György Ligeti, Lux Aeterna and Requiem in Kubrick’s 2001 (Space Odyssey).
Opinion? hmmm… I like it best when a powerful piece becomes a third player in film, not just some sickly sweet hack emotional tactic / background music. I find a lot of the use of ‘classical’ (thru-composed, orchestral) music a cheap trick by studios to avoid hiring a composer for the work. On the other hand, a lot of hired composers rip off the work of others, so swings and roundabouts there.
That said, There Will Be Blood melds pieces by Brahms and Johnny Greenwood (in turn deeply affected by Penderecki) pretty seamlessly, with the work of both composers adding a deep sense of conflict / tension to
the story.
Teorema – Requiem (Mozart)
Les enfants terribles
Most of you know Fantasia 1940, 2001. It describes Classical music by cartoons! Great work!
Debussy – Claire De Lune – Ocean’s 11
Erik Satie in Man on Wire.
yes
Erik Satie in The Fire Within
A film I saw years ago, Man of Flowers, uses an aria to absolutely devastating effect. Does anyone know what I’m talking about and provide the details?
i’ve always remembered kubrick picking out great classical music for his films. the shining opening title sequence, 2001, eyes wide shut, etc…
Clockwork Orange – Pomp and Circumstance March No. I, Ninth Symphony, Second Movement, Abridged
Barry Lyndon – Cello Concerto in E-Minor, RV 409 as well
Get Smart and Hitman. lol, just kiddin
Hehe, yes Schubert’s Ave Maria is used to Hitman! LOL
yep!!! Just watch the trailer if ya don’t believe me. :D
I think the use of Also Sprach Zarathustra in 2001 A Space Odyssey is one of the greatest uses of music in a film.
Gustav Mahler in Death in Venice and The Gambler.
Mozart in Elvira Madigan.
Ah yes, the Mahler in Death in Venice is perfect, awe-strikingly in harmony with the performance.
Terrence Malick’s use of Charles Ives’ The Unanswered Question in The Thin Red Line. I’d been waiting for someone to finally use this stunning piece of music.
Apropos Terrence Malick -
The soundtrack to Malick’s film Badlands gives me a chill down my spine every time I see the movie.
Great examples of how Malick brilliantly uses the music by German composer Carl Orff and Gunild Keetman in 2 key scenes (SPOILERS) :
Burning down the house
using the music of Orff’s ‘Bläserstücke’
and
The bounty hunters attack (vid has been taken off youtube due to violation of copyrights unfortunately)
using Orff’s track ‘Hexen-Einmaleins’ :
Die Tür ist verschlossen, wir können nicht ein; / Drin wohnet ein Reicher, wir mögen nicht ’nein. Die Tür ist verschlossen, wir können nicht ein; / Es ziehen die Wolken, es schwinden die Sterne! / Da hinten, da hinten! von ferne, von ferne, / Da kommt er, der Bruder, da kommt er, der — Tod.
Text excerpt taken from Goethe’s Faust
(and yes, it’s a repost from http://www.theauteurs.com/topics/2147?page=1)
Classical music almost always takes me out of the film. When I saw 2001 the “Blue Danube” brought recollections of the opening of Arthur Murray’s Dance Party … something I doubt Kubrick was trying to evoke. Anytime I watch Ulmer’s The Black Cat I spend too much time trying to identify the familiar pieces that are not instantly recognizable because they’ve been rejiggered, and I’d argue that THB is quite possible the best use of classical music to score a film. Once ina while it can work for me – as in the use of “Ride of the Valkyries” in Apocalypse Now but mostly I’d prefer something original that has been tailored to the needs & tone of the film.
Anyone know what that song from The Fall is? It’s also in Knowing when (SPOILERS) the world is burning up.
Anyone know what that song from The Fall is? It’s also in Knowing when (SPOILERS) the world is burning up.
If you’re referring to the opening sequence, I’m pretty sure it’s from a Beethoven symphony, but I nearly drove myself nuts trying to identify it beyond that … (and that’s an example of what I was referring to above). Someday I’ll haul out my Beethoven CDs & figure it out.
Harry: Don’t trouble hauling out your Beethoven CDs.
The music from The Fall is Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7 in A major, Op. 92, II. Allegretto.
I think this may be the passage that Wagner called “the apotheosis of the dance.” (I’m not certain on that score).
I happened to know this because I wanted to use it in a short film I wrote and produced back in the 1970s, but the director insisted on using a then-fashionable electronic musical score.
Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7 in A major, Op. 92, II. Allegretto is also brilliantly used in Irreversible.
I also like the use of Schubert’s Der Leiermann in Bruges and Bach’s Suite No. 3 in D Major in Seven.
My favorite is probably the use of Arvo Pärt’s Kanon Pokajanen during the credits of *The Banishment.
Neil McCauley’s Cooler Brother – The piece you are referring to is from Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor. In the film, Montserrat Caballe and Jose Carreras sing the duet Verranno a te sullaure. Here is a link to the recording heard in the opening scene in the film:
It certainly is one of the great uses of an aria in a film, as we see Alyson Best do a seductive strip tease to the music. I went out and bought a recording of this after seeing the film. I am glad someone else has seen this very under-appreciated Australian film by Paul Cox.
A completely different use of classical music to create an effect is Penderecki in David Lynch’s Inland Empire.
Rollerball uses a lot of classical music ranging from Bach to Shostakovich in a very iconic way.
Beethoven’s 7th was wonderfully used in John Boorman’s Zardoz.
I agree with Phil S. about the use of Beethoven’s 7th in Zardoz.
A little-known film that uses Mahler well is Karel Reisz’s The Gambler with James Caan. Some have argued that Mahler’s grand music is too grand for the slightly-sleazy main character but I think the music elevates the moral decisions he has to make to show that even sleazeballs have to make ethical choices.
Oh, I just noticed that I mentioned this earlier.
Well, how about all of Ken Russell’s biopics about composers, esp. Mahler.
The theme from Bergman’s Fanny and Alexander haunted me for years. It’s a simple, morbid little march played on strings and piano. Somehow I thought it came from a Brahms quintet, so I bought every one I could find. Never found it. If it hadn’t been for my subscription to the BBC Music magazine, I might never have learned the source. It was a complete surprise when I played their version of Schumann’s Qintet in E flat and the second movement started. Twenty-five years after I first saw the film!
Penderecki’s The Awakening of Jacob in The Shining.
Ike Cinecult
Classical music is used in many many movies. What about your opinion about the classical music in films? And what film scenes are greater in sense of classical music usage? I give you some examples:
Otto e mezzo, Apocalypse Now! – Die Walküre: Ride of the Valkyries
Excalibur – Carmina Burana: O Fortuna
Raging Bull, The Godfather Part III – Cavalleria rusticana: Intermezzo
Ordinary People, The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser – Canon and Gigue for Strings in D major
Brief Encounter – Piano Concerto No.2 in C minor Op.18
Venus Rising – Double Violin Concerto in A minor “L’Estro Armonico”, RV 522
Jean de Florette – La Forza del Destino: Overture
Schindler’s List – English Suite No. 2: Bourrée
The Silence of the Lambs – Goldberg Variations: 7 and Aria
Irréversible – Symphony No.7: II Allegretto