Here鈥s a closer look at the meaning behind some of Heckman鈥檚 selections.
Animation. 鈥2815 A.D.鈥 (Thomas Newman for 鈥淲础尝尝-贰鈥) and 鈥Married Life鈥 (Michael Giacchino for 鈥淯辫鈥). Part of the reason why Pixar films are so successful is because they challenge
the idea that animated films are produced only for kids. So many of the stories that
Pixar films tell are not afraid to include deep intellectual themes. These two tracks
are perfect examples of the emotional depth that these animated films can portray,
even through non-human characters, such as WALL-E.
Short and impactful. 鈥淏lood on the Pavement鈥 (David Arnold and Michael Price for 鈥沦丑别谤濒辞肠办鈥). This track is the most unexpectedly stunning score I have ever heard on a first
viewing of a film. And even more unexpected is that this comes from a television show. Arnold
and Price composed a piece of tremendous harmonic complexity for the initial 鈥death鈥 of Sherlock Holmes. The end result is a series of dramatic shifts that make the listener
go through a series of emotions in a very short period of time.
John Williams. 鈥淭heme from Schindler鈥s List鈥&苍产蝉辫;(鈥沦肠丑颈苍诲濒别谤鈥s List鈥),&苍产蝉辫;鈥淲here Dreams are Born鈥 (鈥淎.滨.鈥) and 鈥淎苍补办颈苍鈥s Betrayal鈥 (鈥淪tar Wards Episode III - Revenge of the Sith鈥). Simply put, John Williams is our greatest and most widely-recognized living composer.
If you stopped a random person in the street today, they might not be able to tell
you who John Williams is, but they probably would recognize his most popular themes.
His theme for 鈥沦肠丑颈苍诲濒别谤鈥s List鈥 may be the most heartbreaking piece of music ever composed to film. And the genius
of the music itself is in how masterfully he channeled Jewish musical history and
culture in the work, and of course the flawlessly emotive violin performance by Itzhak
Perlman.
Cutting room floor. 鈥淢y Suicide (Dedicated to 3.29.1967)鈥 (Ludovic Bource for 鈥淭he Artist鈥) and 鈥淪cene d鈥Amour鈥 (Bernard Herrmann for 鈥淰别谤迟颈驳辞鈥).&苍产蝉辫;鈥淢y Suicide (Dedicated to 3.29.1967)鈥 is the most unusual track on this list, in that it does not actually appear anywhere
in 鈥淭he Artist.鈥 It was composed for the scene where George Valentin considers committing suicide,
yet it ultimately was left on the cutting room floor in favor of 鈥淪cene d鈥Amour鈥 from 鈥淰别谤迟颈驳辞.鈥 This ended up being a highly controversial decision, nevertheless the score still
won an Oscar in 2011. If you listen to one after the other, you can certainly hear 鈥淰别谤迟颈驳辞鈥鈥s influence on 鈥淭he Artist.鈥
by Hannah Callaway
