The Score Magazine February 2018 issue! | Page 29

5 1 AWESOME ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACKS THAT DESERVE A LISTEN Interstellar - Hans Zimmer Keeping up with his reputation of churning out mind bending movies, Cristopher Nolan made Interstellar. It was his first movie after the infamous Batman trilogy and this science fiction divided opinions like no other. What didn’t divide opinions was the soundtrack. Trusted with the soundtrack of another Nolan movie, Hans Zimmer proved why he is one of the most prolific music directors of this era. Slow and scattered, the Interstellar takes you into a zero-gravity zone where a string of his music is holding you in place. You’re at the mercy of Hans Zimmer’s music and you cant help but, be a part of Cooper’s journey back home. A beautifully shot movie loses its charm if the music doesn’t match the beauty of what you’re seeing. This space epic gets a more than worthy partner with organ and strings flowing fluidly around your ears. 2 The Godfather - Nino Rota One of the greatest movies ever made, the Godfather trilogy is more like a tale of two movies than three. When you think about The Godfather, very few would think anything other the infamous dialogue “I’ll make him an offer he can’t refuse.” But, there is something about the soundtrack that leaves a n impression that lasts longer than the 177 minutes of the movie. The movie set in the late ‘40s and there is something about the trumpet and string tones by Rota that somehow take you out of the mean streets of New York and calmly thump you in the lanes of Italy. When a movie revolves around a Mafia, the soundtrack has to constantly keep you on your feet. Rota doesn’t do that with anything more than accordion driven swing music with a blend of jazz with a sombre theme. VIPUL VIJ 3 The Artist - Ludovic Bource Released in 2011, The Artist is a silent film that swept the Oscars that year, and also won the award for the best original soundtrack. It is hard to argue otherwise when you watch the movie or even just Google the soundtrack. The movie follows the rise and fall of a famous silent film actor, and the soundtrack takes you through that journey. It makes you tap your feet with George Valentin and the very next moment you feel the agony of him losing the grip on his career. Music has an even greater role in silents films and Ludovic delivers an absolute peach with The Artist. The film's climactic scene is set to Bernard Herrmann's "Scène d'amour" from his score to Alfred Hitchcock's film Vertigo. If you like orchestral music, The Artist soundtrack is a beatiful rendition of French and American influences. 4 5 Jaws - John Williams Released in 1975, Jaws is one of the most iconic movie franchisees of all time. Apart from Spielberg’s vision behind the camera, John Williams’ Academy Award Winning score takes you into a journey to the centre of the ocean. Slowly building up the music throughout the two movies, John Williams produced some of the most iconic tunes of an original soundtrack. Even when you hit the play button and your eyes are closed, you can feel the breathlessness that comes with the fear of a giant killer shark that is after your life. Similar to what Spielberg does with visuals, Williams comes up with dark tones that eventually burst into your ears and catch hold of your attention like the sharp tooth a killer shark. Dunkirk - Hans Zimmer Released in 2017 is another Nolan masterpiece that revolves around the World War II. A movie that confuse people if they blink for an extra second than usual, the disjointed nature of the movie blends in with the soundtrack produced by the man who is a synonym to Christopher Nolan. Hans Zimmer’s music in this movie is a 106-minute masterclass about how to put the pieces of a spatially disjointed movie together through music. The movie goes from land to space to water and the score binds all the three storylines together by fourteen cellos and a double bass. The tension and violence of war that results in nothing else but demolition is ironically stitched together by Has Zimmer and his intelligent scoring. "Nimrod" from Edward Elgar's Enigma Variations was slowed down to six beats per minute to avoid it from sounding too sentimental. The Score Magazine highonscore.com 27