The Score (Radio Program)

[Uni 306]

I did a search on this, just to see if anyone's ever brought it up before. Nothing came up—which was a bit of a surprise, because I figured someone must've stumbled onto this at some point before now. Guess not (or else they've kept it to themselves).

I was searching Google for some background on a score the other day, and it led me to a website I'd never seen before. It's for a radio program in Portland, Oregon called The Score. It's hosted by Edmund Stone, a classically-trained Shakespearean actor of stage and films. If you check out the link below, and look in the right column below the title banner, you'll find a complete (well, complete as far as I know, anyway) archive of all their episodes since 2010—a total of 263 shows. I've started listening to them from the start, and I have to say . . . this is an excellent program. For anyone who loves film music (I know that doesn't apply to many folks here. . . .), whether a veteran listener or just starting out on a collection, this is an immensely entertaining presentation of music from all eras of cinema scoring. It doesn't have anything like live interviews (though they've featured a few clips of composers talking about their works); it focuses strictly on the music, and does a terrific job of giving it center stage for most of the program. The host adds some historical and contextual notes, but mostly stays out of the way and lets the music speak for itself.

And rather than simply playing a wide range of arbitrary pieces from random scores—something a lot of classical stations do on weekly programs centered on film music—one of the best features of this show is that each episode is specifically themed. For instance, one episode I listened to celebrated female film composers; another traced the musical legacy of the James Bond franchise; and the one I listened to this morning was all about composers who started out as either rock musicians (Mark Knopfler, Trevor Rabin, and, of course, Danny Elfman) or jazz and television composers (including our own JW) who eventually broke into film scoring.

I have a long commute to work—an hour at the least, and that's when traffic's not too heavy—so this has been a fantastic find for me, something that fills the time beautifully (just when the playlist thing was getting a little old). For someone like me, it's a perfect mix of getting to hear pieces from scores I know and listening to music I haven't heard yet, but am now interested in pursuing further. And again, if you're just starting out with this kind of thing as a hobby, you could learn a ton from this kind of resource.

Here's the link. I highly recommend you all check this out:

http://www.thescore.org/

[Incanus 5,519]

Thank you for the heads up Uni! I'll certainly take a listen. It is a wide and wild place this internet and some great things can be easily lost in the oceans of information out there. Thanks for discovering this little island reporting back to us.

[Uni 306]

Scratch what I said about not having interviews. I just listened to a terrific episode that featured Laurence Rosenthal in studio discussing his career. This show really does do it all. . . .

[Thor 5,273]

Well, not to tout my own horn, but this is exactly what I have been doing since 2013 with my webcast http://celluloidtunes.no (mostly in Norwegian, but sometimes with English episodes -- 10 international episodes so far). But thanks for the heads-up nonetheless.

[Uni 306]

Okay . . . that is nothing short of awesome. How have I missed this over the years, Thor? I'm afraid I can't go through your entire repertoire, but I'm bumping those 10 English episodes to the front of the line immediately. . . .

[Thor 5,273]

Thanks, Uni -- I've been struggling to get much interest, despite what (I think) are interesting topics and guests/interviewees, including people like James Horner, Elliot Goldenthal, Patrick Doyle and George Fenton. Didn't mean to "steal the thunder" from The Score radio show that you alerted us to, but I felt I had to chime in. These are the English-language episodes so far:

Celluloid Tunes # 05: Women in Film Music (1st International Edition)

Celluloid Tunes # 08: James Horner in Vienna (2nd International Edition)

Celluloid Tunes # 10: The Great Fantasy Adventure Episode (3rd International Edition)

Celluloid Tunes # 12: The 10 Best Scores of 2013 (4th International Edition)

Celluloid Tunes # 17: Elliot Goldenthal (5th International Edition)

Celluloid Tunes # 21: Patrick Doyle in Helsinki (6th International Edition)

Celluloid Tunes # 22: Hans Zimmer Q&A in Krakow (7th International Edition)

Celluloid Tunes # 23: Cliff Martinez in Ghent (8th International Edition)

Celluloid Tunes # 25: The 10 Best Scores of 2014 (9th International Edition)

Celluloid Tunes # 30: George Fenton in Oslo (10th International Edition)

[Uni 306]

Not at all. In fact, this would probably be better served as a broader topic—say, "Film Score Radio and Webcast Programs" as a general place to list both online and broadcast shows featuring film scoring and any kind of behind-the-scenes info. (Can someone change the topic title of the thread?)

And thanks for posting those links. I didn't see an archived list, and was worried I'd only be able to access the most recent program. Looking forward to listening to them!

[Thor 5,273]

Not at all. In fact, this would probably be better served as a broader topic—say, "Film Score Radio and Webcast Programs" as a general place to list both online and broadcast shows featuring film scoring and any kind of behind-the-scenes info. (Can someone change the topic title of the thread?)

And thanks for posting those links. I didn't see an archived list, and was worried I'd only be able to access the most recent program. Looking forward to listening to them!

Ah yes, you have to click 'eldre innlegg' (meaning 'older posts') at the bottom left to turn the page backwards. I really should update the whole design (with English buttons etc.) soon, but as always it's a money issue in that I have to hire someone more knowledgeable about web design than I.

I already have a separate thread here for Celluloid Tunes that I keep updating every time I make a new episode (also the Norwegian ones), but I agree that a more general topic related to film score radio programs is a good idea!

[Jay 27,216]

Okay . . . that is nothing short of awesome. How have I missed this over the years, Thor? I'm afraid I can't go through your entire repertoire, but I'm bumping those 10 English episodes to the front of the line immediately. . . .

You NEVER saw this thread?

http://www.jwfan.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=23293

[Uni 306]

Now that I see it, the title of the thread does look familiar. However, I don't open every thread on any of these forums. I stick to the ones that look like they'll interest me. Unfortunately, I don't always look into posts with strange titles to see if they'd interest me or not (and, obviously, I often come out the loser in those situations).

I'm glad I've finally caught on to this, though. I really enjoyed your first international broadcast, Thor. Frankly, you cast a much wider net than Edmund Stone did on The Score when it comes to women composers. I think he featured five or six (heavily favoring the music of Rachel Portman), where you spread things evenly over 10 candidates. I thought it was great presentation, both of their work and the overall theme of female composers. (I especially liked when you offered a rebuttal of the notion that only the male, John-Williams-style composers can offer up boisterous scores for action, adventure, or military sorts of films. It was a nice touch.)

The most interesting thing you said—or what most caught my attention, I suppose—was the bit about having to be both a little broader and more detailed during your international broadcasts because listeners abroad tended to know more about film scoring than people from your "neighborhood." I wouldn't know whether that's actually the case or not, but if it is, that's an adept bit of thinking on your part. I don't know that I would've changed anything about the program if I were in your place other than switching the language. Now I'm really curious to know how your regular shows differ in content. I'm tempted to listen to them anyway; even if I can't understand a word of what you're saying, I'd be interested in hearing your choices of music. Is it usually a sort of "beginner's seminar" on film music (familiarizing your listeners with scores that are commonplace to long-time fans like us)? If so, then more kudos to you for trying to get the word out on this particular form of media.

I'll be listening to more soon. Thanks again for bringing it to my attention, and keep up the fine work!

[Thor 5,273]

And thank you SO MUCH for the elaborate feedback, Uni. You don't know how much it means, since I generally have no idea who's listening and what they think (I have statistics from my domain provider, but they don't say that much).

To be honest, that first international episode feels a bit "rocky" to me now. I've become a bit more "smooth" in my presentation since then, and have better sound. Also, once I get to the episodes with guests, it feels more like a proper radio documentary -- like the Horner one that intersperses interviews with Horner, David Newman, concert arranger Sandra Tomek, my own thoughts and the actual concert recordings.

But my idea is always to provide some sort of missionary activity for the Scandinavian listeners -- provide a playlist that covers some famous titles, and some not so much. I try to infuse my introduction to the tracks with info about plot, general thoughts about music and composer and maybe some special things to look out for when listening. Fairly simple, really. But I try to rise above superficiality if and when I can. My model is the culture coverage of NRK -- the Norwegian broadcasting corporation (Norway's BBC). Personally, I think I offer something unique in the vast landscape of film music podcasts, but ultimately it's not for me to say.

The only difference between my regular episodes and my international ones is really that my regular episodes are not scripted, while my international are (for language purposes). So the international episodes may not have the 'sudden associations' that appear in the regular ones -- for better or worse.

[Uni 306]

All of that makes sense—although, again, it bums me out that I can't listen to your original language broadcasts. I would love to catch you doing some of that "on the fly" sort of thinking, with free associations and spontaneous remarks on the scores you're covering.

I think you're definitely on the right track with using details about the film's plot, preproduction history, trivia, etc. as an introduction to the music. The scores don't exist in a vacuum, and often times their stories are as interesting as the stories of the films they represent.

I plan on tackling your next international broadcast tomorrow morning. More feedback to come. . . .

[BloodBoal 7,532]

All of that makes sense—although, again, it bums me out that I can't listen to your original language broadcasts.

Just learn Norwegian, mate!

[Uni 306]

I'm actually thinking on doing just that. Rosetta Stone, here I come. . . .