Publication date:
01 April 2017Length of book:
214 pagesPublisher
Rowman & Littlefield PublishersDimensions:
239x157mm6x9"
ISBN-13: 9781442258419
Of all the elements that combine to make movies, music sometimes seems the forgotten stepchild. Yet it is an integral part of the cinematic experience. Minimized as mere “background music,” film scores enrich visuals with emotional mood and intensity, underscoring directors’ intentions, enhancing audiences’ reactions, driving the narrative forward, and sometimes even subverting all three. Trying to imagine The Godfather or Lawrence of Arabia with a different score is as difficult as imagining them featuring a different cast.
In Experiencing Film Music: A Listener’s Companion, Kenneth LaFave guides the reader through the history, ideas, personalities, and visions that have shaped the music we hear on the big screen. Looking back to the music improvised for early silent movies, LaFave traces the development of the film score from such early epic masterpieces as Max Steiner’s work for Gone With the Wind, Bernard Herrmann’s musical creations for Alfred Hitchcock’s thrillers, Jerry Goldsmith’s sonic presentation of Chinatown, and Ennio Morricone’s distinctive rewrite of the Western genre, to John Williams’ epoch-making Jaws and Star Wars. LaFave also brings readers into the present with looks at the work over the last decade and a half of Hans Zimmer, Alan Silvestre, Carter Brey, and Danny Elfman.
Experiencing Film Music: A Listener’s Companion opens the ears of film-goers to the nuance behind movie music, laying out in simple, non-technical language how composers and directors map what we hear to what we see—and, not uncommonly, back again.
In Experiencing Film Music: A Listener’s Companion, Kenneth LaFave guides the reader through the history, ideas, personalities, and visions that have shaped the music we hear on the big screen. Looking back to the music improvised for early silent movies, LaFave traces the development of the film score from such early epic masterpieces as Max Steiner’s work for Gone With the Wind, Bernard Herrmann’s musical creations for Alfred Hitchcock’s thrillers, Jerry Goldsmith’s sonic presentation of Chinatown, and Ennio Morricone’s distinctive rewrite of the Western genre, to John Williams’ epoch-making Jaws and Star Wars. LaFave also brings readers into the present with looks at the work over the last decade and a half of Hans Zimmer, Alan Silvestre, Carter Brey, and Danny Elfman.
Experiencing Film Music: A Listener’s Companion opens the ears of film-goers to the nuance behind movie music, laying out in simple, non-technical language how composers and directors map what we hear to what we see—and, not uncommonly, back again.
Composer LaFave tackles the history of film music in this noteworthy book. For many years, the musical accompaniment to silent movies was determined in theaters by local musicians, but in the early 1900s, the studios began requiring that specific music be played with their movies. This was a major shift, but it was nothing compared to what happened with the advent of motion-picture sound. Not only did the talkies put hundreds of musicians out of work, they also signaled the creation of a whole new genre: movie music. Its first major practitioner, Max Steiner (Gone with the Wind), set the standard for how film music should complement and enrich the film experience; he was followed by greats like Bernard Herrmann (who wrote scores for movies by Orson Welles and Alfred Hitchcock), Nino Rota (The Godfather), and many others. LaFave approaches his very big subject thematically, exploring the music for such film genres as mystery and noir (home of jazz and somber saxophones); SF and westerns (in which grand orchestral themes connote other worlds); and horror (discordant notes, jarring juxtapositions). For both musicians and casual readers.