THE INTERNATIONAL FILM MUSIC CRITICS ASSOCIATION (IFMCA) ANNOUNCES ITS 2008 WINNERS FOR SCORING EXCELLENCE

ALEXANDRE DESPLAT’S THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON WINS BEST SCORE OF 2008February 19, 2009. Alexandre Desplat wins the 2008 IFMCA’S Film Score of the Year Award for THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON, David Fincher’s imaginative re-telling of a 1921 F. Scott Fitzgerald short story about a man who ages backwards from an old man to a baby. These are the fourth and fifth awards for Desplat from the IFMCA, having been named Composer of the Year in 2006 and 2007. The score also wins Best Original Score for a Dramatic Film.

Danny Elfman is named Film Composer of the Year for his excellence in scoring four high-profile movies this year: MILK, WANTED, HELLBOY II: THE GOLDEN ARMY and STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURE. The latter score also wins Elfman an individual scoring award for Best Original Score for a Documentary Feature.

Canadian composer Andrew Lockington wins Breakout Composer of the Year for his two high-profile scores in 2008: JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH and CITY OF EMBER. Lockington is a former orchestrator for fellow Canadian composer Mychael Danna, and worked with his countryman on scores such as 8MM, GIRL INTERRUPTED and HEARTS IN ATLANTIS before embarking on his solo composing career.

Thomas Newman’s score for Pixar’s WALL*E wins Best Original Score for an Animated Feature. John Williams’ score for Steven Spielberg’s INDIANA JONES AND THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL wins Best Original Score for an Action/Adventure Film, and James Newton Howard wins for his score to THE HAPPENING in the Best Original Score for a Horror/Thriller Film category. Javier Naverette’s score to INKHEART, which opened in parts of Europe in 2008, receives the award for Best Original Score for a Fantasy/Science Fiction Film. The Coen Brothers’ BURN AFTER READING wins Best Original Score for a Comedy Film for their longtime collaborator Carter Burwell, and Michael Giacchino wins Film Music Composition of the Year for his “Roar Overture” from CLOVERFIELD that played during the end credits of the monster ‘reality’ movie which otherwise did not include any other underscore.

Non-film winners include Robert Lane and Joseph Vitarelli, who win Best Original Score for Television to for their score for the HBO mini-series, JOHN ADAMS; Norwegian composer Knut Avenstroup Haugen, who wins Best Original Score for a Video Game or Interactive Media for the Funcom PC role-playing game AGE OF CONAN: HYBORIAN ADVENTURES; and the Intrada label, which wins Film Music Record Label of the Year for the third year in a row for their continuing excellence in releasing older, catalog scores, some for the first time, including their world premiere release of the complete score to Jerry Goldsmith’s 1978 THE BOY FROM BRAZIL, which wins this year’s prize for Best New Release/Re-Release of an Existing Score.
2008 FILM WINNERS:

FILM SCORE OF THE YEAR
• The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, music by Alexandre Desplat

FILM COMPOSER OF THE YEAR
• Danny Elfman

BREAKOUT COMPOSER OF THE YEAR
• Andrew Lockington

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE FOR A DRAMA FILM
• The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, music by Alexandre Desplat

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE FOR A COMEDY FILM
• Burn After Reading, music by Carter Burwell

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE FOR AN ACTION/ADVENTURE FILM
• Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, music by John Williams

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE FOR A FANTASY/SCIENCE FICTION FILM
• Inkheart, music by Javier Navarrete

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE FOR A HORROR/THRILLER FILM
• The Happening, music by James Newton Howard

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE FOR AN ANIMATED FEATURE
• Wall*E, music by Thomas Newman

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE FOR A DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
• Standard Operating Procedure, music by Danny Elfman

FILM MUSIC COMPOSITION OF THE YEAR
• Cloverfield: “Roar Overture,” music by Michael Giacchino
OTHER CATEGORIES:

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE FOR TELEVISION
• John Adams, music by Robert Lane and Joseph Vitarelli

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE FOR A VIDEO GAME OR INTERACTIVE MEDIA
• Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures, music by Knut Avenstroup Haugen

BEST NEW RELEASE/RE-RELEASE OF AN EXISTING SCORE
• The Boys from Brazil, music by Jerry Goldsmith; produced by Douglass Fake (Intrada)

BEST RE-RECORDING OF AN EXISTING SCORE
• El Cid, music by Miklós Rózsa; conducted by Nic Raine, produced by James Fitzpatrick (Tadlow)

BEST COMPILATION ALBUM OR BOX SET
• Indiana Jones: The Soundtracks Collection, music by John Williams; produced by Laurent Bouzereau (Concord)

FILM MUSIC RECORD LABEL OF THE YEAR
• Intrada
The International Film Music Critics Association (IFMCA) is an association of online, print and radio journalists who specialize in writing about original film and television music.

The IFMCA was originally formed in the late 1990s as the now-defunct “Film Music Critics Jury” by editor and journalist Mikael Carlsson, a regular contributor to Music from the Movies, and the owner of the Swedish independent film music label MovieScore Media.

Since its inception, the IFMCA has grown to comprise over 50 members from countries as diverse as Australia, Belgium, Canada, Cyprus, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America.

Previous IFMCA Score of the Year Awards have been awarded to Dario Marianelli’s ATONEMENT in 2007, James Newton Howard’s LADY IN THE WATER in 2006, John Williams’ MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA in 2005 and Michael Giacchino’s THE INCREDIBLES in 2004.

For more information about the International Film Music Critics Association, its members and the list of past awards, please visit http://www.filmmusiccritics.org or contact press@filmmusiccritics.org.

Time After Time/Rozsa

Nicholas Meyer, director and screenwriter of Time After Time, first got my attention with his novel The Seven-Per-Scent Solution, a tale about Sherlock Holmes and Freud. It was an excellent page-turner and gave this reviewer many hours of entertainment. Not exactly remembering the circumstances it could have been one of those reads where I ended up going to sleep in the early hours of the morning and having a hard day staying awake at work that day. It was that good! When I saw the preview and the credits for Time After Time, knowing that Meyer was involved, I was intrigued enough to go to the theater and see it. While I found the film to be entertaining it wasn’t anymore than that, a pleasant diversion for two hours. I’ve heard the phrase ‘holy grail’ mentioned with this film and in my opinion this is certainly not the case. Starring Malcom Macdowell, Mary Steenburgen, and David Warner it tells the story of H.G. Wells and his time machine going forward to modern day San Francisco with Jack the Ripper along for the ride. It tried to make a tale palatable to the generation of Star Wars fans. Perhaps it did. The film in my opinion would have been far more interesting if it had stuck to the basic concept of a science fiction thriller instead of injecting far too much romance and comedy trying to make it appealing to all who saw the film.The musical score from Miklos Rozsa was truly a step back in time, perhaps the reason why he was chosen for this particular assignment. His style was perfectly suited to the film and the themes he created for the picture are some of his best, especially the “The Time Machine Waltz.” Thankfully it turned out that the use of the “Spellbound Theme” (the original idea was to use the theme) was tied up in a rights issue and couldn’t be used. This CD offers a solo piano version (not in the film except for a few seconds) in addition to the piano and string version as played in the film and rerecorded on the LP as well as this CD and is the highlight. “Warner Bros. Logo/Prelude” is also a trip back in time with the playing of the classic Steiner fanfare, which leads us into the main theme a 5-note motif repeated throughout the film. “Jack,” which includes a tune Rozsa found in the Chants d’Auvergne, is a wonderful musical box theme used as a motif to indicate that Ripper is about. “The Vaporising Equaliser” (intentionally spelled wrong) is a very brief track, quite eerie sounding, and has a modern sound that really doesn’t sound like Rozsa at all. While there are tracks which have the film noir/40’s sound of Rozsa none are as prevalent as “The Ripper/Pursuit” cue which will bring back memories of The Killers, Naked City, and The Lost Weekend, that yearning from the string section and staccato beat from the entire orchestra. “Redwoods,” featuring first an oboe, then lush strings followed by cello and the concertmaster on violin is a highly romantic love theme one of his finer efforts.

This is a score that has always found the soft spot in my heart from the very first time I heard it in the theater so my opinion is far from objective. I welcome the additional material especially the solo piano cue of “The Time Machine Waltz” as well as the other 10+ minutes of material on the CD. Keep in mind I was first in line to get my copy of the original LP on the Entr’Acte label which was a completely new recording done in London to save money as the reuse fees were actually more expensive than going overseas and recording! This in addition to the fact that it wasn’t uncommon to rerecord on the lp to make it more pleasant listening experience as the record labels were looking at a different market in addition to the soundtrack collector. In addition to excellent history about the making of the film, the music, and track-by-track analysis from Jeff Bond and Frank K. DeWald there is a retrospective from Nicholas Meyer, which was an extremely good, read. This is truly one of my favorite scores from any composer.

Maintitles Rating: *****
FSM #Vol. 12 #3
Track listing

1. Warner Bros. Logo*/Prelude (01:19)
* by Max Steiner
2. Jack!/L’Aio de Rotso (01:16)

3. Farewell (00:53)

4. The Vaporising Equaliser (00:27)

5. Search for the Ripper (01:26)

6. The Time Machine (01:32)

7. Decision (00:46)

8. Taking Off/Time Travel (02:47)

9. Man Before His Time (01:53)

10. First Bank Montage/Second Bank Montage (01:02)

11. Utopia/Car Ride (01:57)

12. Cartoon/War (00:21)

13. The Ripper/Pursuit (03:12)

14. The Time Machine Waltz (04:31)

15. The Redwoods (02:06)

16. Palace of Fine Arts/The Dinner/Search for a Victim (02:28)

17. A New Victim/Frightened (01:52)

18. The Telephone Book/The Envelope (00:43)

19. Decision for Murder/Murder (01:58)

20. The Prism Pin/The Fifth Victim (02:02)

21. The Last Victim/Aftermath (02:27)

22. Valium/H.G. Arrested (01:26)

23. 3:20 P.M./Nocturnal Visitor (02:08)

24. Despair (01:03)

25. Dangerous Drive (02:57)

26. The Journey’s End/Finale (03:39)

27. The Time Machine Waltz (04:59)

Total Duration: 00:53:10

Produced by Lukas Kendall and Craig Spaulding

Orchestrations by Christopher Palmer

Digital Mastering by Doug Schwartz

Holst Orchestral Works Volume No. 1

Many can only think of The Planets, a hugely popular work when the name Holst is mentioned. One might get the impression that this was the only composition he ever did if you browse the CD section of a Borders or Barnes and Noble which offers a multitude of different orchestras performing this wonderful work. Holst actually has over 200 cataloged compositions including operas, ballets, wind and brass band suites, songs, fugues, as well as beautiful smaller orchestral works. He wrote many compositions for his students as he taught music at St. Paul’s Girls School as well as James Allen’s Girls’ School in London and Morley College. His general attitude of the press and people (he had a card that said “I do not hand out my autograph”) likely contributed to his lack of popularity. Couple this with his bad eyes, lungs, digestion, and a concussion from falling off the podium which kept him from conducting as much as he could have and one can see his lack of popularity save for The Planets included on nearly every top 100 classical list. While this release is titled Volume No. 1 the sudden and surprising death of conductor Richard Hickox could certainly put in jeopardy any further volumes.Ballet from The Perfect Fool, Op.39, a clumsy satire of the Wagner work “Parsifal” was performed in 1923 and toured until 1924. It has not been widely performed since, not because of this wonderful orchestral showpiece but the ballet itself. It has been reduced to this 11+ minute suite from its original length of 70+ minutes. The four parts are performed in one movement, which consist of Andante, Earth, Water, and Fire. Opening with a brass fanfare and percussion the ballet slides from the Andante to the Earth section without pause. It is a staccato section with brass including the tuba. The middle section or Water is a quiet tranquil part featuring a lovely English folk melody on the flute, depicting a peaceful place. The last section, Fire, is 180 degrees from the previous section and features orchestrations one might here in Holst works such as Beni Mora or The Planets.

The Golden Goose, Op. 45 No. 1 is a choral ballet, based on a Grimm tale expanded from the 1969 revision recorded by Imogen Holst (Lyrita SRCD 223). While the 1926 work has received little playing time this reviewer found it to be a pleasant listening experience. The choral singing of the Joyful Company Of Singers was top notch and the folk melodies like The Perfect Fool were most enjoyable.

The Lure came about as a result of a commission for a ballet from Chicago that was never performed. Written in 1921 and edited later by Imogen Holst and Colin Matthews the 10-minute work is yet another orchestral showpiece of material featuring Rimsky-Korsakov brass and a folk tune from W.G. Whittaker’s “North Countrie Ballads, Songs, and Pipetunes.” This reviewer enjoys the way both styles are incorporated into one suite.

The Morning of the Year, Op.45 No. 2 commissioned by the BBC music department was also edited by Holst and Matthews and is a choral ballet with the theme of nature mating in the spring. Because of the subject matter the music is a bit harsh with less melodic passages and development of the material. I must note that I never saw the ballet so I am just surmising that the dance certainly called for the type of written material that Holst provided.

Overall I found this CD to be a pleasant listening experience that is filled with wonderful melodies, choral work, and superb orchestration. Holst seems to be a combination of Vaughan Williams and Rimsky Korsakov. This is definitely worth exploring and adding to your Holst collection which is likely one in number.

CD# CHSA 5069
Produced by Brian Couzens
Engineered by Ralph Couzens

Track Listing:
‘The Perfect Fool’
1….Andante (1:00)
2….Dance of Spirits of Earth (3:48)
3….Dance of Spirits of Water (3:02)
4….Dance of Spirits of Fire (3:41)
‘The Golden Goose’
5….Sound of drum and trumpets play (3:50)
6….The Mummers Play (4:35)
7….The Human Organ (1:53)
8….Jack creeps up, unseen by court (3:07)
9….Dance of the Three Girls (3:24)
10. The Goose Dance (2:57)
11. Jack and Princess embrace (4:58)
‘The Lure’
12.Ballet music for orchestra (10:15)
The Morning of the Year
13.I am that which men did make (4:28)
14. Dance of Headman and Hobby-horse (3:00)
15.Dance of Youths (3:22)
16.Dance of Maidens (2:37)
17.Mating Dance (4:28)
18.Dance of the Youngest Couple (3:03)
Total Time is 67:42