Sunday, May 02, 2004
In Praise of Film Music
I'm something of a film music buff. Half my CD collection and most of my MP3 hoard consists of OSTs. And it's not just the contemporary classical orchestral stuff either. There's also techno, jazz, Broadway musical, rock, pop, synth etc. Of course, even the orchestral scores by Hollywood composers span a range of styles, instrumentation, cultural flavours - and it's fascinating.
With film music, I'm diversifying my musical palate all the time. I started off my dalliance with soundtracks in primary school when my English teacher let us listen to excerpts from the music of 'Titanic', which I hadn't watched yet. She played the 'Leaving Southampton' theme, and then asked for our emotional response to the music. For myself, I distinctly recall that the music evoked sensations of freedom and
flying - which turned out to be pretty accurate.
At the moment I'm listening to John Barry's 'Somewhere in Time' theme, which also weaves in Rachmaninov's 'Rhapsody on a Theme of Paginini'. The combined effect is achingly beautiful. I love it so much that I'm extremely reluctant to go to bed, late though it undoubtedly is.
Yes, late. I'm so going to die for this week.
words were spilled on Sunday, May 02, 2004
