Art of the Score

In 1990, Kevin Costner’s Dances With Wolves set the film world alight, and won seven Academy Awards in the process. But what about the score? In this episode, we take a look at the music of John Barry – who, although best known for his Bond scores, here manages to create something at once completely Barry-esque and wholly unique for a film about the flawed myth at the heart of American cinema’s greatest genre: the Western. Episode notes: 2:58 – Dances With Wolves as a Western 6:00 – An indie production and adaptation 9:30 – John Barry 10:21 – Basil Poledouris’s near miss with Dances With Wolves 12:40 – The John Dunbar theme, and comparisons with Lonesome Dove and Legends of the Fall 14:30 – The John Barry ‘mythic’ mode, comparison with Out of Africa and Chaplin 18:30 – The ‘breathing’ nature of the John Dunbar theme, and his pop music origins 21:50 – Solo trumpet version of the Dunbar theme, comparison with Legends of the Fall 24:00 – Dunbar theme on harmonica, and the use of harmonica in Barry’s work 26:11 – The threatening, solo flute version of the Dunbar theme 28:24 – Mournful version of the Dunbar theme for the slaughtered Buffalo 30:35 – The ‘album version’ of the Dunbar theme during the hunt, with comparison to Barry’s 007 theme 34:15 – The ‘film version’ of the hunt theme, with comparison to The Big Country 37:25 – The love theme 41:35 – The ‘Two Socks’ wolf theme 44:37 – Comparison with A View To A Kill 46:33 – The Sioux motif 49:50 – Traditional musical representations of Native American clichés, comparison with The Searchers 52:10 – The Pawnee motif 55:00 – Development of Pawnee motif with threatening children’s themes 59:23 – Brusque French Horn performance of the Pawnee theme 1:00:25 – Comparison with The Living Daylights 1:02:33 – Leaving Fort Sedgewick and the travelling music 1:06:22 – The Buffalo motif, and comparison with The Living Daylights 1:10:10 – Andrew’s argument that the music represents the film’s geography 1:11:25 – The fire dance by Peter Buffett 1:14:05 – Barry’s compositional style and his legacy We’d love to hear from our listeners – get in touch via Twitter, and if you like The Art of the Score, please take a moment to subscribe, rate and comment.

You’re sitting in a darkened movie theatre, and the latest, highly anticipated blockbuster is about to play. The ads are over, the trailers are all done, and the lights dim. What’s this? Why, it’s Art of the Score Episode 34, as we investigate a fascinating and often-overlooked area of film music history – studio fanfares. From 20th Century Fox to MGM’s Leo the Lion roar and many more, over the next two episodes we’ll be revealing the secrets behind the musical moments that open the movies and set the musical agenda, and telling the stories behind the studios and the composers who made them. Show notes: 6:02 – The origins of the fanfare 8:51 – The studio system and the sound of the Big Five 12:15 – MGM: Lions, Stars, and Celebrities, oh my! 15:31 – RKO: Morse code, crime, and Howard Hughes 20:20 – Paramount Pictures on Parade (allegedly) 21:28 – 20th Century Fox – Alfred Newman (1933) 27:22 – Warner Brothers – Max Steiner (1937) 33:05 – The Little Three (that’s Andrew, Nick, and Dan) 33:33 – Universal Studios, Tchaikovsky, and Superman – Jimmy McHugh (1936) 40:30 – United Artists (so united they didn’t have a fanfare) 41:40 – Columbia – Mischa Bakaleinikoff (1934) 43:21 – Beyond the Big Five and the Little Three 44:33 – Selznick International – Alfred Newman (1936) 47:30 – The Art of the Score fanfare – Thaddeus Buc (1935) 49:54 – Into the 1950s: lawsuits, widescreens, and the birth of television 52:07 – VistaVision – Nathan van Cleeve (1952) 56:11 – CinemaScope – 20th Century Fox – Alfred Newman expands his fanfare (1954) 1:01:39 – MGM – Leo the Lion (1957) 1:02:34 – The Art of the Score fanfare – Jerry Buc (1960) 1:04:38 – The emergence of television and the NBC chime 1:07:44 – Desilu – Wilber Hatch (1966) 1:10:52 – The Art of the Score fanfare – Teddy Buc (1970) 1:15:48 – Paramount’s Parade – Lalo Schifrin (1970), Jerry Goldsmith (1976 and 1977) 1:22:24 – Columbia – Suzanne Ciani (1976) 1:24:48 – Walt Disney Productions - When You Wish Upon a Star (1972) 1:32:04 – PBS – Paul Alan Levi (1971) 1:33:18 – Associated Film Distribution (1978) Links mentioned: Yorgason and Lyon’s journal article on Max Steiner’s Warner Bros. fanfare - https://www.mtosmt.org/issues/mto.20.26.2/mto.20.26.2.yorgason_lyon.html Kirk Hamilton’s Strong Song’s episode on David Bowie – https://strongsongspodcast.com/episode/space-oddity-and-starman-by-david-bowie We love to hear from our listeners – get in touch via Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook, and if you like The Art of the Score, please take a moment to subscribe, rate and comment.

In Episode 26, we return to the world of Blade Runner for the 1982 film’s long-belated sequel. Directed by Denis Villeneuve, and with a soundtrack by Benjamin Wallfisch and Hans Zimmer, Blade Runner 2049 has a different sound and a different set of thematic ideas. But how does the music work, and what is all this interlinked stuff about, anyway? To help us answer those questions – and more – we’re once again joined by the brilliant synth expert Seja Vogel (whose fantastic podcast, where she interviews musicians, you should check out here: http://sejamusic.com). Episode notes: 5:01 – How the sequel came to be 8:06 – Jóhann Jóhannsson, and what could’ve been 12:43 – Benjamin Wallfisch and Hans Zimmer 16:52 – The opening title card (the Memory theme) 19:25 – Or is it the Puzzle theme? 21:24 – The 2049 Melody (the Soul theme) 27:36 – Sapper Morton’s musical secret 35:08 – Voices in the furnace 38:30 – Sound design 40:48 – The rebel’s fan fair 45:44 – The return of the opening chords 49:18 – Synth talk with Seja 52:32 – Seja talks us through her reconstruction of 2049’s opening cue 1:03:11 – The final product 1:08:26 – Joi’s theme 1:12:56 – Wallace’s throat singing 1:25:05 – Flight to the LAPD 1:29:03 – Sea Wall 1:36:18 – Tears In (The) Rain 1:41:15 – The Mesa Melody 1:46:09 – The scoreless moments 1:49:10 – D for Diegetic 1:52:44 – Punching with Presley 1:55:48 – One For My Baby, and One For The Replicant 2:02:40 – Peter and the Wallace 2:11:13 – Final thoughts We love to hear from our listeners – get in touch via Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook, and if you like The Art of the Score, please take a moment to subscribe, rate and comment.

In Episode 23 we return to the wizarding world with the first of a two part listen to Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. Far from resting on prior achievements, the final John Williams Potter score knocks it out of the park, giving us everything from medieval music to waltzes, bebop jazz, and some of the most majestic flight music ever written. Join us, as we solemnly swear we are up to no good and journey with Harry and co for their third year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Episode notes: 2:32 – Dan makes a big claim 6:35 – Some Azkaban homework 14:45 – Hedwig’s theme goes on holiday 16:23 – Something wicked this way hums 27:50 – Crumhorn, Sackbut, and Azkaban’s medieval sound 30:51 – Meeting Buckbeak 33:04 – Searching for the Fat Lady 35:33 – Some sleeping celeste 39:09 – The renaissance fair 46:49 – A Window to the Past 1:00:00 – Some serious Sirius 1:04:13 – Pettigrew’s motif 1:07:12 – Buckbeak’s brilliant flight 1:13:15 – Buckbeak’s equally brilliant second flight 1:17:26 – The Dementor’s dialectic. Thesis: aleatoric horror 1:21:39 – Antithesis: the angelic Patronus 1:23:06 – Synthesis: the Dementors converge We love to hear from our listeners – get in touch via Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook, and if you like The Art of the Score, please take a moment to subscribe, rate and comment.