[Of related interest, at WEJB/NSU:
“D-Day, Sixth of June: The 72nd Anniversary of the World's Largest Amphibious Invasion (The Ultimate Web Presentation, with Articles, and Scores of Photographs and Maps).”]
Re-posted by Nicholas Stix
May 30, 2011, 5:30 a.m.
Saving Private Ryan Soundtrack composed by John Williams, performed by the Boston Symphony Orchestra.
Somber music for a somber movie.
John Williams is God’s gift to the movies.
When Aaron Copland (1900-1990) composed music for a movie, he would not only write stunning music, but lots of it, so that a picture like The Red Pony might contain over a solid hour of music, very little of it repeat themes. He took twice as long writing a score as the typical composer, and he demanded and got a much higher fee—and he earned every bit of it. The opening theme alone to The Red Pony is so stunning that when my 10-year-old son and I saw the picture for the first time last summer, and the opening credits cited Copland, my son said, without prompting, “Thank you, Aaron.”
Although there is a fair amount of repetition in this score, it still blows me away how many great individual themes John Williams wrote for one picture, and how powerful they are, not just the requiem. We Stix men feel the same way about seeing John Williams’ name in the credits as we do about Aaron Copland.
With heartfelt thanks to Ellijah De Leon, who uploaded all of what follows.
01 Hymn to the Fallen
02 Revisiting Normandy
03 Omaha Beach
04 Finding Private Ryan
05 Approaching the Enemy
06 Defense Preparations
07 Wade's Death
08A High School Teacher
08B High School Teacher
09 The Last Battle
10 Hymn to the Fallen (Reprise)
John Williams on Scoring Saving Private Ryan
Uploaded on Aug 21, 2007 by Farma2006.
5 comments:
I hope you Stix men revere the greatest of them all, the late, great Jerry Goldsmith.
We are second-to-none, or maybe, second-to-you, in our reverence for Jerry, Brad. In fact, when he died, in 2004 (something like 20 days apart from Elmer), I put together a Jerry Goldsmith Memorial Concert, and I always come back to his music. For some strange reason, I listen to movie music (Jerry, Hermann, Horning, Williams, Steiner, Aaron, Korngold, Tiomkin, Rosza, Al Newman) much more than I listen to classical.
Movie music is modern day classical music. If Beethoven, Brahms or Mozart were alive today they'd be in Hollywood scoring movies. The reason you listen to movie music more than classics is the same reason I do. Music scored for movies is far more evocative, because the music is composed to complement actions and images the filmmaker has put on screen, rather than springing from the imagination of the composer. It's also thus also more relatable, especially if you've seen the movie. You hear John Williams' opening motif to Jaws and you immediately see the shark. I remember back in 04 when a friend told me Goldsmith had died, I audibly gasped. I think I've found Goldsmith's artistic heir. His name is Steven Price. He won the Oscar for his score for Gravity, which is innovatively and creatively equal to any Goldsmith score. Gravity is one of only two movies that is technically correct: no sound in space. Price's music brilliantly creates that sound.
Movie music is modern day classical music. If Beethoven, Brahms or Mozart were alive today they'd be in Hollywood scoring movies. The reason you listen to movie music more than classics is the same reason I do. Music scored for movies is far more evocative, because the music is composed to complement actions and images the filmmaker has put on screen, rather than springing from the imagination of the composer. It's also thus also more relatable, especially if you've seen the movie. You hear John Williams' opening motif to Jaws and you immediately see the shark. I remember back in 04 when a friend told me Goldsmith had died, I audibly gasped. I think I've found Goldsmith's artistic heir. His name is Steven Price. He won the Oscar for his score for Gravity, which is innovatively and creatively equal to any Goldsmith score. Gravity is one of only two movies that is technically correct: no sound in space. Price's music brilliantly creates that sound.
https://youtu.be/ww_TyVdpAtQ?si=FRYydMWf3CqG0Bak
Post a Comment