While my “normal” musical tastes run to:
- Random selections from an iTunes playlist of favorites
- Sirius Radio channel 33, “New Wave”, especially the “Saturday Night Safety Dance”
- Albums from Jean Michel Jarre
- Sirius Radio, one of the country/western channels
…sometimes, such as tonight, I get into the mood for musicals, usually the original Broadway cast recordings.
Tonight we’ve started with “The Phantom Of The Opera.” Next up will probably be “Wicked” or “Jesus Christ Superstar.” I’m not sure I could take on “Les Miserables” tonight — wonderful stuff, but a bit strong and grim at times.
A similar class of great music are motion picture soundtracks. Have I ranted before about this?
The short version is that I believe two and three hundred years from now some of the better motion picture soundtracks will be remembered and viewed then the same way that we look at the great works of Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms, and so on.
Don’t believe me?
Go to a concert playing a medley of John William’s “greatest hits.” The themes from “Star Wars,” “Raiders Of The Lost Ark,” “Jaws,” “E.T.,” “Jurassic Park,” or “Harry Potter.”
Ditto for the work of Hans Zimmer in the “Pirates Of The Carribean,” “Dark Knight Trilogy,” or “Inception.”
Or Howard Shore’s work in the “Lord Of The Rings” movies.
I’m not saying that 200 years from now they’ll be playing every note, just as we don’t play every piece ever written by Mozart. But the showcase pieces, the themes, the “earworms” that you hear in the supermarket or elevator and recognize immediately — they’ll still be performed.
Music appreciation classes of 2315 will learn the “Classical Greatest Hits” such as Beethoven’s 5th, Mozart’s 40th, Dvorak’s “New World” symphony, Gershwin’s “Rhapsody In Blue,” Tchaikovsky’s “1812 Overture,” as well as William’s “Star Wars Main Title,” Zimmer’s “Dark Knight Theme,” Shore’s “The White Tree,” Maurice Jarre’s “Lawrence Of Arabia Overture,” or Malcolm Arnold’s “Colonel Bogie’s March” from “Bridge On The River Kwai.”
Just look me up in 2315 so that I can gloat and remind you that I said it first!
We Love The Stars Too Fondly 
I couldn’t agree more. I’ve often said that movie scores are the classical music of our time. Williams and Zimmer are on a par with Beethoven in my book (I can hear sharp intakes of breath around the ‘net).
And as I’ve said elsewhere, although Williams will always be The King, Zimmer is most definitely the heir apparent. Not bad for the keyboard player from Buggles 🙂
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Zimmer was in the Buggles?! The “Vidio Killed The Radio Star” Buggles? *mind – blown*
As for Williams, I’m a sucker for a good horn section, and the opening fanfares for “Star Wars” and “Indy” will hang in there with the “1812 Overture” any day.
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