Art of the Score

Time dilation is a funny thing. For many, we understand there’s been a bit of a gap between episodes. For us, however, it’s been mere minutes since our last appearance – but thanks for sticking around nonetheless, as we’re finally back to discuss Hans Zimmer, Christopher Nolan, time, and Interstellar. Join us as we chat all things organs, pianos, space travel, and answer the question of whether Interstellar is Zimmer’s greatest score of all. Episode notes: 01:51 – Did you miss us? 09:02 - interstellar! 13:55 – Hans Zimmer and Christopher Nolan’s time together 15:35 – The piece of paper and early demos 24:31 – soft soft LOUD 27:07 – The discovery theme, and Interstellar’s organ 38:08 – Woodwinds of Change 39:40 – Chastain’s piano 41:25 – Countermelody of doom 45:22 – The hope theme, loops and DAWs 54:10 – Messages from home 59:48 – The tesseract acts 1:02:40 – Finding Anne Hathaway 1:06:48 – Gravity 1:13:35 – 2001: An Interstellar Odyssey 1:20:48 – The humanity theme 1:32:59 – The sound of silence 1:37:55 – Time 1:42:15 – Maths with Poggo 1:49:45 – Dr Mann kind? No, he’s quite mean 1:53:30 – Try spinning, that’s a good trick 1:59:25 – Nick’s favourite ka-cue 2:00:51 – V for Vinterstellar 2:03:26 – Final thoughts We love to hear from our listeners – get in touch via Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook, and if you like The Art of the Score, please take a moment to subscribe, rate and comment.

It’s Episode 35, and the long-awaited part two to our investigation of a fascinating and often-overlooked area of film music history – studio fanfares. In this episode we travel from the 1980s to today, taking in the sights and sounds of evergreen studio fanfares from the likes of Jerry Goldsmith, John Williams, the THX Deep Note, and the Buc dynasty of screen composers. And of course, there’s a round of ‘Name That Theme’ with host Andrew Pogson, as well as a look at some of the most contemporary of logo themes – including Marvel, Star Wars, and a curious update of MGM’s Leo the Lion. Show notes: 2:50 – The Art of the Score fanfare – Nancy Buc (1980) 4:34 – The studio revival in the 1980s 5:42 – Amblin Entertainment – John Williams (1981) 9:14 – The Ladd Company – John Williams (1981) 12:29 – United Artists – Joe Harnell (1982) 15:54 – THX Deep Note – James Andy Moorer (1983) 22:13 – Tri-Star Pictures – Dave Grusin (1984) 25:46 – Carolco Pictures – Jerry Goldsmith (1985) 28:42 – And now, the news 33:10 – Disney – John Debney (1985) 36:26 – THX Cimarron – James Horner (1988) 39:43 – Castle Rock Entertainment – Marc Shaiman (1989) 42:56 – Warner Bros. and an off day in the synth studio 44:30 – The Art of the Score fanfare – Barry Buc (1990) 46:21 – Universal – James Horner (1990) 50:46 – Hollywood Pictures – Danny Elfman (1990) 51:42 – Village Roadshow (1992) 53:53 – Columbia – Jonathan Elias (1993) 56:50 – Studio fanfares you might have heard before… 1:02:28 – New Line Cinema – Michael Kamen (1994) 1:05:34 – United Artists – Starr Parodi and Jeff Eden Fair (1994) 1:09:05 – Disney and Pixar – Randy Newman (1995) 1:10:26 – HBO (1996) 1:11:35 – Dreamworks – John Williams (1997) 1:14:56 – Universal – Jerry Goldsmith (1997) 1:19:31 – Warner Bros. – Gabriel Yared (1999) 1:21:39 – The Art of the Score fanfare – Tobias H. Buc (2000) 1:23:53 – Sony Home Entertainment and Animation (2005/2006) 1:28:16 – Disney – Mark Mancina & Dave Metzger (2006) 1:31:44 – Studio Canal – Alexandre Desplat (2011) 1:36:25 – Paramount – Michael Giacchino (2011) 1:40:02 – Universal, updated – Brian Tyler (2012) 1:41:26 – Marvel – Tyler/Giacchino (2013/2016) 1:47:26 – Netflix – Lon Bender and Charlie Campagna (2015) 1:52:49 – Streaming Star Wars (2019) 1:56:31 – MGM (2021) 1:58:33 – The Art of the Score fanfare – Nicholas Buc (2004) 2:01:25 – “Name That Theme”, with your host, Andrew Pogson We love to hear from our listeners – get in touch via Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook, and if you like The Art of the Score, please take a moment to subscribe, rate and comment.

You’re sitting in a darkened movie theatre, and the latest, highly anticipated blockbuster is about to play. The ads are over, the trailers are all done, and the lights dim. What’s this? Why, it’s Art of the Score Episode 34, as we investigate a fascinating and often-overlooked area of film music history – studio fanfares. From 20th Century Fox to MGM’s Leo the Lion roar and many more, over the next two episodes we’ll be revealing the secrets behind the musical moments that open the movies and set the musical agenda, and telling the stories behind the studios and the composers who made them. Show notes: 6:02 – The origins of the fanfare 8:51 – The studio system and the sound of the Big Five 12:15 – MGM: Lions, Stars, and Celebrities, oh my! 15:31 – RKO: Morse code, crime, and Howard Hughes 20:20 – Paramount Pictures on Parade (allegedly) 21:28 – 20th Century Fox – Alfred Newman (1933) 27:22 – Warner Brothers – Max Steiner (1937) 33:05 – The Little Three (that’s Andrew, Nick, and Dan) 33:33 – Universal Studios, Tchaikovsky, and Superman – Jimmy McHugh (1936) 40:30 – United Artists (so united they didn’t have a fanfare) 41:40 – Columbia – Mischa Bakaleinikoff (1934) 43:21 – Beyond the Big Five and the Little Three 44:33 – Selznick International – Alfred Newman (1936) 47:30 – The Art of the Score fanfare – Thaddeus Buc (1935) 49:54 – Into the 1950s: lawsuits, widescreens, and the birth of television 52:07 – VistaVision – Nathan van Cleeve (1952) 56:11 – CinemaScope – 20th Century Fox – Alfred Newman expands his fanfare (1954) 1:01:39 – MGM – Leo the Lion (1957) 1:02:34 – The Art of the Score fanfare – Jerry Buc (1960) 1:04:38 – The emergence of television and the NBC chime 1:07:44 – Desilu – Wilber Hatch (1966) 1:10:52 – The Art of the Score fanfare – Teddy Buc (1970) 1:15:48 – Paramount’s Parade – Lalo Schifrin (1970), Jerry Goldsmith (1976 and 1977) 1:22:24 – Columbia – Suzanne Ciani (1976) 1:24:48 – Walt Disney Productions - When You Wish Upon a Star (1972) 1:32:04 – PBS – Paul Alan Levi (1971) 1:33:18 – Associated Film Distribution (1978) Links mentioned: Yorgason and Lyon’s journal article on Max Steiner’s Warner Bros. fanfare - https://www.mtosmt.org/issues/mto.20.26.2/mto.20.26.2.yorgason_lyon.html Kirk Hamilton’s Strong Song’s episode on David Bowie – https://strongsongspodcast.com/episode/space-oddity-and-starman-by-david-bowie We love to hear from our listeners – get in touch via Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook, and if you like The Art of the Score, please take a moment to subscribe, rate and comment.

It’s finally time for Episode 33, and Art of the Score’s analysis of one of the landmark composers of the last decade: Jóhann Jóhannsson. We sit down with special guest, synth (and tape loop) expert Seja Vogel, and Jóhannsson’s soundtrack for Denis Villeneuve’s masterpiece sci fi film, Arrival. Join us for heptapods, looping seals (?), and the only true universal language: film music. Episode notes: 4:41 – Arrival arrives, and Jóhannsson thrives 12:47 – Around the Clock News 15:43 – Arriving in Montana 21:49 – Seja breaks down the Arrival sound 30:05 – Looping with Seja 34:45 – First Encounter 39:12 – Sapir-Whorf 43:00 – Hazmat 49:42 – Heptapod B 58:56 – Non-Zero-Sum Game 1:02:21 – Deciphering 1:06:26 – One of Twelve 1:12:22 – Rise, and Max Richter’s On The Nature of Daylight We love to hear from our listeners – get in touch via Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook, and if you like The Art of the Score, please take a moment to subscribe, rate and comment.

It’s Episode 32, and we come back to you from the city of the lockdown with the crown jewel of 1990s action adventure: Jerry Goldsmith’s wonderful score for The Mummy. Goldsmith has for some time been one of Art of the Score’s most requested composers, so join us as we journey to 1920s Egypt and scheme among the pyramids with Brendan Fraser, Rachel Weisz, and that incredible music. Episode notes: 5:05 – That’s Goldsmith, Jerry! Goldsmith! 8:04 – Podcast recommendation: The Goldsmith Odyssey 10:04 – The Universal history of the Mummy 19:03 – Hamunaptra theme 24:18 – A brief introduction to the film’s other themes 26:58 – Hamun it up 32:40 – Hamajor Hamontage 36:58 – Jerry’s percussion 39:11 – Imhotep’s motif 44:21 – Nick comes clean about his bullying ways 47:01 – The love theme 52:20 – Luteish love and handy hand percussion 56:41 – The power of French Horns propels you 1:00:06 – A romantic finale 1:05:12 – Rick’s theme 1:12:27 – Here come the baddies 1:15:47 – The Mummy Strut 1:18:47 – A sourcey rag 1:22:14 – The Musicians of the Nile 1:27:26 – Hollywood’s sound of Egypt 1:34:44 – Do camels have scales? 1:38:21 – The key is octatonic 1:46:13 – Frightening mummy 1:53:52 – Imhotep’s death (or, that’s a wrap folks!) We love to hear from our listeners – get in touch via Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook, and if you like The Art of the Score, please take a moment to subscribe, rate and comment.

It’s Episode 31, and we’re swooping into the new year with one of the most widely loved family films – as well as the film score buff’s film score – in How To Train Your Dragon. John Powell’s soundtrack has been one of Art of the Score’s most-requested episodes over the years, so join us as we get under the hood of this contemporary classic and pick apart its many main melodies and old-fashioned sound. Episode notes: 5:56 – How To Train Your Dreamworks 8:41 – The John Powell Up 12:31 – Nick leaves his wife for John Powell 14:43 – The Friendship theme 16:38 – Toothless’s theme 19:56 – Bagging Bagpipes 25:27 – Hammering Dulcimer 32:43 – Tin whistle and bodhran 35:26 – Let’s b (theme) friends 39:42 – Powell-chords 45:16 – Toothless in three 49:10 – Toothless Face/Off 51:05 – The Band with a Dragon Tattoo 54:17 – The Berk theme 59:47 – A point of pronunciation 1:02:56 – Father and Son 1:09:08 – The cavalry arrives 1:12:33 – The Viking theme 1:18:31 – How To Write A Dragon Melody 1:24:21 – Dragon scales 1:26:39 – Astrid’s theme 1:35:56 – The Evolution of Powell’s style 1:38:38 – Battle theme 1:44:10 – Telling the Tail 1:49:53 – John Powell’s best score? We love to hear from our listeners – get in touch via Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook, and if you like The Art of the Score, please take a moment to subscribe, rate and comment.

It’s Episode 30, and we at Art of the Score are finally tackling two genres we’ve so far overlooked – animation and the musical, combined in the form of the great Disney revival musical, The Little Mermaid. Join us as we celebrate the 30th anniversary of this wonderful film and explore the cabaret roots of Ursula, the perfect pop song for Ariel, and the debatable reggae of Under The Sea in Alan Menken’s joyous and groundbreaking score. Episode notes: 4:10 – The Art of the Mailbag? 5:12 – The Disney Dark Ages 8:15 – Alan Menken: the secret to Disney’s revival 12:52 – Ariel’s theme: Part of Your World 15:33 – “I want” 19:26 – Ariel’s verse 25:01 – Ariel’s verse (Hoarders edition) 28:41 – Creative voicing 32:47 – A pre-chorus? 35:33 – Recorders on the beach 38:44 – Ariel’s musical maturity 42:17 – Ursula’s theme: Poor Unfortunate Souls 45:03 – Craberet 50:40 – Fortunate Souls 54:35 – Poggo’s Unfortunate Lyrics 56:44 – Scheming eels 1:00:49 – Prince Eric’s Roadshow 1:06:02 – Eric’s Organ Announcement 1:09:48 – Triton’s Fanfare 1:13:04 – Triton’s Minor Fanfare 1:15:53 – Scuttle’s scuttlebutt 1:24:11 – Mickey Mouse-ing 1:34:26 – Le Chef, and Nick’s waltzing tangent 1:42:04 – Andrew’s Chef genocide tangent 1:44:51 – Under the C 1:49:45 – Dan’s reggae tangent 1:59:37 – Fathoms Below and the opening song We love to hear from our listeners – get in touch via Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook, and if you like The Art of the Score, please take a moment to subscribe, rate and comment.

Episode 29 marks Art of the Score’s first ever live episode, recorded in August at the Melbourne International Film Festival. Exploring the film music of Nick Cave and Warren Ellis (The Proposition, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, and The Road), the live talk also preluded a concert later that week where the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra played Cave and Ellis’s music as arranged by our very own Nicholas Buc. Join us for a very special live episode as we try and find out what makes the film music of Cave and Ellis so good. Episode notes: 0:54 – A very special live episode 5:27 – The Nick Cave and Warren Ellis sound 6:26 – Alice Wading 7:58 – A band process for film music 10:34 – The Proposition 12:41 – The meat pie western 14:05 – The drone, the voice, the piano 18:05 – Nick’s singing (The Rider) 21:11 – Martha’s Dream 22:55 – The Cave Waltz 26:38 – The Rider Song 29:20 – The Assassination of Jesse James 31:26 – The celeste 35:14 – A Rather Lovely Thing 37:17 – An arresting chord progression 39:45 – The Assassination lullaby 41:54 – Song for Bob 45:14 – The Road 49:35 – The Mother 52:09 – The Far Road 54:49 – The House 58:07 – The ray of hope 59:49 – The Ellis Cave DNA We love to hear from our listeners – get in touch via Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook, and if you like The Art of the Score, please take a moment to subscribe, rate and comment.

In Episode 28, we conclude our time with The Empire Strikes Back, and our exploration of perhaps the best Star Wars film and score ever made. In this episode, we make our way through some remaining themes and motifs, as well as the major action setpieces of the film, and ask the biggest question of all: is this the best film score ever written? Episode notes: 2:41 – The Days of Han and Leia 6:37 – Tchaikovsky’s Star Wars 11:51 – Han’s Soli 14:21 – Williams’ melodic patterns 15:27 – A polite argument (for strings) 20:14 – Melodus interruptus 24:22 – Bespin Cellos 25:51 – I love cue (I know) 30:48 – Resolving Solo and the Princess 36:32 – Bassoon Fett 43:36 – The droids dance 52:43 – The droids return in Solo 54:18 – Hyperspace strings 58:28 – Empire’s action ostinati 1:05:24 – Lando’s palace, where all your dreams come true 1:07:42 – A choir in the clouds 1:11:34 – The magic tree 1:15:10 – The synth side of the force 1:17:52 – John Williams’ best action cue, ever? 1:25:08 – The space tritone 1:28:31 – Looping the woodwinds 1:29:43 – The battle in the snow 1:34:29 – The Carbonite Procession, and John Williams’ greatest finale ever? 1:40:32 – The end credits 1:45:43 – The greatest score ever written? We love to hear from our listeners – get in touch via Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook, and if you like The Art of the Score, please take a moment to subscribe, rate and comment.

Episode 27: The Empire Strikes Back - Part 1

In Episode 26, we return to the world of Blade Runner for the 1982 film’s long-belated sequel. Directed by Denis Villeneuve, and with a soundtrack by Benjamin Wallfisch and Hans Zimmer, Blade Runner 2049 has a different sound and a different set of thematic ideas. But how does the music work, and what is all this interlinked stuff about, anyway? To help us answer those questions – and more – we’re once again joined by the brilliant synth expert Seja Vogel (whose fantastic podcast, where she interviews musicians, you should check out here: http://sejamusic.com). Episode notes: 5:01 – How the sequel came to be 8:06 – Jóhann Jóhannsson, and what could’ve been 12:43 – Benjamin Wallfisch and Hans Zimmer 16:52 – The opening title card (the Memory theme) 19:25 – Or is it the Puzzle theme? 21:24 – The 2049 Melody (the Soul theme) 27:36 – Sapper Morton’s musical secret 35:08 – Voices in the furnace 38:30 – Sound design 40:48 – The rebel’s fan fair 45:44 – The return of the opening chords 49:18 – Synth talk with Seja 52:32 – Seja talks us through her reconstruction of 2049’s opening cue 1:03:11 – The final product 1:08:26 – Joi’s theme 1:12:56 – Wallace’s throat singing 1:25:05 – Flight to the LAPD 1:29:03 – Sea Wall 1:36:18 – Tears In (The) Rain 1:41:15 – The Mesa Melody 1:46:09 – The scoreless moments 1:49:10 – D for Diegetic 1:52:44 – Punching with Presley 1:55:48 – One For My Baby, and One For The Replicant 2:02:40 – Peter and the Wallace 2:11:13 – Final thoughts We love to hear from our listeners – get in touch via Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook, and if you like The Art of the Score, please take a moment to subscribe, rate and comment.

In Episode 25, we’ve seen things you wouldn’t believe. A guest synth expert to tell us all about the great Yamaha CS-80’s attack and delay, and the shoulders of its Orion filter envelopes. We’ve watched Vangelis glitter in the dark, near Wagner’s Tannhäuser Overture. All these moments will be recorded in time, on podcast recording equipment, and released online, like tears in rain. Episode notes: 3:20 – A special Art of the Score guest 4:57 – A history of Blade Running 12:21 – The Vangelis sound 16:34 – Sound design versus music 20:37 – The Blade Runner main theme 26:48 – Synth talk with Seja: the Yamaha CS-80 31:52 – Aftertouch 35:32 – Oscillators and ring modulators 40:22 – The pitch ribbon 43:20 – Seja recreates the Blade Runner theme 52:44 – Pronunciation fun with Dan 55:02 – Tears In Rain 56:51 – Blade Runner and the film noir sound, from Double Indemnity to L.A. Noire 1:10:33 – The Blade Runner Blues 1:14:34 – Rachel’s theme 1:19:15 – The Love theme 1:23:49 – The ‘ethnic’ influences on the score – Blush Response 1:26:22 – Tales of the Future 1:31:10 – Damask Rose 1:36:15 – One More Kiss Dear and Blade Runner’s world of jazz 1:40:11 – The End Titles We love to hear from our listeners – get in touch via Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook, and if you like The Art of the Score, please take a moment to subscribe, rate and comment.

In Episode 24 we end our journey through Harry’s third year at Hogwarts with a deep listen to the unparalleled variety in John Williams’ score for Prisoner of Azkaban. We breakdown bebop, compare Italian waltzes, play with fugues, minimalism, swing, and some of the most dangerous flute music you’ve ever heard. Mischief most definitely managed. Episode notes: 2:51 – Aunt Marge’s waltz 12:20 – The jazz bus 14:31 – A short ride in a magical machine 17:28 – Bebop patronum 24:48 – A stretchy middle eight 29:51 – A fugue for quidditch 35:07 – Willow whomps 40:10 – A danger to birds and flute players 45:23 – Snowfights and woodwind bites 48:02 – Swing, swing, boggart 54:05 – Carried on the voices 57:50 – Book cranks and classic horror 1:01:28 – Sirius Black to the future 1:10:12 – Watch me if you can 1:14:51 – The John Williams greatest hits album We love to hear from our listeners – get in touch via Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook, and if you like The Art of the Score, please take a moment to subscribe, rate and comment.

In Episode 23 we return to the wizarding world with the first of a two part listen to Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. Far from resting on prior achievements, the final John Williams Potter score knocks it out of the park, giving us everything from medieval music to waltzes, bebop jazz, and some of the most majestic flight music ever written. Join us, as we solemnly swear we are up to no good and journey with Harry and co for their third year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Episode notes: 2:32 – Dan makes a big claim 6:35 – Some Azkaban homework 14:45 – Hedwig’s theme goes on holiday 16:23 – Something wicked this way hums 27:50 – Crumhorn, Sackbut, and Azkaban’s medieval sound 30:51 – Meeting Buckbeak 33:04 – Searching for the Fat Lady 35:33 – Some sleeping celeste 39:09 – The renaissance fair 46:49 – A Window to the Past 1:00:00 – Some serious Sirius 1:04:13 – Pettigrew’s motif 1:07:12 – Buckbeak’s brilliant flight 1:13:15 – Buckbeak’s equally brilliant second flight 1:17:26 – The Dementor’s dialectic. Thesis: aleatoric horror 1:21:39 – Antithesis: the angelic Patronus 1:23:06 – Synthesis: the Dementors converge We love to hear from our listeners – get in touch via Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook, and if you like The Art of the Score, please take a moment to subscribe, rate and comment.

In Episode 22 we travel to the distant Hyborian era with Basil Poledouris’ muscular score for 1982’s Conan the Barbarian. As the gold standard for high fantasy prior to Howard Shore’s Lord of the Rings epics, Poledouris’ lush and orchestral score creates entire musical worlds and carries much of the emotion in this sparsely-dialogued film. Join us as we take a journey with the Riders of Doom and listen to this fantastic work of musical fantasy. Episode notes: 5:35 – The secrets to Conan’s success 9:22 – John Milius’s machismo 13:38 – Basil Poledouris’ score 19:54 – Conan’s canon – what era does the music come from? 22:45 – Anvil of Crom: the Hyborian rhythm and Nick’s rave remake 30:20 – Twenty-four French Horns and Total Recall’s Barbaric Recall 38:28 – Conan’s theme 48:10 – Double reeds and the passing of time 58:21 – The love theme, and saying more than Arnold through music 1:10:00 – The Riders of Doom theme 1:14:55 – O Fortuna’s influence on Conan (and film music generally) 1:19:34 – Conan’s Battle on the Ice 1:21:44 – The Wheel of Fifths 1:24:51 – Doom’s Dies Irae 1:38:16 – The Wheel of Pain’s ostinato 1:43:06 – Waltzing through theology 1:47:42 – The villain’s music for the hero’s journey – in the kitchen 1:49:28 – Waltzing through an orgy 1:57:07 – The Pit Fights and the Mountain of Power, via 1950s sword and sandal epics 2:03:49 – Conan’s Firebird finale We love to hear from our listeners – get in touch via Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook, and if you like The Art of the Score, please take a moment to subscribe, rate and comment.