#ClassicsaDay #ClassicalFilmScore Week 4
By Ralph Graves
For February 2020, the #ClassicsaDay team chose film music as its theme. What exactly is the intersection of classical and film music? Share your answers with a post on Twitter or Facebook, with a link to musical examples.
Some film composers began in the classical world. And some film composers have transitioned to classical music. For my selections this month, I focused on composers in the classical world who also wrote for film, and the musical selections exclusively from their movie work.
Here were my selections for the fourth and final week of #ClassicsaDay #ClassicalFilmScore.
02/24/20 John Corigliano: Three Hallucinations from Altered States
Ken Russell’s 1980 sci-fi horror film featured the screen debuts of William Hurt and Drew Barrymore. Corigliano’s score was nominated for an Oscar.
02/25/20 Franz Reizenstein: The Mummy
Hammer Film’s 1959 feature starred Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee (as the mummy). It would be the first of four movies released by Hammer about this creature.
02/26/20 Arthur Benjamin: The Man Who Knew Too Much
The “Storm Clouds Cantata” was written for a pivotal scene in this 1934 film. An assassin tries to kill a diplomat during a concert in Royal Albert Hall, his shot timed to the music’s climax. Bernard Hermann opted to use the cantata for the same scene in the 1959 remake.
02/27/20 Peter Sculthorpe: Age of Consent
The 1969 Australian film was based on a 1934 semi-autobiographical novel by artist Norman Lindsay. It starred James Mason and was the first major role for Helen Mirren.
