Elmo Bernstein

Jerry Goldsmith scored Chinatown in ten days! These days, composers do have it a little easier when forced to write fast, with the advent of software like Sibelius 7, which enables them to use a music keyboard like a typewriter. There was no Sibelius 7 back when James Horner did Aliens, he had to do everything by hand. Even when sketching this still takes a lot of time.

These interview with Ross sheds some light on his contribution... http://www.mania.com/37027.html And this article is by someone who went to Warner Bros. and spent time reading through the scores for Sorcerer's Stone and Chamber of Secrets... http://www.filmscorerundowns.net/williams/harrypotter.pdf It is quite a long article, but his most revealing observation about Chamber of Secrets is this... I did indeed double-check the sketches in Chamber of Secrets to see if William Ross (who was given some sort of credit billing) actually composed cues. At first I thought he did because several full score cues were missing in that sequel...However, when I looked at the sketches, I discovered that Williams did indeed compose all of the music. So what Ross did exactly besides some conducting work, I am not sure. So there ya have it!

In any case, Mr. Williams made it clear -- to two different people who attended the Berkshire Museum lecture and asked him personally -- that he hopes very much to score The Deathly Hallows. http://www.filmscoremonthly.com/board/post...1&archive=0 For him to say this suggests that the job is his for the asking. His invlolvement probably hangs on two things: 1) Scheduling. Williams was kept from Goblet of Fire because he couldn't turn-down his long-held dream of scoring Memoirs of a Geisha, and his relationship with Spielberg comes first, so Munich was a given. This left no time for GoF. Deathly Hallows will probably be a summer release, and hopefully Indiana Jones IV will have tired-out Spielberg enough that he won't be making another blockbuster for summer of 2010. 2) The director. If the director is someone Williams feels comfortable working with then he's probably on. If it is a director with a reputation for rejecting a lot of scores or being difficult with composers, this could turn Williams off. So lets hope its a director he likes! Even if David Yates directs Deathly Hallows, if Warner's want Williams, he's probably on. Directors don't always have choice of composer, especially on major studio pics. Phillip Kaufman did not want Bill Conti to score The Right Stuff (Kaufmann even said to Conti's face he didn't want him). Bryan Singer wanted John Ottmann or Trevor Jones for the first X-Men (Michael Kamen was the studio's pick) and even the great Steven Spielberg was forced to work with Quincy Jones on The Color Purple. Oh, and regarding Williams' experience working with Alfonso Cuaron, he also told the audience that he thinks very highly of Cuaron, and forsees a very promising career ahead of the director.

You're missing out! Here is some recommended listeing... LEGEND -- a gorgeously lush fantasy score for orchestra and chorus. There are occassioanal brief songs within some of the cues which are not to everyone's taste, but this is certainly Goldsmith's best score in the fantasy genre. STAR TREK: THE MOTION PICTURE -- a trumphant, Williams-esque main theme, along with a beautiful love theme and some of Goldsmith's most interesting use of abstract sounds, all forming one of his most epic and expansive scores. UNDER FIRE -- a passionate, Latin-flavored score featuring solo guitar and South American pan-pipes, along with synthesizers and full orchestra. Arguably his best ethnic score. TOTAL RECALL -- a big, imposing science-fiction / action score, with some of Goldsmith's most adrenal action music ever. This is a score of both otherwordly beauty and sheer rage. PLANET OF THE APES -- one of his more abstract scores, but absolutely captivating, and it teleports the listener to a truly alien world. Some excellent (at times frightening) chase music as well. These are just a few. I'm sure others have more Goldsmith scores to reccomend.

I'm not what you call a Horner follower, but I have enormous respect for him. True, he references the classics (sometimes liberally), and the same motifs or phrases sometimes show-up in multiple scores. But he is a consumate profressional, and his work uplifts and improves the films. With more and more films being scored by "composers" who can't even read music and create everything on keyboard (then hand it to others to orchestrate because they have no idea how to do it themselves) composers like Horner -- who can do it all -- are increasingly rare and valuable commodities.

I used to play the trumpet, and the trumpet section falls apart in the closing bars of the McNeely recording. In fairness Varese's rerecordings are not well rehersed (they can't afford to take the time) and it sounds to me like the main title was recorded late in the day, after the bulk of the sessions were done, and the trumpets were exhausted. But if I was producing the recording, I would not have even released that take of the main title on CD, and if I had been in the trumpet section, I would not want it released. The original Amazing Stories recording, done in LA, most likely had guys like Malcolm McNab and Rick Baptist in the trumpet section. Williams' music makes incredible demands on the trumpets (I know, I've performed Williams music). The RSNO is a terrific orchestra, but LA session players are widely regarded as among the best in the world. I find the original recording far superior.