City Lights on Asian Film Composers

Σήμερα στον poplie και το City Lights

ξεκίνησε το αφιέρωμα

στους Ασιάτες συνθέτες κινηματογραφικής μουσικής.

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City Lights 2 on Yann Tiersen and 50th Thess. Festival, Film Composers

lights off

City Lights 1 @ Poplie

lights off

20 Best Ost of the Decade

Η χρονιά τελειώνει, μαζί και η δεκαετία
και οι μουσικές λίστες αρχίζουν να ετοιμάζονται με πυρετώδεις ρυθμούς,
κλείνοντας όμως τη πόρτα στη κινηματογραφική μουσική.
Ευτυχώς, γιατί τα Ost αποκτούν τώρα τη δική τους λίστα.
Με την ευκαιρία της νέας μου εκπομπής στον poplie
και της αναγέννησης αυτού του blog,
σκέφτηκα τη διαξαγωγή μιας ψηφοφορίας για τα

20 καλύτερα soundtracks της δεκαετίας (2000-2009)

που μπορείτε να τα συγκεντρώσετε σε ένα ποστ στο blog σας
μέχρι τέλος Δεκεμβρίου.
Ο τρόπος καταμέτρησης των ψήφων θα είναι αναλογικός, δηλ.
Νο. 20 = 1 πόντος
Νο. 19 = 2 πόντοι
...
Νο. 1 = 20 πόντοι

Στο τέλος της ψηφοφορίας
θα δημοσιευτεί εδώ η λίστα με τα συγκεντρωτικά αποτελέσματα
συνοδευμένη με κείμενο από τους συμμετέχοντες
(από τα κείμενα που θα έχετε ήδη δημοσιεύσει δηλαδή)

Λάτρεις των Ost ενωθείτε
και δηλώστε συμμετοχή αφήνοντας σχόλιο.

Συμμετοχές

zamuk

inverted_a

academy
ID
slow-riot
alexandra
11

georgethebeast

Chris Z

Ο μπαμπάς τρελαινόταν να ακούει Νίνο Ρότα

sketchinky

ημέρες ανεξαρτησίας

zubizabata

seven film gallery

αισθηματική ηλικία

CineStef
koolthinks
mermy blue
klinemine

Γιάννης Βασιλείου

hollykit
cortazar
wonder

elafini

Ιδέα:

Μπορείτε να μου προτείνετε από ένα κομμάτι, ώστε να δημιουργήσουμε μια μικρή συλλογή, που θα μεταδώσω κι από το City Lights στο τέλος της χρονιάς

My City Lights

Η μουσική συνόδευε ακούραστα και αδιάλλακτα τις εικόνες στην οθόνη.

Εκείνες πάλι, μαγεμένες από την τόσο ωραία και τόσο πιστή μουσική,

τη συνόδευαν με τη σειρά τους.

Η μουσική για τον κινηματογράφο είναι παλιά αγαπημένη,

και απωθημένο από τα χρόνια σπουδών μου στη σύνθεση,

που τώρα κατάφερε να ξαναέρθει στην επιφάνεια

μέσα από τον poplie.

Από τις πιανόλες του βωβού κινηματογράφου

μέχρι τις πληθωρικές συμφωνικές ορχήστρες

ή την εισβολή της μουσικής τεχνολογίας και τις σύγχρονες τάσεις

που λειτουργούν ως χωνευτήρι πολλών μουσικών τάσεων,

η μαγεία παραμένει ίδια.

City Lights

κάθε μεσάνυχτα Πέμπτης

(ήδη ιντριγκάρομαι για Χιτσκοκικά αφιερώματα)

Shigeru Umebayashi

Shigeru Umebayashi (梅茂)

is a Japanese composer born February 19, 1951 in Kitakyushu, Fukuoka.
Once the leader of Japan's legendary new-wave rock band EX,
composer Shigeru Umebayashi began scoring films in 1985
when the band broke up.
He has more than 40 Japanese and Chinese films to his credit


We must travel back to the eighties to meet the beginnings of music composer Shigeru Umebayashi, at the time he cofounded the successful rock group Ex, a real mass phenomena in his country, Japan. As the group broke up in 1985, Umebayashi then began his career as a movie music composer. Among his works, there are remarkable titles as And Then (Morita Yoshimitsu), The Christ of Nanjing (Tony Au), In the Mood for Love and 2046, both directed by Wong Kar-Wai, and the most recent one, The House of Flying Daggers, by Zhang Yimou.

BSOSpirit (BS): First of all thank you very much for this interview. It’s a great honor for us. Let’s talk about your beginnings. You were in touch with new wave rock world with “EX” group. Why did you leave this world to begin in soundtracks?
Shigeru Umebayashi (UME): First of all, I feel so lucky and honored to have worked with many remarkable movie directors. Composing film music is another way of expressing my music, but it doesn’t mean that I have detached my passion over rock music. If I may have the opportunity, I’d like to release a rock music solo album.

BS: You are known in industry as your alias “UME” because of your surname and your second CD called “UME”. What can you tell us about this work?
UME: During that period of time, I’ve made a contract with JVC, and releasing a solo CD album was part of our deal. I’ve always wanted to collaborate with Georg Kajanus, who is a member of a British Band called “Sailor”, and I had him come over to Tokyo to take part in the first 2 songs of the 1st album.The 2nd album, I flew to London and did our recording there. When it was time to name my album, it was Georg who threw the idea to name the album “UME”. Though the sells of the album was not that successful, I had a wonderful 3 months working with Georg.

BS: How was your beginnings with films like Itsuka darekaga korosareru, Tomo yo shizukani nemure and Sorekara?
UME: In the mid 80’s, film industry in Japan was reaching its turning point. As I had a number of rock music albums released, an actor Yusaku Matsuda (performed Black Rain directed by Ridley Scott) was getting well-known in Japan. Because I was given the chance to produce Mr. Matsuda, this fact opened many doors to meet people from the film industry. New generation movie directors were taking film music very seriously, and they were hungry for new style of music. Luckily, my way of writing music was welcomed to their ideas and warmly accepted to this change. During this time, I was still a guitarist of my band called “EX”.

BS: Press and occidental public gave you their support from your collaboration with Kar Wai Wong in Fa yeung nin wa (AKA In the Mood for Love), but they forgot that you realized more than 20 works then. Fuyajo, Nan Jing de ji du, Tokarefu were some of the most important ones til Fa Yeung nin wa. Which are your favorites works at this time?
UME: Please know that I’m a man who does not stop to love. This question to me is like answering to a difficult question like, “Who is the only woman you’ve ever loved?”. Forgive me; I have no answer to this question.

BS: Let’s talk about your fruitful relationship with Kar Wai Wong. How did it begin? Which are your best remembrances about your artistic relationship with him?
UME: Through a Hong Kong friend of mine, I’ve met Mr. Wang, approximately 8 years ago. As much as I liked his work, he too, was very fond of my film music. Ever since then, we had both hoped to collaborate one day in the near future. And what’s wonderful about our relationship was that, when viewing things in an artistic manner, he and I need no words in between to communicate; we were gifted to feel the same.

BS: What did suppose for you as musician to do the score of Fa yeung nin wa (AKA In the Mood for Love)?
UME: The main theme film music for “Yumeji’s Theme” was originally made as one of the film song of “YUMEJI” which was directed by Seijun Suzuki as a Japanese film. Back then, this music was not accepted to play an important role in the movie, until Wang Kar Wai saved the spirit of this music by utilizing my song in his film. Until this day, I still owe him my great appreciation.

BS: What main differences do you find between this score and 2046?
UME:As for 2046, composing an original score was already misinterpreted from the beginning. For 3 years, I’ve seen fragments of the film, but I’ve started to write my score only a month before the final mixing. From watching the screen, people must view 2046 as an extension of In The Mood For Love, but I had them totally separated in my mind when I composed them.

BS: In 2046 we can find music from other composers like George Delerue or Zbigniew Preisner. Why did you use this compositions and not other composed by you?
UME: Please have Mr. Wang answer this question.

BS: The violin is very important in this soundtrack but we find an important and retentive main theme near to rumba or jazz style or a more classical way. How do you maintain the coherence in a composition that travel across so different styles?
UME: All the songs from the Beatles, for instance, they have different styles of music and yet they are all known as the Beatles’ music. As of me, I always try to listen to different variety of music and relate to them as much as possible. Different style and different texture of music attract me very much. And being a composer, I should be able to adapt myself to all type of music; just like in the industry of fashion, cooking, architecture….etc, they all have different styles, and music is just the same. If we force ourselves to come up with something good, the chances are we often lack in something, whether that may be the passion. To me, Spanish music is a “heart-dancing music”. I admire Spanish music very much.

BS: Shôjo is a delicate composition with remembrances from European music. Why did you approach yourself to this kind of music and why did you abandon your oriental music style?
UME: Ever since I was a little boy, I liked European movies. Perhaps the work that I do now some what reflects those films I’ve watched in my youth. But at the same time, I feel many of songs also have a taste of Asian music.

BS: Let’s talk about one of your best scores Zhou Yu de huo che (AKA Zhou Yu's Train). Although the score is very important in the film (more than actors’ interpretation) this CD is not edited. Why?
UME: Thank you very much. Not all of my score are included, but the CD which includes 10 songs has been released only in Japan. It would be my pleasure to send you one.

BS: The natural elements are omnipresent in the history. The train crossing leafy forests, the river, the fog, etc... Did you use natural landscapes belonging to your own environment for inspiration?
UME: The image of natural landscapes was not as important when composing this piece. The woman Gong Li played as a role was very attractive to me. I felt that I wanted to express more freely with my music, but the movie director was unexpectedly conservative.

BS: The violin appears during all the history but when Gon Li has the empty look into the distance you introduce a great piano solo. This theme attracts listener attention a lot. How was this theme created? What were you trying to transmit? How important is the piano in this leitmotiv?
UME: I’d like to go through my music once again, but I believe I’ve never composed a piano solo.

BS: Zhou Yu of huo che it’s a film of enormous lyricism. What is easier for you when you are composing, to accept projects like this where poetic halo soaks all the history or you prefer other kind of projects where you lead this poetic halo with your music, something like a trunk that has to be perfectly carved?
UME: It is true that I like lyrical movies. And to me, I enjoy writing file music especially to those movies that does not need film music.

BS: Now we’re going to talk about one of your greatest hit: your score for Shi mian mai fu (AKA House of Flying Daggers) directed by Zhan Yimou, a man that cares technical aspects like photography. What kind of suggestions did he give you to help you?
UME: I think I was able to express freely with this production. Zhang Yi Mou trusted my overall work, and he himself was a suggestion to my work.

BS: We find a love triangle in the film with two very different love histories. Why did you create different leitmotivs for both histories?
UME: When I think of the story, I had to think of a different approach in music. However, when we love a person, it shouldn’t be any different from one another, only the situation that is different.I know that I have expressed my way of love in this film song “Lovers”.

BS: We can find a marvellous leitmotiv in "Farewell nº 1", developed another time in "Farewell nº 2” that appears when lovers want to separate. What could you tell to us about this theme?
UME: Thank you very much. I also like this score very much, and I believe the songs expressed the kind of person I am. With this motif, I wish to write up a symphony hopefully one day in the future.

BS: Some specialized journalist and soundtrack lovers talk about a resemblance between “Lovers” them in "Shi mian mai fu" and “The Godfather” main theme. What do you think about it?
UME: That makes me very happy. Nino Rota is one of the composers whom I admire very much, and I’ve always been a Godfather fan. Unfortunately, “Lovers” has not reached its level such as Godfather. I’m willing for another challenge.

BS: Please, talk to us about your next projects.
UME: I just finished with an Italian film called the Mare Buio under the movie director Roberta Torre. Now, I’m working on a Post Production with a movie director Ronny Yu (Producer Bill Kong) for a movie called Fearless. As for my next year’s plan, I have plans to work with the French and the Greek production, both relating a love story.

( Interview to BSO Spirit )

Filmography

1984
o Itsuka Darekaga Korosareru

1985
o Tomoyo Shizukani Nemure
o Sorekara

1986
o Sorobanzuku
o Shinshi Domei

1987
o Kyohu no Yacchan

1988
o Getting Blue in Color

1990
o Hong Kong Paradise
o Tekken

1991
o Yumeji
o Ote
o Goaisatsu

1992
o Arihureta Ai ni Kansuru Chosa　　
o Byoin he Iko 2 Yamai ha Kikara
o Nemuranai Machi Shinjuku Zame

1994
o Izakaya Yurei

1995
o Zero Woman
o Boxer Joe
o Kitanai Yatsu
o Hashirana Akan Yoake Made
o The Christ of Nanjing

1996
o Shin Gokudo Kisha
o Izakaya Yurei 2

1997
o Ichigo Domei
o Isana no Umi
o Watashitachi ga Sukidatta Koto
o G4 Option Zero

1998
o Fuyajo
o Belle Epoch

2000
o 2000 A.D.
o Shojo
o In the Mood for Love

2001
o Midnight Fly
o Hikari no Ame
o Onmyoji

2003
o Onmyoji II
o Floating Land Scape

2004
o House of Flying Daggers
o 2046
o Hibi

2006
o Fearless
o Daisy
o Curse of the Golden Flower

2007
o Hannibal Rising
o A Simple Love Story (in pre-production)
o My Blueberry Nights

Charlie Chaplin as a composer

Charles Chaplin: The Film Music
Composer: Charlie Chaplin
Conductor: Carl Davis
Performed by: Deutches Symphonie Orchester Berlin
Released: 1995, RCA Records

City Lights

Composer: Charlie Chaplin
Conductor: Carl Davis
Performed by: The City Lights Orchestra
Released: 1991, Silva Screens

Chaplin, Charlie: Essential Film Music

Composer: Charlie Chaplin
Conductor: Carl Davis
Performed by: City of Prague Philharmonic
Released: 2006, Silva Screens

Chaplin, Charlie:
The original music from his movies
Released: 1995, Blue Moon

Though he had no technical musical skills, he nevertheless began writing melodies beginning in the 1910s, and even formed the Charlie Chaplin Music Company around 1915. With the help of arrangers and orchestrators, Chaplin composed the scores of all his movies beginning with 'City Lights' in 1931. One of Chaplin's biographers, David Robinson, has written:

"[City Lights] was Chaplin's first film score. Modestly Chaplin
once told a reporter, "I really didn't write it down. I la-la-ed
and Arthur Johnson (the arranger) wrote it down."

Later, when he restored some of his earlier works he wrote music for them (e.g. The Gold Rush and The Kid). Interestingly, although he couldn't read or write music, he played the piano, organ and violin. His method of scoring films (similar to the technique used by Paul McCartney today) was to sing or play a violin or a piano to a true musician who would write the music down for later orchestration. Afterwards, as the music was being played by 'professional' musicians, Charlie would direct the music, requesting and adding changes.

Another of his biographers, Carl Davis, has written:
"For my own part I discovered that Chaplin -- though he was in the
strict sense musically illiterate (he could neither read nor write
music) -- was extremely musical in his understanding of what a score
should be and should do. He had a great melodic gift, largely shaped,
I am sure, in the English music halls in which he spent his early
career. Above all, he possessed an extraordinary sense of rightness
in setting music to his films."

During one of his interviews, orchestra leader Skitch Henderson, provided an interesting personal sidelight on Chaplin's character. Ca. 1938, Chaplin had his own private studio on Sunset Boulevard, next to the Schwab Drugstore. One day, MGM told a young Skitch Henderson to go to that address and help Chaplin with some music. After a while, Chaplin came in, elegantly dressed - even with white gloves. Chaplin called him 'Lyle'- Skitch's given name. During these meetings, where the music for some film would be worked out, Chaplin would hand Skitch some 'scratchy' lead sheets, and ask him to play a left hand...etc. He would frequently remind Skitch that 'this is My Music'. Chaplin always demanded his 'billing'.

Many years later, some friends induced Skitch to visit Chaplin at his home in Switzerland, in an effort to get Chaplin to do some film work. Chaplin came out onto the terrace, elegantly dressed, and greeted him simply with a "hello Lyle". Still calling Skitch by his formal name. That was Chaplin....always 'Charles'...never 'Charlie'.

For his later movie scores, Chaplin conducted the orchestras of such films as 'A King In New York (1957)', and 'A Countess From Hong Kong' (1967 starring Marlon Brando and Sophia Loren). In the early 1970s, for the re-releases of his early films, Charlie re-worked the scores of such pictures as 'A Day's Pleasure'; 'The Kid'; and 'Pay Day'. In 1977, a year before his death, the 88 year old Chaplin composed the score for his 1923 movie 'A Woman Of Paris' (re-released in 1978 - 2 weeks after his death in Dec. 1978), and was working on the music for a film that he still hoped to make, - 'The Freak'.

Among Chaplin's songs are:
"Limelight", from Film 'Limelight'. Ca. 1973, he won an
&nbs; Oscar for his music to the film 'Limelight'.
"Foxtrot", from Film 'Idle Days'
"Park Avenue Waltz", from Film 'A King In New York'
"Novelty Song", from Film 'The Great Dictator'
"Smile"

Chaplin went on re-scoring the music for his old silent films to the end of his life. As he himself said, he ".....may have had to "la-la" my compositions, but I was a faultless judge of what to use." Though not necessarily warm, Chaplin was always a polite and proper person, and easy enough to get along with.

Another very interesting sidelight on Charlie Chaplin concerns his older brother, Sydney - "Syd". Both boys grew up in poverty in London, England. Syd became an actor and helped his younger brother Charlie to get into the business. Years later, when Charlie was in Hollywood, he returned the favor helping to get Sydney in the Hollywood films. In 1925, Syd was starred in a Silent version of the comedy "Charlie's Aunt" (No - the "Charlie" does not refer to Chaplin.) In 1926, Syd was starred in another Hollywood produced comedy, the "Better 'Ole", based on the British wartime (WWI) comic strip "The Better 'Ole" by artist Bruce Bairnsfather. In between pictures, Syd became Charlie's business manager. He eventually made Charlie the highest paid star of his day.

nfo.net

Charlie Chaplin - ...