Piano Music in Film
Throughout this post I will be looking at three examples of my favourite Piano Music in Film and explaining why they stand out for me; the music I will be looking at is purely non-diegetic, meaning music whose source is not containted within the film's visual narrative. Most underscore and title music is non-diegetic. Diegetic music is sound presented from its source within the film's world, for example by the voices of characters or music from visible instruments. The three examples are not source music, therefore the pieces have been composed specifically for the visual production.
The three short pieces of music which I'll look at are:
1. 'Radfield Sets The Standard' from the film Cracks
3. Michael Laurence Nyman's 'The Heart Asks Pleasure First' from The Piano
After listening to the three tracks I'd say tracks two and three are the most similar, possibly due to the fact that Nyman and Glass are both renowned minimalist composers which is very apparent from the two pieces.
1. 'Radfield Sets The Standard'
Although this isn't a solo piano piece, the piano is dominant in the Cracks soundtrack and the first 15 seconds or so of this excerpt really show why. Whilst the clarinet and flute also play integral parts in the music, for me, the piano is the foundation and is able to hold the listener's attention entirely on its own. The haunting runs in the piano really emphasise the eerie 1930's boarding school feel throughout the film and the dotted rhythms coupled with the virtuosic runs are a hint towards the sinister chaos to follow. The soundtrack is composed by Javier Navarrete, who also composed the music to Pan's Labyrinth.
2. 'Truman Sleeps'
For me this is one of the greatest piano pieces in film, the chord progression used is simple yet conveys an enormous amount of emotion and is a perfect foundation for the right hand's melody. The piece was composed by Phillip Glass who along with Burkhard Dallwitz won a Golden Globe for Best Original Score.
3. 'The Heart Asks Pleasure First'
Taken from the film The Piano, this piece by Michael Nyman stands out for me due to its dramatic nature; the fast paced arpeggiated chords in the left hand give the piece momentum and a perfect foundation for the simple and Einaudi-esque melody in the right hand (although Einaudi came shortly afterwards). The piece could possibly be an inspiration for Einaudi's 'Nuvole bianche' possessing flowing quavers/semiquavers in both the right and left hand with accentuated notes acting as the melody. The Score was Golden Globe nominated for Best Original Score and also BAFTA nominated for Best Score.
Although this isn't a solo piano piece, the piano is dominant in the Cracks soundtrack and the first 15 seconds or so of this excerpt really show why. Whilst the clarinet and flute also play integral parts in the music, for me, the piano is the foundation and is able to hold the listener's attention entirely on its own. The haunting runs in the piano really emphasise the eerie 1930's boarding school feel throughout the film and the dotted rhythms coupled with the virtuosic runs are a hint towards the sinister chaos to follow. The soundtrack is composed by Javier Navarrete, who also composed the music to Pan's Labyrinth.
2. 'Truman Sleeps'
For me this is one of the greatest piano pieces in film, the chord progression used is simple yet conveys an enormous amount of emotion and is a perfect foundation for the right hand's melody. The piece was composed by Phillip Glass who along with Burkhard Dallwitz won a Golden Globe for Best Original Score.
3. 'The Heart Asks Pleasure First'
Taken from the film The Piano, this piece by Michael Nyman stands out for me due to its dramatic nature; the fast paced arpeggiated chords in the left hand give the piece momentum and a perfect foundation for the simple and Einaudi-esque melody in the right hand (although Einaudi came shortly afterwards). The piece could possibly be an inspiration for Einaudi's 'Nuvole bianche' possessing flowing quavers/semiquavers in both the right and left hand with accentuated notes acting as the melody. The Score was Golden Globe nominated for Best Original Score and also BAFTA nominated for Best Score.
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Yis.
ReplyDeletep.s. this is really, really good :)
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