# Post your favourite Vladimir Cosma tracks!



## Mark Kouznetsov (Mar 27, 2021)

There are A LOT of great music from him, but one of my favourites is definitely *Le Jaguar*:




It's got that 70s feel to it, which is kind of my weakness. So many amazing scores from that era. Love that grand, sweeping, lively feel to it. Something's that missing from so many modern scores, unfortunately.


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## Loïc D (Mar 27, 2021)

He’s legendary in France.
First theme that comes to mind is Les Fugitifs.
So many good movies he has scored...


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## Niah2 (Mar 27, 2021)




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## re-peat (Mar 27, 2021)

I’ve always associated Cosma with the worst of French cinema: insultingly idiotic, never-funny, badly-acted movies, drenched in insultingly bad and very annoying music.

And French cinema can be _soooooooo_ good.

But it rarely is when Cosma is involved.

All of his music also sounds incredibly dated too, I find. In the worst possible way, that is. Found a video (see below) that presents what are apparently Cosma’s best melodies. Mon dieu. There’s not a single decent one among them. Awful stuff. Awful.
Don’t like that Jaguar music either. Any composer worth his or her ego writes 10 such melodies in an afternoon.

One faint exception: the Satie-esque promenade music from “Diva”. Not great but at least tolerable.




_


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## Mark Kouznetsov (Mar 27, 2021)

re-peat said:


> I’ve always associated Cosma with the worst of French cinema: insultingly idiotic, never-funny, badly-acted movies, drenched in insultingly bad and very annoying music.
> 
> And French cinema can be _soooooooo_ good.
> 
> ...



Ooh, edgy


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## TGV (Mar 27, 2021)

When I read the title of this topic, I couldn't help but remember a French guy I corresponded with for a while, until he fell of the radar. He liked to mock up tracks, and he had a thing for Vladimir Cosma. It probably was the soundtrack of his youth. I'm uploading one of his Cosma mockups, Le grand blond avec une chaussure noire. Here's to you, Fred, wherever you are.


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## Stevie (Mar 27, 2021)

La gloire de mon père




Longer version:




Experienced the movie in the theatre when I was 9 years old (I grew up in France) and I was completely blown away by the power of music. This pretty much triggered unconsciously the desire to compose film music in me.
Merci Vladimir.


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## molemac (Mar 27, 2021)

re-peat said:


> I’ve always associated Cosma with the worst of French cinema: insultingly idiotic, never-funny, badly-acted movies, drenched in insultingly bad and very annoying music.
> 
> And French cinema can be _soooooooo_ good.
> 
> ...


Tu ne comprends rien sur le cinéma français si tu n’aime pas ça. Dîner de cons aptly named.


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## Nico (Mar 28, 2021)

I love Cosma, but my favorite is "Habanera" from _"La Gloire de mon père", just for the sound of cicadas... and beautiful film too!

_


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## molemac (Mar 28, 2021)

Nico said:


> I love Cosma, but my favorite is "Habanera" from _"La Gloire de mon père", just for the sound of cicadas... and beautiful film too!
> 
> _



I think John Barry might have been influenced by this, 1:36 is quite Bond like


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## Maarten (Mar 28, 2021)

molemac said:


> I think John Barry might have been influenced by this, 1:36 is quite Bond like


Probably the other way around. This movie is from 1990.


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## Gil (Mar 28, 2021)

Hello,
I went to see him twice in concert, and it was really great: obviously, Le grand Blond avec une Chaussure noire :


But also La 7ème Cible (as Mr Cosma is a violonist):


And Diva - Sentimental Walk:


I had the chance to meet him, a really great person


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## molemac (Mar 28, 2021)

Maarten said:


> Probably the other way around. This movie is from 1990.





Maarten said:


> Probably the other way around. This movie is from 1990.


I stand corrected . Well spotted


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## Stevie (Mar 28, 2021)

Maybe less known:


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## re-peat (Mar 29, 2021)

Every new post that gets added to this thread only confirms (to me, I mean) what I’ve been thinking all along. Actually, it’s more serious than that: I’ve never held Cosma in high regard, but having listened to the above videos, I can't but conclude that he’s even a lot worse than I already thought he was. There's never been another VI-C thread that has so much kitsch-y, uninteresting, idiotic and third-rate music on display as this one.

I also notice again how poorly performed, recorded and produced all this music is. Really-really bad recordings. To be fair to Cosma, he’s not the only European film composer (I use the term loosely so as to include Cosma) to have suffered this fate. Up until a decade or two-three ago, most European film music — except when it was written by a composer of international stature (and even that was no guarantee for a decent sound production) — was recorded, or so it would appear anyway, in the direst of conditions, using under-rehearsed, amateuristic-sounding orchestras and players, and with only the barest of production budgets.

- - -

It’s possible that I don’t ‘understand’ French cinema. I doubt it though. I grew up with it. (I can ride on my bicyclette from my home to the borders of France — singing Yves Montand’s “À Bicyclette” while I’m at it —, if I want.) So, I’m pretty confident that I know and understand French cinema (and its music) as well or as poorly as anyone here. Which is precisely why I object with such vehemence to Cosma. If this thread had been about Sarde, Portal, Delerue, Legrand, Petit, Solal, Françaix, Yared, etc. … my contribution to it would have been entirely different.

_


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## Rob (Mar 29, 2021)

In order to disprove Piet's comment, which is one of my favorite activities, I've searched for something valuable, something that clearly would show the geniality of the above composer, but alas, I came away with empty hands...


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## tmhuud (Mar 29, 2021)

Ah yes , Delerue. What a fantastically inspiring composer. Cosma? 🤔 well... I seem to recall a soundtrack called “Diva”? But I can’t remember any of the cues off hand , but....I DO remember La Wally which I thought was a marvelous opera with a wonderful theme. It was featured in part in the film. I believe that was composed by Alfredo Catalani. Devine.


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## Loïc D (Mar 29, 2021)

re-peat said:


> If this thread had been about Sarde, Portal, Delerue, Legrand, Petit, Solal, Françaix, Yared, etc. …


Man, you’re paving the way for my French composer appreciation thread that I left aside for weeks (and feels guilty of).
I’ve got plenty of new content in preparation.

Cosma is THE composer for 70s/80s French popular movies (think : family movies). He’s been doing what he was hired for : catchy tunes, simple and straight.
Directors & producers of these movies didn’t want complicated music of the likes of Delerue, Sarde, De Roubaix and al.
Who were conversely certainly not too much willing to score these movies too.


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## Mr Greg G (Mar 29, 2021)

Vladimir Cosma is/was one of the greatest composers out there from the 70s to early 90s with La gloire de mon père being one of his best cues. The movie was great on its own but the music really made it shine and nostalgic like Marcel Pagnol's novel.

What I like the most about him are his melodies (which terribly lack in many composers cues), his obvious inspiration from jazz/classical music and etudes, and the way he makes the chords transition in making variations of the main theme.


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## Maarten (Mar 29, 2021)

His late sixties / early seventies work is also worth listening. Especially if you like the *kazoo*.

In "Clerambard (les demoiselles de provine)" from 1969, the kazoo plays a staccato melody, with legato slurs at the end of the phrases (just a note for mock-up). More kazoos become active during the song, sometimes a diatonic third above the melody, sometimes contrapuntal lines.
This melody will stay with you for a very long time. Listener beware!

Freely moving fat electric bass, not so tight Hammond stabs and a loose drummer accompany this infectious melody.

Some beautiful brass enters the field after 45 seconds. From then, an intricate rhythmic melodic texture, with call & response elements appears. The song finishes off with an abrupt perfect cadence, a rising fourth.
(no need for Neo-Riemannian theory to comprehend it)

You will be left with a smile on your face. 1:48 pure enjoyment!


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## Loïc D (Mar 29, 2021)

Maarten said:


> His late sixties / early seventies work is also worth listening. Especially if you like the *kazoo*.
> 
> In "Clerambard (les demoiselles de provine)" from 1969, the kazoo plays a staccato melody, with legato slurs at the end of the phrases (just a note for mock-up). More kazoos become active during the song, sometimes a diatonic third above the melody, sometimes contrapuntal lines.
> This melody will stay with you for a very long time. Listener beware!
> ...



This tune has been featured in hundreds of programs and TV ads here in France.
It indeed stays very long in your brain


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## Maarten (Mar 29, 2021)

More *Kazoos*. "Le Ballet Des Allégories. (1971)" is in a way, Vladimir's 'Freak Out'.
category: weird music but very intriguing. Sitar, beautiful choir parts and kazoos!


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## Maarten (Mar 29, 2021)

Loïc D said:


> This tune has been featured in hundreds of programs and TV ads here in France.
> It indeed stays very long in your brain


Nice to know. Never heard of Cosma before this thread, although I saw the family movies "L'Animal" & "Rabbi Jacob" in the seventies & "Diva" as an arthouse-hit in the early eighties.


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## Oakran (Mar 29, 2021)

re-peat said:


> Every new post that gets added to this thread only confirms (to me, I mean) what I’ve been thinking all along. Actually, it’s more serious than that: I’ve never held Cosma in high regard, but having listened to the above videos, I can't but conclude that he’s even a lot worse than I already thought he was. There's never been another VI-C thread that has so much kitsch-y, uninteresting, idiotic and third-rate music on display as this one.
> 
> I also notice again how poorly performed, recorded and produced all this music is. Really-really bad recordings. To be fair to Cosma, he’s not the only European film composer (I use the term loosely so as to include Cosma) to have suffered this fate. Up until a decade or two-three ago, most European film music — except when it was written by a composer of international stature (and even that was no guarantee for a decent sound production) — was recorded, or so it would appear anyway, in the direst of conditions, using under-rehearsed, amateuristic-sounding orchestras and players, and with only the barest of production budgets.
> 
> ...


Nice troll.
Cosma is great ! The kitsch part of his music is exactly what makes it brilliant unlike your posts  I think he did the best he could with what was possible at the time and it seems totally unfair to judge the recording quality in comparaison to what's possible today.. If we still speak about him 40 years later I think there's a reason.
Cheers


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## re-peat (Mar 30, 2021)

Touchy bunch, the Cosma Fan Club. I didn’t know that. Dare to refrain from joining in their adulation for the Master and they call you a ‘con’ and a troll and tell you you don’t know what you’re talking about.

Look, vraiment désolé and all that, but I just don’t like Cosma’s music. That is my right, isn’t it? Most participants here seem to like his music very much, and that's fine, but I don’t. What’s the problem?

And based on the examples that have already been posted, I fully expect that the next dozen Cosma clips will only affirm my opinion. Because I simply do not hear any hint of a remarkable talent in any of the material posted thus far, I’m sorry. Trite tunes à volonté, banal harmonies in abundance, run-of-the-mill arrangements, barely adequate performances, a few gimmicky production ideas, and well-below-average recordings. That’s what I hear. Nothing exceptional, nothing memorable, nothing that I’m prepared to call good music.

And I’m sure Cosma “did the best he could”, that much is obvious, but that’s alas also precisely why his output is such a miserable and pitiful affair.

The man might be considered a national treasure in France, and I’m prepared to respect that (because deep-down I am a Gallophile), but I refuse to consider him a great composer.

_


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## Lionel Schmitt (Mar 30, 2021)

re-peat said:


> Touchy bunch, the Cosma Fan Club. I didn’t know that. Dare to refrain from joining in their adulation for the Master and they call you a ‘con’ and a troll and tell you you don’t know what you’re talking about.
> 
> Look, vraiment désolé and all that, but I just don’t like Cosma’s music. That is my right, isn’t it? Most participants here seem to like his music very much, and that's fine, but I don’t. What’s the problem?
> 
> ...


Did he steal your toys when you were a kid?

I'm not part of the Cosma fanclub... just saw a few production music pieces years ago that I liked... didn't listen for years, just checked the first track linked and love it, that's it.

I'm sometimes fairly rude but you are in a totally different galaxy of poison. I never read so much pure hate against any composers work (except perhaps HZ over at *the forum* LOL).

Well, I hope he will buy you a new toy at some point. Luckily he is still alive according to google. Maybe send a letter or so...


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## re-peat (Mar 30, 2021)

Well, you’ll have to excuse me, I suppose. With the same fire that I write enthusiastically about a composer or music which I love — and there are countless VI-pages that contain examples of that —, I will write negatively about a composer whose work I don’t like. Two sides of the exact same passion. And it’s got nothing to do with 'pure hate' or a “galaxy of poison” or trolling, it simply has to be like that for me, or it would be untruthful. (And I don’t see why that is considered such an unacceptable stance.) I simply cannot listen to Cosma’s music and then dismiss the thing politely with a few indifferent, moderately disapproving but always civil words, I just can’t. It’s too bad for that. (In my strictly personal opinion, that is.)

Oh, wait, if I am totally honest, I have to add that there is one piece of music here for which I feel what is indeed correctly described as hate. I’m talking about that pseudo-Celtic piece of not-even-muzak posted on the previous page. Anyone who produces that (and sells it as ‘Celtic Mysteries’) deserves nothing less than to have a galaxy of poison poured out over him/her.

The only argument that can make me change course in this thread, is if someone finds me a piece of good Cosma music. (And trust me, if I’ll hear it, I’ll acknowledge it.) Until then, I stick with what I’ve said. If that upsets anyone, tant pis.

_


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## Mr Greg G (Mar 30, 2021)

To each his own, but reading again your initial post seems like you're vomiting on Cosma's work gratuitously. I mean, I also have a negative opinion on some established composer's work like Einaudi or Tiersen that many rave about. I find their music too cliché. But it's not like they were horrible and famous for some strange reason only God or the Universe would understand. I'm not touched by it, so be it. It doesn't mean it's garbage though. It's all about having a balanced and respectful opinion.


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## Loïc D (Mar 31, 2021)

re-peat said:


> Well, you’ll have to excuse me, I suppose. With the same fire that I write enthusiastically about a composer or music which I love — and there are countless VI-pages that contain examples of that —, I will write negatively about a composer whose work I don’t like. Two sides of the exact same passion. And it’s got nothing to do with 'pure hate' or a “galaxy of poison” or trolling, it simply has to be like that for me, or it would be untruthful. (And I don’t see why that is considered such an unacceptable stance.) I simply cannot listen to Cosma’s music and then dismiss the thing politely with a few indifferent, moderately disapproving but always civil words, I just can’t. It’s too bad for that. (In my strictly personal opinion, that is.)
> 
> Oh, wait, if I am totally honest, I have to add that there is one piece of music here for which I feel what is indeed correctly described as hate. I’m talking about that pseudo-Celtic piece of not-even-muzak posted on the previous page. Anyone who produces that (and sells it as ‘Celtic Mysteries’) deserves nothing less than to have a galaxy of poison poured out over him/her.
> 
> ...


I definetely wouldn’t accuse you of trolling, your contributions on the forum tells the opposite.
And you are right to express you dislike about Cosma’s music.
Again, the guy seems humble about his stuff and it is definitely (mostly) simple music for (mostly) simple movies (lots of comedies).
He’s probably more talented than what his music tells, probably not as much as Delerue, Sarde, Jarre and the likes.
But he was not hired for this.

As to the poor production, I agree that the quality was subpar in France. The lack of a proper scoring structure - compared to UK, Germany or Italy - has always been a concern here.
And the closure of Studio Davout has left Paris without a decent large scoring stage.


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## lychee (Mar 31, 2021)

re-peat​
I don't think you're trying to be mean (or at least I hope), but when you use words like "insultingly idiotic, never-funny, badly-acted movies, drenched in insultingly bad and very annoying music", it may sound insulting for all those who like this artist and the French comedy (I confess to be one of those).

After that I don't ask you not to express yourself on your disenchantment with Cosma, but I think that you should, as the French expression would say "put water in your wine", that is to say calm things down and use less crude words.
Being frank is good, but sometimes you have to know how to be less so as not to hurt your neighbor.

Without wanting to sound insulting in my turn, it can seem pretentious to say "this sucks, but this is good" (these are not your words, but I will shorten), especially as questions of taste are and will remain subjective forever.


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## Stevie (Mar 31, 2021)

You know, the funny thing is, I don't get mad at Re-Peat at all, because I highly respect his opinion in many regards. Yes, his words were harsh, but I don't mind.
I still can enjoy Vladimir Cosma. After music is always a personal thing. Some like his music, some don't.
Let's move on


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## molemac (Mar 31, 2021)

re-peat said:


> Well, you’ll have to excuse me, I suppose. With the same fire that I write enthusiastically about a composer or music which I love — and there are countless VI-pages that contain examples of that —, I will write negatively about a composer whose work I don’t like. Two sides of the exact same passion. And it’s got nothing to do with 'pure hate' or a “galaxy of poison” or trolling, it simply has to be like that for me, or it would be untruthful. (And I don’t see why that is considered such an unacceptable stance.) I simply cannot listen to Cosma’s music and then dismiss the thing politely with a few indifferent, moderately disapproving but always civil words, I just can’t. It’s too bad for that. (In my strictly personal opinion, that is.)
> 
> Oh, wait, if I am totally honest, I have to add that there is one piece of music here for which I feel what is indeed correctly described as hate. I’m talking about that pseudo-Celtic piece of not-even-muzak posted on the previous page. Anyone who produces that (and sells it as ‘Celtic Mysteries’) deserves nothing less than to have a galaxy of poison poured out over him/her.
> 
> ...





re-peat said:


> Look, vraiment désolé and all that, but I just don’t like Cosma’s music. That is my right, isn’t it? Most participants here seem to like his music very much, and that's fine, but I don’t. What’s the problem?
> 
> And based on the examples that have already been posted, I fully expect that the next dozen Cosma clips will only affirm my opinion. Because I simply do not hear any hint of a remarkable talent in any of the material posted thus far, I’m sorry. Trite tunes à volonté, banal harmonies in abundance, run-of-the-mill arrangements, barely adequate performances, a few gimmicky production ideas, and well-below-average recordings. That’s what I hear. Nothing exceptional, nothing memorable, nothing that I’m prepared to call good music.
> 
> ...


you call yourself a Gallophile . Do us a favour and watch Diner de con without smiling when the music kicks in . I loved it so much when I went to see the movie, I wrote a Hollywood/Miramax film score influenced by it . Maybe you aren’t old enough to have experienced the wonderful films of Jaques Tati and his music too and understand the simplicity and slapstick nature of French humour. Also watch Diva and listen to Cosmos promenade . Both classics of the 80s. Having said that , I agree with you on a lot of his stuff, especially when it comes to the overuse of Kazoo 🤮


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## Maarten (Apr 1, 2021)

Maybe it's Time now, to make a 'Braaam' sound with a lot of Kazoos. 
A Hans Zimmer & Vladimir Cosma combi nobody can resist!


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## lychee (Apr 1, 2021)

... So Cosma would be the one who inspired Ennio Morricone? 




More seriously, the music can take different forms, go from sad to joyful, from tragic to comic and be in perfect harmony with the image.
We could not assemble The Imperial March of John Williams to the film "Le Diner De Con", obviously that would not fit.
Also, I do not see why the so-called comic music could not take a good place in our hearts, even if it is played on kazoo.


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## PedroPH (Apr 1, 2021)

re-peat said:


> To be fair to Cosma, he’s not the only European film composer (I use the term loosely so as to include Cosma) to have suffered this fate.
> _


Why do you have to use the term "European" loosely to include Cosma? Isn't he Romanian? How is Romania only "loosely" an European country? Am I missing something?


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## re-peat (Apr 1, 2021)

I was toying with the the idea myself, a few days ago, to post “My Name Is Nobody” as a good example of light-weight, catchy tune BUT written by someone _who actually has special gift to write those type of things_. (And they’re very difficult to write.)

On paper, Cosma would be among my favourite composers: his stylistic range knows no limits, he doesn’t look down on the more “low-brow” popular types of music, he’s eclectic in the best possible way, he enthusiatically embraces every possible style or genre, he’s as versatile as any … and these are all things I greatly admire in a composer. (And I have a particularly strong fondness for people who do light music well.) But … the mammoth-sized problem here is: Cosma, in my view, doesn’t have the gift for great musical composition. He doesn’t have any talent for remarkable musical ideas or melody. Not like Ennio Morricone had. Not like John Barry had, not like Burt Bacharach had, not like Henry Mancini had. These four had that wondrous (and extremely rare) gift in spades, Cosma, unfortunately, doesn’t even have the tiniest seed of it.

He can write a half-decent tune, sure, like most of us can, and on a good day something might flow out of his pen that approaches a modicum of enjoyability, but it’s never going to be something truly extraordinary. The great melodies of those four other composers are just that:_ truly extraordinary._

Many things, and some very essential ones among them, in the art of composing music require skill, knowledge and technique. But there are also two things which require something else — talent — in order to reach outstanding musical heights. Unnurturable, undevelopable, unteachable and unlearnable _talent_. And those two things which require talent (rather than skill) are: melody and musical idea. Without a real talent for these, a composer may be as well-trained, educated, dedicated and passionate as can be, his or her output will never rise above the workmanlike. It may be interesting, profound, clever, sophisticated, enjoyable and even successful, but it won’t have that spark of special inspiration which makes the heart of all great music pump.

Of the three Strauss brothers, only Johann had The Gift. The other two could also write a perfectly shaped and serviceable polka, waltz or gallop, no problem at all, but only Johann, when inspired, could write melodies that can cast a spell on their audiences. He had the talent to inject his music with that spark. He could write melodies that transcend style, purpose, time and place, melodies that have a catchyness that is not contrived and never cheap but genuinely inspired (and therefore everlasting), melodies that have that elusive, almost magical quality with which they completely win over new audiences (all over the world) generation after generation after generation. 

Unfathomably special talent that is. And Cosma doesn’t have it. He is very much like one of the other two Strauss brothers. He can try all he wants, does his better-than-best, but he will *never* write a great melody.

And regrettably, he doesn’t seem to know it himself, because if he did, he wouldn’t rely on ‘tunes’ as much as he does in his music. See, to my ears, Cosma’s music doesn’t so much expose whatever talent for music he might have, it exposes — and to a rather painful degree — the talent which he doesn’t have.

_


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## Rob (Apr 1, 2021)

PedroPH said:


> Why do you have to use the term "European" loosely to include Cosma? Isn't he Romanian? How is Romania only "loosely" an European country? Am I missing something?


Piet's using the term "composer" loosely, not "European", that's what you missed


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## lychee (Apr 1, 2021)

re-peat said:


> I was toying with the the idea myself, a few days ago, to post “My Name Is Nobody” as a good example of light-weight, catchy tune BUT written by someone _who actually has special gift to write those type of things_. (And they’re very difficult to write.)
> 
> On paper, Cosma would be among my favourite composers: his stylistic range knows no limits, he doesn’t look down on the more “low-brow” popular types of music, he’s eclectic in the best possible way, he enthusiatically embraces every possible style or genre, he’s as versatile as any … and these are all things I greatly admire in a composer. (And I have a particularly strong fondness for people who do light music well.) But … the mammoth-sized problem here is: Cosma, in my view, doesn’t have the gift for great musical composition. He doesn’t have any talent for remarkable musical ideas or melody. Not like Ennio Morricone had. Not like John Barry had, not like Burt Bacharach had, not like Henry Mancini had. These four had that wondrous (and extremely rare) gift in spades, Cosma, unfortunately, doesn’t even have the tiniest seed of it.
> 
> ...



I hope you don't like My Name Is Nobody, because it would be a shame to criticize Cosma when you might think that this song was made by him.

It's too long a speech to define your science of music, to end up just saying that you don't like Cosma (which I heard).
Except that music is not an exact science and that on this question everyone will have their opinion, which will go in your direction or towards the opposite total.

No one is wrong, no one is right, so I'm not going to dwell on the subject and debate something that is useless to debate (tastes and colors).
I respect the fact that everyone has their opinion, but you have to be careful to express it as if it would be everyone's, in short, show humility.


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## re-peat (Apr 1, 2021)

I mentioned it before that what I write is my strictly personal opionion, didn't I? I’m not going to repeat that in every post, if you don’t mind.

And I’m as humble as the next man or woman — much humbler even, I dare say — when in the presence of really good music, but Cosma’s ain’t that. Sorry. I don’t feel the slightest urge or obligation to talk with humility and respect about that man’s output. There is, in my world, no system of musical or even broader aesthetic parameters, not even the most forgiving or lackadaisical frame of reference, with which Cosma’s music can be allotted even the flimsiest soupçon of quality. It’s vapid, mediocre and, to me, quite offensive garbage. All of it.

The reason why this post has a slighty nastier tone than my usually cordial, civil and friendly manner of conversation, is because I just listened to a fragment of that “Astérix est là” song again. What horror. People must have been condemned to L’Île du Diable for much smaller offences.

I also disagree quite strongly with “no one is wrong, no one is right”. A statement like that goes against my every musical sensibility. Because it implies that all quality in music is attributed, rather than intrinsic. Which is an utterly absurd idea to me. I believe — strictly personal opinion, this — great music easily rises above the intellectual lazyness, cowardice and complete idiocy of the “de gustibus et coloribus …”-dogma.

The evaluation of quality stops being subjective where that quality transcends the limitations of personal taste. Taste is subjective, yes, absolutely, but quality isn’t. Recognizing that human expression or creativity can, when in the presence of an exceptionnal talent, reach a level far above the limited demarcation abilities of our personal preferences — and the faculty to recognize it when it does —, has nothing subjective about it. People, like you, who insist that all artistic evaluation is subjective, confuse subjectivity with the inability to recognize that true greatness eludes the narrowmindedness of subjective evaluation.

True greatness however is, of course, a completely misplaced and irrelevant topic to bring to a Cosma thread. I apologize for that.

_


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## molemac (Apr 1, 2021)

re-peat said:


> And I’m as humble as the next man or woman — much humbler even


And some of my best friends are composers


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## lychee (Apr 1, 2021)

re-peat​
When I read you I realize that we really do not have the same definition of humility and that we will definitively not agree on the principle of subjectivity of music (which in my opinion cannot be called into question).
On that note, I will stop this endless debate here, and wish you a good day (... evening, night ???), with "Asterix Est Là" looping through your head (I'm kidding of course).


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## AceAudioHQ (Yesterday at 6:00 PM)

I think Vladimir Cosma is great, I’ve always liked cheese and it’s unlikely you can have too much of it! I enjoy his film music a lot more than the music of many other highly praised film composers, you usually know where the music is going which makes it very light so it’s easy to listen to.

My favorite tune from him is the theme from the Jean-Paul Belmondo film L’As des As (1982), which I also find very enjoyable even though it’s not considered a great movie, it’s light and fun and the soundtrack suits it. To make it even more cheesy here’s the disco version of the main theme which plays during the credits.


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## lychee (Today at 1:40 AM)

AceAudioHQ said:


> I think Vladimir Cosma is great, I’ve always liked cheese and it’s unlikely you can have too much of it! I enjoy his film music a lot more than the music of many other highly praised film composers, you usually know where the music is going which makes it very light so it’s easy to listen to.
> 
> My favorite tune from him is the theme from the Jean-Paul Belmondo film L’As des As (1982), which I also find very enjoyable even though it’s not considered a great movie, it’s light and fun and the soundtrack suits it. To make it even more cheesy here’s the disco version of the main theme which plays during the credits.



It's funny, the intro of the theme that you demoed made me think of music from the soundtrack of the anime Cobra, whose main character is inspired by Jean Paul Belmondo.


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## TomislavEP (Today at 1:55 AM)

I love french adventure/comedy films from the '60s-'80s era, particularly the ones by Gerard Oury. This is how I learned of Vladimir Cosma and his music. The piece that currently rings in my ears the most is this one:



What I generally like about Cosma's work the most is probably his simple, memorable, and lyrical melodies as well as the instrumentation he is using. One might argue that there is some easy-listening cheesiness involved, but this is IMO part of the charm and a stylistic choice.


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