Intrada Soundtrack Forum

January 04, 2000

Summer And Smoke
Composed And Conducted By Elmer Bernstein
RCA 74321720592 (Spain)
12 Tracks
Total Time 36:57

Now it can really be said. We’ve been listening to movie music for centuries.

Appropriate that reissues of old scores keep coming. It’s timeless. Currently there’s a lot from RCA, but only released in Spain. Spain?! Classic American music not available in America. Go figure.

This is the label that does all those Mancini scores, Hatari, Arabesque, Experiment In Terror, High Time, What Did You Do In The War Daddy, Two For The Road, The Great Race and so on. All that stuff unavailable here.

Makes sense. Mancini is unknown in America. So are most movies made in Hollywood. At least if you follow the logic of RCA. Anyway these movies and composers must be big deals in Spain. Since the packaging is all English I wonder who these are really aimed at!

Anyway, in one loud burst we get some big fifties and sixties RCA stuff. Steiner, Waxman, Fielding, Duning, more. Summer And Smoke, Peyton Place, Spirit Of St. Louis, Advise And Consent, Marjorie Morningstar, World Of Suzie Wong, Band Of Angels, The Cardinal, others. Original album sequences. Original album artwork.

I’ll spotlight one. Summer And Smoke. One of the more textured, nuanced, detailed scores ever written. Incredibly musical stuff.

Elmer Bernstein did it during a unique early-ish period in his career. He had all these rich, romantic scores. But they all had lots of heavy drama and dark stuff in them. It was like if you made a provocative or sudsy drama with dark passion, torment, even violence, then you got Elmer Bernstein. So there was The View From Pompey’s Head, Some Came Running, From The Terrace, The Story On Page One, The Rat Race, By Love Possessed, A Girl Named Tamiko, The Carpetbaggers, Walk On The Wild Side, others. Record labels would play darts to see which ones would get an album. Hence The Carpetbaggers but not A Girl Named Tamiko. Some Came Running but not From The Terrace. So forth. (Something came out on The Rat Race, played by Sam Butera for the Dot label, but it wasn’t the Bernstein music.)

But RCA did give us Summer And Smoke. The movie came from a Tennessee Williams play. Pretty heavy stuff. All about the soul. Spiritual love, earthly love. People who suppress desire, deny it. Two lovers (Laurence Harvey and Geraldine Page) who never connect. Smoldering parts. Secrets. Really good Bernstein material.

The movie opens with pre-credits of children playing. It’s dark. Johnny and Alma are getting teased. Alma, of course, means soul. Bernstein’s nervous, flirting music sets a spooky tone. The opening music is missing from the album, but is sort of reprised in the final track. The camera moves up towards a statue, the titles begin, and the album starts.

Bernstein hammers a pair of minor to major chords, alters them, sets into motion one of his finest themes. Not simple, it reaches in large intervals, up and down. Swirling about are woodwind figures, harp glissandi. Rapid flights of inner thoughts. These become a signature throughout the whole score. Glissandos. Tremolos. Trills. All manner of little florid details for the flutes and clarinets. No matter where Bernstein takes the music, be it complex, wistful or yearning, the bustle of woodwind activity remains. This may be the busiest score (note wise) Bernstein wrote. For the clarinets anyway.

The titles end with an explosion of fireworks onscreen. Bernstein heralds a brief fanfare for brass, follows it with quirky material for piano and violin. All is not well with mother. Similar quirky music gets attention during "Two Lonely Women" and "Alma’s Dilemma". There’s madness in the family background.

Midway in the score, at the end of "A Stranger in the House", a solo flute introduces a warm new melody. Circling a major key, it’s in contrast to the main theme. But it’s complimentary too, surrounded by the tremolos. The richest development of this idea comes at the start of "Summer Thoughts". A highlight of the album, this melody moves from solo flute to a passionate turn for strings. It’s rich, expressive, sunny. Yet note, as always, the florid detail racing about. As if Bernstein is letting all those inner thoughts race outside for a moment. The main theme is examined during this track as well.

Further use of the main theme, plus variants thereof, occur during "John’s Patient". At times it becomes optimistic, in the major. But those woodwind details never really go away.

Bernstein has other places to go as well. For the fiery Rosa (Rita Moreno) there are gentle strains for the guitar in a suitably Spanish dress. Occasional accordion adds to the color.

Another highlight, in stunning contrast to everything prior, is the climactic "The Father’s Murder". Brass, particularly unison trombones playing fortissimo, depict the event. With so much of the score working from the inside, this brief eruption of violence is chilling. Following the outburst, the music remains a pulse, a heartbeat, a throbbing reminder.

The movie closes with irony. The lovers have switched positions, yet remain as far apart as they did from the onset. Bernstein returns with a gentle variant of his main theme. Soon other important things come back, the florid activity, a suggestion of the madness music, an ascending motif used during the murder scene. And a powerful reminder of the opening minor to major chords from the titles. The nervous opening music from the movie makes its debut on the album at this point. More effective in the picture (bringing the music -and characters- full circle) it here draws the music to a strong final cadence in the minor.

The 1961 stereo recording remains murky, as it always did, not as crisp as needed for music with such detail. A prime candidate for a spectacular, virtuoso performed, cleanly recorded new performance. Perhaps time to call Bruce Broughton up to bat again.

January 11, 2000

Jerry Goldsmith In The 1990's

Throughout my recent columns on great film music you found Jerry Goldsmith praised. Until this last decade of the nineties. A few people have asked if this means I dislike his more recent work. No. But the omission wasn’t accidental. I’ll explain.

Those looking for something controversial look elsewhere. I’m not gonna dump on the guy. No other composer can match his output. The originality. The excitement. The dramatic skills. Period.

But where Friedhofer, Waxman, Kaper, Tiomkin, Alfred Newman, John Williams, probably others, have their richest composing periods showing up late in life, I find Goldsmith running it the other way around. That’s all.

When Goldsmith arrived in 1957 the early movie projects were modest. But each score was unique. Black Patch was dark, moody, scored for a reduced orchestra - without trumpets. Face Of A Fugitive was bright, rhythmic, scored for a full orchestra. City Of Fear featured orchestra but downplayed strings, spotlighted trumpets and percussion, and introduced repeated motifs and rhythms - the "Goldsmith ostinatos". And Studs Lonigan brought harmonica, a favorite Goldsmith color, to the big screen.

His first westerns had little of the requisite Tiomkin, Moross and Copland in them. Things could be sparse, grim, dissonant, violent. Shades of Stravinsky, Berg, Bartok perhaps. Certainly something new to the western. His dramas were unlike anything that had come before. Pulsating, rhythmically active. Incredibly tailored to the needs of the pictures. And melodies too. Studs Lonigan has a truly haunting theme, perfect for the depression era it accompanies.

The television work at that time was equally creative. Ensembles for Playhouse 90 could range from a full group of strings, to piano and solo harmonica. From a group of muted brass and percussion to a solitary guitar. Whatever the occasion required. And the music. One episode of Playhouse 90 ("A Marriage of Strangers") foreshadows the warmth of A Patch Of Blue.. A segment of Have Gun, Will Travel ("Head of Hair") clearly lays a foundation for Rio Conchos. Whether for Twilight Zone or Dr. Kildare the music was new, and always worth further study.

That gift made way into picture after picture. By the time the projects were top drawer no composer in the business was better suited to tackle any genre. One can point to the dramas, the westerns, the comedies, the science fiction. They all received standout music.

And so it was through the sixties, the seventies, most of the eighties. Even on projects of lesser merit (The Swarm, High Velocity, The Man, Caboblanco, The Challenge, King Solomon’s Mines) the music was inventive, first class all the way.

Up to this point it was pretty hard to find a picture that Goldsmith seemed to toss away. So I recall a sense of excitement every time I went to one of these movies, anticipating some memorable score no matter what the screen offered. To be sure, there were high points, unmatched, like The Wind And The Lion. But the lower points, noted above, were so good it didn’t matter.

Maybe it had to happen somewhere. I think it might have been after Link in 1986. But a time now entered where I was somewhat worried about the powers of a new Goldsmith score. Several scores from around that time left me a little less dazzled. Leviathan, Criminal Law, Rent-A-Cop, others. There were higher points - Innerspace, Rambo III. But I didn’t know going in. And yes, Hoosiers and Total Recall really were terrific.

I find after this last one the stream of pearls running dry. The melodies are there. The sweetness. The dramatic correctness. But there are things that catch in my throat. No, it’s not the electronics. I often read comments from other listeners, even composers, targeting that stuff. But there’s some ignorance here. Goldsmith was far ahead of that game way back when. Note electronic details for In Harm’s Way, The Satan Bug, Our Man Flint, many others. Note how he manipulated piano in The Flim Flam Man, harmonica in Take A Hard Ride. And, of course, the Echoplex-trumpets in Patton. No, it’s not any devices you plug in.

But somewhere within these last ten years the cutting edge has dulled. The complexity, the ferocious energy is gone. And that leaves quite a hole. I think, with the exception of a couple of action sequences in Congo, there are few really exciting chases, battles. It’s noticeable.

By simplifying the music there has been a decline in the originality from project to project. Themes have become a little more repetitious, blandish. And, in particular, the recurring interval of the fifth has simply taken over. From First Knight to Air Force One, from U.S. Marshals to Star Trek Insurrection, from First Contact to Small Soldiers, From Executive Decision to The Thirteenth Warrior, from his Universal Logo Music to his Fanfare For Oscar, that open fifth (usually in French horns) takes front and center. So now when I head for a new picture of his I have reduced expectations. Which is not a great sign.

But ask me: do I listen to the albums? Yes. Do I keep seeing the movies? Yes. Does the music work? Yes. Is he the right composer for the job? Yes.

So does he have scores I consider landmarks of the nineties?

Oh, well. Four out of five ain’t bad.

January 18, 2000

Ancient & Modern
Composed And Conducted By Anne Dudley
Angel 7243 5 56868 2 4
13 Tracks
Total Time 60:58

Not movie music. It’s an American debut of a CD issued years ago in the U.K. with slightly different packaging and dramatically different contents on the Echo label. For anyone familiar with that version note the American issue is longer with two additional pieces. One original track (Communion) has been re-titled (From Darkness To Light) as well. If you’re interested in Dudley’s music give this a try. I find it impressive, different.

I like a string orchestra. Not the Herrmann Psycho kind so much as the Vaughan Williams and Samuel Barber kind. What Craig Safan did in Son Of The Morning Star. Rozsa’s soliloquy in Julius Caesar. John Williams for Born On The Fourth Of July. And so on.

Parts of Dudley’s American History X were about this.

And now Ancient & Modern. It’s a collection of original compositions with more than just strings. There’s a balance between them and some impressive choral music to be fair. But the strings do get featured a lot.

Everything’s mostly based on ancient melodies. They’re now passionate works in many colors. Chorus. Chorus and orchestra. Chorus and strings. Strings alone. These are mostly serious, extended works. There’s power, reflection, exultation.

Dudley is unique. She’s had pop, jazz and classical training. Along with Trevor Horn and Paul Morley she formed the avant-garde group The Art Of Noise. She’s got an Oscar, of course, for The Full Monty. She should’ve got one for American History X but no matter. She doesn’t appear to be looking back.

The first work (Canticles Of The Sun) is thoughtful, even layered. Seemingly simple it opens with melodic percussion and strings, shifting between minor and major chords. Chorus joins the fabric. It’s a mood rarely broken, mostly based on the opening chords. Then the chorus disappears. New harmonies enter in woodwinds - dense, complex, shifting. Percussion material becomes agitated. Fragments of a familiar ancient melody peek in, fade. It’s just a peek. The woodwinds draw the work to a close.

And so the album goes. Various glimpses of the ancient, veiled in modern dress. In one instance (The Holly And The Ivy) Dudley even goes Nyman. She uses a unique orchestra, dominated by tuned percussion and several French horns. She masters the repetitious, minimalist idiom, her steady rhythm constant from end to end. For five minutes the motion is hypnotic.

Numerous highlights occur. Like those strings. Take "From Darkness To Light", the piece I’m big on. Starting with cellos and basses Dudley brings upper strings into the work deliberately, everything solemn, serious. Sometimes the voicing is simple, in two parts. Other times it’s thicker, lugubrious. And at key points it cadences with rich major chords. It’s one neat piece. String heaven.

One of the works only available on this new issue is also for strings alone. For her "Canzonetta" Dudley scores for a quintet of players, each with equal importance. It’s vibrant, incredibly transparent. And pretty.

To show off voices Dudley wrote the "Veni Sancte Spiritus" for unaccompanied choir. It’s rich, flowing, flavored with (ever so slightly) piquant harmonies.

And lots of other moments. There’s power in "Veni Emmanuel" from a large orchestra replete with voices and imposing percussion. And grandeur too, such as the closing of her "Three Chorales In Common Time".

The recording is spacious, vibrant. Anne Dudley conducted the London musicians, generating a tremendous amount of expression and a variety of styles.

Happily for me, she gave all those fiddles plenty of screen time too.

January 25, 2000

Broken Arrow
Composed By Hugo Friedhofer
Conducted By Alfred Newman
BYU FMA FMA-HF105
24 Tracks
Total Time 43:13

Neat way to spend an hour. Friedhofer doing Broken Arrow. It’s a decent western drama, based on factual Arizona history. Tom Jeffords (James Stewart) organizing peace efforts with the Apache nation under Cochise (Jeff Chandler). The marriage of Jeffords to Sonseeahray (Debra Paget). Geronimo. Great scenery. All kinds of stuff.

It’s no secret I find this one of the great scores. Listen for yourself. Trust me.

One thing hits immediately. It’s got a main title. Remember those? A movie began by telling you who was in it, who made it. Composers put you in the mood. A really good main title was pure joy.

Like here. Friedhofer on top of things from the get go. Four notes on trumpets. Fortissimo. A stark, angular motif that ties everything together. By itself, on top of other ideas, with harmony and without.

Without introduction we’ve been thrust into Friedhofer’s powerful music for Cochise. For just over a minute it snarls triumphantly from the orchestra. Combined with a rich series of chords this makes for an incredible opener. Soon the story begins. We hear material associated with Jeffords. Balancing strings and clarinet the emphasis becomes reflective, tranquil. Already two incredibly diverse moods derived from similar harmonic ingredients. And so this score goes.

Highlights are many. My favorite? Possibly, just possibly, it might come down to the first scene in the Apache camp. Pulsating, slowly winding music ("Tucson and Cochise") accompanies Jeffords on his lengthy trek towards the Apache stronghold. He doesn’t seek a complete cease-fire, simply permission to route mail across Indian land. Friedhofer draws us into the suspense. We go deeper. Suddenly the four notes burst in, again on trumpet, again brass to the fore. Friedhofer’s goal is gut level. No turning back. We’re in Cochise territory. In the development that follows note the powerhouse trombone section. Liner notes (which are outstanding) credit this music as a collaboration of Alfred Newman working with Friedhofer’s themes. I get chills thinking about those two giants standing side by side in front of the orchestra. Talk about a pair of masters!

Possibly that highlight comes with the warriors coming home after battle ("Warriors Return"). Riding at the head of them is Cochise. Riding with Cochise is Friedhofer. We get a new idea, a processional of sorts. Powerful seventh chords cadencing on major chords. It’s a stunner.

And just maybe that top highlight is in the other direction. Something much quieter. Jeffords first seeing Sonseeahray ("White Painted Lady") in a tent. She’s performing a ritual. He’s deeply moved. So was Friedhofer. It’s gentle music, haunting. A simple line is featured but in reality a complex pattern of shifting harmonies is given just as much prominence. It’s those harmonies I’m drawn to. All shifting strings and upper woodwinds. It’s the world of Wilma and Homer and The Best Years Of Our Lives. I couldn’t ask for more.

Production values are top of the world. Most of the score survived in stereo. There are alternate endings too. One with powerhouse brass chords at the finish wasn’t used. It should’ve been. The booklet is staggering. The information plentiful. Topped with great artwork.

I’ve read Friedhofer was humble. Certainly he was the most neglected. I can’t imagine a bigger shame than his not seeing such care lavished on his work while he was around.

May this project be the first of many.