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The Fahrenheit 451 score was not even released until a few years ago (conducted by Morgan Stromberg, I believe), is that correct? If so, I find it hard to imagine that Danny Elfman would be familiar enough with the music to quote it….
And regarding Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure (I have no desire to mention the other one), I personally consider it to be the best Nino Rota pastiche I have ever heard. His theme for Pee-Wee is very similar to the theme from Otto e Mezzo, to my ear.
“It might be your only way to hear this for awhile… “
Apparently not, because according to this article, Danny Elfman’s score is back in the film.
For those who watch PBS, a new episode of Charlie Rose has aired with Tim Burton under the “spotlight”.
As far as Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is concerned, I agree (although I do like the Main Titles and “First Chocolate”, however unoriginal it may be).
Well, I have not listened to every score he wrote the past decade, but I will rank what I have listened to:
10.Terminator: Salvation*
9. Wanted*
8.Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (I am not a big fan of this one as well, but it has some very nice highlights)
7.Spider-Man
6.Big Fish
5.Milk
4. Hellboy II: The Golden Army
3. Corpse Bride
2. Spider-Man 2
1. Serenada Schizophrana (surprise, surprise)Of the Elfman scores that I have yet to listen to, I am particularly interested in hearing Red Dragon (apparently it is very Herrmann-esque), Standard Operating Procedure, and The Hulk.
*I am not very fond of either of these, but I needed them to get ten.
Very interesting that you mention that score, I was listening to it the other day. I am particularly fond of “Fifty Miles of Desert”, I love that staccato piano stuff that John Williams loved to write back in the 1970’s (the Main Titles from Earthquake perhaps being my favorite).
Now Playing: Peter Gunn from Henry Mancini. One of his best.
That type of credit is typical in musicals, especially musical films: the one(s) who wrote the songs may not necessarily be the same who wrote the score, so they have different credits for both. In this particular case, however, Danny Elfman did both, and therefore received both credits.
I apologize, then. Also, I am glad that I prompted some very nice discussion. Keep it coming, people!
” He isn’t a regular composer… He’s a film composer. The same can be said for Williams, Steiner, Herrmann, Korngold, Newman(all 50 trillion Newmans)… etc.!”
That statement is a fallacy. John Williams, Bernard Herrmann, Erich Korngold, as well as some others have written more than a few concert works, enough so to not just be considered a “side avenue” (Williams and Korngold especially).
Lovely post, mubneosic, I absolutely agree (for what that is worth). And are you sure Danny Elfman is writing an opera?
You know… in a way, I can see the “theme” argument. Danny Elfman, like his hero Bernard Herrmann, seems to rely more on short motivic cells rather than “full-blown” themes as much as he did in the past. As was said earlier, 2008 was a very diverse year for Danny Elfman, and Wanted and Hellboy II: The Golden Army show very well the contrasts between these differing approaches, I think. Though I was not around for it, I believe there was much praise for Wanted due to the fact that it contained arguably the “strongest” theme that Danny Elfman has written this decade(one can hear it once and say: THEME!). Hellboy II: The Golden Army, however…well, the whole score reminds me of a Herrmann-Harryhausen collaboration anyways, so it surprises me very little, but it relies on short motivic cells that can more or less be “mutated” at will, with extreme ease (Herrmann’s justification, though not necessarily Elfman’s, was that long melodies create too much “baggage” for convenience). Also, given that they are so short (and expertly integrated into the texture of the non-thematic underscore), one tends to have troubles identifying them immediately, which can lead to some initial frustration…I remember us having a nice discussion about how we all disliked Hellboy II: The Golden Army during our first listens, only for us to change our minds once we “got it”…. To abruptly finish this second rant, I am personally fine with either thematic approach, so long as it serves the good of the overall “presentation”, so to speak. Just my thoughts.
I would not mind that in principle, but I would like for them to do it more tastefully than that Star Wars Concert. Though John Williams has proven his legitimacy as a “serious” composer many times, many critics tend to ignore those and often point to Star Wars to raise their point (and of course they never listened to the entire thing, only the Main Theme and the Imperial March). Having the music performed with all of those gimmicks and effects does not help his case…but of course those kinds of concerts are for the Star Wars geeks, not those who just want to enjoy the music. I imagine a similar concert for Danny Elfman (especially if we are discussing one of his more bombastic and famous works such as Batman) would not help his credibility, either. But boy, would “Descent into Mystery” be awesome to hear live….
I wonder if Danny still has the manuscripts for that one lying around. I love Prokofiev (and Stravinsky, which I believe Danny also stated as an influence for the piece), and I would be very interested to hear how Danny channeled their styles, especially since it was his first composition.
