[Fmpro] Where are the Distinctive Voices In Scoring?

[The Composer Collective]

I know what I am talking about (schooled, a philosopher of film music, and a
teacher of the art), and I concur with most about John Williams. I think of
it this way, and I could be wrong, but someone will have to prove me wrong
for me to change my perception ... I think of a composer as an innovator.
Period. If someone is composing, they are not copying, otherwise, they'd
just be arranging, orchestrating, copying, borrowing, etc. So to me, in
order to be called a composer you have to be innovating. And a good litmus
test of an orchestral composer is if the material can be broken down to a
simpler form than the intended form. For instance if you can play an
"orchestral composition" on the piano, than according to my perceptions that
composition is not orchestral, it is an orchestrated pianistic composition.
Anything that is orchestrated is not a composition, it's an orchestration.
So therefore, any orchestral composition that can be played on the piano is
not a composition at all. And if it's not a composition, than it's not
innovation. And if it's not innovative than it's not composing. For this
reason, I hold the following John Williams scores in high regard ... scores
for films which are supposed to be taken seriously:

Jaws
Close Encounters Of The Third Kind
Rosewood

It's also important to make a disctinction between serious work and
non-serious work. Probably the reason I do not hold John Williams himself in
any high regard amongst composers is that he has not contributed very much
serious work to the art. When I start to make that distinction, certain
notable composers come to the forefront of my mind, that both contributed
serious works to the art and were truly orchestral composers. At the top of
my list is BERNARD HERRMANN. From there, I divide into two categories:

1) Living:

Howard Shore
Elliot Goldenthal
Tan Dun

2) Dead:

Jerry Goldsmith
Dmitri Tiomkin

And I really admire composers who feel that the language of the art was/is
something up for grabs, that they could/can make for themselves, rather than
recycle paradigms. I still allow the definition of Composer to stick even
when one of them recycles paradigms since they may be doing it in an
original way, but for me, the highest respects go to those who thought about
why they are doing what they are doing to the point that they came up with
their own way of doing it. I'm speaking specifically about creating a
dramatic language of their own expressed through music.

All of these ideals, I cherish, and try and strive to achieve for myself.
Some day I hope to have something strong to offer the world in this
department, so that I can do my part in making this art respectable and
something that can evolve.

Evan Evans


> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Ted Peterson" <ted.peterson at tcsn.net>
> To: <fmpro at nxport.com>
> Sent: Saturday, May 31, 2008 1:15 AM
> Subject: Re: [Fmpro] FMPRO Latest Rant: "Where are the Distinctive
> Voicesinscoring?"
>
>
> > Gad. You need to do some investigation. These sentiments and
> > statements are what the unknowing rattle off to sound like they know
> > what they are talking about.
>