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UPDATED WITH NEW VIDEOS (April 25, 2008)
Okay, I’ve harped on this before, but — again — Sergei Prokofiev was the heat. He was a great classical composer, as well as a trend setting film composer. Watch these clips.
ALEXANDER NEVSKY (Score Re-Recorded in Stereo): An otherwise slow battle scene with dated production value stands up well when it comes to the score. Many consider this to be one of the best film cues ever written.
ROMEO & JULIETTE (Claudio Abbado conducting): From the Ballet.
Stravinsky was a classical badass too…
THE FIREBIRD (“Infernal Dance”): This is one of the most robust pieces Stravinsky ever wrote.
THE FIREBIRD (“Lullaby Suite”): Stravinsky conducts this piece. Great.
THE RITE OF SPRING (“Part II – The Sacrifice”): I used to be obsessed with this piece. It’s so well written. It’s all atmosphere. The rising and falling of dynamics, the dissonance, and the weird flute/violin harmonics doubling (at 1:33) make this my favorite piece from Stravinsky for sure.
THE RITE OF SPRING: This is a cool video of Leonard Bernstein explaining how to play the score to an orchestra.
PULCINELLA (“Serenade”): In an otherwise traditional sounding piece, Stravinsky — who was fairly young — wrote one of his best melodies. Go to 2:11 and listen to it.
As was Ravel…
STRING QUARTET in F MAJOR (“Movement II”)
PICTURES IN EXHIBITION (“Gnomus”): This was written by Modest Mussorgsky and orchestrated/arranged by Maurice Ravel. It’s “Gnomus,” the second movement, and so good. It sounds like Bernard Herrmann. Ravel, an impressionist, was good at stepping into the “Russian” style. The moment when the celesta plays, the low woodwinds kick in and the strings glissando up I can’t help but think of dark film music. Elfman mentions Ravel as a strong influence. I see why.
PICTURES IN EXHIBITION (“The Old Castle”): The lyrical reeds and tenor sax have been used by Elfman in many films, most notabely nightmare. Ravel uses the same style of lyricism here. Really good.
And Shostakovich…
JAZZ SUITES (“Waltz #2”)
CONCERTO, op.99 (“Third Movement”)
SYMPHONY #5 (“Allegro Non Troppo”): Leonard Bernsteing Conducts this…
And Bela Bartok…
MUSIC FOR STRINGS, PERCUSSION & CELESTA (“Movments I-III”): This was a ground breaking work in my opinion. Bernard Herrmann was a big fan of it — the use of mutes and the lack of vibrato in the first movement specifically influenced Psycho. The third movment, however, will always be my favorite. Stanley Kubrick weaved it into “The Shining” for an extra creepy effect. Truly, it’s one of the creepiest classical pieces ever written, influencing both Wojciech Kilar and Elfman (some of the soft piano chords and timpani rolls during the mafia segments of Batman). Elfman also goes on record saying the classical music section from The Shining was amazing, fueling his doomed want to work with Kubrick. The second movement uses low pizzicato and piano in a very familiar Elfman-fashion. Bartok was the heat.
VIOLIN DUOS: Bartok was also a Hungarian folk music specialist. His violin duos are amazing in how their modern stylings clash with their traditional lyrical melodies. These are just two violins, but this built my love for semetic, gypsy and eastern european folk music.
Gustav Holst…
THE PLANETS (“Neptune”): The mystical sound in this piece has influenced countless film scores. Williams is constantly being inspired by it — from Revenge of the Sith to Angela’s Ashes. Bernard Herrmann wrote very similar sounding music for The Twilight Zone.
I’ll add more as I — and you — find them…
– Flynn
Prokofiev has been my favorite classical composer for some time now. I definitely agree that that “Battle on the Ice” is one of the best cues ever written, though I admit to not having heard the film version (as opposed to the version Prokofiev adapted for his cantata).
Just kidding Dawg obviously. Thank you for sharing these greats moments of music.
I’d add Dimitri Shostakovich if I had to name an early 20th century composer that had a major influence on film scores. He actually composed several scores himself.I don’t know how to put a youtube video right into this message board, so here’s the link :
http://fr.youtube.com/watch?v=yvvWSnnOU58
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