Music Group 2021-03-11: More Film Music

Music in International Movies

  Mary

Finding foreign films with foreign soundtracks was harder than I expected. I had to do some digging to figure out if some of my favorite film scores were British or American. According to BFI (assuming it's British Film Institute) they're British.

       Goldfinger (1964) Theme - Shirley Bassey The work of John Barry would define the sound of the James Bond franchise. The second of eleven Bond films that Barry would score, and the first where he would write the title song (lyrics by Anthony Newley and Leslie Bricusse), Goldfinger is still one of the best Bond scores. The soundtrack album became so successful that it knocked the Beatles' Hard Day's Night off the number one spot in the U.S. charts.

       Lawrence of Arabia (1962) - Main Theme - Maurice Jarre. Mary and Larry both submitted Lawrence of Arabia! Mary also submitted some text, which follows. Bernard Herrmann was one of at least seven composers who were approached to write the score for David Lean’s monumental First World War epic, but those composing duties finally fell to Maurice Jarre, a composer who had initially been contracted as a music co-ordinator. While this was the fourth English-language film Jarre would score (he had worked in French cinema since 1952), it was, without doubt, the one that placed him firmly on the international map, rightly winning him the first of three Academy Awards. It remains one of the greatest of all film scores.

  Larry

       The Mission - On Earth As It Is In Heaven - Ennio Morricone. Listen from 01:06 to 02:00, more if you like.

       Miles Davis - "Ascenseur pour l'Echafaud" OST - Louis Malle 1958. Listen from 01:06 to 02:35, more if you like. What could be better suited to the new loose, improvisational acting style that characterized French new wave cinema than an entirely improvised film score? The origin story of how Miles Davis met French director Louis Malle differs but the result is inarguably one of pure cosmic fate, with Davis and a slew of French session musicians improvising this seminal cool jazz score live to projected film sequences. A key piece of work in Davis’ artistic development (it marked his first foray into modal jazz, en route to recording the seminal Kind Of Blue), it also remains one of the best film scores to come out of the jazz world.

  Deborah

       Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon (2000) - Night Fight Theme Music

The title is a quote from Chinese mythology, "Crouching tiger hidden dragon" is a Chinese adage about hiding your strength from others.

The score was composed by Tan Dun, originally performed by Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, Shanghai National Orchestra, and Shanghai Percussion Ensemble. It also features many solo passages for cello played by Yo-Yo Ma. China Film Co-Productions Corporation, Columbia Pictures Film Production Asia, Edko Films, Good Machine International, and Zoom Hunt Productions. With dialogue in Mandarin, subtitled for various markets, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon became a surprise international success, grossing $213.5 million worldwide. It grossed US $128 million in the United States, becoming the highest-grossing foreign-language film produced overseas in American history. The film was the first foreign-language movie (it was filmed in Mandarin Chinese) to break the $100 million (£51 million) mark in USA. An overwhelming critical and commercial success, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon won over 40 awards and was nominated for 10 Academy Awards in 2001, including Best Picture, and won Best Foreign Language Film, Best Art Direction, Best Original Score and Best Cinematography, receiving the most nominations ever for a non-English language film at the time, until 2018's Roma tied this record. The film also won four BAFTAs and two Golden Globe Awards, one for Best Foreign Film. Along with its awards success, Crouching Tiger continues to be hailed as one of the greatest and most influential non-English language films. The film has been praised for its story, direction, and cinematography, and for its martial arts sequences.

       La Vita è bella (Life Is Beautiful; 1997) - Nicola Piovani (composer)

The song is Track 2, "La vita è bella" The original score was composed by Nicola Piovani, with the exception of a classical piece which figures prominently: the "Barcarolle" by Jacques Offenbach. Nicola Piovani (born 26 May 1946) is an Italian light-classical musician, theater and film score composer, and winner of the 1999 Best Original Dramatic Score Oscar for the score of the Roberto Benigni film La Vita è bella, better known to English-speaking audiences as Life Is Beautiful. In 2000 his Academy Award-winning score (Best Original Dramatic Score) for La Vita è bella (Life Is Beautiful) and was nominated for a Grammy Award: "Best Instrumental Composition Written for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media", but lost to the score of A Bug's Life. To date, Piovani has over 130 film scores to his credit, including films such as Slap the Monster on Page One (1972), The Perfume of the Lady in Black (1974), Flavia the Heretic (1974), Le Orme (1975), A Leap in the Dark (1980) The Night of the Shooting Stars (1982), and Kaos (1984). The music for the latter is considered by many as one of the best film scores ever done. However, he is reported to believe that "Too many film scores make a composer a hack, but in the theatre music is above all craftsmanship". Accordingly, he continues to work in musical theatre, and also composes concert and chamber music.

  Mike

       Jean-Luc Godard's Breathless from 1960. Music by Martial Solal. French New Wave.

  Lewis

       Olympia - Festival of Nations (1936 olympics film). Directed by Leni Riefenstahl. Music by Herbert Windt.

  Bob

       Beyond the Clouds — Beach Sequence — U2-Eno

Michelangelo Antonioni/Wim Wenders,Italy.

       Ito Okashi — Something Beautiful — Performed by Rita Takashina

       Miss Sarajevo — Performed by Luciano Pavarotti/Bono

       JoJo Rabbit (2019)

Music begins at 01:00. Music by Michael Giacchino.

[Bob also joined the ranks of those who thought up Lawrence of Arabia.]

 

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