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Dole

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Posts posted by Dole

  1. I just discovered that there's a National Medal of Arts which is supposedly the highest honor that the USA can bestow on an artist (like the Congressional Medal of Honor or the Presidential Medal of Freedom). Anyway...it seems a sin that conductors like James Levine, Erich Kunzel, and Leonard Slatkin have been given the honor, while Williams has not. I'm not losing sleep over it or anything, but I think Williams absolutely deserves it. No [mainly] film composer has ever won as far as I can tell.

    Here's the list I found on wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Natio...Arts_recipients

  2. Gullwingdoors, I agree with the people who recommended older film scores. Your list looks like it contains mostly scores from the 1970's to the present. There are some really great scores by Korngold, Goldsmith, Rozsa, Steiner, and others out there. I'd recommend for starters off the top of my head:

    The Adventures of Robin Hood (Korngold)

    Ben-Hur (Rozsa)

    King of Kings (Rozsa)

    Gone with the Wind (Steiner)

    Bride of Frankenstein (Waxman)

    Sunset Boulevard (Waxman)

    Patton (Goldsmith)

    The Sea Hawk (Korngold)

    King Kong (Steiner)

    and you could try some of the older Disney scores like Snow White, Bambi, Dumbo, Pinocchio, etc if you're interested in those.

  3. In another wonderful example of how little the Oscars have to do with talent, Menken won in 1989 over more qualified scores (including Batman and Glory which weren't even nominated) and then lost in 1996 for his best effort The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Did Menken rob Goldsmith in 1992? Sure. Is Menken the Gustavo Santaclaus of the 1990's? No. C'mon! At least Menken has some talent!

  4. Just read in Time magazine that Star Wars sound designer (and Williams arch-enemy) Ben Burtt is going to be "electronically" voicing the main characters in the film and that the movie's plot is actually based on City Lights, a Charlie Chaplin silent film. Interesting...

  5. Shawn Murphy is amazing. He takes the huge Mormon Tabernacle Choir and makes them sound like 5 people in a closet.

    :cool: That pretty much sums it up! I've been trying to find a phrase to describe Murphy's work for years. Thanks.

  6. The Olympic Spirit is the best. As far as this board is concerned, I'm the only one who thinks that.

    i think that is the one i like most too.

    Its the one from the 84 olimpics right?

    No. It's the one for NBC's coverage of the 1988 Olympics. It's the last track on the Summon the Heroes album.

  7. The version on the c.d. is a bad recording.I think Williams realised that.There's a Boston Pops performance from TV that's much better

    Didn't Williams record the piece a couple of weeks before the Olympics with the LSO during the AOTC recording sessions? What ever happened to that version? I've never heard anything more about it.

  8. OK, I first stumbled upon JWfan.net in 2000 just before The Patriot was released so forgive me if this was discussed before when it first came out, but I was listening to TPM OT the other day and wondered...

    1. What exactly is the reference in the title "Augie's Great Municipal Band"? (i.e. Why is that track titled that?)

    2. Where is that electronic bridge between the "Droid Invasion" and "The Appearance of Darth Maul" from? Was it just inserted into the album to make the transition between cues smoother or is it from some unrealeased part of the score?

    Thanks.

  9. Just asking a stupid question here....is there anything in the Anthology that the SEs don't have? I'd like to make a totally complete set, but I'm not well versed enough to know if there's any alternates, unused music, or anything like that on the Anthology. Or is everything on the Anthology in the SEs, just with better mixes?

    The Anthology has an alternate of "Leia's News" that's not on the SE (with a quote of "Parade of the Ewoks") and it has some alternate takes (such as the "Shuttle Tydirium" cue), but you have to listen for those differences. And of course the "Lapti Nek" and "Yub Nub" cues are on the Anthology but not the SEs.

  10. John's vocabulary is one of the things I love about him! His interviews are so much more interesting (and precise) than 99% of the people in the film community. He's absolutely brilliant.

    Personally, as much as I love JW, I prefer the short 4-letter words that Jerry Goldsmith used in interviews. Williams is my favorite film composer, but Goldsmith gave much more interesting interviews.

    Dole- who dreams of hearing an expletive-laden JW interview about the Star Wars prequels.

  11. Max Steiner? 2? Extremely debatable.

    He was a pioneer of film music but.....that's about it. He was scoring at a time where you ripped music from romantic and classical periods. And I have to say it was evident far too often.

    Debatable? Yes. I wouldn't put him at #2, but he did do what is widely considered to be the first substantially original film music score of the "talkies"...King Kong. And that has to count for something. And of course Gone with the Wind , The Informer, and Now, Voyager are lovely.

  12. BECK: It would sound a little like...

    (hums Darth Vader theme).

    BECK: That`s what the newsroom sounds like.

    I'm a bit miffed at this statement. He shrugs Williams off, then quotes his music! That shows a bit of musical misguidedness.

    ~Conor

    Yes but Beck is kind of an idiot. A lot of the things that come out of his mouth are not well-thought-through and end up being just plain stupid.

  13. Joe, I think you were watching Glenn Beck, not Donny Deutsch.

    I saw the same interview. It was just as you said, except that it was Glenn Beck on CNN Headline News, not Deutsch on CNBC. He praised Elfman and Herrmann, but treated Williams like crap, even thought Elfman was all class about it.

    AHA! That clears it up. Here's the part of the transcript that pertains to Williams: (from http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0704/02/gb.01.html)

    -----

    BECK: I am -- I am such a huge fan, and I found out today, I have -- my wife and I have -- we try to play a game. If we watch a movie, we hear the first few notes, is it Elfman or not? And you can tell your music immediately.

    I believe there are only two really great music composers, you and Bernard Hermann, who wrote all of the scores for Hitchcock.

    ELFMAN: Really?

    BECK: I found out today you`re a fan of his, as well.

    ELFMAN: Bernard Hermann was my inspiration. He`s the reason I became a film composer.

    BECK: I said -- you know, I said that yesterday when I found out you were going to be on the show. And everybody looked at me and said, "What about John Williams?"

    I said, "John Williams? It`s these two." Movies...

    ELFMAN: No, no, no. John Williams is a legend. He`s -- you know, he almost single-handedly is responsible for bringing back orchestral film music, really, to be what it is.

    BECK: Come on.

    ------

    F*** Glenn Beck! Good for Elfman!

  14. Goldsmith's love themes don't do much for me. My top ten favorite love themes (in no particular order) would be:

    1. Out of Africa

    2. Han Solo and the Princess (ESB)

    3. Vertigo

    4. Unchained

    5. Across the Stars (AOTC)

    6. A Time for Us (Romeo and Juliet)

    7. Spartacus

    8. Can You Read My Mind (Superman)

    9. Cathy's Theme (Wuthering Heights)

    10. Now, Voyager

    As much as I love Williams and Goldsmith, I don't think either of them can come close to writing a love theme like Steiner's Now, Voyager. Maybe it's just my fondness for old movies...

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