Two Master Composers and Two Movies They Wrote For...

tThe wonderfully atmospheric movie "Dracula" was released in 1931, and maintains its status as one of the great masterpieces of the then newly developed sound movie era. The original music was redone for this movie in 1999 by the renowned contemporary composer Philip Glass, known, of course, for the minimalism he so successfully employed during one of his stylistic investigations. Now the crystal-clear and simplistic approach that Glass employs in this newer score truly enhances, in my view, the eerie translucency which is so wonderfully effective in projecting the story line.
Another composer, William Walton, known throughout the musical world in the last century, also did some movie scores, one of which harbors an engrossing prelude and fugue in a movie not well-known to the average movie-goer. The movie is "Spitfire," produced in England and released in 1942. It tells the story of the development of an airplane that may well have been the linchpin in the thwarting of Hitler's planned invasion of Great Britain, therefore insuring the destruction of the Nazi threat in World War II. The story is partly fictionalized, in that the genius designer of the Spitfire dies during the Battle of Britain; in fact, R. J. Mitchell died in 1937. The movie begins with Walton's Prelude, and the Fugue appears later in the film. For me, it is a truly powerful piece of movie music, and bolsters an otherwise average film immensely.
By the way, one of the most singular examples of choral writing in the 20th century is Walton's"Belshazzar's Feast."
When you have an afternoon of leisure, why not look at these two films, and decide for yourselves?

Prescience in Their Language - Two Composers

It's one issue that we all recognize; that is, the overwhelming power of genius represented by the likes of a few children, such as a Mozart, or a Mendelssohn. The supreme glibness of their production defies description.
It's another issue, perhaps, to consider examples of personal language that are immediately identifiable or recognized in the Romantic aspect, and which are brought to us by teen-agers whose thematic utterances are so unique as to remain, in essence, theirs and only theirs throughout their lives from their very beginnings.
I think often of Chopin and Rachmaninoff in this particular arena of thought.
We are told that Chopin wrote his first piano concerto in 1830; actually, some of the thematic material and workings of this composition were created at age 17. That first wonderful theme was given us during that tender age, and it is redolent with an eclecticism that belies such a tender age.
The same applies to the first concerto by Rachmaninoff, who began conception of that work at age 17 as well, even though we know that he altered the work later in his career. The first theme in his concerto, as in the Chopin, remains as it has always been, and it is very clear to the listener who these composers are, in terms of the uniqueness of their thematic projections. They, from the very beginning are , and remain, Chopin and Rachmaninoff.