CinemaScore · Soundtrack · Archives

1. American Film Music: Major Composers, Techniques, Trends 1915-1990

Darby, an English professor, and Du Bois, a teacher and opera student, have compiled a well-researched and thoroughly documented treatise on the history and development of American movie music. They analyze, historically, dramatically and musically, major film scores from 1915’s BIRTH OF A NATION through 1986’s TOP GUN...

Tuesday, 06 January 2009 | 544 hits | Print | PDF |  E-mail | Report

2. Charles Bernstein: Film Music and Everything Else

For many years, film composer Charles Bernstein (no relation to Elmer) has been writing a column about the film scoring process for THE SCORE, the quarterly newsletter of the Society of Composers and Lyricists. 30 of those columns have been collected into this slim but compelling volume. Bernstein’s expertise and history give him and edge, of course...

Sunday, 08 August 2010 | 107 hits | Print | PDF |  E-mail | Report

3. Christopher Frayling: Sergio Leone - Something to Do with Death

Christopher Frayling, author of the definitive tome on the magic and mayhem of Italian Western movies, SPAGHETTI WESTERNS, has written this exhaustive, encyclopedic, and thoroughly engrossing first-ever biography of Sergio Leone. Half bio and half analytical appreciation of his work as a cineartiste, Frayling paints an honest portrayal of Leone...

Sunday, 08 August 2010 | 87 hits | Print | PDF |  E-mail | Report

4. Christopher Palmer: The Composer in Hollywood

Christopher Palmer's book is very much a paean to the music from the Golden Age of Hollywood and, as such, is highly recommended. It is aimed at the general reader as well as the enthusiast and is mercifully free of technicalities. It covers similar ground to Tony Thomas' Music for the Movies, which remains the definitive book on the subject.

Friday, 28 March 2008 | 632 hits | Print | PDF |  E-mail | Report

5. David Morgan: Knowing The Score

In a pleasing change to the traditional collection of interviews by composer, film journalist David Morgan has collected interviews with 16 film composers and one record producer (Robert Townson of Varese Sarabande) and presented them in a topical format. By addressing the topic this way, Morgan paints an intriguing picture of the art and business of motion picture scoring...

Saturday, 20 June 2009 | 212 hits | Print | PDF |  E-mail | Report

6. Fred Karlin: Listening to Movies

Like his earlier On the Track: A Guide to Contemporary Film Scoring, Fred Karlin’s new book Listening to Movies is one of the most important film music books to be published in recent years. Not a historical overview of film music development, not a collection of composer bio’s...

Friday, 28 March 2008 | 678 hits | Print | PDF |  E-mail | Report

7. Fred Karlin: On the Track

This is a book that’s been needed for a long time, and that’s exactly what inspired composer Fred Karlin and music teacher/composer Rayborn Wright to collaborate on this state-of-the-art textbook in the art and science of composing music for motion pictures and television.

Friday, 30 October 2009 | 336 hits | Print | PDF |  E-mail | Report

8. Henry Mancini: Did they mention the music?

Film music autobiographies are few are far between. Tiomkin’s ‘Please Don’t Hate Me’ and Rozsa’s ‘Double Life’ are the only two that come to mind, both excellent, multi-faceted portraits of their authors and their experiences in the film music arena. Henry Mancini’s ‘Did They Mention the Music?’ - written in collaboration with lyricist and music writer Gene Lees.

Tuesday, 20 October 2009 | 414 hits | Print | PDF |  E-mail | Report

9. Jeff Rona: The Reel World - Scoring for Pictures

Composer Jeff Rona (WHITE SQUALL, television’s CHICAGO HOPE, PROFILER) has written a practical guide to the art, technology, and business of composing for film and television.

Sunday, 08 August 2010 | 106 hits | Print | PDF |  E-mail | Report

10. Jeffrey Dane: Remembering Miklós Rózsa

In this book, the author shares his own remembrances of the composer, the private vignettes he witnessed, specific anecdotes, personal photos, and facsimiles of Rózsa's manuscripts. The author also presents some of the private correspondence between him and the composer over a more than 20-year period...

Friday, 28 March 2008 | 586 hits | Print | PDF |  E-mail | Report