The Invisible Art of Film Music [Paperback] Review

For one who collects, listens and enjoys film music, this tome is the best available in the market. It is a wonderfully comprehensive reference guide to the best film scores from the early twenties up to almost the nineties. Eminent composers are given adequate biographies. The salient highlights of the scores are reviewed by decade. The golden age of hollywood is represented by Korngold, Steiner, Tiomkin, Newman, Waxman. One can actually feel the development of film music techniques from the silents to the talkies and the sophistication of today`s electronic scores. The rise, decline and revival of this art form is well documented and one can compare different periods in terms of orchestration, styles, audience tastes and composer standards. The composer, arranger, conductor, songwriter were sometimes one person for example, Alfred Newman. The death of the studio system also spelt the end of the road for studio orchestras which employed hundreds of emigrants from Europe. Also, the predominance of Jewish composers and musicians is keenly felt even today. A good investment for any film music lover, it will pay dividends many times over. High readable and highly recommended.

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Product Description:
A comprehensive introduction to film music for the general student, the film historian, and the aspiring cinematographer. It is a historically structured account of the evolution of music in films. The book is arranged as a chronological survey and includes biographical sketches on many important film composers in addition to the development of the films themselves.

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Overtones and Undertones: Reading Film Music [Paperback] Review

This book is one of the most intellectual and in-depth books on specific films I've read.It's focus is mostly on older movies (The Sea Hawk, Double Indemnity), but also extensively explores French film, particularly, Jean-Luc Godard.The Interviews at the back of the book are with some of the greatest film composers, alive and dead, including: Miklos Rozsa, David Raksin, Bernard Herrmann, Mancini, John Barry and Howard Shore.A must for any film music fan or composer!

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Since the days of silent films, music has been integral to the cinematic experience, serving, variously, to allay audiences' fears of the dark and to heighten a film's emotional impact. Yet viewers are often unaware of its presence. In this bold, insightful book, film and music scholar and critic Royal S. Brown invites readers not only to "hear" the film score, but to understand it in relation to what they "see."Unlike earlier books, which offered historical, technical, and sociopolitical analyses, Overtones and Undertones draws on film, music, and narrative theory to provide the first comprehensive aesthetics of film music. Focusing on how the film/score interaction influences our response to cinematic situations, Brown traces the history of film music from its beginnings, covering both American and European cinema.At the heart of his book are close readings of several of the best film/score interactions, including Psycho, Laura, The Sea Hawk, Double Indemnity, and Pierrot le Fou. In revealing interviews with Bernard Herrmann, Mikls Rsza, Henry Mancini, and others, Brown also allows the composers to speak for themselves. A complete discography and bibliography conclude the volume.

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