Because of the nature of film music, most of it does not lend itself to
exact reproduction in the concert hall. The film music may contain fade-ins,
fade-outs, electronic effects, miking-up and miking down of certain
instruments and so on. In addition, the film music is likely to contain
short isolated passages or long repetitions that, while advancing the
story-telling of the film, make little sense as stand-alone music. For this
reason, a number of composers have made suites of music based on their film
music but suitable for the concert hall. The extraction of a concert suite
is particularly suited to large scores written in the symphonic tradition
and popular for epic productions from the 40s to the 60s.
At times such suites may be arranged from the original music by another
arranger or composer. Sometimes this may happen after the original composers
death when scores and parts have been lost, and the arranger may need to do
a fair amount of research and reconstruction. Sometimes it may include music
not included in the final editing of the film for which it was written.
Occasionally, as in the case of Hermann's music
for Torn Curtain, the score was
rejected in its entirety by the director and never used for the film.
Some notable concert suites adapted from film music include:
By the 1980s, a recording of music based on the score of a major
commercial film release was considered a major part of the merchandising.
Being a recording, such albums did not face many of the constrictions of a
suite for the concert hall. Electronic and sound effects could be freely
used. It became almost mandatory for such films to heavily feature a
(usually saccharine) pop song (either original, borrowed or reworked)
suitable for rating on the pop charts and assisting with the marketing of
the film. This song would, of course, be included on the album. If the film
made use of a substantial quotation from classical music, then a movement
from that work may be included on the album.
In the 19th century opera composer would often use the overture to roll
past the audience a selection of the major tunes they would hear later in
the night. On the other hand, when the credits rolled after a major
commercial film from to 1980s and 90s you could expect to hear a
recapitulation of the major music you had already heard prompting you to go
into the foyer and buy the album.
With this sort of structure, the film composer usually had to have most
of the music for the album written and 'in the can' before the final edit of
the film. Thus there are even times when some of the music for the film is
material reworked from the album prepared for the film.
Sometimes a composer will take music they have written for a film and
rewrite it in such a major way that it becomes a significant work with a
life of its own. Some examples include:
- Vaughan Williams
Symphony No.7, 'Sinfonia Antartica
Vaughan Williams composed
the film music for the 1948 film Scott of the Antarctic and then
during the next few years (while in his late eighties) reworked the
material into a large scale symphony.
- Villa-Lobos
Forest of the Amazon - Symphonic Poem for Soprano, Men's Chorus and
Orchestra
Villa-Lobos originally wrote music for a film based on
the Amazon and surrounding jungle. The film failed but Villa-Lobos
re-worked this material to form his last major work.
- Rosza Spellbound Concerto
Rosza's film music for
Alfred Hitchcock's film Spellbound is justly highly regarded. He
was later to substantially rework some of that film music into a piano
concerto for the concert hall called the Spellbound Concerto.
Thus the Spellbound Concerto does not appear in the film
Spellbound even though both share musical themes.
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