Marcus
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Posts posted by Marcus
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Greetings!
I am currently writing, with a painter friend, a piano book, centered around the great fairytales, lore and myths of Western civilisation (and the cultures that influenced it), ranging roughly from Brothers Grimm to Gilgamesh.
The book will be published this fall, and its tentative title is "Fantasia Musica", but I'm not sure if this is grammatically correct. I want to say, in effect, a "musical fantasy", or rather, "fantasy (imagination) visited via music". Can anyone please offer thoughts and comments? "Clarius"?
Very gratefully,
Marcus
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Dear TimeAfterTime: I have just browsed through this thread, and I must say that, from a purely compositional point of view, and I dare say an extremely educated one, your observation on Williams' technique and its "inferiority" to Goldsmith's is simply WRONG!
Now, I LOVE Goldsmith, but no magnificent note penned by him was ever "beyond" Williams' abilities. The two giants had different styles and approach, that is all. I will say that on those few occasion when Goldsmith did pay homage to his colleague, it was evident that he lacked the same assurancy with certain techniques of the model.
Finally, your linking chops with originality is ludicrous, and plainly invalid outside the modernist paradigm.
Not that Williams isn't original. His originality is such, that his signature shines through whatever he writes, no matter how informed by existing traditions.
Sincerely,
Marcus
P.S. As far as concert music goes, Williams' contibutions are significant, and any thourough study of, say, his bassoon concerto, violin concerto, Essay for Strings and other pieces, will reveal a superb craftsman, a master of design and color. To suggest otherwise is absurd, even though one may find the music less appealing on a surface level. I personally adore them, and find in them some of his most thoughful and thoroughly brilliant writing.
P.P.S. My apologies for any missing consonants and other typos; I will admit that TimeAfterTime's comments made me rather agitated.
Peace to all of you,
Marcus
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Great criticism by the sorely missed maestro Goldsmith!
He is absolutely right, of course, and I think the criticism is certainly fitting for the MV army, but also in general for far too many contemporary film composers who lack proper training and taste.
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Dear Tim,
I've been dying to hear this piece! Where did you get the recording?
Marcus
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P.S. Bowie, williams doesn't exactly "collaborate" with orchestrators, as his sketches are perfectlt detailed, even down to the last harp pedal indication.His short scores only leave for the orchestrators to blow it up to size, and transpose tha winds and brass parts that require it. But I agree, Williams' asounding sense of economy easily renders him a "present-day Haydn". But Williams can also be aesthetically linked with the phenomenon of the 'Retrogarde", a re-emergence of tradition- and craft-based art, poetry, philosophy and architecture that is on the rise in northern Europe, and seeks to "restore" beauty, skill and a general sense of empathy, awareness and even responsibility for the audience. This tendency can also be detected elsewhere, and it is a natural reaction to the stagnancy of modernism, post-modernism and conceptualism.
Marcus
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The ability to write great music on autopilot is what separates the truly great composers from the good ones. Haydn, Mozart, Bach, Wagner, Shostakovich, Ravel...all were composers who had conquered enough musical terrain to have an immediately recognizable language, and who could, and therefore could, and would, frequently rely on their "stock" techniques, and for a very good reason: They couldn't escape themselves! There is nothing wrong with this. We, as composers , are defined by our chops and our choices.
The myth of the artist constantly "re-inventing" himself is fairly new, and not too valid outside the modernist paradigm.
John Williams is a crafstman who does what he knows will work beautifully, and keeps achieving new, different and incredibly powerful results within a universe that is dauntingly expansive.
And for the record: John Williams is the greatest there ever was, and ever will be!
Marcus
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Greetings, everyone! I'm still recovering from last night's extravaganza with Williams and the N.Y.Phil...
For a while , I've been reading about the "misuse" of the "stone" motif from the first Harry Potter film in "Chamber of Secrets", and just thought I'd address the fact that Williams himself links it with the character of Voldemort, as is evident in his short piece "Voldemort", for bassoon trio, included in his children's suite for orchestra. Here, the "stone" motif functions as an introduction to the Voldemort theme proper. Consequently, the use of this motif in Voldemort-related scenes in "Chamber of Secrets" is appropriate.
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One of the great flaws in the prequels is the way Anakin's character is presented. Rather than a bratty hot-head, we should have seen the part of him that longs for control and authority, and order. The final "Noooo" in RoTS is dreadful, and undermines the original Vader's characteristics. The dramatic motivation for Anakin's transformation is quite poorly rendered.
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I think it's a nicely put together salute to the entire Star Wars saga, and a welcome opportunity to get a better performance of the concert version of "The Throne Room". But going back to the initial thoughts that launched this thread, I think the structure could be a concious semi-programmatic effort, as suggested initially here.At any rate, it is a nice and worthy farewell, and it shows most poignantly that Williams' music is the only aspect of the Star Wars saga that has retained the grandeur of the original trilogy.
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I was never bothered by this at all... It's still AMAZING writing (compositionally speaking), and far superior to what anyone else could have done, and I don't really mind when artists quote themselves, or rely on their stock techniques to finish a rush-job. The work is still excellent, albeit informed by earlier efforts.
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Thanks for the nice positive remarks, everyone! I just have a couple of updates: The concert at the Kaufman center on Saturday 29th starts at 8 p.m.
The following day, Sunday 30th, I have another piece being performed at the Cathedral of St.John the Divine at 3 p.m., so if any of you are in New York, please come, please come!
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I think he had possibly just finished "Dracula"? (October 14th, 1979)
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I really think Carl Orff's opening "O Fortuna" chorus far outshines the rest of the cantata, and far outshines the rest of his catalog... It is one of those rare instances where a lesser composer happens to stumble upon something truly profound, something epic and truthful that immediately finds a place in musical "mythology".
The opening chords, and most of the chorus, is perfection, and leaves nothing to be desired orchestrationally or formally, and certainly not in terms of musical content. Then it really sort of does go downhill from there, though there are nice snippets throughout.
And Richard Strauss' "Also Sprach..." doesn't quite live up to its opening, even though it is a wnoderfully put together symphonic poem. But he just gets a little "clever", but musically quite bland after a while (which almost always happens with Strauss), and covers up his weak musical moments with amazing orchestrations.
Which is fine.
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I hope the next 30 years see the revival of the classically trained composer working for cinema, and the decline of sophisticated midi's attempt to replace a real live orchestra.
Pop musicians should write pop music, and leave it at that, unless they earn the right, through years and years and years of studying their craft, to write for classical ensembles. A composer must match the technical level of his medium, i.e. performers.
I do think Valentin Silvestrov, Peteris Vasks, Christopher Rouse, Richard Danielpour and a selct few other concert composers would make fine film composers.
There is really only one composer currently working in Hollywood who does rank with the greatest of the canonized composers, and we ll know who that is, and hopefully why!
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Greetings, most esteemed fellow Williams fans!
I would like to invite you all to the premiere of my new "Trio for Clarinet, Violin and Piano" in Merkin Hall, New York City's Kaufman Center next Saturday April 29th! It will share a program with the Bartok "Contrasts" and a solo clarinet piece of mine.
The performers are a new New York- based chamber group (I forget their name as I'm writing this, how embarassing...), and they're absolutely excellent!
Please come, please come! The concert starts at 7 p.m.
Best to all of you,
Marcus Paus
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Datameister! Unfortunately, I don't work with MIDI, I'm very antiquated in my methods (pen & paper)... But when I find the sketch, I can try to have it scanned, and then e-mail it to you, if you're interested..
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Oh, and doing a better job than Patrick Doyle on "GoF" wouldn't be too hard... His themes are really quite miserable, and his dramatic sensebility leaves a lot to be desired. His "scary" music is embarassing...
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On the subject of "what if"...
I remember I doodled a contrapuntal exercise where I was able, without any significant alterations, to stack Luke's theme, "Across the Stars", Leia's theme, Yoda's theme, the Force theme,and the ostinato from "Duel of the Fates" on top of the "Imperial March" ( in augmentation, so the chordality became one large I-bVI-I).
Not necessarily all that useful, but a fun workout! I'm sure something dramatically purposeful could have been gotten from it.
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Hi there, lamiahp!
Apparently, Dario Marianelli himself has stated that he is not the composer for "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix", as far as he knows. In other words, the information on Imdb is incorrect.
Which means we can all still pray for Williams to return to the Harry Potter series!
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Hooray! Hooray! And I still hope Maestro Williams chooses to return to the HP franchise. And scores everything else he can possibly fit into his schedule.
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Thank God! I know chances are less than slim, but I still pray Williams returns to save the HP franchise...
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Are we talking about "The Forest Battle", the concert piece? It can't and shouldn't be shortened, the musical "argument" would suffer from it, and the piece would sound less fun, festive and "can-can"-esque...
This is Williams (out)doing Offenbach!!
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Christopher Gordan, from the music of his that I've heard, is nowhere near as technically accomplished as Joel Mcneely. Granted, they're both fine musicians, and none of them even remotely close to achieving anything of Williams' quality.
But both Gordon and McNeely are far superior to Marianelli, who really does seem to be a hack, despite his training.
Joel McNeely is a schooled and skilled composer with a great understanding of both classical and film repertoire, which aids his work tremendously. I haven't been completely enthused by his recent efforts, but I think he has it in him to contribute something wonderful. John Williams also seems to think so, as he was responisible for McNeely landing the "Young Indiana Jones" gig.
I haven't heard any of Marianelli's concert music. I hope it is wonderful. His film music is not.
There are too few truly good composers these days...
And too many musically clueless directors...
Dark and difficult times lie ahead...
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ROTJ is MAGNIFICENT!
Least important istrument of the standard orchestra ---->
in General Discussion
Posted
We (I) need all of them! May I offer the already obsolete ones? Ophicleide, anyone?