Archive
Golden Globe Nominations 2015
The Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA) has announced the nominations for the 73rd Golden Globe Awards, honoring the best in film and American television of 2015.
In the Best Original Score category, the nominees are:
- CARTER BURWELL for Carol
- ALEXANDRE DESPLAT for The Danish Girl
- ENNIO MORRICONE for The Hateful Eight
- DANIEL PEMBERTON for Steve Jobs
- RYUICHI SAKAMOTO and ALVA NOTO for The Revenant
These are the first major film music award nominations for both Pemberton and Noto, although Pemberton has received two BAFTA nominations for his work in video games. Noto is the stage name of German musician and artist Carsten Nicolai, an influential experimental electronic composer who has worked with Michael Nyman and Blixa Bargeld, among others.
This is the 2nd nomination for Burwell, the 8th nomination for Desplat (who won the Globe in 2006 for The Painted Veil), the 9th nomination for Morricone (who previously won Globes for The Mission in 1986 and The Legend of 1900 in 1999), and the third nomination for Sakamoto (who previously won Globes for The Last Emperor in 1987 and The Sheltering Sky in 1990).
In the Best Original Song category, the nominees are:
- JUSTIN FRANKS, ANDREW CEDAR, CHARLIE PUTH and CAMERON THOMAZ (WIZ KHALIFA) for “See You Again” from Furious 7
- DAVID LANG for “Simple Song #3” from Youth
- MAX MARTIN, SAVAN KOTECHA, ILYA SALMANZADEH, ALI PAYAMI and TOVE NILSSON for “Love Me Like You Do” from Fifty Shades of Grey
- SAM SMITH and JAMES NAPIER for “Writing’s On the Wall” from Spectre
- BRIAN WILSON and SCOTT BENNETT for “One Kind of Love” from Love and Mercy
The winners of the 73rd Golden Globe Awards will be announced on January 10, 2016.
James Horner, 1953-2015
Composer James Horner died on June 22, 2015, when the single-engine S-312 Tucano aircraft he was piloting crashed in the Los Padres National Forest near Santa Barbara, California. He was 61.
One of the most successful and recognizable film composers of his generation, Horner wrote music for more than 100 films during a career spanning almost four decades, including Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, Aliens, Field of Dreams, Glory, Braveheart, Apollo 13, Titanic, A Beautiful Mind and Avatar. His combination of sweeping melody, unusual instrumental colors, electronics and powerful orchestral writing made him one of Hollywood’s dominant musical voices of the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s.
James Roy Horner was born in Los Angeles on August 14, 1953, the son of Austrian-born production designer and director Harry Horner and his wife Joan. His father enjoyed a distinguished Hollywood career of his own, winning Academy Awards for his art direction on The Heiress and The Hustler. James began playing piano at the age of five and spent part of his youth in England, studying at London’s Royal College of Music. He subsequently returned to California, studied music at USC and continued his graduate studies at UCLA, where he also taught music theory. Initially intending to pursue a career in concert music and academia, Horner discovered film scoring after composing for student productions at the American Film Institute.
Like many important Hollywood filmmakers of his generation, Horner received his first professional opportunities from Roger Corman. His early assignments included The Lady in Red, Humanoids from the Deep and Battle Beyond the Stars (1980), the latter allowing him to write an ambitious orchestral science-fiction score on an extremely limited budget. The production also brought him into contact with future director James Cameron and producer Gale Anne Hurd, beginning relationships that would become enormously significant later in his career. Read more…
Academy Award Winners 2014
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) have announced the winners of the 87th Academy Awards, honoring the best in film in 2014.
In the Best Original Score category French composer Alexandre Desplat won the award for his score for directed Wes Anderson’s quirky period comedy The Grand Budapest Hotel. In his acceptance speech, Desplat said:
“Merci. Merci beaucoup. Wes [Anderson], you’re a genius. This is good! You offered me a great view from the Grand Budapest. Thank you. It’s been a beautiful decade for me in Hollywood. I’ve worked with great directors and producers, and I’m very grateful. I need to thank Laura Engel, Mark Graham, Katz, my Greek mother. Solrey [Lemonnier], I met you long ago, for my first session, you played a violin, and you made everything happen for me. So, this is for you. Thank you”
The other nominees were Desplat again for The Imitation Game, Jóhann Jóhannsson for The Theory of Everything, Gary Yershon for Mr. Turner, and Hans Zimmer for Interstellar.
In the Best Original Song category, the winners were John Legend and Lonnie ‘Common’ Lynn for their song “Glory” from critically acclaimed civil rights film Selma.
The other nominees were Gregg Alexander and Danielle Brisebois for “Lost Stars” from Begin Again, Glenn Campbell and Julian Raymond for “I’m Not Gonna Miss You” from Glenn Campbell: I’ll Be Me, Shawn Patterson for “Everything Is Awesome” from The Lego Movie, and Diane Warren for “Grateful” from Beyond the Lights.
IFMCA Award Winners 2014
INTERNATIONAL FILM MUSIC CRITICS ASSOCIATION ANNOUNCES WINNERS OF 2014 IFMCA AWARDS; HANS ZIMMER, ALEXANDRE DESPLAT TAKE TOP HONORS
The International Film Music Critics Association (IFMCA) announces its list of winners for excellence in musical scoring in 2014, in the 2014 IFMCA Awards.
The award for Score of the Year goes to composer Hans Zimmer for his work on the Christopher Nolan-directed epic science fiction odyssey “Interstellar”. IFMCA member James Southall called the score “one of the most impressive creations of Zimmer’s career” and felt that the film “inspired him to create something unusually personal and about which he is understandably proud,” while IFMCA member Kaya Savas called Interstellar “one of Hans Zimmer’s finest accomplishments as a composer”. This is the third IFMCA Award of Zimmer’s career, and the first time he has been awarded Score of the Year.
French composer Alexandre Desplat was named Composer of the Year, for his astonishingly accomplished work on a half dozen scores spanning multiple genres; his work in 2014 included the blockbuster monster movie “Godzilla,” director Wes Anderson’s quirky comedy “The Grand Budapest Hotel,” the critically acclaimed biopic of British code breaker Alan Turing “The Imitation Game,” and the George Clooney-directed WWII drama “The Monuments Men,” all of which were nominated in their respective genre categories. The score for “The Grand Budapest Hotel” was also named Best Score for a Comedy Film. These are the tenth and eleventh IFMCA Awards of Desplat’s career, and it marks the fourth time he has been named Composer of the Year, following his previous wins in 2006, 2007, and 2010. Read more…
BAFTA Winners 2014
The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) have announced the winners of the 68th British Academy Film Awards, honoring the best in film in 2014.
In the Best Original Score category composer Alexandre Desplat won the award for his score for director Wes Anderson’s critically acclaimed quirky comedy The Grand Budapest Hotel. In his acceptance speech, Desplat said:
“Thank you. Merci beaucoup, I am very moved and honored to be here. It all goes back to Wes [Anderson]. Wes is unique. His world looks like nobody else’s. He is not here tonight but I am sure he is watching TV. I am not sure actually. But we will send him a video. There are many people involved, of course, the great musicians, Mark Graham, my agent Laura Engel, but I would like to share it with the best musician I have ever met, Solrey [Lemonnier], this is for you.”
The other nominees were Jóhann Jóhannsson for The Theory of Everything, Mica Levi for Under the Skin, Antonio Sanchez for Birdman, and Hans Zimmer for Interstellar.
IFMCA Award Nominations 2014
INTERNATIONAL FILM MUSIC CRITICS ASSOCIATION AWARD NOMINATIONS ANNOUNCED; COMPOSERS JAMES NEWTON HOWARD AND ALEXANDRE DESPLAT DOMINATE
The International Film Music Critics Association (IFMCA) announces its list of nominees for excellence in musical scoring in 2014, for the 11th annual IFMCA Awards. The most nominated composers are American James Newton Howard and Frenchman Alexandre Desplat.
Howard received seven nominations, including nods for Score of the Year, Composer of the Year, Best Action/Adventure/Thriller score, and Best Fantasy/Sci-Fi/Horror score, all of which were split between his two main works of 2014: the action adventure sequel “The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part I,” and Disney’s reimagining of the Sleeping Beauty story, “Maleficent”. Howard also received an unprecedented three nominations in the Film Music Composition of the Year category, including one for the song “The Hanging Tree,” which he co-wrote with Jeremiah Fraites and Wesley Schultz of The Lumineers, and Hunger Games book series author Suzanne Collins, and which was performed by the film’s lead actress, Jennifer Lawrence. Howard has previously been nominated for a total of 23 IFMCA Awards, winning six of them, including Score of the Year in 2006 for “Lady in the Water”. Read more…
Edgar Froese, 1944-2015
Composer, musician and electronic-music pioneer Edgar Froese died in Vienna, Austria, on January 20, 2015, at the age of 70, after suffering a pulmonary embolism.
As the founder and only constant member of Tangerine Dream, Froese helped transform the possibilities of synthesizer-based music and became an important figure in film scoring, contributing to more than 60 soundtracks including Sorcerer, Thief, Risky Business, Firestarter, Legend and Miracle Mile.
Edgar Willmar Froese was born in Tilsit, East Prussia, on June 6, 1944, and grew up in West Berlin. He studied painting and sculpture at the Academy of Arts while pursuing music, initially concentrating on guitar. After encounters with Salvador Dalí and the experimental culture of the late 1960s, Froese founded Tangerine Dream in Berlin in 1967 and increasingly turned toward synthesizers, tape manipulation and electronic sequencers.
Tangerine Dream’s international breakthrough came with Phaedra (1974), recorded by Froese, Christopher Franke and Peter Baumann. Its hypnotic sequencer patterns, vast electronic textures and slowly evolving melodies became a landmark of the so-called Berlin School of electronic music. Albums including Rubycon, Stratosfear and Force Majeure consolidated the group’s reputation and attracted the attention of director William Friedkin. Read more…
Movie Music UK Awards 2014
It’s been an outstanding year for film music in 2014. I managed to get experience over 350 scores this year, both by watching movies and listening to their soundtracks independently,and I strongly feel that the soundtrack industry is thriving. Looking at the big picture, on a global scale, outstanding music is coming from all corners of the globe: this year, I have nominated works from China, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Norway, Poland, South Korea, Spain, and Venezuela, as well the USA and the UK. If you look outside the mainstream, you can still find a lot of outstanding work being written for under-the-radar projects that demand our attention.
As such, narrowing down my choices for the best of the year has been a very difficult task – one of the most difficult in recent memory. However, I’ve finally been able to put everything into some sort of logical order – so, for your reading and listening pleasure, I present the 2014 Movie Music UK Awards!
Academy Award Nominations 2014
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) have announced the nominations for the 87th Academy Awards, honoring the best in film in 2014.
In the Best Original Score category, the nominees are:
- ALEXANDRE DESPLAT for The Grand Budapest Hotel
- ALEXANDRE DESPLAT for The Imitation Game
- JÓHANN JÓHANNSSON for The Theory of Everything
- GARY YERSHON for Mr. Turner
- HANS ZIMMER for Interstellar
These are the first Oscar nominations for Jóhannsson and Yershon, although Jóhannsson won the Golden Globe earlier this year for The Theory of Everything. These are the 7th and 8th Oscar nominations for Desplat, and the 10th Oscar nomination for Zimmer, who previously won in 1994 for The Lion King.
In the Best Original Song category, the nominees are:
- GREGG ALEXANDER and DANIELLE BRISEBOIS for “Lost Stars” from Begin Again
- GLEN CAMPBELL and JULIAN RAYMOND for “I’m Not Gonna Miss You” from Glen Campbell… I’ll Be Me
- JOHN LEGEND and LONNIE LYNN (COMMON) for “Glory” from Selma
- SHAWN PATTERSON for “Everything Is Awesome” from The Lego Movie
- DIANE WARREN for “Grateful” from Beyond the Lights
The winners of the 87th Academy Awards will be announced on February 22, 2015.
Golden Globe Winners 2014
The Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA) have announced the winners of the 72nd Golden Globe Awards, honoring the best in film and American television of 2014.
In the Best Original Score category Icelandic composer Jóhann Jóhannsson won the award for his score for The Theory of Everything. In his acceptance speech, Jóhannsson said:
“Well, this is a great honor. When you’re given material like The Theory of Everything to work with it feels like my job is very easy. A great script, wonderful performances, and all expertly directed by James Marsh who I want to thank especially for inviting me to be a part of his team. I want to thank the Hollywood Foreign Press, I want to thank Eric Fellner and Tim Bevan, Working Title, Universal, Focus Features, my wonderful team, Tim Hughes, and Kevin Korn and all at GSA, my family in Iceland and Denmark, and I want to share this with the musicians and technicians who helped create the score. Thank you so much.”
The other nominees were Alexandre Desplat for The Imitation Game, Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross for Gone Girl, Antonio Sánchez for Birdman, and Hans Zimmer for Interstellar.
In the Best Original Song category, the winners were John Legend and Lonnie Rashid Lynn Jr. (aka Common) for their song “Glory” from the civil right drama Selma.
The other nominees were Elizabeth Grant (aka Lana Del Rey) for “Big Eyes” from Big Eyes, Greg Kurstin, Sia Furler and Will Gluck for “Opportunity” from Annie, Patti Smith and Lenny Kaye for “Mercy Is” from Noah, and Ella Yelich-O’connor (aka Lorde) for “Yellow Flicker Beat” from The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part I.
BAFTA Nominations 2014
The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) has announced the nominations for the 68th British Academy Film Awards, honoring the best in film in 2014.
In the Best Original Music category, which is named in memory of the film director Anthony Asquith, the nominees are:
- ALEXANDRE DESPLAT for The Grand Budapest Hotel
- JÓHANN JÓHANNSSON for The Theory of Everything
- MICA LEVI for Under the Skin
- ANTONIO SÁNCHEZ for Birdman
- HANS ZIMMER for Interstellar
These are the first BAFTA nominations for Jóhannsson, Levi, and Sánchez. It is the 7th BAFTA nomination for Desplat, who won the award in 2011 for his score for The King’s Speech, and the 7th BAFTA film nomination for Zimmer.
The winners of the 68th BAFTA Awards will be announced on February 8, 2015.
Golden Globe Nominations 2014
The Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA) have announced the nominations for the 72nd Golden Globe Awards, honoring the best in film and American television of 2014.
In the Best Original Score category, the nominees are:
- ALEXANDRE DESPLAT for The Imitation Game
- JÓHANN JÓHANNSSON for The Theory of Everything
- TRENT REZNOR and ATTICUS ROSS for Gone Girl
- ANTONIO SÁNCHEZ for Birdman
- HANS ZIMMER for Interstellar
These are the first major film music award nominations for both Jóhannsson and Sánchez, although Sánchez has won four Grammy awards for his work as a jazz musician. This is the 7th nomination for Desplat, who won the Globe in 2006 for The Painted Veil, the 3rd nomination for Reznor and Ross, who won the Globe in 2010 for The Social Network, and the 12th nomination for Zimmer, who previously won Globes for The Lion King in 1994 and Gladiator in 2000.
In the Best Original Song category, the nominees are:
- ELIZABETH GRANT (LANA DEL REY) for “Big Eyes” from Big Eyes
- GREG KURSTIN, SIA FURLER and WILL GLUCK for “Opportunity” from Annie
- JOHN LEGEND and LONNIE RASHID LYNN Jr. (COMMON) for “Glory” from Selma
- PATTI SMITH and LENNY KAYE for “Mercy Is” from Noah
- ELLA YELICH-O’CONNOR (LORDE) for “Yellow Flicker Beat” from The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part I
The winners of the 72nd Golden Globe Awards will be announced on January 11, 2015.
Manuel De Sica, 1949-2014
Composer Manuel De Sica died in Rome on December 5, 2014, at the age of 65, following a heart attack.
The son of legendary director Vittorio De Sica and Spanish actress María Mercader, he established an identity independent of his celebrated family through a career encompassing more than 70 film scores, television music, concert works and popular songs. His best-known films included The Garden of the Finzi-Continis, The Icicle Thief, Al lupo Al lupo, Cemetery Man, and Celluloide.
Manuel De Sica was born in Rome on February 24, 1949. He studied music from childhood and attended the Conservatory of Santa Cecilia, where his teachers included the influential modernist composer Bruno Maderna. Although surrounded by cinema—his father was one of the defining figures of Italian neorealism—De Sica initially pursued music on its own terms, developing interests in both classical composition and contemporary popular styles. In 1969 he formed the pop group The Ancients, with whom he appeared on Italian television.
His entrance into film music nevertheless came through his father. De Sica made his feature debut at just 19 with A Place for Lovers (1968), starring Faye Dunaway and Marcello Mastroianni. Their most important collaboration followed with The Garden of the Finzi-Continis (1970), Vittorio De Sica’s acclaimed adaptation of Giorgio Bassani’s novel about an aristocratic Jewish family living under Fascism. Manuel’s elegant, melancholy score brought him international attention and a Grammy nomination, while the film itself won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. Read more…
Antoine Duhamel, 1925-2014
Composer and conductor Antoine Duhamel died in Paris on September 10, 2014, at the age of 89.
One of the musicians most closely associated with the French New Wave, Duhamel wrote more than 60 film scores and worked with directors including Jean-Luc Godard, François Truffaut, Bertrand Tavernier, Patrice Leconte and Fernando Trueba. His music combined rigorous classical technique with a willingness to experiment, resulting in scores that could be romantic, ironic, austere or deliberately disruptive.
Duhamel was born in Valmondois, near Paris, on July 30, 1925, the son of novelist Georges Duhamel and actress Blanche Albane. He studied with two of the most important figures in post-war European music, Olivier Messiaen and René Leibowitz, the latter introducing him to twelve-tone and serial techniques. Alongside cinema, Duhamel maintained a substantial career as a concert composer, writing orchestral and chamber works, songs, oratorios and operas.
His first important film collaboration was Jean-Daniel Pollet’s experimental Méditerranée (1963), but it was Jean-Luc Godard’s Pierrot le Fou (1965) that established his reputation. Duhamel’s music—by turns lyrical, fractured and dramatically emphatic—was used by Godard with characteristic freedom, sometimes interrupting scenes rather than conventionally supporting them. He subsequently scored Godard’s Made in U.S.A. (1966) and Weekend (1967), cementing his association with the New Wave. Read more…
Introducing Throwback Thirty
I have decided to introduce a new feature here at Movie Music UK, which will feature reviews of classic scores from my own childhood and one of my favorite periods for film music – the 1980s. Inspired by the “Throwback Thursday” idea from Facebook, in which people post old photos of themselves every Thursday, I have decided to call this feature Throwback Thirty!
My plan is that, every Thursday, I will debut a brand new review for a score from a film which was in theaters exactly thirty years ago (roughly – there will be a bit of leeway here and there), meaning that for the rest of the year I will be looking at scores released in 1984.
The first review will debut tomorrow; I hope you enjoy it, and I hope you enjoy the series going forward!
Shop at the Movie Music UK Store
Member of the
