Alternative Top 10 Classical Moments in Cinema
Mon, Jul 23 2012, 1:02PM
How about some different musical moments in cinema instead of the usual suspects.
As a film music and Carnforth station fan I like the Rach2 just as much as anyone, but it would help the cause of Silver screen classics in general if we could think of some other music.
I'll start the ball rolling:
Bruckner's 7th Symphony.
Used in the film "Taking Sides" and the French film "Tell No One"
Fri, Jul 27 2012, 11:43AM
#2
RE: Alternative Top 10 Classical Moments in Cinema
Rachmaniniov's first symphony in 'Enemy at the gates', poor film, underrated symphony. Underrated composer when you look further than the 'usual suspects' (no, not the film).
(the first person to mention 2001 a space odyssey gets shot)
Fri, Jul 27 2012, 1:17PM
#3
RE: Alternative Top 10 Classical Moments in Cinema
Absolutely agree underrated symphony. Funnily enough I've just posted that work as one of three great performances I've attended on Mark Wigglesworth's latest blog. Great work. Don't know the film!
Mark
Fri, Jul 27 2012, 11:08PM
#4
RE: Alternative Top 10 Classical Moments in Cinema
Mark, you're right about Alien. It was indeed the second movement of Hanson's Second Symphony, the "Romantic".
There are plenty, a true plethora, of references of Classical Music in the film industry. The question is to locate the piece you're interested how many times it has been used, not if it has been used.
Two great suggestions from my side: a) Bach Cello Suite no.5 plays a predominant and vital role in Bergman's Cries and Whispers. It actually leaves an indelible mark in the development of the film. b) Mozart's String Quintet in g minor, K.516 in the underrated and almost forgotten film Sour Grapes. Poignant, but unbearably sublime.
Parla
Sat, Jul 28 2012, 12:11AM
#5
RE: Alternative Top 10 Classical Moments in Cinema
Two examples, one of which got wider exposure than the other:
a) Scorcese's Shutter Island: soundtrack bristling with Scelsi, Ligeti, Schnittke and others, including Penderecki's Third Symphony. Also features a *recording* of Mahler's Piano Quartet (i.e. an LP is played on screen a couple of times) in what is temporally a massively complicating way, appropriately for the movie.
b) Claire Denis's wonderful 1999 Beau Travail, which transposes Melville's Billy Budd to a French Foreign Legion setting, makes haunting use of passages from Britten's Billy Budd.
Sun, Jul 29 2012, 3:34PM
#6
RE: Alternative Top 10 Classical Moments in Cinema
Thanks Parla. I've always asssumed it was Hanson from the closing credits but now I know which movement it is!
DST - me and OH watched Shutter Island and as often happens with me I get so engrossed in the action and dialogue that I miss some of the background music! Will watch it again. There is apparently a double CD soundtrack as well.
Another obvious one - The Exorcist of course! Apart from helping to make Mike Oldfield's Tubular Bells into a success, does include I believe some Penderecki and George Crumb...does anyone know what else is featured in it?
Mark
PS Just as an aside on scores - after we'd watched the film of Perfume and the credits were going up I said to OH something like Wow! Listen to those strings I wonder which orchestra it is. A few seconds later up came the answer - the score was performed by the BPO under Rattle. Apparently the director himself co-wrote the score. It just shows that you can spot a good orchestra when your hear one!
Sun, Jul 29 2012, 9:49PM
#7
RE: Alternative Top 10 Classical Moments in Cinema
Mark, you're absolutely right about The Exorcist. Actually, it seems it's the only film where any piece of Crumb's music has been used, namely the "Threnody I: Night of the Electric Insects from Black Angels".
However, Penderecki has been honoured with five (!) of his works, known and less known: Cello Concerto, The Devil of Loudon, Kanon for Orchestra and Tape, Polymorphia and the String Quartet No. 1. Not bad at all! I have to admit I was so absorbed by the film, I never paid any attention to the soundtrack or even the credits. So, well spotted, Mark.
Parla
Sun, Jul 29 2012, 10:03PM
#8
RE: Alternative Top 10 Classical Moments in Cinema
Didn't Woody Allen use music by Prokofieff in one of his movies? If so, let me know which one it was. Thanks.
Sun, Jul 29 2012, 10:30PM
#9
RE: Alternative Top 10 Classical Moments in Cinema
Bliss, for sure the one he used extensively Prokofiev's works is the "Love and Death" of 1975. The most characteristic is the March of "the Love for three Oranges". "Lieutenant Kije's Suite" is used too.
However, I guess Prokofiev should be remembered as the composer of Eisenstein, despite the fact that his music has been used in other films by quiet a few directors/producers.
Parla
Mon, Jul 30 2012, 1:17PM
#10
RE: Alternative Top 10 Classical Moments in Cinema
Hi Parla. I think from the closing credits, if I remember rightly, that there are some excerpts from the Second Viennese School in The Exorcist as well...
Perhaps Penderecki needs a liftime achievement award? His music so far has been cited as being used in three major films - The Exorcist, The Shining and Shutter Island. Does anybody know of any others?
Mark
Mon, Jul 30 2012, 3:10PM
#11
RE: Alternative Top 10 Classical Moments in Cinema
Mark, the only think I managed to trace in The Exorcist, regarding the Second Viennese School, is the use of one of the "Five Pieces for Orchestra" by Webern.
As for Penderecki, yes, he has been used in Wild at Heart by David Lynch, the natural catastrophe Twister of 1996, the Martial Arts hit Fearless of 2006 with Jet Li and a horror sort of hit by Wes Craven, The People under the Stairs of 1991. However, the works used in these films are of the composer's least known or not that important (De Natura Sonoris, Polymorphia, Threnody for the People of Hiroshima).
Finally, for the "lifetime achievement", Penderecki has to fight with plenty other composers who have been used, abused, misused, overused in a plethora of films. The Classics have the upper hand with a huge difference along with the Romantics (Mozart and Tchaikovsky are the two most striking cases). From the more modern, Penderecki is doing very fine, indeed, along with the already mentioned Prokofiev and Shostakovich (he made it even here) too.
Parla
Mon, Jul 30 2012, 3:56PM
#12
RE: Alternative Top 10 Classical Moments in Cinema
Thanks Parla for the info. Good stuff. Penderecki has been used in quite a few films hasn't he? His music obviously adds atmosphere and tension for quite a few directors.
(The Lifetime Achievement Award was a joke by the way - I can just imagine him being presented at the Oscars with a golden baton or something!)
Thu, Aug 2 2012, 12:26PM
#13
RE: Alternative Top 10 Classical Moments in Cinema
Good to see a wide selection of suggestions on this.
The point I would really like to make is that film music (either music written specifically for the film or selected musical extracts) is one area where "classical" music is experienced by the general public, and children in particular. Many of the latter will have heard the LSO perform in the recent Harry Potter films.
As for specific classical music pieces, it is important to note that this isn't just Mozart and Rachmaninov. There are other classical composers used in films who will appeal to different tastes.
Thu, Aug 2 2012, 4:54PM
#14
RE: Alternative Top 10 Classical Moments in Cinema
Yes, DSM, it's not only Mozart or Rachmaninov, but at least these two, along with the mainstream Classics and Romantics have a relentless use (misuse, abuse, etc.) of their music that make almost any other composer (either of minor reputation or from other eras) to look like a dwarf in terms of significance in their relevance with the movies.
The article of Grammophone was about the "greatest scene-stealing scores" by Classical composers, not about any possible relation of a classical piece with a movie scene. Their first choice for the "Brief Encounter" is right for me, since the Second Piano Concerto by Rachmaninov couldn't serve better a film scene and vice versa.
Parla
Thu, Aug 2 2012, 9:37PM
#15
RE: Alternative Top 10 Classical Moments in Cinema
Which issue of G was this in? I'm not currently subscribing, but am curious. Think that the local library gets it.
In terms of, as Parla put it "any possible relation of a classical piece with a movie scene ", I stumbled across a t.v. viewing of the movie Death and the Maiden with Sigourney Weaver and Ben Kingsley which made it very difficult for me to listen to that piece for a long time (perhaps because I hadn't heard that piece very much before then? I'm trying to remember when I first heard it?...).
What about movies whose music is acknowledged or is a part of the movie like in Out of Africa (an old favorite of mine) which encouraged me to explore Mozart further? Or in The Godfather, Part III?
Best, P.
HI DSM. Sorry you haven't yet had any replies. I have been having a think and can't come up with much, but 2 points:
The Shining re; original article mentioned the Bartok, but that film also made great use of Penderecki's music which was appropriately disturbing.
The only other I can readily think of is the end of Alien 1 when peace at last reigns - the poignant piece there - is it a Hanson symphony? The wonderful thing about the snippet is that it suggests peace but there is a final discord suggesting more is to come...
Mark