An impromptu analysis of the comedic melodies John Williams created to underscore the devious, Gilderoy Lockhart, in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.
Gilderoy Lockhart – John Williams (Impromptu Melodic Analysis) Read More »
How does John Williams create such compelling melodies? Let’s find out.
Late in 1932, Sergei Prokofiev was approached by the Saint Petersburg (formerly Leningrad) based film studio Belgoskino Studios and commissioned to score their upcoming film Lieutenant Kijé. To be produced and released in 1933, it came at a time where Prokofiev, who lived in Paris and had been away from his native country for nearly a
Troika from Lieutenant Kijé (suite) (1934) – Sergei Prokofiev Read More »
https://youtu.be/2Rtlqm0nSU4 If someone were to ask me what my favourite film was, I think I would be hard-pressed to answer with something other than 2010’s How to Train Your Dragon. The reasoning is vast should reason be required for doing something like declaring a favourite film. However, in one sense, my choice boils down to how
In his 1959 Twilight Zone score, for the episode “Walking Distance”, Bernard Herrmann underscores protagonist Martin Sloan’s return to his childhood hometown. Mind-bending, Sloan slowly realises he has also travelled back in time, to when he was a child. Pursuing his child self, and meeting his parents, who are a similar age to adult Sloan,
Composed for the film The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951), Bernard Herrmann’s science-fiction score has a lot to teach us about composition and orchestration in the medium of film, media scoring and wider. In this article today, therefore, I want to take a look at Herrmann’s score. I have done my best to be selective,
The Day the Earth Stood Still, Bernard Herrmann – Orchestration Technique Read More »
Bernard Herrmann’s “Walking Distance” is full of different orchestration and composition techniques. Last week we focussed on some of those orchestration techniques, such as reorchestration. This week we are looking at the composition. However, just like with the orchestration, we will have to be selective. Therefore, I have selected two short cues to look at in
I have not watched many of The Twilight Zone episodes. Not for lack of wanting to, but simply a lack of paired reason and opportunity. What better way, then, to introduce myself to these highly regarded television classics than by doing so through a composer whom I hugely admire, Bernard Herrmann. In this article, I want to
In this article I analyse and discuss the music composition techniques that John Williams uses in his film cue The Flag Parade.
The Flag Parade – Music Composition Techniques Read More »