the young woman. The damage manifests in countless ways, from bouts of bulimia and self-harm, hallucinations of another doomed royal, Anne Boleyn, to a standout (and entirely dialogue-free) dinner scene where a string ensemble appears out of the blue, playing against Greenwood’s jolting score."
Ben Croll, IndieWire
"'Spencer' is an intimate speculative drama that stays as close as it can to everything we know about Diana. At the same time, the movie is infused with a poetic extravagance. The remarkable production design, by Guy Hendrix Dyas, turns the interiors of Sandringham into a profusion of textures that dance before our eyes -- the patterned curtains and gilded wallpaper, the carved paneling, the warm light of the chandeliers, the paintings and upholstery and mirrors and knickknacks. And Jonny Greenwood’s ominous jazzy score seems to have a direct pipeline to Diana’s emotions. Larraín places Di in this luxe getaway palace as if he were making a royal version of 'The Shining,' though part of what’s bracing about the movie is that the members of the royal family have come to think it’s Diana who’s the monster. They regard the attention she receives as a threat to who they are, and they’re right. What they’re in denial of is that the media is creating a new world that’s going to squeeze them out."
Owen Gleiberman, Variety
"The music by Jonny Greenwood (who contributed an evocative score for another film premiering in Venice, Jane Campion’s 'The Power of the Dog'), is as bracing and risky as anything else in Larraín’s film, shifting from melodic piano and string themes early on into discordant free-form jazz or oppressive pipe organ passages as Diana’s self-possession unravels. And Mathon’s camerawork is ravishing, constantly in motion, gliding behind and circling a subject who bristles at being under constant surveillance."
David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter
THE NEXT TEN DAYS IN L.A.
Screenings of older films in Los Angeles-area theaters.
December 10
ABHIJAN [THE EXPEDITION] (Satyajit Ray) [Academy Museum]
BLADE RUNNER (Vangelis) [Brain Dead Studios]
THE DAY OF THE BEAST (Battista Lena) [Los Feliz 3]
DJANGO UNCHAINED [New Beverly]
THE GREAT BEAUTY (Lele Marchitelli) [Aero]
IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE (Michael Galasso, Shigeru Umebayashi) [Los Feliz 3]
MEAN GIRLS (Rolfe Kent) [New Beverly]
MERRY CHRISTMAS, MR. LAWRENCE (Ryuichi Sakamoto) [Los Feliz 3]
THE PINK PANTHER (Henry Mancini), GROUNDHOG DAY (George Fenton) [New Beverly]
PREDATOR 2 (Alan Silvestri) [Brain Dead Studios]
SHIVA BABY (Ariel Marx) [Los Feliz 3]
December 11
CASABLANCA (Max Steiner) [Academy Museum]
ELF (John Debney) [New Beverly]
FANNY AND ALEXANDER (Daniel Bell) [New Beverly]
THE LION IN WINTER (John Barry) [Aero]
MULHOLLAND DRIVE (Angelo Badalamenti) [Brain Dead Studios]
RARE EXPORTS (Juri Seppa, Miska Seppa) [Los Feliz 3]
SCREWED (Michel Colombier) [Los Feliz 3]
SHADOWS (Shafi Hadi, Charles Mingus) [Los Feliz 3]
THE SHINING (Wendy Carlos, Rachel Elkind) [New Beverly]
THE UNFAITHFUL (Max Steiner) [Los Feliz 3]
December 12
BARFLY (Jack Baron) [Brain Dead Studios]
BATMAN RETURNS (Danny Elfman) [Alamo Drafthouse]
THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES (Hugo Friedhofer) [Academy Museum]
COLORS (Herbie Hancock) [Brain Dead Studios]
ED WOOD (Howard Shore) [Brain Dead Studios]
GET CRAZY (Michael Boddicker) [Los Feliz 3]
GRAND HOTEL [Academy Museum]
THE HOLIDAY (Hans Zimmer) [Alamo Drafthouse]
MEET ME IN ST. LOUIS (Hugh Martin, Ralph Blaine, Georgie Stoll) [Alamo Drafthouse]
MERRY CHRISTMAS, MR LAWRENCE (Ryuichi Sakamoto) [Los Feliz 3]
METROPOLITAN (Mark Suozzo, Tom Judson) [Aero]
A SEPARATION (Sattar Oraki), THE SALESMAN (Sattar Oraki) [Aero]
SULLIVAN'S TRAVELS (Leo Shuken, Charles Bradshaw) [Los Feliz 3]
December 13
BLACK CHRISTMAS (Carl Zittrer), SILENT NIGHT, DEADLY NIGHT (Perry Botkin Jr.) [New Beverly]
VALLEY GIRL (Scott Wilk, Marc Levinthal) [Alamo Drafthouse]
December 14
ALL LIGHT, EVERYWHERE (Dan Deacon) [Brain Dead Studios]
AUNTIE MAME (Bronislau Kaper) [Los Feliz 3]
BLACK CHRISTMAS (Carl Zittrer), SILENT NIGHT, DEADLY NIGHT (Perry Botkin Jr.) [New Beverly]
CHASING CORAL (Saul Simon MacWilliams, Dan Romer) [Academy Museum]
LICENSED TO KILL (Miriam Cutler) [Academy Museum]
December 15
AIRPORT (Alfred Newman) [Laemmle Royal]
AUNTIE MAME (Bronislau Kaper) [Los Feliz 3]
KANCHENJUNGHA (Satyajit Ray) [Academy Museum]
THE MATRIX (Don Davis) [Alamo Drafthouse]
NATIONAL LAMPOON'S CHRISTMAS VACATION (Angelo Badalementi), SCROOGED (Danny Elfman) [New Beverly]
SHORT CUTS (Mark Isham) [Brain Dead Studios]
December 16
AUNTIE MAME (Bronislau Kaper) [Los Feliz 3]
FANTASTIC MR. FOX (Alexandre Desplat) [Academy Museum]
MAHANAGAR [THE BIG CITY] (Satyajit Ray) [Academy Museum]
NATIONAL LAMPOON'S CHRISTMAS VACATION (Angelo Badalementi), SCROOGED (Danny Elfman) [New Beverly]
2046 (Shigeru Umebayashi) [Los Feliz 3]
December 17
AUNTIE MAME (Bronislau Kaper) [Los Feliz 3]
CHARULATA [THE LONELY WIFE] (Satyajit Ray) [Academy Museum]
THE CITY OF LOST CHILDREN (Angelo Badalamenti) [New Beverly]
CHUNGKING EXPRESS (Fan-Kei Chan, Michael Galasso, Roel A. Garcia) [Los Feliz 3]
DJANGO UNCHAINED [New Beverly]
EYES WIDE SHUT (Jocelyn Pook) [Aero]
IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE (Dimitri Tiomkin) [New Beverly]
LITTLE WOMEN (Alexandre Desplat) [Los Feliz 3]
MAGNOLIA (Jon Brion) [Brain Dead Studios]
NORMA RAE (David Shire) [Academy Museum]
THE ROOM (Mladen Milicevic) [Landmark Westwood]
SHIVA BABY (Ariel Marx) [Los Feliz 3]
December 18
CRISS CROSS (Miklos Rozsa) [Los Feliz 3]
DEMOLITION MAN (Elliot Goldenthal) [Brain Dead Studios]
DISHONORED [Academy Museum]
ELF (John Debney) [Academy Museum]
FRIDAY AFTER NEXT (John Murphy) [Los Feliz 3]
THE GARDEN OF ALLAH (Max Steiner) [Academy Museum]
IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE (Dimitri Tiomkin) [New Beverly]
A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM (Erich Wolfgang Korngold) [Academy Museum]
THE MUPPET CHRISTMAS CAROL (Paul Williams, Miles Goodman) [New Beverly]
THE ROOM (Mladen Milicevic) [Landmark Westwood]
RUSH HOUR (Lalo Schifrin) [Brain Dead Studios]
THE SHINING (Wendy Carlos, Rachel Elkind) [New Beverly]
THE STORE [Los Feliz 3]
TRAINING DAY (Mark Mancina) [Brain Dead Studios]
December 19
CHRISTMAS IN CONNECTICUT (Frederick Hollander), REMEMBER THE NIGHT (Frederick Hollander) [New Beverly]
DIE HARD (Michael Kamen) [Aero]
THE GREAT RUPERT (Leith Stevens) [Los Feliz 3]
IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE (Dimitri Tiomkin) [Academy Museum]
IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE (Dimitri Tiomkin) [Alamo Drafthouse]
LIONS LOVE (Joseph Byrd) [Brain Dead Studios]
METROPOLITAN (Marc Suozzo, Tom Judson) [Los Feliz 3]
MODERN ROMANCE (Lance Rubin) [Brain Dead Studios]
NIAGARA (Sol Kaplan) [Los Feliz 3]
QUEEN CHRISTINA (Herbert Stothart) [Academy Museum]
SAFE (Ed Tomney) [Brain Dead Studios]
WHITE CHRISTMAS (Irving Berlin, Joseph J. Lilley) [Alamo Drafthouse]
THINGS I'VE HEARD, READ, SEEN OR WATCHED LATELY
Heard: Petrouchka (Stravinsky), She Loves Me (Bock), RE/Search: Incredibly Strange Music Vol. 1 (various), The Top Part (Mulaney), Company (Sondheim), Let's Go to Prison (Elliott), The Man Who Killed Don Quixote (Banos), Angels of the Universe (Hilmarsson), Obsession (Herrmann), The Living Desert/The Vanishing Prairie (Smith), Over the Moon (Price), The Boys: Season 2 (Lennertz)
Read: Goldfinger, by Ian Fleming
Seen: Licorice Pizza, Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City, Encanto, Teen Kanya (Three Daughters), Benedetta, Encounter
Watched: Looper; NewsRadio ("No, This Is Not Based Entirely on Julie's Life"); Action ("Lights, Camera, Action!"); The Ghost and Mrs. Muir; Star Trek ("Journey to Babel"); Star Trek: Lower Decks ("Temporal Edict"); Penny Dreadful: City of Angels ("Hide and Seek"); I Could Never Be Your Woman; The Newsroom ("We Just Decided To")
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