Tonic Jukebox History
WEEK 69 - Movie Music Maestri 2
As promised in Jukebox week 46 we return to the movies for a second week of movie music maestri. To repeat the words I wrote the first time around, 'When Classic FM started including film music I was quite sceptical. "This is not classical music", I cried. But I was wrong. There is a huge store of wonderful music that has been written for the cinema and much of it is worthy to be considered alongside the classical repertoire.'
This week we turn our attention to a second group of composers whose music has graced the silver screen.
This week we turn our attention to a second group of composers whose music has graced the silver screen.
Monday July 5
John Williams
John Towner Williams (born 8 February 1932) is an American composer, conductor, pianist and trombonist. In a career that has spanned nearly seven decades, he has composed some of the most popular, recognisable, and critically acclaimed film scores in cinematic history. Williams has won 25 Grammy Awards, seven British Academy Film Awards, five Academy Awards, and four Golden Globe Awards. With 52 Academy Award nominations, he is the second most-nominated individual, after Walt Disney. He composed the music for the first three Harry Potter films. This included Hedwig's Theme, the series leitmotif which appears in all eight films.
Recording
Tuesday July 6
John Barry
John Barry Prendergast (1933 – 2011) was an English composer and conductor of film music and films. He composed the scores for eleven of the James Bond films between 1963 and 1987. He wrote the Grammy- and Academy Award-winning scores in a career spanning over 50 years.
The Lion in Winter won Barry an Academy Award in 1968. Set in 1183 C.E., the story tells of King Henry II's three sons who all want to inherit the throne, but he won't commit to a choice. They and his wife variously plot to force him. The film starred Peter O'Toole and Katharine Hepburn, and is one of my favourite movies, with a great screenplay by James Goldman (from his own play) and excellent acting. There are many great quotes; I particularly like this bit:
John: A knife! He's got a knife!
Eleanor of Aquitaine: Of course he has a knife, he always has a knife, we all have knives! It's 1183 and we're barbarians! How clear we make it. Oh, my piglets, we are the origins of war: not history's forces, nor the times, nor justice, nor the lack of it, nor causes, nor religions, nor ideas, nor kinds of government, nor any other thing. We are the killers. We breed wars. We carry it like syphilis inside. Dead bodies rot in field and stream because the living ones are rotten. For the love of God, can't we love one another just a little - that's how peace begins. We have so much to love each other for. We have such possibilities, my children. We could change the world.
Recording
Out of Africa is a 1985 American movie directed and produced by Sydney Pollack, and starring Meryl Streep and Robert Redford. It won seven Academy Awards including one for John Barry's score.
Recording
Note: James Goldman's brother was outstanding novelist, playwright and screenwriter William Goldman who is revered in our house as the author of that most wonderful book/film The Princess Bride.
Wednesday July 7
Henri Mancini
Henry Nicola Mancini (1924 – 1994) was an American composer, conductor, arranger, pianist and flautist. He won four Academy Awards, a Golden Globe, and twenty Grammy Awards, plus a posthumous Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1995. His works include the music for The Pink Panther film series. In 1961, Mancini won two Academy Awards, one for Moon River for Best Original Song and one for Best Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture for the movie Breakfast at Tiffany's. In 1962, he won Best Original Song again, this time for Days of Wine and Roses. He won Best Original Score again in 1982 for the movie Victor/Victoria.
Recording of Pink Panther
Thursday July 8
Ernest Gold
Ernst Sigmund Goldner (1921 – 1999), known professionally as Ernest Gold, was an Austrian-born American composer. Gold was a prolific writer of film scores and is best remembered for his work on the film Exodus produced in 1960. Gold's first wife (married from 1950-1969) was Marni Nixon, famous for being the singing voice of leading actresses on the soundtracks of several musicals, including Deborah Kerr in The King and I, Natalie Wood in West Side Story, and Audrey Hepburn in My Fair Lady.
Recording
Friday July 9
Lalo Schifrin
Boris Claudio "Lalo" Schifrin (born June 21, 1932) is an Argentine-American pianist, composer, arranger and conductor. He is best known for his large body of film and TV scores. He has received five Grammy Awards and six Academy Awards nominations.
Kelly's Heroes is a 1970 American war film about a group of World War II American soldiers who go AWOL to rob a bank behind enemy lines. The film stars Clint Eastwood, Telly Savalas and Donald Sutherland. Great score by Schifrin and another of my favourite movies.
Recording
Schifrin is also responsible for the Mission Impossible theme having worked on the original TV series (1966-1973). The theme continues to be used in today's highly successful and enjoyable feature films starring Tom Cruise.
Recording
Weekend July 10/11 - double header
Max Steiner
Maximilian Raoul Steiner (1888 – 1971) was an Austrian-born American music composer for theatre and films, as well as a conductor. He was a child prodigy who conducted his first operetta when he was twelve and became a full-time professional, either composing, arranging, or conducting, when he was fifteen. Steiner composed over 300 film scores and was nominated for 24 Academy Awards, winning three. Possibly his best known work was the score for Gone With The Wind. Steiner spent twelve weeks working on the score, the longest period that he had ever spent writing one, and at two hours and thirty-six minutes long it was also the longest that he had ever written. Here is Tara's Theme.
Recording
Nino Rota
Giovanni Rota Rinaldi (1911 – 1979), better known as Nino Rota was an Italian composer, pianist, conductor and academic who is best known for his film scores. Rota was an extraordinarily prolific composer, especially of music for the cinema. He wrote more than 150 scores for Italian and international productions from the 1930s until his death in 1979. Alongside this great body of film work, he composed ten operas, five ballets and dozens of other orchestral, choral and chamber works. He also composed the music for many theatre productions. Rota was a renowned child prodigy. His first oratorio, L'infanzia di San Giovanni Battista, was written when he was just 11. We could not let this week finish without including Rota's main theme from that classic movie, The Godfather.
Recording
John Williams
John Towner Williams (born 8 February 1932) is an American composer, conductor, pianist and trombonist. In a career that has spanned nearly seven decades, he has composed some of the most popular, recognisable, and critically acclaimed film scores in cinematic history. Williams has won 25 Grammy Awards, seven British Academy Film Awards, five Academy Awards, and four Golden Globe Awards. With 52 Academy Award nominations, he is the second most-nominated individual, after Walt Disney. He composed the music for the first three Harry Potter films. This included Hedwig's Theme, the series leitmotif which appears in all eight films.
Recording
Tuesday July 6
John Barry
John Barry Prendergast (1933 – 2011) was an English composer and conductor of film music and films. He composed the scores for eleven of the James Bond films between 1963 and 1987. He wrote the Grammy- and Academy Award-winning scores in a career spanning over 50 years.
The Lion in Winter won Barry an Academy Award in 1968. Set in 1183 C.E., the story tells of King Henry II's three sons who all want to inherit the throne, but he won't commit to a choice. They and his wife variously plot to force him. The film starred Peter O'Toole and Katharine Hepburn, and is one of my favourite movies, with a great screenplay by James Goldman (from his own play) and excellent acting. There are many great quotes; I particularly like this bit:
John: A knife! He's got a knife!
Eleanor of Aquitaine: Of course he has a knife, he always has a knife, we all have knives! It's 1183 and we're barbarians! How clear we make it. Oh, my piglets, we are the origins of war: not history's forces, nor the times, nor justice, nor the lack of it, nor causes, nor religions, nor ideas, nor kinds of government, nor any other thing. We are the killers. We breed wars. We carry it like syphilis inside. Dead bodies rot in field and stream because the living ones are rotten. For the love of God, can't we love one another just a little - that's how peace begins. We have so much to love each other for. We have such possibilities, my children. We could change the world.
Recording
Out of Africa is a 1985 American movie directed and produced by Sydney Pollack, and starring Meryl Streep and Robert Redford. It won seven Academy Awards including one for John Barry's score.
Recording
Note: James Goldman's brother was outstanding novelist, playwright and screenwriter William Goldman who is revered in our house as the author of that most wonderful book/film The Princess Bride.
Wednesday July 7
Henri Mancini
Henry Nicola Mancini (1924 – 1994) was an American composer, conductor, arranger, pianist and flautist. He won four Academy Awards, a Golden Globe, and twenty Grammy Awards, plus a posthumous Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1995. His works include the music for The Pink Panther film series. In 1961, Mancini won two Academy Awards, one for Moon River for Best Original Song and one for Best Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture for the movie Breakfast at Tiffany's. In 1962, he won Best Original Song again, this time for Days of Wine and Roses. He won Best Original Score again in 1982 for the movie Victor/Victoria.
Recording of Pink Panther
Thursday July 8
Ernest Gold
Ernst Sigmund Goldner (1921 – 1999), known professionally as Ernest Gold, was an Austrian-born American composer. Gold was a prolific writer of film scores and is best remembered for his work on the film Exodus produced in 1960. Gold's first wife (married from 1950-1969) was Marni Nixon, famous for being the singing voice of leading actresses on the soundtracks of several musicals, including Deborah Kerr in The King and I, Natalie Wood in West Side Story, and Audrey Hepburn in My Fair Lady.
Recording
Friday July 9
Lalo Schifrin
Boris Claudio "Lalo" Schifrin (born June 21, 1932) is an Argentine-American pianist, composer, arranger and conductor. He is best known for his large body of film and TV scores. He has received five Grammy Awards and six Academy Awards nominations.
Kelly's Heroes is a 1970 American war film about a group of World War II American soldiers who go AWOL to rob a bank behind enemy lines. The film stars Clint Eastwood, Telly Savalas and Donald Sutherland. Great score by Schifrin and another of my favourite movies.
Recording
Schifrin is also responsible for the Mission Impossible theme having worked on the original TV series (1966-1973). The theme continues to be used in today's highly successful and enjoyable feature films starring Tom Cruise.
Recording
Weekend July 10/11 - double header
Max Steiner
Maximilian Raoul Steiner (1888 – 1971) was an Austrian-born American music composer for theatre and films, as well as a conductor. He was a child prodigy who conducted his first operetta when he was twelve and became a full-time professional, either composing, arranging, or conducting, when he was fifteen. Steiner composed over 300 film scores and was nominated for 24 Academy Awards, winning three. Possibly his best known work was the score for Gone With The Wind. Steiner spent twelve weeks working on the score, the longest period that he had ever spent writing one, and at two hours and thirty-six minutes long it was also the longest that he had ever written. Here is Tara's Theme.
Recording
Nino Rota
Giovanni Rota Rinaldi (1911 – 1979), better known as Nino Rota was an Italian composer, pianist, conductor and academic who is best known for his film scores. Rota was an extraordinarily prolific composer, especially of music for the cinema. He wrote more than 150 scores for Italian and international productions from the 1930s until his death in 1979. Alongside this great body of film work, he composed ten operas, five ballets and dozens of other orchestral, choral and chamber works. He also composed the music for many theatre productions. Rota was a renowned child prodigy. His first oratorio, L'infanzia di San Giovanni Battista, was written when he was just 11. We could not let this week finish without including Rota's main theme from that classic movie, The Godfather.
Recording