[78-L] Film music [was Marvin Hamlisch dies]

[Julian Vein]

On 07/08/12 18:33, Cary Ginell wrote:
> Remember that all bets are off when you are composing for a soundtrack. It's when 'source' music is anachronistic where I have a problem with it. Source music meaning the characters on the screen are hearing the music as well. Alex North's music for "Spartacus" is a perfect example. There are only a few instances, if that, where music is actually performed by the characters in the film. One is when Antoninus, played by Tony Curtis, sings a "song," which is actually spoken free verse, with no musical accompaniment, perfectly plausible for that period. Yes, the ragtime music in "The Sting" worked perfectly and I have no problem with it. I only question why instrument-specific music isn't used more in movies. Why must it always be a large symphony orchestra? Think about the use of the zither in "The Third Man," or a New Orleans jazz band for Woody Allen's "Sleeper"? Why can't filmmakers be more imaginative in use of music? George Roy Hill wanted a piano-centered score for "The S
>   ting" and he was brilliant to think of it.
>   
> Cary Ginell
>   
>
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My view is that Hollywood was usually about ten years behind with its 
choice of music. A typical nightclub scene in the mid-1940s involves a 
band playing in a Will Osborne hotel band style from circa 1934. Nothing 
there to scare off the clientele!

       Julian Vein