It’s impossible to think of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Hero or The Banquet without Tan Dun’s inspired scores. His partnership on three of the most beautiful martial arts films ever made (with Ang Lee on Crouching Tiger, Zhang Yimou on Hero and Feng Xiaogang on The Banquet) was as good as it gets between composer and director. There have been other noteworthy composer and director teams.
Sergei Eisenstein was the legendary director of Russian silent films (notably, Battleship Potemin and October), but it’s his collaborations with composer Sergey Prokofiev on two historical epics, Alexander Nevsky and Ivan the Terrible, that still resonate in the concert hall and on recordings. Prokofiev’s music for the spectacular Battle on the Ice in Alexander Nevsky has been much imitated but never surpassed.
When Sir Laurence Olivier starred in and directed three Shakespeare films, Hamlet, Henry V and Richard III, his composer was William Walton. Walton’s scores are colorful, carefully avoid anachronisms and vividly underscore character. Walton’s music is the perfect partner to the music of Olivier’s voice.
The list of concert composers who have written successful film music has some surprises. Erich Wolfgang Korngold’s scores to swashbucklers are well known, but Arnold Bax, Jacques Ibert, Arthur Honegger, Dimitri Shostakovich and Philip Glass also wrote film music.
Our featured title is The Martial Arts Trilogy. Tan Dun’s music is magnificent and receives passionate performances by Yo-Yo Ma, Lang Lang and Itzhak Perlman with Tan Dun conducting.
Who are some of your favorite concert composers who’ve written film music?
by Craig Zeichner
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