Those of you in Europe this summer may be lucky enough to experience “The World of Hans Zimmer,” a concert of Zimmer’s classic film themes performed by a large orchestra and choir conducted by his longtime associate Gavin Greenaway. The producers commissioned me to write a lengthy essay that, over 1,700 words, examines the composer’s career and impact on contemporary film music (from Gladiator and Inception to The Dark Knight and The DaVinci Code). It was an honor to share space in the program with Zimmer himself, whose opening piece explores his own experiences listening to, and ultimately writing for, a symphony orchestra. Information on the tour is available here.
Monthly Archives: June 2018
Universal mines its back catalog for classics
One of Hollywood’s greatest studios has launched a long-range program to find, preserve and release some of its previously unreleased film scores. It’s called the “Universal Pictures Film Music Heritage Collection” and launches this week with the first-ever release of the music from Colossus: The Forbin Project. Scores by Henry Mancini, Ennio Morricone, Lalo Schifrin and other top composers will follow. It’s an exciting proposition for us film music fans, and I was pleased to break this story in the pages of Variety.
Sherman Brothers Tribute at the Academy
Think of these songs: “Chim Chim Cheree,” “It’s a Small World,” “Winnie the Pooh.” The likelihood is you know them, and once reminded, you can’t get them out of your head. That’s the mark of a great song and, more to the point, a great songwriter — in this case two great songwriters, Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman, who were Walt Disney’s go-to tunesmiths in the 1960s (but whose catalog ranges far beyond just Disney songs). Richard, now 90, was guest of honor at the Academy’s salute to these songs, their movies, and his late brother Bob. I reviewed this warm and memorable evening for Variety.
Pinar Toprak scoring “Captain Marvel”
I am proud to say that I have been writing about female film composers for decades (from Shirley Walker to Rachel Portman to Anne Dudley to Lolita Ritmanis and many others along the way). I have waited for many years for a woman to score a big-budget franchise film, and now it’s finally happened. Pinar Toprak, the Istanbul-born, super-talented composer of TV’s Krypton, has been signed to compose the music for Captain Marvel, the latest entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. I was delighted to announce it in this Variety story.
Giacchino scores “Incredibles,” “Jurassic”
Prolific, award-winning composer Michael Giacchino went in two directions at once this spring — boisterous fun for The Incredibles 2, dark and scary for Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, films that are currently dominating the American box office. I visited the recording sessions for Incredibles and then talked to the composer about writing two big scores back-to-back for major film franchises. It was also an opportunity to discuss his latest concert work, celebrating the 60th anniversary of NASA, June 1 with the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington, D.C.
20th Century-Fox organ found and restored!
This was maybe my favorite story so far this year. Composer Nathan Barr (The Americans) loves mechanical musical instruments from the early 20th century. So he went after the biggest one imaginable: a Wurlitzer organ from the silent-movie era. And not just any Wurlitzer: the one that, from 1928 to 1997, resided on the scoring stage at 20th Century-Fox (for which such legendary composers as Bernard Herrmann and Jerry Goldsmith wrote). Barr found it, brought it back to L.A., spent a fortune restoring it, and even built a new recording studio to house it. It’s an extraordinary story, published here in Variety, and I was thrilled to be the first to pass along the details. (Photos by Dan Goldwasser.)
This year’s Emmy music races
It’s only a matter of weeks after Oscar season ends that Emmy season begins. I know, it’s hard to believe, but within the industry — especially the many publicists we deal with on a daily basis — the calendar year has become one long awards season. Still, Emmy season is a great way to catch up on the many fine shows that now grace the small screen, and in this first of a series of stories about Emmy-worthy work in music for television, we look at a handful of potential nominees in the series- and limited-series-scoring categories. In this second story, the role of music in current science-fiction series is examined. A third story looks at the music for four of the season’s top limited series, including Howards End and Patrick Melrose. And a fourth story looks at the odds of documentary scores, including The Vietnam War and Blue Planet II, attaining Emmy glory.