BACKGROUND MUSIC IN MOVIES

I’ve mentioned before that in the days before vhs, film score LPs were an important way to relive the film. I would play the lp of Hatari, Pink panther, breakfast at Tiffany’s, gone with the wind, and the score evoked the film images. Then there were the films that had scores by great composers, the already mentioned Alexander Nevsky ( I once was in a concert performance of the score, loads of fun to sing) . Another great score is Leonard Bernstein’s On the Waterfront. It’s one of the pieces , along with West Side Story and Candide, that makes me sorry  his career blossomed at a time when it was impossible to work on Broadway , in film and in the concert hall. Choosing bway and film would have meant giving up the chance to conduct at Salzburg, Beyreuth, Vienna and the New York Philharmonic.

Other great composers who did some film work while maintaining their relationship with the classical world are Aaron Copeland, Nino Rota, David Amram, Ennio Morricone.