Sound of Cinema: The Music that Made the Movies

[LHC]

Did anyone watch the opening of this new series on BBC4 last night?

I thought it was one of the best arts documentaries I have seen in some time. For starters, it is presented by the writer and composer Neil Brand, rather than a celebrity, and actually takes the subject and the audience seriously. His deconstruction of the way the the musical scores were used in scenes from the Ipcress File and the Adventures of Robin Hood was fascinating, and I also enjoyed his cheeky highlighting of the similarities between Korngold's score for King's Row and John Williams later score for Star Wars.

At the outset he said his aim was that “after this series, I want you to be able to hear more than you ever thought possible" and that certainly worked for me.

To be fair, the opening segment, in which he made a cup of coffee to various types of music to illustrate how music affected the tone of a scene was a bit weak, but the rest of the programme was on a much higher level.

It was also a pleasure to watch his delight in opening Korngold's original hand-written score for Robin Hood.

If you missed it, I would recommend catching up on i-player.

[Pabmusic]

Did anyone watch the opening of this new series on BBC4 last night?...

I watched it on iPlayer and excellent it was. Looking forward to the next instalment.

[aeolium]

Agreed, LHC - I thought it was an excellent programme. There was a bit too much gushing about memorabilia e.g. Bernard Herrmann's baton, but it really did show the subtelty and skill of the musical settings of some of the best composers. I hope he will go on to discuss some of the non-Hollywood film music including Russian, European and Asian cinema.

[Flay]

I enjoyed it too. There were not too many of the talking heads that we get in most "documentaries" nowadays - that never-ending cascade of interview snippets.

[Tevot]

Hello there. Thanks for the heads up. I'll certainly be giving i-player a spin

Best Wishes,

Tevot

[cheesehoven]

Neil Brand was a very good presenter, very knowledgeable and enthusiastic about the subject and a great change from the usual dopey celebrities.
The programme itself was good but a bit cursory. Each composer pretty much deserves an episode to themselves but were given only a fleeting mention. I get the impression that Brand himself would have wanted greater depth (he clearly loves the golden age stuff but was more tepid about the more modern scores) but had to settle for a shallow three parter typical of the dumbed down BBC these days. Next episode is entitled "Pop goes the soundtrack" which shows the series agenda.

[Nick Armstrong]

I also enjoyed this, having caught up with about half so far on iPlayer.... and also could have done with more of the interesting illustrations and examples. Still, he managed to pack in a lot.

I see there are two more broadcasts on BBC4 towards the end of the weekend, 22:45 tomorrow and repeated in the early hours... http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03b45h4

NB according to the schedule, both broadcasts are with sign language...

[cheesehoven]

Episode 2 was more interesting than I had expected. Brand had some insightful things to say about proper composers influenced by pop (morricone, Barry, Schrifin) allthough, understandably, he seemed a bit strained to find the merits of soundtracks consisting of pop songs. And thankfully he did not waste too much time on musicals either.

[johncorrigan]

Episode 2 was more interesting than I had expected. Brand had some insightful things to say about proper composers influenced by pop (morricone, Barry, Schrifin) allthough, understandably, he seemed a bit strained to find the merits of soundtracks consisting of pop songs. And thankfully he did not waste too much time on musicals either.

I've been enjoying this series very much. I have never encountered Brand before and am really enjoying his insights and his playing. In particular in episode 2, the piece about Streetcar when Brando is standing at the bottom of the stair was fascinating - I knew nothing about this.

[Nick Armstrong]

I've been enjoying this series very much. I have never encountered Brand before and am really enjoying his insights and his playing. In particular in episode 2, the piece about Streetcar when Brando is standing at the bottom of the stair was fascinating - I knew nothing about this.

Likewise... and I enjoyed the section where Angelo Badalamenti describe to Brand bar-by-bar how he'd improvised the Twin Peaks theme under Lynch's descriptive direction. I didn't know Lynch had that constant musical input and when I re-watch Lost Highway and Mulholland Drive, it'll be with different ears.

[french frank]

Less is more?

[DracoM]

Exactly.

AND telly is the place to run this filmfestplague, NOT R3, and deffo NOT ousting established and highly regarded elements already on the schedule.

[Rue Dubac]

Agree absolutely. (Can't do thumbs-up thing yet. May learn.)

[Quarky]

Wondered if anyone caught the Sound of Cinema/ Neil Brand programme on BBC4 last night - electronic music in general...

[MrGongGong]

Wondered if anyone caught the Sound of Cinema/ Neil Brand programme on BBC4 last night - electronic music in general

Yes , it was quite good
Though he made the mistake IMV of claiming that somehow Vangelis was a great innovator in electronics ?.Vangelis did make some great scores BUT compared to the Barons (Forbidden Planet etc) or some of the Radiophonic workshop output it's all a bit "note based". Synthesising a string ensemble is a good financial move but not really a great advance in the use of electronics in film music all a bit 'pianistic' imv
having had the gripe there were some good things and it was worth watching.

The Hitchcock stuff was great ......