May 2, 2007

• HB: Elliott Goldenthal

  Today marks the birthday of composer Elliott Goldenthal (b. 1954).  Goldenthal was recently nominated for a Pulitzer for his opera Grendel.  He has been absent from film music for a while, mostly due to a bizarre accident that involved a severe head injury.  His last film score was the S.W.A.T. remake in 2003 coming off his Oscar-nominated music for the biopic Frida. 

  Goldenthal worked sporadically in film until the early 1990s when he seemed to explode upon the film music scene.  The first score I ever heard of his was in the 1992 science fiction thriller, Alien3.  There was something visceral in that music but also something which had larger arches of more classical sound that stood out to me when I saw the film.  The otherwise claustrophobic feel of the film head this constant nervous energy bubbling underneath whenever the muscial material came in even though most of the time you were barely aware of its presence.

  Goldenthal did a pretty good job of not being type cast in science fiction horror even though his style definitely lent itself to be overused there.  It did lead though to an Oscar nomination for his score to Interview with a Vampire (1994).  Blockbuster hopefuls were next when he was tapped to write music for 1995's Batman Forever and it's subsequent sequel (mostly reusing music from the third film) turning in what is probably the best thing about the movie. 

  A hallmark of Goldenthal's style includes full-bodied and screaming brass lines with compicated ostinato string patterns that often are fast-paced arpeggios that anchor the harmony even though it is from the top down in the texture.  These fanfare-esque cues are on full display in the wonderful score for the dismal film, Sphere (1998)--my favorite Goldenthal score.  The following year he teamed up with life partner Julie Taymor for an interesting adaptation of Shakespeare's Titus.  The score blends orchestral styles with a kind of semi-big band jazz sound for a stylized and stark film of one of the bard's most violent plays.

  Tapping into his post-Straussian/post-minimalist style, Goldenthal expanded upon the science fiction orchestral fantasy style for the animated feature adapation of Final Fantasy which makes for a fabulous listen for those who enjoy a more tame Goldenthal.

  Goldenthal has created some amazing classical works including the moving Fire Water Paper--A Vietnam Oratorio, the performance piece Juan Darien Carnival Mass, and a fascinating ballet based on Othello.  It takes some compositional muscle to pull off such massive pieces and the composer has demonstrated time and again that he is a unique voice from the last quarter of the 20th Century.  Let's hope we can hear more of him soon.  He has written a score for the somewhat troubled (studio re-edited) Across the Universe (another Taymor film).  More may be on the way, but he returns to a Hollywood where film music is not something where the words "unique" and "personal voice" are necessarily good anymore.

                     

  • 10:16 am
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