Dr. Music

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After listening to a few more scherzos - including three from the great film music of John Williams - we will be considering the 19th century version of film music. Various great composers like Mendelssohn, Grieg, and Bizet wrote incidental music to stage plays. In some cases the incidental music has become as famous - or more famous - than the plays themselves! (For example, A Midsummer Night's Dream.) Like some film music, this incidental music can be fully appreciated in a concert format without viewing the story it is meant to support - and indeed, that is how audiences experience it today!

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In the eleventh episode, I first talk about the "horror story" about Jerry Goldsmith I promised in the last episode, relating to that episode's topic of texturalism. A film composer is always at the mercy of the director, and it doesn't always make for a smooth working relationship! We then delve into a survey of some of the most famous and enjoyable scherzos in music history. A scherzo, in general, is a lighthearted, playful piece, although we shall see how the character of the scherzo has developed from century to century, reflecting not only a particular composer's personality, but also continually developing attitudes about artistic expression throughout different historical periods. 

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Are you up for a challenge?  After considering one more famous piece that depicts animals - a ballet by Maurice Ravel - we will talk about a 20th century trend called texturalism. Most of us are used to the basic musical components of melody, harmony, and rhythm, but it's not often we think about texture. Texturalism in music emphasizes the interaction between the different parts, or instruments, and the resulting timbres, or sonic qualities, produced by these interactions. At the very least you'll find this music unique, and you'll appreciate why film directors like Stanley Kubrick have incorporated these pieces into their soundtracks! 

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In the ninth episode of Dr. Music, we first dovetail with the previous episode, discussing what it is about Spanish music, regardless of which composer writes it, that makes it “sound” Spanish. Then we embark on a tour of very famous orchestral pieces that depict animals—everything from birds to elephants!  We’ll see from these examples that pretty much every famous composer in music history can have quite a sense of humor.

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How about a trip to Spain, à la Spanish composers - and à la French composers?  Composers of the 19th and 20th centuries have been very fascinated with the exoticism of the Iberian Peninsula, producing some great works of art that celebrate the Spanish culture. What is so amazing is how different composers from both Spain and other countries treat Spanish music.  It makes for a very interesting listening experience - and an equally interesting podcast! 

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In this seventh episode of Dr. Music we will be hearing examples of pieces that incorporate wordless choruses. The human voice is a musical instrument, and when composers use the human voice to simply sing syllables, it's an amazing effect. Whether the wordless chorus is unaccompanied or blended with other orchestral instruments, the richness of character from the acoustic voice always adds so much color to the music's tapestry. Featured musical examples will be everything from Rachmaninoff to the film composer John Williams!

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In this, the sixth episode of Dr. Music, we will be talking about uncommon meters - asymmetrical meters, to be exact. Common meters are in 4, or in 2, whereas meters in 5 or 7 don't happen as often. We will be listening to some interesting examples of asymmetrical meters by Tchaikovsky, Holst, and Prokofiev, as well as some examples from film music - from Poltergeist to Raiders of the Lost Ark!

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In this fifth episode of Dr. Music, we discuss the Romantic Period aesthetic of "striving for the unattainable." Beethoven was the pioneer of the Romantic style, his Third Symphony igniting what became the Romantic ideal of stirring the imagination, visiting ancient times and exotic locations, and opening up a rich palette that was able to delve deeper into the artists's personal emotions. Reaching for what is unattainable, whether it is a reach through time, space, or emotional expression, is what we will experience in the podcast's musical examples.

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In this fourth episode of Dr. Music, we first continue a bit with Jerry Goldsmith's film music, illustrating how recurring little musical gestures are reflective, in general, of an artist's personality. Then we delve into a compositional technique called the ostinato, a repeating melodic segment that can form the basis of an entire piece. We'll listen to examples of the ostinato in both Goldsmith's music and various classical masterworks.

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In this third exciting episode of Dr. Music, Matthew Marullo talks about film music, focusing on one of the great film composers of our time, the late Jerry Goldsmith. We will discuss the amazing way music can support the emotional and visual content of a film, and classical music's influence on its style. There will also be a theoretical explanation of why a particular Goldsmith theme is so effective in conveying a particular mood for a scene.