Music is the broom of the system

I have this weird obsession.

I love film music.

Not like musicals. No, actual orchestral soundtracks to motion pictures.

See, when I was a kid I was obsessed with orchestras. The way each one sounded different and unique. I would listen to a different recording of the same piece and try to figure out the differences in arrangement. Yeah, I didn't have a lot of friends during this period of my life.

There was something particularly unique about film scores though that grabbed my attention more so than straight up and up classical (though I do listen to Rachmaninoff whenever I feel overcome by melancholia).

And this one when I feel like taking over the world:

But I digress

Orchestras--

Something about such a large number of musicians playing together and sounding so amazing that just captivates me.

Some of my earliest memories of film are

Danny Elfman's Batman

John Williams Jurassic Park

From there I was hooked. These were exciting movies with awesome soundtracks played by dynamic, huge Hollywood orchestras.

When I was a teenage and most other kids my age were listening to whatever, I was saving my pennies for the Deluxe Limited Edition Star Trek Soundtrack, because well honestly, Jerry Goldsmith was maybe the greatest film composer to ever live (except for maybe John Williams, but it's really close)


Take for example-- Rudy, a movie no one outside of sport fans still remember. But then there was that score by Jerry Goldsmith that just blew the lid off the place--this track alone has been in like twenty movie trailers in the last fifteen years

Of course, Goldsmith's crowning achievement, what he is most remember for is his theme for Star Trek: The Motion Picture

 

And see it's not so much the films that do it for me, though I will admit that there is nothing more likely to bring me to tears than a moving piece of music set to beautiful imagery

(And speaking of differing arrangements, check out the 3 different arrangements used for the film, the version used on the soundtrack, and in the LOTR symphony...cough...nerd)(but hopefully, constant reader, you see my point--the music still retains it's power, despite the differences in performance)

But honestly, it's the music that draws me the most--the power and spontaneity of 100+ musicians working together to make something beautiful. In fact, the film can be shit as long as the music is good

(Actually Cutthroat Island isn't that bad of a movie)

 But so this is all really bombastic stuff. I'm not gonna sit here and try to say that I don't also enjoy the softer, mellow stuff too

I don't know why...I think this kind of music just appeals to me as a story teller...it's so visual, all you have to do is close your eyes and use your imagination and BAMstoryidea.