Introduction And Liner Notes
By: Leonard Maltin
There is an old saw that if you notice the music in a movie, it isn’t any good.
I don’t think any composer actually believes that, but there is a kernel of truth in the saying. Music that calls attention to itself, and distracts you from involvement in the story and characters, is indeed doing the film a disservice.
But when you remember music after the film is over, that’s a sure sign that the composer has crafted something special.
The next question is whether that music “works” apart from the film itself — and if it should. In some cases, revisiting a score after seeing a movie renders the question moot; one has already experienced the emotions of the music in its cinematic context, and one isn’t likely to erase that association.
Just the same, some scores wear well over time, and provide a rewarding experience long after the movie begins to recede in one’s memory.
Many people contend that film scores constitute America’s contemporary classical music. Composers who are candid admit that this can never be entirely true, since the music has been inspired — propelled is probably a better word — by specific dramatic needs. Yet in a growing number of orchestral concerts, today’s leading film composers are drawing crowds who would never have thought of attending a philharmonic concert.
The growing public awareness of leading Hollywood composers is a testament to the impact their music is having on the public at large. And this collection is a tribute to some of the more striking and successful scores of the past decade.
Lists, of course are highly arbitrary and designed to provoke argument. I don’t pretend for a moment that these are the only great scores of the 1990’s, but they happen to be among my favorites… and I think they bear repeated listening
