In an earlier thread both said (heh,I'm not quoting verbitim here) regarding Classical music, Point me in the right direction and I'll listen?!!

I believe I've compiled this in such a way that it'll appeal to film score lovers,and also show exactly where some of our favorite film composers influences come from, obviously many of you will already be familiar with these works, and may add some recommendations of your own!,For that reason I'll keep my list short!.....

RAVEL - La Valse, Daphnis et Chloe
You can really hear where JG's legend and parts of final Conflict are coming from in these pieces!

DEBUSSY - Any of his orchestral works!

SHOSTAKOVICH - The first movement of his Symphony No.7 the 'Leningrad' is a tour de force of un-paralled ferocity, and an absolutely fascinating story behind it's composition, which I'll tell you if no one else has mentioned before tomorrow night?!
(sorry.....PARALLELED!)

MUSSORGSKY - Pictures at an Exhibition...Oh Yes!!

GRIEG - Peer Gynt.....most people probably know this, But just in case??

VAUGHAN WILLIAMS - My all time favorite composer, I would say EVERYTHING of his, but I'll just keep it to Symphonia Antartica,Symphony No.3,No.6 and of coarse his Fantasia on a theme of Thomas Tallis!

RESPIGHI - His wonderful very film music like works Fountains of Rome and Pines of Rome!

Hpoe you can dig these out at your local library?!

your friend

timster,tim,timmer,ti....errr?,anyone know who I am??

ORFF - Also. But if you haven't heard "Carmina Burana"...

MUSSORGSKY - Check out his opera "Boris Godunov" for some of the best choral stuff ever written.

BRUCKNER - My absolute, unmatched favourite classical composer. Check out his symphonies (esp. #4, 6, 7, 8, 9) and the great choral work "Te Deum".

THEODORAKIS - Has written film scores, too, but I don't know them. But if you like the short piece on Williams' "Summon the Heroes" album, listen to Theodorakis' "Canto General". Absolutely fantastic choral stuff, another favourite of mine. Not really classical, but still great.

Re Grieg: When I first heard the version of "In the Halls of the Mountain King" on Doyle's "Needful Things" CD, I thought that the chorus was an addition by Doyle. But since then I've found an mp3 file of "Mountain King" that's a different recording, but also has the choral stuff. Could this be the original version from the stage play "score", on which the Peer Gynt suites are based?

Guess I should really check out VW's "Symphonia Antartica"!

Timmer, has FANTASIA 2000 arrived in England yet? If it hasn't, I'd definitely recommend it when it does. They used Respighi's "Pines of Rome" for the whale sequence. The marriage of this stuuning piece and the grandiose images of whales swimming and flying was truly a thrilling and inspiring creation. Some have complained that the music doesn't conjure images of whales, but I thought it worked wonderfully.

I didn't mention certain composers such as Holst,Stravinsky,Tchaikovsky,Prokofiev etc, As I assumed most here are familiar with thier work!....I guess I shouldn't Assume anything!

Marian,
Still havent heard 'Antartica' yet?!,tsk,tsk, bad lad!
Joan,
'Gate of Kiev' is my favorite part of 'Pictures'....played loud it's just damned awesome!

In particular The Alpine Symphony, Don Juan and Don Qixote, Also Sprach Zarathustra. The Alpine Symphony will reveal a lot of insprirations on some contemporary film composers... James Horner being one.

Aaron Copeland. Anything. The quintessential Americana sound.

Sergei Rachmanninof. 2nd Symphony.

Howard Hanson. Romantic Symphony

Johannes Brahms. 2nd Symphony

Gustav Holst. The Planets

Richard Wagner. The Ring, Tristan and Isolde

Most anything by Prokofiev and Shostakovich.

Sir Edward Elgar. Master of pomp and circumstance.

Schumann's 4 symphonies are wonderful, but a bit more "classical" than the other works mentioned here.

Dvorak of course is great as well, I especially like symphonies #8 and #9 ("New World").

Also Prokofiev. I love his Romeo and Juliet.

It's nice to know there are so many other classical music lovers like me out there.

Ecurb

just saw this one, appreciate the thought. I've heard some of the ones mentioned above -- was clued into Shoshtakovich some time ago. Still rolling through the Prokofievs. As far as "Pictures from an Exhibition," I heard that one in a hotel room in Chicago a few years ago and was amazed to realize, "Hey, that's Maurice Jarre's ENEMY MINE." Sometimes these revelations can be damned depressing. I'll never forgive whoever it was who pointed out that the opening of Horner's LAND BEFORE TIME (still my favorite thing he's done) was originally the opening of Bartok's "Wooden Prince." (I've since compared them, and I still like Horner's version better, the way one always prefers a cover version to the original if the cover is what you heard first and happened to fall in love with. Jarre's ENEMY MINE is still my favorite of his, except maybe for CROSSED SWORDS, aka PRINCE & THE PAUPER.)

By the way Timchanter, I agree with you (you said on another thread) that THE OMEN sounds way more Stravinskian than Orffian. (Hey, it's a chorus, must be Carmina Burana. Dolts.)

YOUR H'ness! (sorry,no symbal for a bow or curtsy)
The Omen, I would say still sounds mostly Goldsmithian to me!

Good to see a few people mention Mahler!,when I didn't mention him at the begining of this thread I thought that Daniel2 might (just might?!!) weigh in at this thread.....He did!,.....With one word!!

Good to see you here Dan (I mean that!)!

hey Timchanter (didn't ya see the original post where I called you that? already forgotten where it is, though), THE OMEN is ultimately more Jerryish than anybody-elseish, I just thought you were right in pegging the Stravinsky influence over the Orff (I don't really think there IS any Orff influence in Goldsmith). You're a BUSY man, so I won't carp ...

Mahler keeps coming up ... Anybody else see the Ken Russell British telefilm MAHLER? One of those many many many musical biographies he made over the years, and one that Andre Previn told Russell was the best movie about a composer he'd ever seen. I quite liked it, but then I like more of Ken Russell's pictures than I don't, and I do have to admit he's a bit of an acquired taste ... MAHLER is slightly more naturalistic than something like his lunatic Tchaikovsky biopic THE MUSIC LOVERS (which a lot of people hate, but I thought was phenomenal, go figure.)

NP: THE MISSOURI BREAKS (John Williams) (talk about breaks, I couldn't believe I found a copy of this Ryko CD used! Who on earth wanted to sell it? Well, it's mine now.)

P.S. "It IS the rabbit ... " (reference to Monty Python, not to the actual rabbit they knocked off for one scene in THE MISSOURI BREAKS)

Joan, stop hauling those truckloads of classical CDs home, you'll hurt your back!

Try these: Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto #2 (AKA Full Moon & Empty Arms) and the Rach #3 (heard NOT in it's best version in Shine)

What I liked best about Ken Russell’s MAHLER biopic was the lampoon of DEATH IN VENICE.

I am in two minds about DEATH IN VENICE. It was the vehicle that really brought Mahler’s music into the public domain. After years of surprising neglect and relative obscurity, this movie provided the catalyst for Mahler’s current popularity. Though DEATH IN VENICE wasn’t a bad film, I personally didn’t really take to it, though it is a famous movie, and I appreciate the fact that many people did like it.

However, I felt it rather unfortunate that Bogarde’s central character was loosely based on Mahler himself. One may have been delighted that one’s favourite composer was to be portrayed, albeit under an alias, in such a romantic and stylish movie. But, the Bogarde character was a complete sad-case, in character and appearance. As seen in DEATH IN VENICE, Bogarde’s Mahler was a self-absorbed loser. Now, apparently Mann had happened across Mahler on a train leaving Venice a few years before Mahler’s death, and somehow from this brief encounter the writer was inspired to come up with DEATH IN VENICE. One must bear in mind Mahler’s rapidly diminishing health at that time.

The real Mahler, despite his tragic upbringing (or because of it), was a very resilient, driven and determined character, by all accounts. Hence, my belief that Bogarde’s portrayal in DEATH IN VENICE was an insult to the great composer.

Russell tackled this ‘insult’ brilliantly in his biopic of MAHLER. Russell had always made it clear that he detested Bogarde’s portrayal of ‘Mahler’ in DEATH IN VENICE, describing Bogarde’s appearance as a ‘painted popinjay’.

Russell redressed the balance in his Mahler movie beautifully. 1974’s MAHLER makes a brief, and very dismissive, reference to DEATH IN VENICE. Mahler, well played by Robert Powell, had a dream that one day someone would make a film about him in which he is portrayed as a limp pervert, we see Powell at a Venetian train station watching with amusement Bogarde’s faltering Von Achenbach.

Nice one Ken.

Marian.

I’m sorry to hear that you’re having trouble ‘getting into’ Mahler’s music. Now, I don’t want to sound like I’m preaching, as you know your own tastes in music. However, based on personal experience, I would suggest you become more familiar, if you haven’t already, with his fourth symphony first, by far his most accessible work.

Mahler’s fourth is absolutely gorgeous, definitely his ‘pastoral symphony’. I’m tempted to say it his ‘best’ work, or it is my ‘favourite’ symphony, but Mahler has so many ‘best’ works, it really depends on what mood you’re in. This fourth symphony has Mahler at his most gentle and subtle, though of course there is some dissonance. If ever a piece of music proves that to be powerful and dramatic there is no need to employ bombast and loudness, it is Mahler’s fourth, yes, the old cliché, ‘less is more’ comes to mind. The whole work is sublime, from the opening sleigh bells to the closing thrumming harp.

The thing about Mahler’s music, more so than most other composers, to my mind, is the absolute necessity for a ‘good’ performance. However, I don’t mean a ‘good’ interpretation, necessarily, because it is the depth of Mahler’s compositions that allows numerous different interpretations of the same piece of music, each with its merits. I have come across a number of ‘less accomplished’ Mahler performances over the years, at least in my opinion….perhaps I AM confusing interpretation with the level of accomplishment?

After the fourth, try the fifth (incorporating the DEATH IN VENICE adagietto). The fifth is a colossal romantic work, the opening two movements a study in ferocious complexity, often violent and powerful, and containing one of the most compelling themes ever written, doubly amazing considering it is a funeral march. The third movement scherzo is a unique ‘other-worldly’ masterpiece. After the fifth, try Mahler’s Das Lieder Von der Erde, a symphony in all but name. Basically, it is a series of movements with the emphasis on solo voice, and it is quite beautiful, a smaller orchestra than usual, here the emphasis is on intimacy, with frequent solo instrumental passages, and such colourful instruments as the mandolin, and many Japanese references. It’s also similar to the fourth symphony in many ways, full of warmth and poignancy, and yet, coming late in Mahler’s life (it was originally intended to be his ninth symphony), it is full of bittersweet and tragic ideas, and it contains some of Mahler’s most mature and masterful musical innovations. The Song of the Earth is a sublime masterpiece.

With hindsight, I find those three works to be Mahler’s most approachable. Knowing these works helped me to fully appreciate what Mahler was doing in his other symphonies. The first three symphonies, brilliant though they are, are the work of a younger and less ‘complete’ composer. The sixth is to many his finest work, a breathtaking musical journey. The seventh and eighth, to me, are his lesser symphonies, though that is no criticism, for these two compositions are still marvellous listens, full of subtlety, depth and nuance. The ninth and tenth contain some of the most moving music ever written, in my opinion. In fact, the sublime opening adagio to the unfinished tenth symphony is my favourite piece of music; Mahler did complete this first movement before his death. Deryck Cook performed miracles by ‘finishing’ the rest of the tenth, but one feels that Mahler himself did not put the ‘flesh on the bones’, still a worthwhile listen though. BUT, the opening adagio to the tenth is to me the greatest piece of music ever written.

Anyway, the best performance of Mahler’s fourth I have heard is Von Karajan with the Berlin Philharmonic. Here, Von Karajan has first ensured that the music is well played, and THEN appears to have interpreted Mahler’s fourth, in his own unique, and very successful way. The music is played with pin-point accuracy and slickness, and yet has added layers of poignancy and emphasis, one doesn’t just hear violins, harps and French horns, one hears an ORCHESTRA performing one of the most satisfying and beautiful pieces of music.

Re Das Lied von der Erde: According to the booklet that came with my CD of Beethoven's 9th, that Mahler, supserstitious and aware that many composers died after their 9th symphonies, "wished to circumvent the ghost of a 'ninth' by calling his Song of the Earth, a 'Lied-Symphony', his 'ninth' in retrospect; in fact he then died after the composition of his ninth symphony proper...)". Don't know if that's true, though.

Thanks to Timmer for starting this thread!

Marian, you're right about Mahler being a tough composer to listen to - several of his symphonies, especially the 6th and 7th made me "sick" as well upon first listen. But after listening to each several billion times, I now see them as some of his best work.

Symphony #1: Surprisingly, this is one of his symphonies that I still haven't listened to in a lot of detail. It's a pastoral, somewhat immature work.

Symphony #2 "Resurrection": Wow. This is the first of his symphonies that I got into and it's still near the top. It's probably the most moving work he ever wrote, moving from dark marches in the opening Todtenfeier movement, to pastoral beauty twinged with darkness in the second, to the cruelly ironic third movement (one of the most entertaining movements), to the simple, powerful Urlicht poem, and finally to the 35 minute final movement ("Vision of the Apocalypse"). This is film music in all but the name, chronicalling the end of the world. It's the foundation of a lot of the Miklos Rozsa Biblical epic music. Themes are abundant, including a major key permutation of the Dies Irae, shouting motivs, etc.

Symphony #3: Even after having this fervently recommended by someone on this board, I still haven't managed to really "get into" it. Another pastoral symphony.

Symphony #4: One of his more entertaining works, even though, as Mahler said, "There are no fortissimi in my fourth symphony."

Symphony #5: Moving beyond the Wunderhorn tetralogy, this foreshadows the 6th in its dense orchestration. Another of his best.

Symphony #6: This is almost tied with #2 for my favorite Mahler symphony. Subtitled "Tragic," it is the only one of his symphonies to end in despair. The first movement has some great march rhythms, beautiful pastoral moments, and a rapturous love theme to represent his wife. The Scherzo continues the motivs from the first movement, and the Andante is a typical Mahler slow movement. Finally, the last movement presents a broad panoramic of Mahler's life, repeatedly crushed by blows of fate (loud hammer strikes), finally ending in a shout of despair, making one of the composers most moving movements.

Symphony #7: Some people can't stand this, but it's definitely one of the better ones, formed around the idea of Nachtmusik. Get the Bernstein remastered recording, since most others butcher this work.

Symphony #8: A completely choral symphony made up of 2 movements: "Veni creator spiritus" and the final scene from Goethe's Faust. Quite moving.

Symphony #9: Mahler's acceptance of death. The Rondo-Burlesque movement is quite exciting, almost like a 13-minute John Williams action scherzo, and the finale is simply breathtaking.

I still haven't heard the unfinished Symphony #10 or Das Lied von der Erde.

Also check out his Lieder, especially Des Knaben Wunderhorn.

There, have I written enough? :-)

If you like that "religious" tone Thor is so fond of, or if you like mysterious music, or "glorious" music, you MUST check him out! Give him a try, you won't be disappointed!

Also on this CD was section called Pavane for a Deceased Infanta.
The minute it started, I knew this melancholic, elegiac melody.
In my mind I picture some older, black and white movie I’ve
seen on American Movie Classics that utilizes this sad melody
behind a love story. Anyone know of a movie that used this
piece? Curiosity is devouring me.

We taxpayers just built a huge library which has very few classical CD's. For example, they don't have one single Copland CD, but they offered me five of his LP's today. I asked if they would junk their computers for typewriters. They were aghast, so I reminded them that very few people own turn tables. I gave them this thread's list, and I think they'll order some. Ahh, the power of a TAZ fit balanced by a few compliments.

A new favorite composer of mine, Sir Arnold Bax (d. 1953), has somewhat of a passionate following in the UK but is relatively unknown here in America. Check out the Bryden Thomson cycle of Bax's symphonies on the Chandos label, as well as the many recordings of Bax's tone poems. A good sampler CD is on Naxos, with the Symphony #1 and two fantastic tone poems (Faery Hills, Garden of Fand).

'Our'Joan,
Waltz!...ME!, You would have to lead and show Me a few steps, and then maybe We could give it a 'Whirl'! 'ouch'

I'm getting more and more excited!

Hope You enjoyed The 'Tallis' piece,I don't expect everyone to agree with Me,But Tallis is My all time favorite piece of music!