Elmer Bernstein
Donald Macleod’s Composer of the Week on Radio 3 this week is the film composer Elmer Bernstein.
His most famous score is The Magnificent Seven but he also composed the scores for The Ten Commandments, The Great Escape, To Kill a Mockingbird, The Man with the Golden Arm, The Sweet Smell of Success and True Grit.
The process of writing a film score has always intrigued me.
To what extent is it collaborative with the film director?
Should the score be dramatic or musical?
In Bernstein’s case he would immerse himself in the film.
He initially considered The Magnificent Seven too slow and wanted to inject some pace into his score. He did so but the score also reflected Chico’s romance with a local Mexican girl, an ambush and the Seven riding back in.
See here for a trailer featuring the main theme, courtesy of YouTube – THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN
Bernstein had more difficulty with To Kill a Mockingbird until he had the inspiration that this was a film seen through the prism of young children.
Sadly, if you are a film composer, you are never really rated.
I have heard music critics and aficionados denigrate Eric Korngold, for example, who went to Hollywood to compose film scores and who was highly esteemed in his native Austria as a composer by Gustav Mahler.
Subliminally but intentionally a score affects your mood during film, notably the use of string instruments in romance scenes.
Elmer Bernstein was one of the best.
