windashine Posted August 7, 2018 Share Posted August 7, 2018 Permission to digress - it seems that some orchestra's are better than other's, such as... The Cleveland Symphonic Winds or The Dallas Wind Symphony, to name a couple from my afternoon CD listening experience today - when arrangements from the 1800's are the classical agenda. Furthermore, why hasn't Sousa been picked yet ? Carry-on Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LarryC Posted August 7, 2018 Share Posted August 7, 2018 2 hours ago, boom3 said: Hovhaness, "Mt. St. Helens" Mysterious Mountain? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LarryC Posted August 7, 2018 Share Posted August 7, 2018 12 hours ago, JJkizak said: Soilent Green The Lone Ranger Grand Canyon Suite Yeah, I don't know the names. JJK I don't know the Soylent Green piece, but The Lone Ranger probably refers to the Finale of the William Tell Overture, the only 4-movement overture in the literature that I know of (all 4 are great IMO). Probably the "On the Trail" movement of the Grand Canyon Suite Here'e an amusing but very vigorous "junior" performance of the WTO well worth watching just to make the point: 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Travis In Austin Posted August 7, 2018 Author Moderators Share Posted August 7, 2018 2 hours ago, Woofers and Tweeters said: No Strauss fans? YES! I am going to add: Richard Strauss—Thus Spoke Zarathustra Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garyrc Posted August 7, 2018 Share Posted August 7, 2018 Might as well play the whole Grand Canyon Suite. If I had to pick, my favorite parts are "Sunset and Finale." I was horrified at how lifeless and bad an SACD of several Ferde Grofé works, including GCS, was -- so horrified that I have repressed the name of the conductor and the orchestra! There are many good versions. Believe it or not, the soundtrack to Walt Disney's Academy Award Winning short film Grand Canyon (1959; immersive CinemaScope and 4 channel stereo), in which, thankfully, there is no narration, not a word is spoken, and no humans are shown -- Disney and James Algar decided to show the Canyon as it might have looked before invaded by humankind -- is one of the best versions, IMO. It was played by the Symphonie Orchcester Graunke conducted by Frederick Stark. A review of the disc (I think in Stereo Review) called it "A thrilling evocation of fire, splendor, and tenderness." Who knew that Grofe' was the one who arranged Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue for orchestra? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JJkizak Posted August 7, 2018 Share Posted August 7, 2018 8 hours ago, LarryC said: I don't know the Soylent Green piece, but The Lone Ranger probably refers to the Finale of the William Tell Overture, the only 4-movement overture in the literature that I know of (all 4 are great IMO). Probably the "On the Trail" movement of the Grand Canyon Suite Here'e an amusing but very vigorous "junior" performance of the WTO well worth watching just to make the point: Soilent Green had a large classical music interlude playing as a selected option during the dying of one of the characters. It was an exceptionally long interlude. JJK Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Woofers and Tweeters Posted August 7, 2018 Share Posted August 7, 2018 8 hours ago, dwilawyer said: YES! I am going to add: Richard Strauss Yes, and the other Struess' I like a lot of Classical music. It can become too heavy, dark and can be what Heavy Metal tries to be. I like to lighten it up a little by switching it up with a Waltz or two, once in a while. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris A Posted August 7, 2018 Share Posted August 7, 2018 1 hour ago, JJkizak said: Soylent Green had a large classical music interlude playing as a selected option during the dying of one of the characters. It was an exceptionally long interlude. from Wikipedia: Quote ...The "going home" score in Roth's death scene was conducted by Gerald Fried and consists of the main themes from Symphony No. 6 ("Pathétique") by Tchaikovsky, Symphony No. 6 ("Pastoral") by Beethoven, and the Peer Gynt Suite ("Morning Mood" and "Åse's Death") by Edvard Grieg. What's most interesting to me how much the big screen has taken over the task of "serious" music education from parent-to-child and formal music ed coursework found in high school and liberal arts curricula. Perhaps that fact is highlighted in this thread...albeit from films from 40-80 years ago. For instance, Grofé's Grand Canyon suite isn't typically listed among the great symphonic works (to my knowledge)--even those lists that extend well into the 20th century, but is nevertheless well represented in this thread. John William's music soundtracks (mostly from Spielberg movies) have disproportionately drawn from late 19th century and early 20th century composers (the following from https://www.classicalmpr.org/story/2015/10/20/star-wars-john-williams-influences). Perhaps we should call this "cinema symphonic music"...?... Quote Wagner: The original franchise king- The ultimate influence on Williams's vision for Star Wars was Richard Wagner, whose Ring cycle combines a wealth of musical ideas that would inform Williams's work. Daringly dissonant and boldly dramatic for its time, Wagner's four-opera cycle was the original "cinematic" composition, its lurid Romantic vocabulary providing the basic toolbox for a century's worth of film composers. Tchaikovsky: Instrumental color ...The grandly Romantic theme from Swan Lake is also echoed in Williams's love theme for Han and Leia, from The Empire Strikes Back... Holst: Journey into space ...The Planets has been mined for any number of sci-fi spectaculars, and Mars in particular has been a favorite of film composers including Williams, whose stormtroopers march to a distinctly Martian beat. Korngold: Movie master Of all Williams's borrowings, there's none more notorious than his nod to Erich Korngold—right out of the gate, no less. As many listeners have noted, the main Star Wars theme (technically, Luke Skywalker's theme) bears more than a passing resemblance to Korngold's theme for Kings Row (1942)... Stravinsky: Uncanny Rite Stravinsky's influence on Star Wars may have come by way of Fantasia, where his instantly infamous Rite of Spring was used to soundtrack a desiccated landscape where dinosaurs marched to their deaths... Orff: Sing a song of Sith Believe it or not, when it came time to score the Star Wars prequels, there was one classical monster hit that just about every film composer except for Williams had plundered. That's Carl Orff's Carmina Burana, whose O Fortuna choir has been cribbed for seemingly every movie that culminates in a supernatural apocalypse... Elgar: A New Hope and Glory ...listening to Williams's music for [a] scene next to Elgar's Pomp and Circumstance march makes clear that Williams knew whose arrangement to crib when he wanted to evoke the feeling of a formal award ceremony. 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wvu80 Posted August 7, 2018 Share Posted August 7, 2018 10 hours ago, windashine said: why hasn't Sousa been picked yet ? It's march music and not symphonic. Still, good choice, music right up my alley! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris A Posted August 7, 2018 Share Posted August 7, 2018 More John Williams sources for his soundtrack compositional style: Walton, Prokofiev, Ravel, Bartok, Bernstein, Debussy, Rosza, Copland, Hanson, Haydn, Vaughan Williams, Xenakis, North, Penderecki, Respighi, Ligeti, Bruckner, Mahler, Lutoslawski, Ives, Rosenman, Berg... Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wvu80 Posted August 7, 2018 Share Posted August 7, 2018 8 minutes ago, Chris A said: More John Williams sources for his soundtrack compositional style: Walton, Prokofiev, Ravel, Bartok, Bernstein, Debussy, Rosza, Copland, Hanson, Haydn, Vaughan Williams, Xenakis, North, Penderecki, Respighi, Ligeti, Bruckner, Mahler, Lutoslawski, Ives, Rosenman, Berg... Ha! Always steal from the best! Williams "borrowing" from other composers is well documented but I don't think that takes away from his compositions. But still, you're right. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris A Posted August 7, 2018 Share Posted August 7, 2018 Not stealing or even borrowing, but rather "drawing from others' styles to form one's own style". No symphonic composer that I know of can claim that there are no influences and styles that they haven't learned and significantly drawn from. Williams just doesn't camouflage his influences as much as others. I believe that we should thank him for singlehandedly introducing millions or even billions of people to music styles that they otherwise would never have enjoyed. To me, that's the message and one that I believe should be acknowledged: the greatest living music educator that probably has ever lived (along with Spielberg for continuing to hire him for his movie soundtracks). That's a bit closer to the truth--at least in my view. Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Travis In Austin Posted August 7, 2018 Author Moderators Share Posted August 7, 2018 2 hours ago, Chris A said: More John Williams sources for his soundtrack compositional style: Walton, Prokofiev, Ravel, Bartok, Bernstein, Debussy, Rosza, Copland, Hanson, Haydn, Vaughan Williams, Xenakis, North, Penderecki, Respighi, Ligeti, Bruckner, Mahler, Lutoslawski, Ives, Rosenman, Berg... Chris Not to mention this one. Cue it up at 3:50 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Travis In Austin Posted August 7, 2018 Author Moderators Share Posted August 7, 2018 The 25 Greatest Film Scores (AFI) I attached the 250 nominations in pdf the 25 were drawn from. http://www.afi.com/100Years/scores.aspx scores250.pdf Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RT FAN Posted August 7, 2018 Share Posted August 7, 2018 How about "WATER MUSIC" by George Frideric Handel? Yeah, Yeah I know it is a collection of suites but I always liked that piece. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garyrc Posted August 10, 2018 Share Posted August 10, 2018 On 8/7/2018 at 7:05 AM, Chris A said: More John Williams sources for his soundtrack compositional style: Walton, Prokofiev, Ravel, Bartok, Bernstein, Debussy, Rosza, Copland, Hanson, Haydn, Vaughan Williams, Xenakis, North, Penderecki, Respighi, Ligeti, Bruckner, Mahler, Lutoslawski, Ives, Rosenman, Berg... Chris Williams may have been following the morphological/emotional characteristics of the dirrector's "guide track" or "temp track." There was a story going around, back in the '70s, that Lucas explicitly asked Williams for a symphonic score part way between Wagner and Korngold. I guess that's what he got. I don't know if there was a temp track for Star Wars. There was one for 2001: A Space Odyssey, and Kubrick decided to keep it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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