Countdown to Halloween = 09 1. Jerry Goldsmith: Alien (1979) tinyurl/nehbrdr 2. Jerry Goldsmith: Gremlins (1984) tinyurl/ya8z9lv Ridley Scotts 1979 space thriller Alien has been highly admired by many genre fans after its debut. From having a strong female lead to the design of the terrifying creature to the realistic sets, Alien was a success. One element that was a total disaster: the music. Composer Jerry Goldsmith, arguably at the height of his creative powers, recorded about an hours worth of music and had moved on to other projects. To his horror when he saw the film, only one--yes, one--musical cue was used in its entirety. The rest was chopped, mangled and used indiscriminately throughout the film with no sense of cohesiveness. To make matters worse, a recording of Howard Hansons Symphony No. 2 was interspersed between Goldsmiths original Alien music. For Goldsmith, it was a nightmare and one of the most painful disappointments of his illustrious career. Goldsmiths magnificent and glorious end title with its subdued strings, dissonances, and famous trumpet motive gives us a romantic quality of being alone in space with shades of the alien terror, ending with a triumphant tonal conclusion. “Cute. Cuddly. Mischievous. Intelligent. Dangerous.” Those five taglines brought audiences in to see Gremlins, a dark comedy involving cute lovable little fuzzballs that can grow into ugly nasty killers. The 1980s was Jerry Goldsmiths period of experimentation with electronics and synthesizers mixed with traditional orchestrations, and he manages to write a highly funny score using a perfect snappy Copland Americana mood with a twist of synthetic mayhem. Goldsmiths wicked sense of humor, done with enthusiasm and a smile on his face, is the perfect style for the romp wildness as the gremlins invade an otherwise peaceful small American town. The catchy and memorable Gremlin Rag theme has become a staple of orchestras for many years that play Goldsmiths works, providing performers and audiences a riotously good time.
Posted on: Tue, 22 Oct 2013 22:42:31 +0000
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