{"id":33471,"date":"2016-02-23T11:10:42","date_gmt":"2016-02-23T17:10:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.davidbordwell.net\/blog\/?p=33471"},"modified":"2020-08-01T16:46:25","modified_gmt":"2020-08-01T21:46:25","slug":"oscars-siren-song-2-jeff-smith-on-the-music-nominations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.davidbordwell.net\/blog\/2016\/02\/23\/oscars-siren-song-2-jeff-smith-on-the-music-nominations\/","title":{"rendered":"Oscar’s siren song 2: Jeff Smith on the music nominations"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Hatefiul<\/a><\/p>\n

The Hateful Eight<\/strong> (2015).<\/em><\/p>\n

DB here: Jeff Smith, our collaborator on the new edition of Film Art<\/a><\/strong>, is an expert on film sound. He has written earlier entries\u00a0on Atmos<\/a>\u00a0and Trumbo<\/a><\/strong>.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

The Academy Awards ceremony is upon us. Once again this year, I offer an overview of the two music categories: Best Original Song and Best Original Score. For the songs and some score cues I’ve provided links, so you can listen as you read.<\/p>\n

This year\u2019s nominees showcase music written in an array of musical styles for a wide range of narrative contexts. The composers and songwriters recognized for their work include some newcomers, some savvy veterans, and a pair of legends who have helped to define the modern film score.<\/p>\n

As always, this preview is offered for non-sporting purposes. Anyone seeking insights for wagers or even the office Oscar pool is duly cautioned that they assume their own financial risks for any information they use. And since I was only half-right with last year\u2019s prognostications, you might seek predictions from insiders at\u00a0Variety<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0Entertainment Weekly<\/em>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Diversity in numbers: Best Original Song<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0\"50<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Fifty Shades of Grey<\/strong> (2015).<\/em><\/p>\n

When the Oscars were announced a few weeks ago, they made headlines for all the wrong reasons. Noting the lack of racial diversity among the acting nominees, social media exploded, creating #OscarsSoWhite <\/strong>as a popular Twitter handle to draw attention to the situation. After a cacophony of tweets and retweets, several celebrities weighed in. Will Smith and others suggested that they planned to boycott the ceremonies.<\/p>\n

The nominees for Best Original Song, though, are a pretty significant exception to the OscarsSoWhite<\/strong> meme. Both the performers of these five songs and the topics they address reveal that Oscar voters haven\u2019t entirely ignored the fact that films can be a force for social change.<\/p>\n

The Weeknd\u2019s breakout year on the pop charts has continued with an Oscar nomination for \u201cEarned It\u201d<\/a> from Universal\u2019s hit of last spring, Fifty Shades of Grey<\/em>. The Weeknd\u2019s \u201cCan\u2019t Feel My Face\u201d has enlivened playlists all year long, but \u201cEarned It\u201d is a slow-burn soul ballad that accompanies Christian and Anastasia\u2019s ride home after his mother interrupts their morning tryst. The song was co-written by the Weeknd, Belly, Jason \u201cDaheala\u201d Quenneville, and Stephan Moccio, and features a simple two-chord pattern on the piano that eventually builds toward a more harmonically adventurous string passage. According to Moccio, the song was intended to reflect a male perspective, hinting at the darkness lurking underneath Christian\u2019s sexual peccadillos.<\/p>\n

The Weeknd, Quenneville, and Belly are all Canadian. But considering that the Weeknd and Quenneville are of African descent and that Belly is of Palestinian heritage, their nomination offers a modest riposte to the criticism leveled at the Oscars for their lack of racial diversity. However, since their song appears in one of the more critically reviled films to receive a nomination, it seems unlikely that \u201cEarned It\u201d will take home the prize next Sunday.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Tuning up nonfiction films: Nominated songs from docs<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Manta<\/a><\/p>\n

Racing Extinction<\/strong>\u00a0(2015).<\/em><\/p>\n

Two other nominations come from recent documentary films, continuing a trend begun with last year\u2019s nod to Glen Campbell: I\u2019ll Be Me<\/em>. The first is for J. Ralph and Antony Hegarty\u2019s \u201cManta Ray\u201d<\/a> from Racing Extinction<\/em>, which examines the threat man poses to the survival of several bird species, amphibians, and marine animals.<\/p>\n

Hegarty is only the second openly transgender person to receive a nomination, a quite pleasant surprise for fans of her work as a singer and songwriter. Hegarty initially made a splash in 2000 with the release of her band\u2019s debut album, Antony and the Johnsons<\/em>. Her breakthrough, though, came with the 2005 release I Am a Bird Now<\/em>, which topped several critics\u2019 year-end lists and won Britain\u2019s prestigious Mercury Prize.<\/p>\n

\u201cManta Ray\u201d is a delicate waltz based upon a central theme from J. Ralph\u2019s score for Racing Extinction<\/em>. Although the song itself appears only over the closing credits, Ralph\u2019s theme threads through the film, introduced during a key scene when a member of the filmmaking team removes a hook and fishing line from a manta ray\u2019s dorsal fin. After the SARS outbreak in the early 2000s, commercial fishermen increasingly targeted manta rays since their gills were thought to have curative powers among practitioners of Chinese folk medicine.<\/p>\n

Anchored by her soft, tremulous voice, Hegarty\u2019s music has always exuded sensitivity and melancholy in almost equal measure. With Hegarty\u2019s ethereal tones floating over Ralph\u2019s simple piano accompaniment, \u201cManta Ray\u201d not only captures the animal\u2019s grace and beauty, but also hints at the tragedy of their steady decline.<\/p>\n

Racing Extinction <\/em>is not Hegarty\u2019s first brush with Hollywood. Previously, her music was featured in James McTeigue\u2019s V for Vendetta<\/em> and in Todd Haynes\u2019s I\u2019m Not There<\/em>. But given all the media attention to the Oscars, Sunday night will offer Hegarty a much bigger stage and a chance for the world to see her extraordinary gifts.<\/p>\n

\"Hunting<\/a><\/p>\n

The other nominated song from a documentary is \u201cTil It Happens to You,\u201d<\/a> which was written for Kirby Dick\u2019s searing documentary on campus rape, The Hunting Ground<\/em>. The film not only exposes college administrators\u2019 efforts to cover up incidents of sexual assault, but also shows how two University of North Carolina rape survivors used Title IX legislation to draw attention to the problem.<\/p>\n

\u201cTil It Happens to You\u201d brought Lady Gaga her first nomination and Diane Warren her eighth. Beyond the sheer star power brought by the pair, Gaga and Warren both have discussed their own experience as rape victims.<\/p>\n

According to Variety<\/em>, Gaga worried that the gravity of the film\u2019s subject matter might not square with her outlandish diva persona: \u201cI was very concerned that people would not take me seriously or that I would somehow add a stigma to it.\u201d But her concerns appear to be unfounded. Warren reports that other survivors have reached out to her saying that the song and film is \u201cmaking people feel less alone.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some of this reaction undoubtedly derives from the emotional gut punch delivered by the song\u2019s lyrics. They not only describe the feelings of devastation felt by rape victims. They also express the difficulty of dealing with unfeeling bureaucrats and callous peers. The refrain of \u201cTil It Happens to You\u201d conveys the sense of isolation created by others\u2019 inability to fully know what it\u2019s like to walk in the victim\u2019s shoes.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Licensed to Trill: The Spectre<\/em> of Youth<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0\"Spectre<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Spectre<\/strong> (2015).<\/em><\/p>\n

Jimmy Napes and Sam Smith\u2019s \u201cWriting\u2019s On the Wall\u201d<\/a> from Spectre<\/em> adds another notch to James Bond\u2019s gunbelt. Four previous Bond films have received nominations for Best Original Song. And in 2013, British chanteuse Adele took home a golden statuette for the title track of Skyfall<\/em>.<\/p>\n

For me, the piece is well crafted, but falls somewhere in the middle of the Bond music pantheon. Not quite the peaks of Shirley Bassey\u2019s \u201cGoldfinger\u201d or Paul McCartney\u2019s \u201cLive and Let Die.\u201d But also not the dregs of Rita Coolidge\u2019s \u201cAll-Time High\u201d or A-ha\u2019s \u201cThe Living Daylights.\u201d \u201cWriting\u2019s On the Wall\u201d is vaguely Bond-ish in much the same way that Smith\u2019s smash hit, \u201cStay With Me,\u201d contained strong echoes of Tom Petty\u2019s \u201cI Won\u2019t Back Down.\u201d<\/p>\n

The last nominee is \u201cSimple Song #3\u201d <\/a>from Youth<\/em>. Of all the nominees, David Lang\u2019s piece is the one most firmly integrated into the film\u2019s narrative. \u201cSimple Song #3\u201d is featured at the end of Youth<\/em>, performed onscreen by singer Sumi Jo, violinist Viktoria Mullova, and the BBC Concert Orchestra.<\/p>\n

The song is a classic \u201cAdagio\u201d structured around a repeated descending string figure. Gradually, other instruments are added, creating patterns of shifting harmony that surge beneath Jo\u2019s vocal line.<\/p>\n

Although \u201cSimple Song #3\u201d doesn\u2019t appear till the end, the song is mentioned at several earlier moments as the work of the film\u2019s protagonist, Fred Ballinger (Michael Caine). Ballinger is a retired composer and conductor lured back to the stage by an invitation from the Queen to perform for Prince Philip\u2019s birthday. According to Lang, the piece offers a window into Ballinger\u2019s psychology. It balances both the aspirations of his youth with the melancholy of a life lived apart from the woman he loved.<\/p>\n

Placed in the film\u2019s climax, Ballinger\u2019s work provides an emotional capstone that operates at several levels. Given the complexity of its narrative function, \u201cSimple Song #3\u201d is not so simple.<\/p>\n

Prediction:\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><\/span>As a longtime Antony and the Johnsons fan, I would be delighted to see Hegarty and Ralph making their acceptance speech on Sunday night. But it seems to be Lady Gaga\u2019s year so far. After winning a Golden Globe for her work on American Horror Story: Hotel<\/em>, singing the national anthem at the Super Bowl, and performing a tribute to David Bowie at the Grammys, Gaga will cap off a stellar start to the new year by walking home with Oscar on her arm.\u00a0It will also provide career recognition to Diane Warren, whose music has graced more than 200 different films and television shows. After last year\u2019s disappointment, Warren finally will get the opportunity to be forever \u201cGrateful.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Old White Men and Even Older White Men: Best Original Score<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Sicario<\/a><\/p>\n

Sicario<\/strong> (2015).<\/em><\/p>\n

The nominees for Best Original Score are a group of seasoned craftsmen who collectively have received more than seventy Oscar nominations and have written music for more than seven hundred feature films. At age 46, J\u00f3hann J\u00f3hannsson<\/a> is the youngster of the group. Carter Burwell and Thomas Newman both turned sixty late last year. And John Williams and Ennio Morricone are both octogenarians.<\/p>\n

J\u00f3hannsson is nominated for his score for Denis Villeneuve\u2019s drug war thriller Sicario<\/em>. The Icelandic composer received a nod last year for The Theory of Everying<\/em>, but lost out to Alexandre Desplat\u2019s charming Euro-pudding score for The Grand Budapest Hotel<\/em>.<\/p>\n

The score for Sicario<\/em>, though, couldn\u2019t be more different than that for The Theory of Everything<\/em>. Where Everything<\/em>\u2019s music was lilting and lyrical, Sicario<\/em>\u2019s is tense and ominous, emphasizing rhythm, timbre, and texture over more conventional structures of melody and harmony. Several cues are organized around pounding drum patterns<\/a> punctuated by sustained, dissonant blasts of strings and low brass. In an interview, J\u00f3hannsson recalled, \u201cI think the the percussion came first, and then I started to weave the orchestra into it. Very early on I decided to focus on the low end of the spectrum\u2014focus on basses, contrabasses, low woodwinds, contrabassoon, contrabass clarinets and contrabass saxophone.\u201d<\/p>\n

Other cues also emphasize percussive textures, but with the instrument sounds processed so that they sound driven to the point of distortion. Even a more restrained cue like \u201cMelancholia\u201d<\/a> still maintains a quiet intensity, structured around a cyclic harmonic pattern played on acoustic guitar in a vaguely flamenco<\/em> style. The score is brutally effective in capturing the mood of Sicario<\/em>\u2019s taut action scenes. In fact, for me, J\u00f3hannsson\u2019s score was, without question, the best thing in the film.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Old Hands: Carter Burwell and Thomas Newman<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Carol<\/a><\/p>\n

Carol<\/strong> (2015).<\/em><\/p>\n

Carter Burwell received his first Oscar nomination this January for his score for Todd Haynes\u2019 Carol<\/em>. Burwell got his start on the Coen brothers\u2019 debut, Blood Simple<\/em> (1984), and has been a regular collaborator ever since. He has also worked regularly with a number of other filmmakers, such as Charlie Kaufman, Spike Jonze, and Bill Condon. Given the rather quirky and absurdist tone found in many of their projects, Burwell\u2019s great gift is to provide music that emotionally grounds the characters, finding notes of lyricism, melancholy, and pathos in the strange stories of lovelorn puppeteers, sex researchers, and bumbling kidnappers.<\/p>\n

For Carol<\/em>, Burwell tried to capture the peculiar mixture of passion and distance that characterizes Ther\u00e8se\u2019s initial attraction to Carol. Because Carol comes across as both elegant and a bit aloof, Burwell not only utilized ambiguous harmonies, but also \u201ccool\u201d instruments, such as piano, clarinet, and vibes.<\/p>\n

On his website, Burwell identifies three main musical themes in his score for Carol<\/em>. The first is a love theme<\/a> introduced in the film\u2019s opening city scene. It presages the relationship even before we\u2019ve been introduced to the characters. The second theme underscores Ther\u00e8se\u2019s fascination with Carol. Says Burwell, \u201cThis is basically a cloud of piano notes, not unlike the clouded glass through which Todd Haynes and Ed Lachman occasionally shoot the characters.\u201d The third theme captures the characters\u2019 sense of loss when they are separated. Knowing that Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara would convey the characters\u2019 pain in their performances, Burwell opted instead to use open harmonies (fourths, fifths, and ninths) to communicate their sense of emptiness.<\/p>\n

Burwell orchestrated the music for chamber-size ensembles to maintain the sense of intimacy between the characters. Some cues feature as few as four instruments while others were performed by as many as 17 musicians.<\/p>\n

Burwell\u2019s spare, modest score is a departure from the style Haynes explored in his previous foray into this territory: his Douglas Sirk homage, Far From Heaven<\/em> (2002). Elmer Bernstein\u2019s score for that film was lush and emotionally expansive, aping Frank Skinner\u2019s musical stylings in films like Magnificent Obsession<\/em> (1954) and All That Heaven Allows <\/em>(1955). Burwell wrote only 38 minutes of music. Yet it all is beautifully attuned to the film\u2019s mood of quiet desperation.<\/p>\n

\"BridgeOfSpies_400\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Thomas Newman earned his thirteenth nomination for Bridge of Spies<\/em>. (Insert Susan Lucci joke here.) Newman, of course, descends from film composing royalty as the son of the renowned classical Hollywood tuner, Alfred Newman. Yet, despite Newman the Younger\u2019s distinguished career in Tinseltown, Newman the Younger has a long way to go to catch his pops. Alfred won nine Oscars and accrued more than forty nominations.<\/p>\n

Newman\u2019s music has graced some of the most beloved American films of the past three decades, such as The Shawshank Redemption, American Beauty, Finding Nemo, <\/em>and Wall-E<\/em>. Although he is known for his versatility, an NPR story on his score for Bridge of Spies<\/em> notes that Newman has become known for passages that incorporate \u201cquirky, layered piano writing and jagged string motifs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Newman and Spielberg save the score\u2019s biggest moments for the film\u2019s climax and epilogue. Indeed, more than half of the film\u2019s score is backloaded into its last three cues, which together account for about 25 minutes of music. Displaying Newman\u2019s full emotional range, \u201cGlienicke Bridge\u201d anxiously underscores the tense prisoner exchange that delivers Rudolf Abel back into Soviet hands. \u201cHomecoming\u201d<\/a> features solo trumpet and oboe to convey James B. Donovan\u2019s sense of validation now that his fellow commuters\u2019 scowls of disapproval have turned to smiles of patriotic pride.<\/p>\n

Newman\u2019s score for Bridge of Spies<\/em> is a very solid piece of work evincing the craft and refinement\u00a0displayed by earlier masters like Jerry Goldsmith and John Barry. Yet the music\u2019s modesty and conventionality make it the kind of score all too easy to overlook.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Legends: John Williams and Ennio Morricone<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"SW<\/a><\/p>\n

Star Wars: The Force Awakens<\/strong>\u00a0(2015).<\/em><\/p>\n

Oddsmakers have tabbed our final two nominees, John Williams and Ennio Morricone, as the most likely to take home the big prize. The former is nominated for Star Wars: The Force Awakens<\/em>, the seventh film in George Lucas\u2019s series and the seventh scored by Williams. Coming 48 years after the composer\u2019s Oscar win for the first Star Wars <\/em>film, Williams\u2019s music updates the neo-Romantic style he helped to revive in the 1970s. It also adds new themes for key new characters, such as Rey<\/a> and Kylo Ren.<\/p>\n

Williams wrote a massive amount of music for The Force Awakens<\/em>. (Indeed, the 102-minute score is more than double that of Newman\u2019s score for Bridge of Spies<\/em>.) But very little of it simply replicates materials from the previous films. By Williams\u2019s own count, only seven minutes of the score function as \u201cobligatory\u201d references to his own immediately recognizable themes.<\/p>\n

As in his previous work, Williams shows enormous skill in juggling the various leitmotifs that are attached to the film\u2019s dramatic personae, often moving a motif through different instrument combinations in order to vary the color and timbre of each cue. And Williams\u2019s sure touch with this material undoubtedly enhances J.J. Abrams\u2019 everything-old-is-new-again approach to The Force Awakens<\/em>, a strategy that seems to have satisfied long-time fans, many of whom probably have dusty old compact discs of the composer\u2019s earlier Star Wars<\/em> scores.<\/p>\n

The score for The Force Awakens<\/em> earned Williams\u2019s his fiftieth nomination and it is a fine addition to his already considerable oeuvre<\/em>. Still, considering that Williams has won Oscars on five previous occasions and the been-there- done-that aspect of the enterprise, it is hard to believe that this score will bring the composer his sixth statuette. Thankfully for him, Williams\u2019s reputation as one of the greatest composers to work in the film medium is already firmly secured.<\/p>\n

\"hatefuleight<\/a><\/p>\n

That leaves just Ennio Morricone, the equally legendary Italian composer whose collaborations with Sergio Leone redefined the sound of the Western. Nearly fifty years after Morricone\u2019s theme from The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly<\/em> topped U.S. record charts, Morricone garnered his sixth Best Original Score nomination for Quentin Tarantino\u2019s The Hateful Eight.<\/em><\/p>\n

The film marked Morricone\u2019s return to the genre after several decades of avoiding it. According to the composer, most directors who approached him simply wanted him to replicate the sound of his great Spaghetti Western scores. Morricone preferred to pursue projects that let him stretch in other directions.<\/p>\n

Tarantino gave the Maestro a free hand in developing the score of The Hateful Eight<\/em>, and Morricone responded with one of his best scores in decades. Aside from his characteristic use of vocal chants as rhythmic accents, the score for The Hateful Eight<\/em> largely avoids the sort of psychedelic touches and extravagant tone colors found in his Spaghetti Western scores. Gone are the electric guitar, ocarina, whistles, and coyote yelps that established Morricone as a kind of musical meme. Substituted instead are much more conventional orchestral colors with the strings and wind sections taking prominent roles in The Hateful Eight<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Perhaps one reason for this move back to classical Hollywood convention is due to the hybrid qualities of Tarantino\u2019s story. As Peter Debruge noted in his Variety <\/em>review, The Hateful Eight <\/em>is \u201ca salty hothouse whodunit that owes as much to Agatha Christie as it does to Anthony Mann.\u201d Morricone himself seems to concur. In an interview with Rolling Stone<\/em>, the composer added, \u201cQuentin Tarantino considers this film a Western; for me, this is not a Western. I wanted to do something that was totally different from any Western music I had composed in the past.”<\/p>\n

\"Album<\/a><\/p>\n

Morricone\u2019s score has a \u201ctheme and variations\u201d structure that shows him adeptly changing his tempo, texture, and instrumentation to adapt his main theme to new dramatic contexts. His Overture<\/a>\u00a0provides the basic template for the score. The low strings and winds play a sustained minor chord that sneaks into the soundtrack. After a few seconds, the upper voices enter playing chords on the first and third beats of each measure to outline the basic harmonic progression of the main theme. Eventually an oboe will enter playing a repeated interval as a counterrhythm over the top of this pattern.<\/p>\n

This gives way to the strings, which intone a serpentine diatonic melody that provides the spine for the rest of the cue. Gradually, Morricone introduces more instruments, such as vibes and brass, to vary the tone color and even adds a simple bridge section that consists of a series of soft, chromatically descending chords. After a brief restatement of the main melody, the cue finishes with a series of long sustained chords marked by shifting harmonies in the inner voices. The clarinet plays a fragment of the main theme before it eventually fades out. The cue never comes to the kind of climax that a traditional cadential structure would provide. Instead it simply unwinds itself.<\/p>\n

The central theme is probably given its most elaborate treatment in the main title, \u201cL\u2019Ultima Diligenza di Red Rock \u2013 Version Integrale.\u201d A steady timpani pulse and a sustained pitch in the strings provide a pedal tone against which a new melody is introduced in the contrabassoon\u2019s low register. This musical figure has a serpentine quality like the other, and it has been written to function as counterpoint to its predecessor at later moments when the two will be interleaved. Morricone gradually introduces more instruments to thicken the texture and even adds brass and pizzicato accents as embroidery atop the main theme. A hi-hat cymbal adds\u00a0some rhythmic variety to the basic pulse of the timpani.<\/p>\n

After a brief detour into some transitional material, the main melody returns, but now played by strings, xylophone, and muted brass instruments. The main musical figure continues to be restated with new ideas simply piled on top. As the music grows in both volume and intensity, Morricone adds trills and furious agitato string runs to create a cacophonous, but organized musical chaos. The cue climaxes with the melody played fortissimo in octaves by the violin section, soaring toward a sudden and abrupt stop. After a short pause, the contrabassoon quietly returns to play a brief musical coda that eventually fades to silence.<\/p>\n

Morricone has long been a master of this type of musical structure. He\u2019ll start with a simple musical idea, but then adds different countermelodies or obbligatos to vary its mood and tone. The ongoing accretion of elements creates the effect of a long crescendo that eventually finds release in silence. (For an earlier example of this kind of technique, see his cue for \u201cThe Desert\u201d on The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly <\/em>soundtrack.)<\/p>\n

Beyond its purely musical effectiveness, though, \u201cL\u2019Ultima Diligenza di Red Rock\u201d exudes a roiling tumult that fittingly captures the sense of deception\u00a0and distrust that will pervade Minnie\u2019s Haberdashery. The musical mood remains mostly dark and ominous throughout, leavened only by the bright solo trumpet fanfare that underscores Sheriff Chris Mannix\u2019s reading of Major Warren\u2019s Lincoln letter.<\/p>\n

Tarantino\u2019s trust in the Maestro was amply rewarded. This is a score that no one but Morricone could produce. As was the case with J\u00f3hann J\u00f3hannsson<\/a>\u2019s score for Sicario<\/em>, it seems to be the best thing about The Hateful Eight<\/em>. Tarantino wanted a soundtrack album for one of his own films that he could proudly place alongside other Morricone albums in his collection. He got it and then some.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Prediction: <\/strong><\/span><\/em>The Maestro finally gets his due! Although Morricone received an honorary Oscar in 2007 for his \u201cmagnificent and multifaceted contributions to the art of film music,\u201d none of his individual scores have received awards from the Academy. I expect that to change next Sunday night.\u00a0In fact, betting odds put Morricone\u2019s chances of winning an Oscar for Best Original Score at 1 to 5. That means that a five dollar bet will net you one dollar profit if you win. That is about as close to a sure thing as you are likely to find in the gambling world. And even I\u2019m not dumb enough to buck that trend.<\/p>\n

In truth, I would be happy to see any of these composers take home the Oscar. I\u2019ve enjoyed their contributions to the art of film music for much of my adult life. But, for me, the only real question is this: How long will the standing ovation be as Ennio Morricone prepares to give his acceptance speech? I put the over\/under at 65 seconds.<\/p>\n

\n

Variety<\/em> offers overviews of the nominees for Best Original Song here<\/a>\u00a0and Best Original Score here<\/a>.\u00a0Both pieces include comments from the composers and songwriters competing for this year\u2019s awards.<\/p>\n

You can find interviews with nearly all of the nominees for Best Original Score: Morricone<\/a>, Williams (here<\/a> and here<\/a>), Newman<\/a>, and Johannsson<\/a>.\u00a0Carter Burwell\u2019s notes on Carol<\/em> can be found on his website<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Emilio Audissino\u2019s book on John Williams<\/a> offers a terrific overview of the composer\u2019s career. For a study of Morricone\u2019s compositional techniques and style, see Charles Leinberger\u2019s monograph on The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly<\/a> <\/em>in Scarecrow Press\u2019s series of Film Score Guides.\u00a0My book\u00a0The Sounds of Commerce<\/a><\/em>\u00a0includes a chapter on Morricone\u2019s spaghetti western scores.<\/p>\n

More on Morricone: The Maestro weighs in on the film scoring process in Composing for the Cinema: Theory and Practice of Music in Film<\/a><\/em>, which is coauthored with Sergio Miceli.\u00a0You can listen to the opening cue of the\u00a0score for The Hateful Eight<\/em> here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

P.S. 25 February 2016:<\/strong> Thanks to Peter Brandon for a correction\u00a0concerning the Canadian identity of\u00a0The Weeknd, Quenneville, and Belly.<\/p>\n

\"LONDON,<\/a>

LONDON, ENGLAND – DECEMBER 08: Composer Ennio Morricone is seen during a Live Recording for the H8ful Eight Soundtrack at Abbey Road Studios on December 8, 2015 in London, England. (Photo by Kevin Mazur\/Getty Images for Universal Music)<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Hateful Eight (2015). DB here: Jeff Smith, our collaborator on the new edition of Film Art, is an expert on film sound. He has written earlier entries\u00a0on Atmos\u00a0and Trumbo.\u00a0 The Academy Awards ceremony is upon us. Once again this year, I offer an overview of the two music categories: Best Original Song and Best […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,84,291,46,57],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-33471","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-film-comments","category-film-genres","category-film-music","category-film-technique-music","category-hollywood-aesthetic-traditions"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.davidbordwell.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33471","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.davidbordwell.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.davidbordwell.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.davidbordwell.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.davidbordwell.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33471"}],"version-history":[{"count":19,"href":"https:\/\/www.davidbordwell.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33471\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":45212,"href":"https:\/\/www.davidbordwell.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33471\/revisions\/45212"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.davidbordwell.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33471"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.davidbordwell.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33471"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.davidbordwell.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33471"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}