# The Official Jerry Goldsmith appreciation thread



## dcoscina (Sep 6, 2020)

So I recently purchased Total Recall from Omni Music and that has set me off on a Goldsmith odyssey of sorts. I was always a fan and respected his technique and creativity, but listening to a good portion of his seminal work on my headphones (and most of these recordings are re releases, re mastered, expanded scores from LaLaLand Records, Intrada and Quartet Records) I have been floored by the writing. Today I went through Total Recall, Final Conflict, and Alien. also a slight detour and listened to his outstanding concert work Music for Orchestra. Yesterday it was Papillon (quartet) and Islands in the Stream (Intrada, and FSM release). Just an amazing body of work with countless moments of sheer brilliance. 

Anyone else care to cite their favourite score and the reasons?


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## I like music (Sep 6, 2020)

For me, there are too many. Personally, my favourite composer of all time. No one else comes close. Can't put it into words. His music just 'hits' me like no one else's.

I'm still, to this day, discovering scores and snippets that floor me. Seems he could do anything, but the thing that always sticks out for me is his knack for melody. Just so good at encapsulating a movie in a few bars.

The other thing I like is that I can listen to his music without the film, and it works well.


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## dcoscina (Sep 6, 2020)

I always found Goldsmith's handle of modern devices like dissonance and atonality to be assured and confident. His ability to write vicious music is still unmatched (except maybe for Alex North, and Elliot Goldenthal)


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## José Herring (Sep 6, 2020)

dcoscina said:


> So I recently purchased Total Recall from Omni Music and that has set me off on a Goldsmith odyssey of sorts. I was always a fan and respected his technique and creativity, but listening to a good portion of his seminal work on my headphones (and most of these recordings are re releases, re mastered, expanded scores from LaLaLand Records, Intrada and Quartet Records) I have been floored by the writing. Today I went through Total Recall, Final Conflict, and Alien. also a slight detour and listened to his outstanding concert work Music for Orchestra. Yesterday it was Papillon (quartet) and Islands in the Stream (Intrada, and FSM release). Just an amazing body of work with countless moments of sheer brilliance.
> 
> Anyone else care to cite their favourite score and the reasons?


A master of masters. I never understood why Goldsmith for some reason seemed to get a little less notoriety than Williams, Zimmer, Horner or even Danny Elfman. He and Elliot Goldenthal to me are some of the best composers to ever do film.

There are film composers and there are composers who write for film. I consider Goldsmith a composer who writes for film. His music stands apart from the movie and you can listen to it over and over without the film.

I recently discovered Sum of All Fears. If you haven't heard it, well worth checking out.

Was also a big fan of Basic Instinct back in the day, but that one seems to have dated itself and also doesn't stand too well apart from the movie except for the main theme.

Love Chinatown and his score to The Ghost and the Darkness is outstanding. His score to The Shadow is my kind of cheese. 

Let's not forget the modern master piece that is the original Planet of the Apes. And, oft over looked is his score to Secret of NIMH. Those scores are on another planet. 

On his more "Hollywood" type scores I really love The Mummy. Everybody else who scored the franchise after that was just standing in the shadows of what Goldsmith had already done. Also, his score to The River Wild and to Star Trek First Contact. I call those scores more "Hollywood" because they were more focused on the traditional thematic approach to music for film.

He was also a great concert composer. I went to one of his concerts in Los Angeles when he was still alive. 

I'm privileged to have met him 3 times. He never knew my name but we had a few conversations. His personality was rough but very kind at the same time, confident but humble.


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## Nick Batzdorf (Sep 6, 2020)

Part of my Film Scoring senior project at Berklee was to analyze a score. I did Patton. Goldsmith was amazing.

I must have the transcriptions somewhere around.


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## JonS (Sep 6, 2020)

Gene Pool said:


> Poltergeist.
> 
> When was the last time you heard horror writing like that?
> 
> <crickets>


Greatest horror score of all-time is The Omen. Nothing compares.


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## dcoscina (Sep 6, 2020)

JonS said:


> Greatest horror score of all-time is The Omen. Nothing compares.


Except maybe Alien! And actually Final Conflict is stunning. It’s as if Jerry thought he was scoring the greatest movie of all time. Absolutely masterpiece.


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## dcoscina (Sep 6, 2020)

José Herring said:


> A master of masters. I never understood why Goldsmith for some reason seemed to get a little less notoriety than Williams, Zimmer, Horner or even Danny Elfman. He and Elliot Goldenthal to me are some of the best composers to ever do film.
> 
> There are film composers and there are composers who write for film. I consider Goldsmith a composer who writes for film. His music stands apart from the movie and you can listen to it over and over without the film.
> 
> ...


I saw Goldsmith conduct the TSO in 1990 and waited for him out back after the concert but alas I never got the chance to meet him. I’m lucky to have seen him conduct his own music however.


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## dcoscina (Sep 6, 2020)

José Herring said:


> A master of masters. I never understood why Goldsmith for some reason seemed to get a little less notoriety than Williams, Zimmer, Horner or even Danny Elfman. He and Elliot Goldenthal to me are some of the best composers to ever do film.
> 
> There are film composers and there are composers who write for film. I consider Goldsmith a composer who writes for film. His music stands apart from the movie and you can listen to it over and over without the film.
> 
> ...


As for Goldsmith’s lack of popularity, at least with the general public, it’s largely to do with the projects he worked on. Additionally, his grasp of 20th century harmony and compositional practices were seldom matched (Rosenman was a serialist too, as well as Humphrey Searle). Those devices were not generally as aesthetically pleasing to the ear as the warmer sonorities that many popular film scores encompassed. 
I feel Goldsmith was a composer’s composer. That his brilliance is most recognized and embraced by other musicians.


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## tmhuud (Sep 6, 2020)

Must have book: 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/184434415337


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## Cheezus (Sep 6, 2020)

dcoscina said:


> As for Goldsmith’s lack of popularity, at least with the general public, it’s largely to do with the projects he worked on. Additionally, his grasp of 20th century harmony and compositional practices were seldom matched (Rosenman was a serialist too, as well as Humphrey Searle). Those devices were not generally as aesthetically pleasing to the ear as the warmer sonorities that many popular film scores encompassed.
> I feel Goldsmith was a composer’s composer. That his brilliance is most recognized and embraced by other musicians.


I felt like the only weirdo whose favorite film composer was Goldsmith until I came to this forum.


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## CT (Sep 6, 2020)

dcoscina said:


> It’s as if Jerry thought he was scoring the greatest movie of all time.



There is a lot to admire about Jerry, but this is a big one. I can't think of any dumb movie that he scored which felt like he phoned it in because he knew it was crap.


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## José Herring (Sep 6, 2020)

Mike T said:


> There is a lot of admire about Jerry, but this is a big one. I can't think of any dumb movie that he scored which felt like he phoned it in because he knew it was crap.


I agree. I get the feeling that he felt like every movie was a gift and that he was happy to be working on it. Some were more successful than others but he gave his all to even the lower budget ones. 

I'll mention it again. Secret of Nihm. Too dark for children, too child like for adults. I don't even know how I came to see it. At 14 million box office not too many did. That movie had nothing going for it in the way of it being a box office success but Goldsmith knocked it out of the park. Incredible integrity--gave his all to every project.


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## José Herring (Sep 6, 2020)

dcoscina said:


> Except maybe Alien! And actually Final Conflict is stunning. It’s as if Jerry thought he was scoring the greatest movie of all time. Absolutely masterpiece.


Alien is unreal!!! My mind gets blown every time I listen to it.


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## Dave Connor (Sep 6, 2020)

Even his obscure scores such as The Illustrated Man (great Rod Steiger performance) and The Other are fantastic scores. As Henry Mancini said, “He scares the hell out of the rest of us.“ I thought he was about ten Oscars shy of what he deserved. I don’t know if anyone ever matched his versatility. I spent as much time as one could hope for around him. He was a dear, dear guy with zero pretensions. I deliberately watched how security guards and the common people working on the lots related to him. Downright reverence because he was so kind and genuine to everyone. “Genius“ gets tossed around a lot particularly with musicians but I doubt anyone would deny that Jerry Goldsmith was just that.


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## José Herring (Sep 6, 2020)

Dave Connor said:


> Even his obscure scores such as The Illustrated Man (great Rod Steiger performance) and The Other are fantastic scores. As Henry Mancini said, “He scares the hell out of the rest of us.“ I thought he was about ten Oscars shy of what he deserved. I don’t know if anyone ever matched his versatility. I spent as much time as one could hope for around him. He was a dear, dear guy with zero pretensions. I deliberately watched how security guards and the common people working on the lots related to him. Downright reverence because he was so kind and genuine to everyone. “Genius“ gets tossed around a lot particularly with musicians but I doubt anyone would deny that Jerry Goldsmith was just that.


You are lucky. Man, what an experience.


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## I like music (Sep 6, 2020)

This is one of my all-time favourite scenes of his. What I really love is the way it slowly but surely builds up. Got some nice Hollywood cheese to it, but I do love the fact that the _actual_ meet with the Vulcans has a much more tender moment than a lot of composers would have done it. And at the same time he's scored the whole scene using that strong theme. Not "underscoring" going on here - music is RIGHT there, accompanying the scene, enhancing it etc etc


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## GNP (Sep 6, 2020)

JonS said:


> Greatest horror score of all-time is The Omen. Nothing compares.



If you noticed, the melody that follows the motif for the Omen was in 6th intervals. 666. Haha, very clever.


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## dcoscina (Sep 7, 2020)

Dave Connor said:


> Even his obscure scores such as The Illustrated Man (great Rod Steiger performance) and The Other are fantastic scores. As Henry Mancini said, “He scares the hell out of the rest of us.“ I thought he was about ten Oscars shy of what he deserved. I don’t know if anyone ever matched his versatility. I spent as much time as one could hope for around him. He was a dear, dear guy with zero pretensions. I deliberately watched how security guards and the common people working on the lots related to him. Downright reverence because he was so kind and genuine to everyone. “Genius“ gets tossed around a lot particularly with musicians but I doubt anyone would deny that Jerry Goldsmith was just that.


Every interview I’ve watched of Goldsmith showed a very grounded, articulate and engaging person. I loved to hear his insights into the scoring process and how he approached his scores.


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## wilifordmusic (Sep 7, 2020)

Can't pick just one. In fact I couldn't keep the list down to a couple dozen.

He always seemed to understand exactly where the film's "heart" was. And then he would find the best musical language to support and sometimes clarify/elevate the film's meaning and emotion.

I suppose that's why he could create great music for a film that was lacking due to basic scripting or technical issues and elevate it.

And then he would write something stellar for great movies.


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## ptram (Sep 7, 2020)

José Herring said:


> I never understood why Goldsmith for some reason seemed to get a little less notoriety than […]
> His personality was rough but very kind at the same time, confident but humble.


Not much interested to public relations in a world where they are a prerequisite?

Paolo


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## ptram (Sep 7, 2020)

Alien is an encyclopedia of 20th century classic contemporary music. You can learn from Stravinsky, Schoenberg, Bartok and Penderecki by just studying it. This gives an idea of how deep his knowledge was.

Paolo


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## dcoscina (Sep 7, 2020)

ptram said:


> Alien is an encyclopedia of 20th century classic contemporary music. You can learn from Stravinsky, Schoenberg, Bartok and Penderecki by just studying it. This gives an idea of how deep his knowledge was.
> 
> Paolo


I hope this is Omni music publishing’s next Goldsmith release.. so much to study and appreciate.


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