My rule about reviews is that you can't allow the bad ones to get you down. Therefore, you mustn't listen to the good ones either. It's all about the work. I always try my very hardest and hope that the music reaches someone. But these two reviews seemed to get what I was attempting on my last soundtrack really well, so hey, rules are for breaking right? I'll admit they made me smile.
http://ifmagazine.com/review.asp?article=1948
I like that they picked up on the role of the piano in this score, which I'll talk a little about. Since it's disappeared from the theaters by now, (SPOILER ALERT) I think it's okay to say that the bad guy is the piano teacher. By way of clues to this effect, every time the killer appears, what you are hearing is some sort of messed up piano. And since the Chopin A minor Waltz is played in the very beginning, I use small quotes of that throughout whenever the baddie is around, a little trail of musical breadcrumbs. The one review mentioned the little jack-in-the-box crank sounds. I was happy he picked up on this because those sounds took forever to make. I took piano tuners' rubber mutes and muted the strings. I then hit them with wooden mallets, which made that little sound. I also took handfuls of little erasers and threw them at the strings with the sustain pedal down. As they bounced around randomly they created a great creepy effect. I knocked on the sound board, I plucked strings, I put dimes in between the strings, I stroked them with a feather, I took a butter knife and scraped up and down the strings, I banged on the low strings with my palms, and on and on. Then I played them through guitar amp modeling software to really mess and distort them up. So, the majority of what sound like bizarre samples and synths are really just my trusty Yamaha grand.
Once again, thanks to Varese Sarabande for putting out my soundtrack!
Comments (946)
Those reviews do justice to your work and talent !
I can't wait to get the cd in my mailbox !
All the best,
David
Posted by David from France | September 1, 2007 3:44 AM
Posted on September 1, 2007 03:44
At last, I could listen to the whole Varese Sarabande record today ! It's a strange experience to listen to it apart from the film (a film that probably won't be released here in France) but one can sense how much fun (and hard work !) it must have been for you to come up with it !
Like a good meal, the score has the spicy contemporary / sophisticated orchestral techniques (a kind of Penderecki - Corigliano sound), complex electronic manipulations and full use of the body of the piano (like John Cage going to the movies !). At the same time, in typical filmmusic fashion, it keeps the suspense going and connects the drama and the characters with some sweet thematic material (piano, voice) ! Melancholic piano, innocent vocal arioso...
The vocal aspect reminds me that you seem to like, in other films, a certain kind of vocal texture, I remember the "Dark angel" theme and "Sally Hemmings", maybe one could say in those two instances that you like a kind of bluesy vocal sound ?
The "prelude for a madman" is amazing ! but too short.....It's typically the kind of music when you wish the film composer should (if he could) go on developing some beautiful musical material !
Talking about the "prelude" music in the record (cues 1 and 20), there's a certain kind of sound in the bass strings, the slow parts, that reminded me of Henri Dutilleux, but, hey, I know I can't help but hearing great French music everywhere.....
It's always interesting how the style of a real composer always comes up. Blindfolded, I would recognize the melodic pattern of the high strings at the beginning of "a mother's grief" or cues like "going home", "the mirror" and the very short waltz in "I know who killed me" like typical McNeely !
Apart from the use of the Chopin piece, some of the most "melodic" parts reminded me of your gorgeous score for "Lover's prayer"
This score is another successfull use of classical music for a suspence / terror film after Don Davis' use of Brahms in "House in Haunted Hill" !
By the way, Joel, why is classical music often associated with perversity and mental deviance in American popular entertainment ??? It's like everytime you see a serious serial killer in a film (Hannibal Lecter & friends...) they always loooove serious music.....
Posted by David from France | September 22, 2007 1:35 PM
Posted on September 22, 2007 13:35
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