The Music of Film Composers

The Music of Film Composers

Film music began as a solution to a problem. Early film projectors were really loud, therefore something was needed to cover up all the noise. In addition, silent movies apparently seemed a bit awkward without any musical accompaniment. Enter, usually, a pianist, who would improvise musical accompaniments to the events on the screen. None other than Dmitri Shostakovich got his first job as a cinema pianist, honing his improvisatory skills, and sometimes receiving cat calls and boos for his fantasy filled musings that tended to stray away from the action on the screen. Music in the silent film era had to help the audience in pointing out important moments to the audience, enhancing the emotional effects of the story, and most importantly, it had to give a certain musical line to every character, giving to them the emotional depth that the audience couldn't get since they weren't going to hear their voice. To do this, early film composers turned to the idea of the Leitmotif, an idea developed by the opera composer Richard Wagner. This idea would take hold even once "talkies" took over the screen, with composers such as Max Steiner, Charlie Chaplin, and others setting the stage for a century of brilliant music, by composers like Bernard Herrmann, John Williams, Dmitri Shostakovich, Rachel Portman, Hans Zimmer, Erich Wolfgang Korngold, Christopher Willis, and dozens and dozens more. Today on the show we'll talk about this development of film music, and also hear some of the greatest and most recognizable film music ever written. We'll also talk about why film music is sometimes looked down upon in the classical music world, and how we might begin to change that perception. Join us!

Avsnitt(284)

Sticky Notes meets You'll Hear It

Sticky Notes meets You'll Hear It

I had such a wonderful time joining the jazz podcast You'll Hear It! We talked about the meeting of jazz and classical music, a topic I've explored before, but never in this much depth and never with ...

22 Aug 20251h 10min

Impressions in Blue: Ravel & Gershwin

Impressions in Blue: Ravel & Gershwin

In the mid-1920s, Maurice Ravel wrote a letter to the legendary composition teacher Nadia Boulanger. Boulanger's class was a mecca for composers, both young and old, and musicians from all over the wo...

7 Aug 202544min

Beethoven Piano Sonata in B Flat Major, Op. 106, "Hammerklavier" - Part 2

Beethoven Piano Sonata in B Flat Major, Op. 106, "Hammerklavier" - Part 2

There is a special category when it comes to Beethoven; a catalogue that doesn't include complete symphonies, sonatas, concerti, string quartets, etc., but just single movements. This is the catalogue...

24 Juli 202553min

Beethoven Piano Sonata in B♭ major, Op. 106, "Hammerklavier" - Part 1

Beethoven Piano Sonata in B♭ major, Op. 106, "Hammerklavier" - Part 1

Beethoven once wrote to his publisher: "What is difficult, is also beautiful, good, great, and so forth. Hence everyone will realize that this is the most lavish praise that can be bestowed, since wha...

10 Juli 202544min

Weill: The Seven Deadly Sins

Weill: The Seven Deadly Sins

The collaboration between Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht is rightly legendary. The two men could not have been more different from each other, and like the Brahms/Joachim relationship I mentioned in my...

26 Juni 20251h

The Ravel Sound with Norbert Müllemann and Stefan Knüpfer

The Ravel Sound with Norbert Müllemann and Stefan Knüpfer

I so enjoyed making this latest episode in my collaboration with G Henle Publishers. I talked with two absolute experts in their fields, Norbert Mülleman and Stefan Knüpfer, all about how to edit Rave...

12 Juni 202545min

Dvorak Violin Concerto

Dvorak Violin Concerto

Admit it: if you're a fan of classical music—or even just a regular concertgoer—you might have glanced at the title of this episode and done a double take. The Dvořák Violin Concerto? Not the Cello Co...

29 Maj 202549min

Brahms Double Concerto

Brahms Double Concerto

It's entirely possible that we would not know the name of Johannes Brahms very well if Brahms hadn't met Joseph Joachim as a very young man. Joachim, who was one of the greatest violinists of all time...

15 Maj 202558min

Populärt inom Nöje

mellan-himmel-och-jord-med-jlc
filip-fredrik-svarar
mardromsgasten
dialogiskt
rss-p3-musikdokumentar
chilla-med-de-vet-du
mannen-utan-spar
badfluence
fem-i-topp
schulman-show
gott-snack-med-fredrik-soderholm
skandal
vardagsmysterier
podme-bio-4
karatefylla
hemma-hos-strage
sexet
rss-rockpodden
rss-bl-metal-podcast
rss-made-in-sverige-podcast