Would movie scores be considered as symphonies on any level whatsoever?!
Question: Would movie scores be considered as symphonies on any level whatsoever!?
I was just curious as to whether movie themes would be considered symphonic, on ANY LEVEL whatsoever!? Some people tend to get offended when I associate certain scores with symphony!.
Here's an example of a brief theme:
http://www!.youtube!.com/watch!?v=VELc6hliV!.!.!.Www@Enter-QA@Com
Here's an example of a brief theme:
http://www!.youtube!.com/watch!?v=VELc6hliV!.!.!.Www@Enter-QA@Com
Answers:
By its very nature, a film score cannot be 'symphonic' in structure!. The composer has to work to a very strict brief dictated by the film and the needs and demands of the producer and director and is often not able to write more than 3-4 minutes' worth of continuous music - often much less than that!.
Of course, writing film scores is an art all to itself and should never be underestimated!. However, it is not classical or symphonic music!. It's not that it is inferior - it's just different!. Just because it usually employs a symphony orchestra doesn't qualify it as symphonic music!. An orchestra is a medium of musical expression just as a guitar, piano or saxophone are!. You would never try to say that every piece that used a guitar (even exactly the same model of guitar) would be the same kind of music, would you!?
There are instances when music originally written for the silver screen takes on a life of its own later on!. Sometimes a composer will re-work the music (or some of it) into a symphonic structure!. This is a different scenario, however!. A few examples of this rare phenomenon are:
Vaughan Williams (his 7th Symphony - Sinfonia Antartica - created from music from his score to the film 'Scott of the Antarctic')
Prokofiev (the cantata 'Alexander Nevsky', created from the score from the film of the same name)
Prokofiev (the concert suite 'Lieutenant Kizhe' (Kijé), created from the score from the film of the same name)
Prokofiev (the oratorio 'Ivan the Terrible', created by Abram Stasevich from Prokofiev's score for the film of the same name)
Korngold (his Violin Concerto, fashioned from music for his score for the film 'Robin Hood'
Korngold (his Cello Concerto, an expanded version of a min-concerto he wrote especially for inclusion in the film 'Deception')
Arthur Bliss (his symphonic suite 'Things to Come', extracted from his film score for the film of the same name)
William Walton (his suite 'Henry V', extracted from his film score for the film of the same name)
These are exceptions to the rule, however!.Www@Enter-QA@Com
Of course, writing film scores is an art all to itself and should never be underestimated!. However, it is not classical or symphonic music!. It's not that it is inferior - it's just different!. Just because it usually employs a symphony orchestra doesn't qualify it as symphonic music!. An orchestra is a medium of musical expression just as a guitar, piano or saxophone are!. You would never try to say that every piece that used a guitar (even exactly the same model of guitar) would be the same kind of music, would you!?
There are instances when music originally written for the silver screen takes on a life of its own later on!. Sometimes a composer will re-work the music (or some of it) into a symphonic structure!. This is a different scenario, however!. A few examples of this rare phenomenon are:
Vaughan Williams (his 7th Symphony - Sinfonia Antartica - created from music from his score to the film 'Scott of the Antarctic')
Prokofiev (the cantata 'Alexander Nevsky', created from the score from the film of the same name)
Prokofiev (the concert suite 'Lieutenant Kizhe' (Kijé), created from the score from the film of the same name)
Prokofiev (the oratorio 'Ivan the Terrible', created by Abram Stasevich from Prokofiev's score for the film of the same name)
Korngold (his Violin Concerto, fashioned from music for his score for the film 'Robin Hood'
Korngold (his Cello Concerto, an expanded version of a min-concerto he wrote especially for inclusion in the film 'Deception')
Arthur Bliss (his symphonic suite 'Things to Come', extracted from his film score for the film of the same name)
William Walton (his suite 'Henry V', extracted from his film score for the film of the same name)
These are exceptions to the rule, however!.Www@Enter-QA@Com
The word "Symphony" is a word delineating a certain type of orchestral composition!. In theory, at least, the word is not meant to convey any comment whatsoever upon the quality of this music!.
A film from the late 1930's has an orchestral score as background, The film is entitled 'Antarctica", and the music accompanying the film is by Rafe Vaughan Williams!. The title of this music is 'The Antarctic Symphony", and many people accept it as a symphony!. I certainly do!
The portion of the film where the sound track has been recorded (the 'sound track') consists of ferrous oxide (virtually 'rust') in a flexible adhesive!. When 'Antarctica' was made, the quality of this 'magnetic tape' was really poor!. Instruments such as the Piccolo were too high pitched for accurate playback, for example!.
For this reason, when his symphony was adapted for the film, the main adaptation was to re-orchestrate the music to suit the quality and character of the 'sound track'!. To the best of my knowledge, this (admirable) film was designed around Vaughan Williams' magnificent music!.Www@Enter-QA@Com
A film from the late 1930's has an orchestral score as background, The film is entitled 'Antarctica", and the music accompanying the film is by Rafe Vaughan Williams!. The title of this music is 'The Antarctic Symphony", and many people accept it as a symphony!. I certainly do!
The portion of the film where the sound track has been recorded (the 'sound track') consists of ferrous oxide (virtually 'rust') in a flexible adhesive!. When 'Antarctica' was made, the quality of this 'magnetic tape' was really poor!. Instruments such as the Piccolo were too high pitched for accurate playback, for example!.
For this reason, when his symphony was adapted for the film, the main adaptation was to re-orchestrate the music to suit the quality and character of the 'sound track'!. To the best of my knowledge, this (admirable) film was designed around Vaughan Williams' magnificent music!.Www@Enter-QA@Com
I don't have much to add to Del and Doc!. However, if you examine works that have been fashioned from movie soundtracks, you'll find that even the better ones do not port well to the symphonic arena!. The ones that do better tend to just utilize the themes and are completely reworked from there!.
So to some degree, I guess I am at odds with Del's "not inferior just different" standpoint!.
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So to some degree, I guess I am at odds with Del's "not inferior just different" standpoint!.
Www@Enter-QA@Com
Yes
Vaughan-Williams "Antarctic" symphony was a re-working of his music for a film!.!.!.!.this is far from unique!.!.many of Walton's film scores were reworked into orchestral suite
there are countless examples!.
Constant lambert, stravinsky, bernstein !.!.the list goes on and onWww@Enter-QA@Com
Vaughan-Williams "Antarctic" symphony was a re-working of his music for a film!.!.!.!.this is far from unique!.!.many of Walton's film scores were reworked into orchestral suite
there are countless examples!.
Constant lambert, stravinsky, bernstein !.!.the list goes on and onWww@Enter-QA@Com
Probably not!.
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