While I mull over whether to compose and post an essay titled “The Woody Allen Plank” (it’s not likely, I gotta say), I ask you to check out the movie website To Be (Cont’d), wherein I am engaged in a simulated prose conversation with Matthew Zurcher, a smart young critic, about the use of music in the films of Stanley Kubrick. Matt’s first volley is here, my response is here, and two more installments are in the pipeline. Enjoy, I hope.
Ugh. Is the ‘hostile’ use of Beethoven’s 9th disrespectful to Beethoven as well?
(I love Singin’ in the Rain too, but again, ugh.)
Also, you should indeed swallow your (understandable) trepidation and put up a Woody Allen post. What’s the good of having a blog, if you can’t do that?
Glenn, this is from memory, but I believe Ligeti’s specific complaint that his music had been distorted in 2001 was actually technically valid. Immediately following the picture’s long “stargate” sequence – scored with excerpts from the composer’s “Requiem” and “Atmospheres” – when Bowman finds his space pod parked in the mysterious hotel-like room, there are clumps of strange, impossible to interpret voices in the background. This background accompaniment is made up of portions of Ligeti’s choral piece “Aventures,” altered electronically and apparently in other ways (some of it might be played backwards. The composer (already reportedly annoyed that he had received relatively little money for the use of this music in the film) took strong issue with this, and sued Kubrick and MGM. A settlement was eventually reached. Both the altered “Aventures” and at least a sample of the undistorted piece were included on the excellent Rhino 2001 CD.
There’s an error in your piece Glenn. I left this comment at To Be (Cont’d):
“To get back to the initial point, how do you UN-HEAR Bartok’s “Concerto for Orchestra” as horror-movie music”
Since that piece is not used in Kubrick’s movie –Bartok’s fantastic “Music for Strings, Percussion & Celesta” is– that’s a pretty easy thing to do!
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I’ll always be grateful to Kubrick for introducing me to the music of Penderecki, Bartok and Ligeti, especially Penderecki’s early music before he turned to tonality.