Best Ever Soundtracks

[Sodedako]

Well, if you're going to include movies that use classical selections, then you can’t forget Fantasia and Fantasia 2000! But my favorite soundtrack is Joe Versus the Volcano (a forgotten first pairing of Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan) by Georges Delerue. Unfortunately it was a limited pressing of 3,000. I’ve got mine, though!

[Marye]

One reason springs to mind why NM dislikes soundtracks would be her loathing (is this a fair description NM?)of any and all John Williams' compositions. True, he is the not the only composer of soundtracks in town but he has been prolific. I don't care for him either, really, though he is not as horrific for me as say listening to a Lloyd Webber composition, but there's still time.

I remember well the movie a Soldier's Story and its soundtrack ... fabulous, fabulous blues. I vote for that one... except I don't know whether it ever made it on record or tape or CD...

Barfle? Do you know?

<small>[ 08-06-2004, 03:36 PM: Message edited by: Marye ]</small>

[Shapley]

Nicole Marie used to play the soundtrack from The 13th Warrior quite often. Good movie, good soundtrack!

[rwcrooks]

I happened to catch The Paper Chase (movie not TV show) on TV last week and noticed that the score was by John Williams.

[Nicole Marie]

Yes Devin I hate soundtracks. And yes, Mary, part of it is b/c of Williams. (Marye: I hate Webber too. I'd rather poke my eyes out then listen to his crap.) But most of it is b/c many soundtracks are written in the classical vein but do a terrible imitation.

Sure just like opera's, classical music of today is for film. But often audiences think that soundtracks are the end all of classical music and think that many soundtracks ARE classical music. (Working for Beethoven Radio, I see it all the time. Many people don't know what classical music really is and since their main exposure to "it" is movies/TV etc. they think soundtracks are it.)

Yes there are some soundtracks that do a great job at sticking to the western theories of composition (what most consider classical music) but not all does. And audiences lump them all together and we end up with confusion. Drives me nuts!

So way does it drive me nuts Devin? B/c I am a classical snob. Not afraid to admit it. I studied classical music my entire life, I studied at the Hartt School, and I play the double bass with the West Hartford Symphony Orchestra. I teach at the Hartford Conservatory. I know what classical music is and too often the line is blurred. I encourage everyone to take a theory and music history (western) class at a local university. It will all become clear when you do.

As a side note: Musicals ARE NOT classical music. They are written in a different style and theory. If I get one more request for Phantom...

[Marye]

Originally posted by Nicole Marie:
I hate Webber too. I'd rather poke my eyes out then listen to his crap.

LOL! A quote I often use...

[rwcrooks]

Nicole,

So how do Glass and Reich fit into the definition of classical music? Are they considered classical?

I'd like to know what THE definition of classical music is and has it changed over the past 200 years? I'm sure that many of 'our' classical composers thought they were writing popular music.

I'm really interested in this.

[Nicole Marie]

RichC, there is not ONE definition for classical music. It's agreed that it's the period of western tradition between the medieval and romantic eras. Around the 20th c we began to see composers breaking away from those traditions. Many wanted to break away. Glass and Reich music is based off the western tradition but are very 20th c.

I really encourage you to take a class in western theory.

When you said "our" composers. I assume you mean US. Don't think of it as Europe vs. the US. Many US composers wrote in the western tradition, Beach did and at times Copland and Gershwin, for example. But in the US audiences want, and what is designed for our culture, is the popular stuff. Musicals became big, music from Foster etc. was big and now US audiences dig soundtracks. But they mistake them for classical music. Some are based off the tradition but it does not mean it is. It's pop music. One simi-defintion I found online is: "Classical music is meant to be experienced for its own sake. It is unlike other forms of music that serve as a vehicle for poetry or other lyrical content, or as an adjunct to other forms of entertainment."

I get ticked when listener think it's traditional classical. It's very different but yes still an imitation. Beethoven Radio is a pop classical station so we play the soundtracks and the hits but do not put it in the vein of the Romantics or Classical periods. It's 20th c/pop.

[Shapley]

Nicole,

"Classical music is meant to be experienced for its own sake. It is unlike other forms of music that serve as a vehicle for poetry or other lyrical content, or as an adjunct to other forms of entertainment."


I know we've discussed this before in another forum, but some "soundtrack" music is meant to to be listened to of it's own accord. Overtures, intermissions, and end credits are designed to entice the listener to remain in the theater. End credits particularly so, so that the listener will stay while the credits roll.

Fiddler on the Roof and The Sand Pebbles both had overtures and intermissions. Fiddler in particular, had a very good intermession, with Isaac Stern's violin music. I think that in the years to come, they will stand alongside classic overtures from the great masters.

Even some of the classical musicians experimented with styles that didn't "fit the mould".

V/R
Shapley

[rwcrooks]

Originally posted by Nicole Marie:
"Classical music is meant to be experienced for its own sake. It is unlike other forms of music that serve as a vehicle for poetry or other lyrical content, or as an adjunct to other forms of entertainment."

So, opera is NOT classical music, Beethoven's 9th is NOT, but the greater part of the Tijuana Brass' music IS?

I'm not sure I agree with this definition, Nicole.

When I referred to 'our' composers, I was referring to those who the people of the 21st century consider classical composers.

<small>[ 08-09-2004, 10:29 PM: Message edited by: RichC ]</small>

[OperaTenor]

Hi Saxy,

I only just saw this thread, been busy learning to be a dad.

There are some soundtracks I like. Dr. Zhivago, Lawrence of Arabia(I'm a Jarre fan), and the hick in me really likes O Brother! Where Art Thou?. I like the traditional stuff in 2001, but the music that was written specifically for the movie either makes me want to scrape my fingernails ona chalk board or sleep.

[RC]

OT,
I forgot a couple of my favorites that you just listed: Lawrence of Arabia and Oh Brother Where Art Thou.
Love em.

[mmichaelson]

Yeah, me too.

Glad you're enjoying Altoid!

[Marye]

Moi aussi.... "O' Brother Where art Thou"

[redlover1]

Nicole,

I see your point and I truly feel that it is preferential at this point. I took Jr High and High School Band and took a Music Appreciation class at UCLA but that is where I stopped. I guess I just don't see your point about the true definition of classical music. If music is defined classical (from the accepted definition that most scholars use) just because of the time period, then what is the classical composer of today like Salonen, Previn, etc to be considered? BTW thanks for the insight =) This thread is very interesting!

Devin

[Nicole Marie]

The quote that everyone is posting above is not mine. I found it online and thought it had some relation.

RichC: Opera is a staged drama. Opera started in Florence in the 16th c. It began when intellectuals felt the music of the Renaissance was trivial and wanted to start a different art form. They picked the dramas of Greece. But since they did not have any Greek music to base it off of, they had to at times well... guess. They concluded that Greek dramas were sung, in a way that the words were embellished. They then developed a style where the words were sung syllabically. The first operas were sung to lutes or harpsichords. The addition of the instrument meant that chords could be dissonant and added to the emotion of the piece. This was the beginning of opera. Opera for most of the 16th c. was performed as "pastoral plays". When action was needed in the play, the music interrupted. It was not until the end of the 16th c that the full stage productions were developed.

So opera stared as a break away from the music of the Renaissance. But as the productions grew madrigals were interjected, overtures were developed (they never existed before the opera. They are designed to tell the audience to shut up.) Orchestras grew, the chorus was developed. And yes the composers who were writing classical music were also writing operas. So you have a natural joining of TWO art forms. The play/staged drama + classical music = opera. Opera is an art form all it's own with the addition of classical music. I really deserves it's own category. Remember one person does not write an opera. Most producers had a team they hired. The composer was hired to write the music and developed the story. A lyric writer was hired, stage director etc. It really is a joining of several art forms. And the classical composers (because most were already famous) got top billing and drew the crowds. That is why today's society calls it classical music. Rossini was a classical composer but he also wrote opera. An independant art form. (Don't kill me OT but opera could be compared to the musicals of today. In so far as the production, producers, staging etc. It really has it's own definition.)

Shapley: As I said before yes some soundtracks are designed to stand on their own. But they are still based off the western tradition and still very much 20th c.

Devin: Yes Previn, and the other greats of our time are writing music in the western tradition. And yes much of it sounds so classical. But much of Previn has the 20th c influence. Take a look at a score of his and you'll see at times he breaks away from many of the "rules". He has that 20th c influence. It's all in the structure, not so much in how it sounds.

<small>[ 08-10-2004, 02:05 PM: Message edited by: Nicole Marie ]</small>

[barfle]

Originally posted by Marye:
I remember well the movie a Soldier's Story and its soundtrack ... fabulous, fabulous blues. I vote for that one... except I don't know whether it ever made it on record or tape or CD...

Barfle? Do you know?

No soundtrack CDs that I could find, at least quickly.

[barfle]

Originally posted by OperaTenor:
I only just saw this thread, been busy learning to be a dad.

Cool. Very cool.

Originally posted by OperaTenor:
There are some soundtracks I like. Dr. Zhivago, Lawrence of Arabia(I'm a Jarre fan), and the hick in me really likes O Brother! Where Art Thou?. I like the traditional stuff in 2001, but the music that was written specifically for the movie either makes me want to scrape my fingernails ona chalk board or sleep.

I've watched that movie about 20 times. I don't know that any music was written specifically for it. Could you perhaps mean the Ligeti or the Khachaturian?

[Shapley]

Nicole,

Thanks for spelling my name correctly!

V/R
Shapley

[Nicole Marie]

Umm... you're welcome? Have I not spelled it correct in the past?