Adventures in Film Music Redux Composer Profiles
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Adventures in Film Music Redux - Composer Profiles ADVENTURES IN FILM MUSIC REDUX COMPOSER PROFILES A. R. RAHMAN Elizabeth: The Golden Age A.R. Rahman, in full Allah Rakha Rahman, original name A.S. Dileep Kumar, (born January 6, 1966, Madras [now Chennai], India), Indian composer whose extensive body of work for film and stage earned him the nickname “the Mozart of Madras.” Rahman continued his work for the screen, scoring films for Bollywood and, increasingly, Hollywood. He contributed a song to the soundtrack of Spike Lee’s Inside Man (2006) and co- wrote the score for Elizabeth: The Golden Age (2007). However, his true breakthrough to Western audiences came with Danny Boyle’s rags-to-riches saga Slumdog Millionaire (2008). Rahman’s score, which captured the frenzied pace of life in Mumbai’s underclass, dominated the awards circuit in 2009. He collected a British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) Award for best music as well as a Golden Globe and an Academy Award for best score. He also won the Academy Award for best song for “Jai Ho,” a Latin-infused dance track that accompanied the film’s closing Bollywood-style dance number. Rahman’s streak continued at the Grammy Awards in 2010, where he collected the prize for best soundtrack and “Jai Ho” was again honoured as best song appearing on a soundtrack. Rahman’s later notable scores included those for the films 127 Hours (2010)—for which he received another Academy Award nomination—and the Hindi-language movies Rockstar (2011), Raanjhanaa (2013), Highway (2014), and Beyond the Clouds (2017). In addition, he scored the biopic Pelé: Birth of a Legend (2016). ADOLPH DEUTSCH The Apartment (and Charles William) Adolph Deutsch (20 October 1897 – 1 January 1980) was a composer, conductor and arranger. Deutsch won Oscars for his background music for Oklahoma! (1955), and for conducting the music for Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954) and Annie Get Your Gun (1950). He was nominated for The Band Wagon (1953) and the 1951 film version of Show Boat, for which he conducted the orchestra. For Broadway and Hollywood, he conducted, composed and arranged music, but did not write songs, not even for the Broadway shows on which he worked. In addition to his music for westerns and his conducting of the scores for musicals, Deutsch composed for films noir, including The Mask of Dimitrios (1944), The Maltese Falcon (1941), and Nobody Lives Forever (1946), as well as Little Women (the 1949 adaptation), and the Billy Wilder comedies Some Like It Hot (1959), and The Apartment (1960). He retired in 1961 and died in 1980 at his home in Palm Desert, California. AKIRA IFUKUBE The Mysterians A Japanese composer (born Kushiro, Japan, May 31, 1914—died Tokyo, Japan, Feb. 8, 2006), Ifukube created the tribal theme music for the film Godzilla (1954), as well as the sounds that were the monster’s roar and footsteps. Ifukube grew up on the northern island of Hokkaido, and his music was greatly influenced by the region’s Ainu culture. Though trained in forestry, he was a self-taught composer and went on to score over 300 films. He taught music at the Nihon University College of Art and the Tokyo College of Music, where he also served as president (1976–87). In 2003 he received one of Japan’s highest honours, the Person of Cultural Merit award. ALAIN GORAGUER La Planet Sauvage Alain Goraguer (born August 20, 1931, France) is a French arranger who did movie soundtracks, worked for French variety singers and is mostly known for his work as Serge Gainsbourg's arranger, he composed the score for René Laloux innovative animated film, La Planète Sauvage (The Fantastic Planet), his more progressive and ambitious work. His other scores include The Bohemian Life (1992), Saint Laurent (2014) and Heartbeats (2010). He was the composer of music for Serge Gainsbourg, Jean Ferrat, Serge Reggiani, Nana Mouskouri. In 1965 Alain won the Eurovision Song Contest with France Gall and Serge Gainsbourg with "Poupée de cire, poupée de son". ALAIN ROMANS Mr Hulot’s Holiday Polish-born pianist and composer noted for his improvisational skills. A child prodigy, Romans studied at the conservatories of Leipzig and Berlin. He settled in Paris and completed his training under the tutelage of 1 12/02/2020 12:34 PM Adventures in Film Music Redux - Composer Profiles Vincent Indy. Then followed a brief, but successful, touring career as a soloist. Though trained in the classical tradition, Romans eventually specialised in jazz. He often worked with famous artists like Django Reinhardt, Stéphane Grappelli, Josephine Baker and the Egyptian-born singer Dalida. Romans is best remembered for his film music, famously associated with Jacques Tati as co-composer (with Franck Barcellini) of the quirky theme for Mon Oncle (1958). His finest work was the delightful Quel Temps Fait-il a Paris' which heralds each sunrise in Mr Hulot's Holiday (1953). Despite his movie work and the release of several popular 'soft music' albums, Romans ended up falling on hard times. The end of the 1950s saw him heavily indebted and almost penniless. Nonetheless, he somehow managed to get financial backing for his own restaurant, the Chez Alain Romains, which opened near the Champs-Élysées, with himself as resident pianist. The venture was relatively short-lived and Romans spent his remaining years in relative obscurity. ALAN JOHN The Bank Alan John (born 7 May 1958, Sydney) is an Australian composer. He studied music at the University of Sydney, graduating in 1980. His compositions include original music for various plays, films (such as Holding the Man, Three Dollars and The Bank) and TV series (including “Love My Way”), and the musicals Jonah Jones, Orlando Rourke and Snugglepot and Cuddlepie. ALAN SILVESTRI Predator, Contact, Forrest Gump, Beowulf Alan Anthony Silvestri (born March 26, 1950) is an American composer and conductor known for his film and television scores. In his ongoing, decades-long career as a composer, Alan Silvestri has blazed an innovative trail with his exciting and melodic scores, winning the applause of Hollywood and movie audiences the world over. With a credit list of over 100 films, Silvestri has composed some of the most recognizable and beloved themes in movie history. His efforts have been recognized with two Oscar nominations, two Golden Globe nominations, three Grammy Awards, two Emmy awards, and numerous International Film Music Critics Awards, Saturn Awards, and Hollywood Music In Media Awards. He is best known for his frequent collaboration with Robert Zemeckis, composing for such major hit films as the Back to the Future trilogy, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Cast Away, and Forrest Gump, as well as the superhero films Captain America: The First Avenger, The Avengers, and Avengers: Infinity War. His other film scores include Predator and its sequel Predator 2, The Abyss, Stuart Little, The Mummy Returns, Lilo & Stitch, Night at the Museum, and Ready Player One. ALEX NORTH A Streetcar Named Desire, Dragonslayer Alex North (born Isadore Soifer, December 4, 1910 – September 8, 1991) was an American composer best known for his many film scores, including A Streetcar Named Desire (one of the first jazz-based film scores), Viva Zapata!, Spartacus, Cleopatra, and Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?. He was the first composer to receive an Honorary Academy Award but never won a competitive Oscar despite fourteen nominations. ALEXANDRE DESPLAT Argo, Girl with a Pearl Earring and The Painted Veil, The Grand Budapest Hotel, Zero Dark Thirty Alexandre Michel Gérard Desplat (born 23 August 1961) is a French film composer. He has won two Academy Awards for his musical scores to the films The Grand Budapest Hotel and The Shape of Water and received eight additional Academy Award nominations, eight César nominations (winning three), nine BAFTA nominations (winning three), ten Golden Globe Award nominations (winning two), and six Grammy nominations (winning two). Desplat has worked on a variety of films, including independent and commercial successes The Queen, The Golden Compass, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, The Twilight Saga: New Moon, Fantastic Mr Fox, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1 & Part 2, The King's Speech, The Danish Girl, Moonrise Kingdom, Argo, Rise of the Guardians, Zero Dark Thirty, Godzilla, The Imitation Game, Unbroken and Isle of Dogs. ALFRED NEWMAN Down to the Sea in Ships, All About Eve, How the West Was Won, Street Scene Alfred Newman (March 17, 1901 – February 17, 1970) was an American composer, arranger, and conductor of film music. From his start as a music prodigy, he came to be regarded as a respected figure in the history of film music. He won nine Academy Awards and was nominated forty-three times. In a career spanning more than four decades, Newman composed the scores for over 200 motion pictures. Some of his most famous 2 12/02/2020 12:34 PM Adventures in Film Music Redux - Composer Profiles scores include Wuthering Heights, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, The Mark of Zorro, How Green Was My Valley, The Song of Bernadette, Captain from Castile, All About Eve, Love is a Many Splendored Thing, Anastasia, The Diary of Anne Frank, How The West Was Won, The Greatest Story Ever Told, and his final score, Airport, all of which were nominated for or won Academy Awards. He is perhaps best known for composing the fanfare which accompanies the studio logo at the beginning of 20th Century Fox's productions. He was among the first musicians to compose and conduct original music during Hollywood's Golden Age of movies, later becoming a respected and powerful music director in the history of Hollywood.