John Williams’s Film Music in the Concert Halls

Film music has its roots in late-romantic concert music. A number of composers of so-called “serious music” also composed for the film. And some Golden Age film composers came from the concert-music realm and, once they started their association with Hollywood, continued to pen works for the concert stage too. Film music had to struggle for a long time against the prejudice that saw it as music not to be taken seriously; it was regarded as “neglected art”. Nevertheless, film-music concerts have experienced a blossoming in the recent years. There is a large variety, from programmes that only perform film music in concert halls without any additional element to large-scale events in multi-purpose halls where film music is accompanied by film clips or provides the live accompaniment to entire films. This chapter examines the role of John Williams’s film scores in this context. Are there any special features of Williams’s film music that make it particularly suitable to the concert hall? How does the performance practice of his film music differ in comparison to classical concerts? Are there any pieces that are played more frequently than others, and if so, why

Original Soundtrack: On the Meaning and Significance of Film Music Albums

Despite a gradual, albeit still hesitant turnaround in music and film studies, film music is considered a musical genre that, for a long time, was not seen without the associated medium of film. Film music was thus regarded as an accompaniment to the film narrative, more or less inseparably connected with it and not appreciated as a separate work of art. Nevertheless, with the spread of sound storage media such as the gramophone record, albums came onto the market on which “only” film music could be heard. Today, film music on CDs or as digital releases is an integral part of the distribution chain of film studios and is usually commercially available. In a niche segment, labels have also specialized in releasing film music outside of mainstream cinema or in completing film music that has only been released incompletely and bringing it back onto the market in a remastered version. In addition, there are numerous releases where film music is not released as original recordings but as re-recordings, sometimes in the form of suites or new arrangements. The paper would like to argue that through this work of labels and releases, film music is held in high esteem, which goes far beyond viewing film music as a mere accompaniment or underscore to the accompanying film. Instead, albums enable the listener to perceive film music independently of the film, which corresponds not least to the performance of film music in concert halls. In this paper, a few examples will be worked out and interviews with producers and label managers will help to find out to what extent film music can be regarded as independent works (which, like program music, are based on an extra-musical idea) and what advantages or disadvantages the tendency from CD to digital releases has

Original soundtrack: On the meaning and significance of film music albums

Despite a gradual, albeit still hesitant turnaround in music and film studies, film music is considered a musical genre that, for a long time, was not seen without the associated medium of film. Film music was thus regarded as an accompaniment to the film narrative, more or less inseparably connected with it and not appreciated as a separate work of art. Nevertheless, with the spread of sound storage media such as the gramophone record, albums came onto the market on which “only” film music could be heard. Today, film music on CDs or as digital releases is an integral part of the distribution chain of film studios and is usually commercially available. In a niche segment, labels have also specialized in releasing film music outside of mainstream cinema or in completing film music that has only been released incompletely and bringing it back onto the market in a remastered version. In addition, there are numerous releases where film music is not released as original recordings but as re-recordings, sometimes in the form of suites or new arrangements. The paper would like to argue that through this work of labels and releases, film music is held in high esteem, which goes far beyond viewing film music as a mere accompaniment or underscore to the accompanying film. Instead, albums enable the listener to perceive film music independently of the film, which corresponds not least to the performance of film music in concert halls. In this paper, a few examples will be worked out and interviews with producers and label managers will help to find out to what extent film music can be regarded as independent works (which, like program music, are based on an extra-musical idea) and what advantages or disadvantages the tendency from CD to digital releases has

Original soundtrack: On the meaning and significance of film music albums

Despite a gradual, albeit still hesitant turnaround in music and film studies, film music is considered a musical genre that, for a long time, was not seen without the associated medium of film. Film music was thus regarded as an accompaniment to the film narrative, more or less inseparably connected with it and not appreciated as a separate work of art. Nevertheless, with the spread of sound storage media such as the gramophone record, albums came onto the market on which “only” film music could be heard. Today, film music on CDs or as digital releases is an integral part of the distribution chain of film studios and is usually commercially available. In a niche segment, labels have also specialized in releasing film music outside of mainstream cinema or in completing film music that has only been released incompletely and bringing it back onto the market in a remastered version. In addition, there are numerous releases where film music is not released as original recordings but as re-recordings, sometimes in the form of suites or new arrangements. The paper would like to argue that through this work of labels and releases, film music is held in high esteem, which goes far beyond viewing film music as a mere accompaniment or underscore to the accompanying film. Instead, albums enable the listener to perceive film music independently of the film, which corresponds not least to the performance of film music in concert halls. In this paper, a few examples will be worked out and interviews with producers and label managers will help to find out to what extent film music can be regarded as independent works (which, like program music, are based on an extra-musical idea) and what advantages or disadvantages the tendency from CD to digital releases has

Once again in rehearsal: Celibidache rehearses Bruckner’s Ninth by Jan Schmidt-Garre

Rezension zu: 'Celibidache Rehearses Bruckner’s Ninth' Director: Jan Schmidt-Garre Arthaus Musik DVD 101 555 2011 58 min

Ein perfekter Ort?: das utopische Element des Raumschiffs bei Star Trek

Ein wesentliches Charakteristikum der klassischen Utopieerzählungen der Renaissance ist, dass sie vor allem Raumutopien darstellen. Die Utopie ist an einem Wunschort angesiedelt, einer Imagination, die sich in zeitlicher Entfernung zum Betrachter befinden kann, die in jedem Fall aber eine beträchtliche räumliche Entfernung aufweist. Es scheint also eine Art Notwendigkeit zu bestehen, eine ideale Gesellschafts- respektive Staatsform in die topografische Peripherie zu verlegen, weitab von der real existierenden Gesellschaft, innerhalb derer die Utopie entstand. Nur so kann sich das Ideale frei von gegenwärtigen omnipräsenten Einflüssen entfalten, kann ein idealer Gesellschaftsentwurf mit der realen Gesellschaft kontrastieren und sie widerlegen. Worin kann man bei dieser Charakterisierung des utopischen (Nicht-)Ortes Gemeinsamkeiten mit dem (Nicht-)Ort Raumschiff sehen? Kann ein Raumschiff die Basis einer Utopie darstellen, quasi ein paradigmatisches Anderswo, abgekoppelt von unserer Welt und doch mit ihr geistig verbunden? Insbesondere, wenn es sich hier um das US-amerikanische Franchise Star Trek handelt, das gemeinhin eher unter dem Genre Science-Fiction denn als Utopie behandelt wird? Im Folgenden will ich anhand der Fernsehserie „Star Trek: The Next Generation“ versuchen aufzuzeigen, welche Rolle das Raumschiff als Handlungsort innerhalb der Serie spielt und welche utopische Bedeutung es für die Serie erlangt

Sammelrezension: Movie Comics

Wheeler Winston Dixon, Richard Graham: A Brief History ofComic Book MoviesBasingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan 2017, 98 S., ISBN 9783319471839,EUR 53,49 Blair Davis: Movie Comics: Page to Screen/Screen to PageNew Brunswick: Rutgers UP 2017, 294 S., ISBN 9780813572253,USD 27,9

Streaming für Forschende: Desiderata aus Sicht des Fachinformationsdienstes für Kommunikations-, Medien- und Filmwissenschaft

Der Beitrag erörtert die Entwicklung des Video-Streaming-Marktes und die Bedeutung für Öffentliche und wissenschaftliche Bibliotheken. Dabei geht er auch auf die Spezialisierung bestimmter Anbieter ein. Zusammenfassend ist festzuhalten, dass Streaming von AV-Medien vor allem für Öffentliche Bibliotheken ein wertvolles Zusatzangebot für Nutzende darstellt, für wissenschaftliche Bibliotheken hinsichtlich der Dauerhaftigkeit, Zitierfähigkeit und Nachnutzbarkeit von Ressourcen noch wesentliche Fragen ungelöst bleiben.The paper discusses the development of the video streaming market and its importance for public and academic libraries. It also deals with the specialization of certain providers. In summary, it can be said that streaming of AV media is a valuable additional service for users, especially for public libraries, but for academic libraries essential questions regarding the persistence, citation and subsequent use of resources remain unsolved