Volume 9, Number 2 Original Music Soundtracks for Movies and Television Guess Who?! PG. 29 Horner THEN &NOW AN EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW THE LOST BUYER’S GUIDE Debney’s PASSION MUSIC FOR MEL Monster MUSIC BT’S KILLER SCORE PLUS: 30+ CD & DVD REVIEWS 02 > 7 252 74 93704 2 $4.95 U.S. • $5.95 Canada FEBRUARY 2004 CONTENTS DEPARTMENTS COVER STORY 2 Editorial 16 Horner Revealed What’s Right With Horner. To some he’s the rightful heir to Williams and Goldsmith. To others he’s a lazy plagiarist. To us, he seems like he might be 4 News going a little crazy. But you can decide for yourself, as James Oscar Triumph! Horner lets it all hang out in a interview for the ages. 5 Record Label By Jeff Bond Round-up What’s on the way. 21 James Then and Now 5 Now Playing After a two-year hiatus to recover from the exhaustion of Movies and CDs in covering this composer’s career output, we’ve got the final 4 Shore goes two for two. release. installment of the James Horner Buyer’s Guide. Enjoy. 6 Puzzle Fun By Paul Bouthillier South Park Composers! 7 Upcoming Film 22 The “More Music” Albums Assignments By Jonathan Broxton Who’s writing what for whom. 27 Off-Screen Concert Works 6 Concerts Film music performed around the globe. FEATURES 8 Pukas The Appleseed Saga, 10 Capturing a Monster Part 6. BT has managed to carve a niche for himself as one of the few film composers who hails from the world of trance and DJ 16 Catching up with James Horner. 9 Mail Bag music. Now he’s gathered a group of top-flight musicians to John Williams. and the help realize his vision for the critically acclaimed Monster. New York Phil. By Jeff Bond 30 Score A heaping helping of 12 Act of Faith new and old releases With a little help from God and Mel Gibson, John Debney including: The Triplets has met the challenge of scoring his biggest movie yet, of Belleville, Bernard Gibson’s controversial The Passion of the Christ. Herrmann x 2, Secret By Jeff Bond Weapons Over Normandy and more. 44 Laserphile 12 Debney gets dogmatic. Awesome Alien Quadrilogy. On the cover: James Then and Now, illustration by Paul Shipper. 36 FSM Marketplace THIS PAGE: Howard Shore portrait ©2004 Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences; Beyond Borders ©2003 Paramont Pictures; The Passion of Film Score Monthly (ISSN 1077-4289) is published ten times a year (with double issues in May/June and November/December) for $36.95 per year by the Christ ©2003 Icon Distribution Inc., All Rights Vineyard Haven LLC., 8503 Washington Blvd, Culver City, CA 90232. Periodicals postage paid at Culver City, CA and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Film Score Monthly, 8503 Washington Blvd, Culver City, CA 90232 Reserved. FILM SCORE MONTHLY 1 FEBRUARY 2004 EDITORIAL What’s Right With Horner VOLUME 9 After nearly 25 years, his approach makes sense...kinda. NUMBER 2 hen I was 13, James Horner was (We live, after all, in a world where people EDITORIAL STAFF my all-time favorite film com- have been devouring movies for a century; Editor & Publisher Wposer. Star Trek II and III, Krull (an many of Horner’s movies tend to slave to their LUKAS KENDALL expensive import), Brainstorm, Cocoon, Aliens, suspension of disbelief.) Horner’s overlapping Wolfen (no CD for that), Willow—these were colors are tastefully manipulative without Executive Editor the greatest scores ever. By the early 1990s, creating the kind of musical construction that JONATHAN Z. KAPLAN his symphonic ear candy had mutated into might shed irony and critical distance upon Managing Editor “texture” streams of often ethnic styles (Patriot the work (as is often the case with scores by TIM CURRAN Games, blech)—most of which I didn’t like any- Elliot Goldenthal, Thomas Newman, Carter Design Director way. Combined with his notoriety for copying Burwell and Howard Shore, to name a few). JOE SIKORYAK music, and the varying accounts of his biog- Horner’s touch is consistently “warm” whereas Supervising Content Consultant AL KAPLAN raphy (while he did go to school in England, these other composers’ styles are often “cold”; Editor-at-Large he was born in Los Angeles, and his father was Danny Elfman is the best example of a com- JEFF BOND Harry Horner, 1910–1984, an Oscar-winning poser whose tone can go both ways. Horner Copyeditor art director/set designer), I ended up joining is brilliant at what he does; it’s just not to my STEVE GILMARTIN the chorus of film music fans asking: What the taste. When I want warm, I want it from John Contributing Writers hell happened? And what’s his problem? Barry, Ennio Morricone and Georges Delerue, PAUL BOUTHILLIER Now that I am a broke grown-up, I can real- composers who never hide their musical con- JONATHAN BROXTON ize—what problem? He is an Oscar-winning, ventions, and instead relish the bittersweet, DAVID COSCINA multimillionaire, A-list composer who cherry- melancholy flavors of their styles. ANDY DURSIN picks projects from the blockbuster and indie SIMON DUFF worlds, and has devoted admirers among have read Horner’s many explanations LUKE GOLJAN film music listeners, the general public and, about copying himself—including the lat- ANDREW GRANADE I MARK GRIFFIN especially, the industry. He is a superb musi- est on pg. 16 of this issue—and this is my MARK HASAN cal dramatist and the finest film composer of interpretation: Because of the era in which NICK JOY his generation to come from a conservatory he has worked, Horner has used neo-clas- STEVEN A. KENNEDY background—which used to be the norm and sical conventions (the traditions with which ANDREW KIRBY is now increasingly rare. I’ve heard stories of he began) as only one “color” in his pal- DARREN MACDONALD him being rude to musicians and the “little ette—just as the symphonic film score is only IAN D. THOMAS people”—many of which go back decades and one option today, whereas it used to be the CARY WONG come from disgruntled sources—but he must only style. To him, melodies and instruments BUSINESS STAFF have great relationships with the “big people” are inseparable. When he picks up his clas- because they keep hiring him. It’s certainly sical “brush,” it doesn’t just bring trumpets Editorial & Subscriptions not a good thing to be selectively nice, but and violins, but the notes they must play to 8503 Washington Blvd this is gossip, so who knows? As for his British achieve their effect. Culver City, CA 90232 accent—I don’t care. It’s his life. I don’t see how much trouble it would have PH. 310-253-9595 My issue with Horner is that I admire his been to think, “Hmm, I’ve already used this FAX 310-253-9588 craftsmanship and musicianship but dislike stinger from Alexander Nevsky 18 times, maybe E-MAIL [email protected] his music (the early popcorn scores aside). I’ll have the trumpets go up here instead”—but Sales & Marketing Manager There is such a thing as ideology in movies, I’m not being entrusted with a $100 million BOB HEBERT and Horner’s music tends to accompany direc- movie. Horner paints in colors, not in notes, 8503 Washington Blvd Culver City, CA 90232 tors whose points of view I do not like: Mel and his scores are meant to be felt, not heard: PH. 323-962-6077 Gibson, Ron Howard and Ed Zwick. In their it’s more dramatically effective, more pleasing FAX 310-253-9588 worlds, martyrs are victors, love conquers all, to his employers, and probably quicker to Sales Associate and all sorts of Hollywood baloney lives and write and record—classic scoring by the yard. POLLY GELLER breathes as real; Horner’s music consistently I don’t particularly like it, but it’s his life. Supervising Mail Order Handler avoids signposts of its own artifice in favor of I’ll always have Krull. MAILMAN AL subliminal, emotional nudging—i.e., no clear Our Website themes and endpoints, just flowing colors. To Is updated five times me, these movies present false ideas as real, weekly! Point your browser at: and the music must not call attention to itself WWW.FILMSCOREMONTHLY.COM lest the wizard be shown behind the curtain. Lukas Kendall, Editor-in-Chief FEBRUARY 2004 2 FILM SCORE MONTHLY Want scores? 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