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The Official James Horner Score Study Thread


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Hey all,

I started this thread on Film Score Monthly, and I thought some here might be interested:

http://filmscoremonthly.com/board/posts.cfm?threadID=101232&forumID=1&archive=0

PLEASE - no negative comments! If you are not interested in the topic or Mr. Horner's music, please kindly exit the thread now. However if you are indeed interested, feel free to add to the discussion either here or in the original thread. I welcome your comments.

We are all lovers of music, and I invite a POSITIVE discussion about score study if you are interested in the more technical matters of film scoring.

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The first three pages of our cue are found below. What we get at this exact moment is a tense buildup driven by stepwise movement in the string section. This type of linear movement, which results in nonfunctional harmonies as a byproduct of the stepwise voice leading, is a favorite technique of Horner. However, he uses to an even greater extent than usual here, with the final "harmony" consisting of a cluster chord of 17 different notes in the violins, violas and cellos!

1nV4nPS.jpg

You can see the harmony is created through an additive process. We begin in measure 1 in A minor, with our tonic A pitch doubled in the Violin I and Cello I. The upper violin part is going to simply rise three octaves by step, moving through the A aeolian (natural minor) scale.

However, after each Violin I note is played, it is sustained by a supporting voice in the string section, adding to the growing and dissonant "super chord." For example, we can see that as the violin line ascends though A – B – C (the first three notes of the aeolian scale), a single cello each sustains each one of these notes, creating a dissonant backdrop to the violin line. The violas extend this pattern, for as the violins play through D – E – F – G, the violas continue to sustain these notes in measures 2-3.

To add a bit of complexity and counterpoint, the ascending violin line is accompanied by contrary stepwise motion in the bass. We see the beginning of this movement when the lowest cello voice descends from A to G in measure 2. However, to recover the A lost by this movement and maintain the integrity of our "super chord," the lowest viola picks up this A in measure 3. Thus, by the second half of measure 3, we have all 7 notes of the A minor scale (A – B – C –D – E – F – G) sounding simultaneously in a condensed cluster (along with the additional G in the bass, which then moves to F). The violas alone are already divided into five distinct parts (a5).

Horner continues to add thickness to the texture, with the second violins entering in measure 4, echoing what the cellos played in measure 1, but an octave higher. By measure 6, the second violins are playing in five parts (a5) as well, which is necessary in order to sustain all the notes of played in the violin "melody." By measure 7, we have a full two-octave A aeolian scale sustained in the cellos, violas, and second violins (14 notes). This dissonant wallpaper of sound harmonizes the ascending/descending scales in contrary motion found in the first violins and bottom cello part.

sd7VUMe.jpg

Note that the descending "bass line" (in the bottom cello) moves at a slower, somewhat staggered pace in relation to the first violin line. By the end of the gesture, it has descended just a minor seventh down to B in measures 9-10.

0zom9Az.jpg

This B is very significant. If the descent continued along its logical path, one would expect it to continue down to A, where the harmony could perhaps resolve to a tonic A minor chord. But instead, at this pivotal moment, Horner modulates to E minor (the dominant [v] key of A minor). Hence, the B functions as the dominant bass note of E minor, smoothly assisting the modulation.

Thus, even though our final harmony is a tense, dissonant, nonfunctional cluster chord of 17 different notes clashing amongst themselves, an A minor "super chord" containing every note of the A aeolian scale sounding simultaneously at multiple octaves, the B bass note ensures that the sonority serves as a type of substitute dominant chord, with the B – E bass movement cementing a V – I progression in our new key of E minor.

But wait, we don't get the E bass note in measure 11, you might say! Yes, the strings drop out suddenly and dramatically, but instead we get our tonic E in the French horns. The E – G in the brass implies E minor; play it on the piano, and feel free to add a B to the sonority – the sound and function of the chord does not change.

Well then, why didn't Horner include the B (the fifth of the chord)? Once again, voice leading (along with textural) concerns. Check out the voice leading – the horns descend stepwise (E – D – C), while the first trumpets ascend stepwise in contrary motion (G – A – B). But that's not all, the second trumpet emerges to add additional harmony. The trumpets are doubled on G in the first half of the measure, but then they diverge to create a suspension on beat 3. By the next measure, we have a C major seventh chord with three of four tones (C – G – B). Again, we are missing one note, the third (E), whose absence occurs because of Horner's very particular voice leading. Note that this sonority, as played by the horns/trumpets, sounds very effective with a more "open" sound.

You can try playing these chords on the piano yourself, adding some of the missing notes and changing the voice leading, but in the end, Horner (along with his excellent orchestrator Thomas Pasateri) chose the best possible option (IMO). It is very elegant voice leading and effective brass voicing cementing our new key of E minor with a descending progression of (I – VII – VI7).

On the next page (not pictured), we repeat a version of the phrase again. This time around, Horner does add the fifth of the E minor chord through a moving trumpet line.

That's a wonderful analysis there.

That clustral tone pyramid is interesting - you find similar complexes in the scores of Don Davis and Howard Shore. Have you ever heard Rue Langaard's Sfærernes Musik (Music of the Spheres)? It's from 1916, but sounds half a century ahead of its time. I believe it's also one of the earliest pieces to use timpani glissandi purely as a textural effect. I remember hearing this performed live at the BBC Proms in the Royal Albert Hall in 2010; it was like an out of body experience.

Here's a great anecdote from Per Nørgård (the man who invented specialism with his 1968 work Voyage in the Golden Screen) about Ligeti's discovery of the piece.

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Thanks for the kind words! I hadn't heard "Music of the Spheres" before, but I'm listening to it right now and I'm very impressed. The opening was fantastic and certainly reminded me of some of Ligeti's micropolyphonic works - especially Lontano. For anybody who isn't familiar with Lonano, it's a dreamy piece revolving around slowly evolving tone clusters:

Great story about Ligeti getting introduced to Langgaard as well! Of course, Ligeti was being quite modest when he referred to himself as an "epigone;" he actually did what any great composer would do by expanding on and refining the earlier techniques. Lontano is a much more sophisticated and complex piece of music than "Music of the Spheres -" take one look at the score and you'll see what I mean!

Anyway, I peeked at the score for "Music of the Spheres" and you can easily see the connection to the Horner example... Langgaard develops a 2 octave Eb major aggregate right on the first page, similar to how Horner builds up his 2-octave A minor aggregate. However, before the Horner-bashers slither out of their caves in full force, lets just say that this is not much different than two different composers using a C major triad. ;) Both composers used their scalar aggregate harmony extremely well in their respective cases.

Also, before Langgaard's work came Scriabin's great but unfinished "Mysterium," which starts right off the bat with a 12-tone aggregate, putting Horner and Lanngaard's 7-note aggregates to shame in terms of pure "crunch!" ;) Scriabin sadly passed away in 1915 (from a shaving cut, of all things!), but left sketches for the prelude to the Mysterium - "Preparation for the Final Mystery" - which was completed in three parts by Alexander Nemtin beginning in the 1970s...it took nearly 30 years of his life to complete. If you haven't checked it out already, I highly recommend it. Here's the first section of Part I - Universe.

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That's a wonderful analysis there.

That clustral tone pyramid is interesting - you find similar complexes in the scores of Don Davis and Howard Shore. Have you ever heard Rue Langaard's Sfærernes Musik (Music of the Spheres)? It's from 1916, but sounds half a century ahead of its time. I believe it's also one of the earliest pieces to use timpani glissandi purely as a textural effect. I remember hearing this performed live at the BBC Proms in the Royal Albert Hall in 2010; it was like an out of body experience.

Wow. That was absolutely sublime! Fantastic stuff, lots of rich colour and definitely sounds way ahead of its time to have been written in 1916.

And great analysis music4film. I can't wait to dig into it all (the analyses and some of the new pieces recommended here).

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Fantastic analysis of a deceptively simple device. It is indeed a staple of much modern classical and film music, such free use of essentially tonal structures. That Langgaard piece is new to me, and it's really something else, with a great organ part no less. It's astounding that it was written in 1918. Scriabin is an old flame, and perhaps it's time to visit him again. And of course who doesn't love Lontano?

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Hey all,

I started this thread on Film Score Monthly, and I thought some here might be interested:

http://filmscoremonthly.com/board/posts.cfm?threadID=101232&forumID=1&archive=0

PLEASE - no negative comments! If you are not interested in the topic or Mr. Horner's music, please kindly exit the thread now. However if you are indeed interested, feel free to add to the discussion either here or in the original thread. I welcome your comments.

We are all lovers of music, and I invite a POSITIVE discussion about score study if you are interested in the more technical matters of film scoring.

A very fine analysis. Interesting technique, this kind of "clustural accretion", one might call it, and you've explained it clearly and concisely.

If I were to add anything, I might argue more for harmonic functions in the passage. You're right that it is a cluster built up from the A minor (natural) scale. In fact, the way you describe it seems to correspond for the most part with Persichetti's description of "pandiatonic" writing (p. 223):

Pandiatonic writing is a specific kind of static harmony in which an entire scale is used to form the members of an implied secundal, static chord. The vertical structures are combinations of any number of tones from the prevailing scale, placed in variable spacings. The horizontal chord succession has no tonal direction; scale tones are manipulated as basic chordal material without creating harmonic motion outside the underlying static and unaltered scale. The harmony has no characteristic functions...

Well, you get the idea. In any case, my feeling is that the melody and bass create harmonic functions that become increasingly blurred by the ever-growing inner-voice cluster. Specifically, I think it's possible to hear the following functions in bars 1-5, especially since the melody and bass outline these chords so nicely:

A minor: i - III6 - VI

After that, it starts to get rather murky, bar 6 perhaps suggesting minor v, but after that getting even more difficult to tease out any functions (perhaps viio6 - I in C major suggest themselves). By the end of the buildup, I would say it sounds entirely like a cluster with no suggestion of function. So one could say the passage moves from clear functional harmony to non-functional harmony. Just a thought.

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A very fine analysis. Interesting technique, this kind of "clustural accretion", one might call it, and you've explained it clearly and concisely.

If I were to add anything, I might argue more for harmonic functions in the passage. You're right that it is a cluster built up from the A minor (natural) scale. In fact, the way you describe it seems to correspond for the most part with Persichetti's description of "pandiatonic" writing (p. 223):

Pandiatonic writing is a specific kind of static harmony in which an entire scale is used to form the members of an implied secundal, static chord. The vertical structures are combinations of any number of tones from the prevailing scale, placed in variable spacings. The horizontal chord succession has no tonal direction; scale tones are manipulated as basic chordal material without creating harmonic motion outside the underlying static and unaltered scale. The harmony has no characteristic functions...

Well, you get the idea. In any case, my feeling is that the melody and bass create harmonic functions that become increasingly blurred by the ever-growing inner-voice cluster. Specifically, I think it's possible to hear the following functions in bars 1-5, especially since the melody and bass outline these chords so nicely:

A minor: i - III6 - VI

After that, it starts to get rather murky, bar 6 perhaps suggesting minor v, but after that getting even more difficult to tease out any functions (perhaps viio6 - I in C major suggest themselves). By the end of the buildup, I would say it sounds entirely like a cluster with no suggestion of function. So one could say the passage moves from clear functional harmony to non-functional harmony. Just a thought.

Thanks for your input, I definitely see how one could hear the proposed progression if you focus strictly on the two contrapuntal lines and disregard the inner voices as a type of harmonic wallpaper that simply colors the overarching tonal progression. Certainly if you remove all the sustained voices in the middle of the texture, you are left with a simple harmonic skeleton that suggests your diatonic progression (although I believe you meant III6/4 instead of III6).

And you're right that this could be be considered pandiatonicism, although the passage is constructed in such a particular way and in such an isolated manner (surrounded by what are clearly diatonic materials) that I avoided the use of such a term. Certainly we could consider this very particular additive process as a pandiatonic technique since it sticks to the 7 diatonic tones rather than the 12 chromatic tones, such as in the Scriabin.

Great insights, it's always refreshing to hear alternative viewpoints of the same theoretical concept!

Also, I loved how you succinctly termed this technique as "clustural accretion." I'm going to add that bit of terminology to my repertoire. :)

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  • 1 year later...

How did I miss this thread?

As to why more analysis of Williams' stuff vs. Horner might be as simple as availability of material. Plenty of Williams' full orchestral scores (thank you Hal Leonard) and PDFs of handwritten material. Horner: all (what there are) of the full scores are "arranged by" and I haven't found a trove of PDFs lurking someplace on the web. (If someone has a map and compass they're willing to share, I'd be most appreciative.)

As for negativity: Horner's no Mozart. Closer to Beethoven in penmanship (like most composers).

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