Few years before, I tried my hand in Guitar by enrolling in a music school. But it lasted for just two weeks in spite of my urge towards music. Then I learned an important lesson: passion alone is not a yardstick to grasp the basics of any instrument more than that music demands practise and perseverance - this applies to all art-forms though.Thereon I decided, its better to remain a mute spectator to music rather trying to learn an instrument.
The reason for this petty flashback is these days I search a lot looking for the books on film music. In particular, those books should be non-technical mainly tracing the origins of film music, briefing the nuances of great scores to a commoner, interesting trivia of composers, shedding more light on under-rated film scores.In fact, there are only few titles on film music for a newbie, out of which, I suppose, the below two books worth trying:
1. A History of Film Music - M
Probably, this might be the only attempt in detailing film score history from silent era to present day besides briefing comprehensive introduction to various film composers. It has also a section on world-cinema where film music of India, Italy, Japan and the early Soviet Union are discussed.
2. Film Music: A Very Short Introduction.-
As the title suggests, this is a short introduction to understand the importance of film score.
Apart from these, there are biographies for Bernard Herrmann,Erich W Korngold. Max Steiner penned his autobiography but sadly it is yet to be published. Rest all are guides,technical understanding books.
In the early days, film music was considered second-class - even now, to some extent - as most of the classical composers were reluctant to pursue film music as a full-time career. But occasionally, some breakthrough changed this notion a little. Let's look into some of those influential scores.
Interestingly, the first defining moment in the film score came outside Hollywood :
The reason for this petty flashback is these days I search a lot looking for the books on film music. In particular, those books should be non-technical mainly tracing the origins of film music, briefing the nuances of great scores to a commoner, interesting trivia of composers, shedding more light on under-rated film scores.In fact, there are only few titles on film music for a newbie, out of which, I suppose, the below two books worth trying:
1. A History of Film Music - M
Probably, this might be the only attempt in detailing film score history from silent era to present day besides briefing comprehensive introduction to various film composers. It has also a section on world-cinema where film music of India, Italy, Japan and the early Soviet Union are discussed.
2. Film Music: A Very Short Introduction.-
As the title suggests, this is a short introduction to understand the importance of film score.
Apart from these, there are biographies for Bernard Herrmann,Erich W Korngold. Max Steiner penned his autobiography but sadly it is yet to be published. Rest all are guides,technical understanding books.
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In the early days, film music was considered second-class - even now, to some extent - as most of the classical composers were reluctant to pursue film music as a full-time career. But occasionally, some breakthrough changed this notion a little. Let's look into some of those influential scores.
Interestingly, the first defining moment in the film score came outside Hollywood :
- Metropolis (1927) - a silent, sci-fi, German movie, still remains as one of the most influential both in terms of film-making and score wise.Composer, Gottfried Huppertz, pulled off a remarkable score with a huge orchestra and proclaimed the grand arrival of film score.
Hollywood owes a lot to Hitler. Surprising ? Yes, it was during his reign, Hollywood started witnessing an influx of great Jewish composers who laid the foundation of film score by experimenting new ideas that influenced the next generation of film composers. Among them, were the two greats, Max Steiner and Erich.W.Korngold.
- King Kong (1933) - Max Steiner's score catapulted the film music into great heights as critics went on to say, a symphony written on a movie.
Max Steiner was the first prolific composer in Hollywood who scored for 100's of movies notably, Casablanca, Gone with the wind, King Kong. Besides these, he has share of many great scores as well. But unfortunately, they were overlooked because of those movies couldn't match up to Casablanca or Gone with the wind. Between those, three stunning scores deserves re-visiting.
- Parrish (1961) - This unknown gem surprised me altogether.Unlike his grand orchestration, this comes with minimal instruments: Starts with Harp and then by Violin section unfolds as smooth flow of melody with occasional cameos from Guitar,Clarinet and Piano.
- Adventures of Don Juan (1948) - One of the most dynamic scores aptly composed for an adventure movie. The score has a central theme with many variations in-between to capture the sword fights,horse rides,thrill moments. The best part is the brilliant usage of Guitar. There are hardly few scores those days that come up with Guitar. I guess Max Steiner was the one who used Guitar beautifully in his scores. Subsequently, Guitar reached its peak during Ennio Morricone days.
I could feel the slight resemblance of Aayirathil Oruvan's (1965) BGM in 8.55-9.00.
John Paul Jones (1959) - Its a surprise that a grand orchestral marvel like this wasn't celebrated. Starts with a quirky whistle piece representing a march then taken over by the majestic orchestra. The same whistle theme comes in The Great Escape movie too if I am not wrong. The real beauty of this score comes when it turns into a waltz melody.
I've just listed some of my most favourites of Max Steiner.Still there are lots to explore in his treasure.
Next Post : Erich W Korngold.
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