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Howard Shore's THE SONG OF NAMES (2019)


Faleel

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  • 9 months later...
  • 3 months later...

Neat! And since this is the same director as the Red Violin and seeing how music plays a big part in the story, I think we can expect good things from the score.

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Anyone going to this?

 

Quote
THE SOCIETY OF COMPOSERS & LYRICISTS
Invites SCL Members and one guest
to a screening of the Sony Pictures Classics film
09949d6a-3052-4249-bbe5-774091778a40.jpg

Followed by a Q&A with
Composer

HOWARD SHORE

MODERATED BY JON BURLINGAME
Author & Journalist

Monday, November 18, 2019
7:00PM

 

Laemmle North Hollywood
5240 Lankershim Blvd
North Hollywood, CA 91601

Parking at 11144 Weddington St, “5250 Parking” structure.
3.5 hours with theatre validation is $2, thereafter $1.25 each 15 minutes. See map below.

 

 

 

Also, here's a video interview with Howard Shore about it:

 

 

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33 minutes ago, Jay said:
09949d6a-3052-4249-bbe5-774091778a40.jpg

 

Is this the actual official theatrical poster for the movie, or just a special one for the Q&A with Shore?

 

Because I've seen posters crediting the actors, the director, sometimes the producer, and even that funny one for Rise of the Planet of the Apes with "From the special effects company of Avatar" (lol)... But never a composer, no matter how big is his name.

 

It's like the Schindler's List poster with "From the Academy Award winning composer of Star Wars".

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On 11/16/2019 at 9:24 AM, Incanus said:

Neat! And since this is the same director as the Red Violin and seeing how music plays a big part in the story, I think we can expect good things from the score.

 

Yes, and that Glenn Gould movie from the 90s. So it's certainly a director that cares about music. I've warmed slightly to Shore in the last decade or so, so I'm looking forward to this with some expectations.

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@Kaya has interviewed Shore about several topics including this score

 

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The last time I was this nervous doing an interview, was probably my first interview.

Howard Shore was the sweetest and kindest man though. Not sure why my nerves took over on this one, but they did. It was also weird interviewing one of my favorite composers in the dingy upstairs office hallways of a North Hollywood theater with a rattling A/C and the smell of popcorn wafting through the air. But we made do :)

We didn't have much time, so it was a condensed interview, but we had a wonderful chat thanks to Howard. We covered Cronenberg, Scorsese, Fincher, that Peter Jackson fellow and of course his newest score to The Song Of Names.

New All Access coming soon!

 

Image may contain: 1 person, smiling, eyeglasses and suit

 

 

Quote

Howard Shore needs no introduction. The Oscar-winning composer is one of the most respected and talented storytellers in the history of film with his work on films from David Cronenberg, Martin Scorsese, David Fincher, Peter Jackson and so many more.

His recent score to François Girard's The Song Of Names sees Howard going on a personal journey as he reflects back on his own childhood to find the right notes for this powerful WWII drama. Howard worked for 2 years with François Girard before they even began filming, and took every measure to immerse himself in this world.

In this chat we also discuss Howard's path to becoming a composer from his early days at Saturday Night Live, to meeting David Cronenberg, to tackling Tolkien, to exploring his process and approach in general.

We are extremely grateful to Howard for his time, and even though this interview could have gone on for hours and hours, we only had a limited time tucked in a dark hallway of an independent theater in North Hollywood right before Howard had to go to an event.

*NOTE: We had some audio technical issues for the first part of the interview, but the issue was resolved at around 18min. Apologies for the uneven audio at the start.

A Film.Music.Media Interview | Produced & Presented by Kaya Savas

#howardshore #composer #interview #videointerview #podcast #filmscore #soundtrack #filmmusic #allaccess #filmmusicmedia #film #movies #behindthescenes #musicproduction #filmmaking #animation #thesongofnames #davidcronenberg #davidfincher #martinscorsese #peterjackson #lordoftherings #thehobbit #thelordoftherings

 

 

 

https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=522267881929819

 

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Yes, this sounds fantastic though the acoustics are not great. Girard's films are massively hit and miss - I would very much suggest that The Red Violin won BECAUSE it was Corigliano, not because of anything to do with the film or the score, which frankly is not that great. It is okay and important in the film. The same as I would say about his Altered States, a fantastic score for its time. For Corigliano, a great composer, what matters to us is Elliot Goldenthal, who took up those difficult passages and contextualised them with Hollywood scenarios as well as Glass' work in the early 1990s. If you want to understand Goldenthal, a lot of the atonal madness is with Corigliano, but Elliot soon established a Goldenthal-esque sound that influenced generations: 

 

 

The Coriglinano win was back in the days when the Academy was hunting for respectability with silly awards for 'respectable' films and big names - the time when fragging Piovani's Life Is Beautiful won over Zimmer's The Thin Red Line.....

 

As for the Song of Names, I don't see them nominating this for anything. The film looks terribly cliched - and if you have Clive Owen in the cast, why not show him? While Shore's score will be a marvel, it will be one in a long line of similar projects with critical prestige but total oblivion elsewhere.

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I think the credits said it was the Montreal Symphony.

14 hours ago, thestat said:

As for the Song of Names, I don't see them nominating this for anything. The film looks terribly cliched - and if you have Clive Owen in the cast, why not show him? While Shore's score will be a marvel, it will be one in a long line of similar projects with critical prestige but total oblivion elsewhere.

I really didn't find the film cliched at all.  Also, just showing any of Clive Owen's scenes would be a significant spoiler.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Just got an email from Amazon letting me know I'll now be getting it on January 3rd instead of December 20th.  Not that it matters since it's already on Spotify.

 

 

1 hour ago, crocodile said:

I got the CD today. At 34-minutes, it makes for a nice concise listening experience. Really good score.

 

34 minutes?  It's 39 minutes on Spotify

 

https://open.spotify.com/album/7L96M7I4Xaq4CyiGGa6GLE?si=00-gUDs_S-ynt58gvgv26Q

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1 minute ago, Jay said:

Just got an email from Amazon letting me know I'll now be getting it on January 3rd instead of December 20th.  Not that it matters since it's already on Spotify.

 

 

 

34 minutes?  It's 39 minutes on Spotify

 

https://open.spotify.com/album/7L96M7I4Xaq4CyiGGa6GLE?si=00-gUDs_S-ynt58gvgv26Q

There are two 3-minute classical pieces included as well.

 

Karol

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Howard Shore and John Williams and, for better or worse, Hans Zimmer, are the only composers left with an instantly recognizable voice. 

Shore's ability to create a tapestry with such apparent ease is grabbing more than any of the ROS FYC tracks. 

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John Powell is instantly recognizable to me. And if you’re including John Williams how can you fail to include Ennio Morricone? Surely there are a few others, like Broughton, Doyle, and the three Newmans, whose styles should all be fairly recognizable?

 

Yavar

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I don't listen to as wide a variety of scores as some here, but Williams, Morricone, Zimmer, Powell, David Arnold, Thomas Newman, and Bear McCreary are all instantly recognizable to me.

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4 hours ago, gkgyver said:

Howard Shore and John Williams and, for better or worse, Hans Zimmer, are the only composers left with an instantly recognizable voice. 

Shore's ability to create a tapestry with such apparent ease is grabbing more than any of the ROS FYC tracks. 

 

I think Powell has a recognizable voice.

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Been listening on Spotify. It's quite good, but I could be without the presumable source cues (especially the "24 Caprices..." thing). It's a bit like the marches that suddenly take you out of the beautiful sonic landscapes in Chris Young's MURDER IN THE FIRST. It's slow-moving and brooding, as one would expect from Shore, but with a definite inherent beauty. Perhaps a bit on the 'samey' side, if I have one criticism.

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Shore was on the local Toronto station Classical 96.3 FM yesterday from 3-4pm to talk about The Song of Names, as well as giving commentary on his career with a few popular selections. 

 

Additionally, I found this article in The Canadian Press that furthers Shore's insight into his new score.

 

https://www.cbc.ca/news/entertainment/song-of-names-howard-shore-1.5402308

 

There are some quotes about relating back to his Jewish roots, finding the right sound for the film, and talking about his relationship with directors Girard and Scorsese. As it turns out, he was asked about Scorsese's comments on Marvel, to which he responding (and I never thought I'd hear someone like Shore's stance on this):

 

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"He's saying, 'We need to make room for all types of art. We can't push out all these films just to have blockbuster films. We can have those, it's okay, but we must continue the tradition of film-making so it doesn't die. There's an art that needs nurturing."

 

Just throwing it out there. Cheers!

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Sure, but only audiences can change that.

 

On an un-related note, short as The Song of Names is, it belongs to this year's score recommendations, at least its main pieces. 

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7 hours ago, publicist said:

Sure, but only audiences can change that.

 

Well, that won't happen. They'll be screaming against the wind. Which is why I want to stand behind them and scream along with them. :)

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  • 4 weeks later...
On 12/17/2019 at 3:44 AM, gkgyver said:

This music has such a visceral impact. 

Howard Shore's music is as close to a musical expression of my own person as I've ever heard. 

 

Yeah, I can relate to that.

 

Unfortunately, the score didn't impress me much on the first listen (haven't seen the film). However, the penultimate track, which isn't much more than sustained, pianissimo strings tremoli, was very moving. A prime example of Shore's "one-note" sombreness that I like a lot.

 

 

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  • 9 months later...

Just seen the movie...and not quite sure I like it. Can't put my finger on what's "off" about it...perhaps the chronological back-and-forths...perhaps the cliches...perhaps the whiny solo violin parts (kinda hard to avoid those, I'll concede)...the ending, which annoyed me to no end (and which was so foreseeable)...

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After mulling some more over this, I went down a completely different, yet related, tangent...does anybody know where Shore's Jewish lineage goes back to? I ask because after visiting northern Bavaria last year, where in the 19th and early 20th century there used to be areas with the highest percentage of Jewish population in the German Empire, I got curious because many of the founders the big banks in the US (Goldman Sachs, Lehman brothers) were born or emigrated from there.

 

Whereas Jews from the Austro-Hungarian Empire seemed to be more inclined to be writers, and from Russia, Ukraine, Romania etc. there'd be more musicians (this is a very strong generalisation that quite likely doesn't hold up to closer scrutiny, but please bear with me for a moment here). Goldsmith's roots go back to Romania, Elmer Bernstein's to Ukraine, Tiomkin was from Ukraine etc. (whereas Horner or Rozsa were Austro-Hungarian).

 

Anyhoo...after watching this yestereve and realising that the Song of Names was actually composed by Shore (I formerly thought he just did an arrangement of an existing piece), the thought that Shore might be drawing from his own background here occurred to me.

 

Any ideas?

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3 hours ago, Bespin said:

I love this score, it's Howard Shore's "Schindler's List"!

 

I disagree. And it's not his "Red Violin", either.

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I find the score very elegant and introverted. I'll admit that plenty of his scores outside of Middle Earth are hit or miss. His music has a very peculiar elegance and aesthetic. When he is in his zone, and doesn't do projects that he's not really into, you can literally hear his thought process in the music. In this one, I think you can practically see his pencil on the paper. 

It's like reading a light short story. Intellectually challenging enough, time goes by quickly, and you see the concept of the author. 

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