Monday, July 29, 2024

Post 513, A SCENE OR A TUNE

 STAYS WITH YOU.

OFTEN LITTLE ELSE
The actor James Stewart once said no film is ever remembered in its entirety, it is remembered for one particular scene, and without that scene it would never be remembered at all.
He was a smart fella. I have always remembered My Darling Clementine (1946) for the scene where Henry Fonda dragged an unconscious  troublemaker out of a saloon by his heels, and I have never forgotten Richard Widmark, complete with maniacal laughter, hurtling an old lady in a wheelchair down a flight of  stairs in the 1947 film Kiss of Death. For that matter, James Stewart's little horse walking down a dark street on its own in The Far Country is a classic.
I believe the rule applies to music, too.
If my memory serves me aright, years ago there was a musical boffin in America who was called into court to settle highly expensive lawsuits brought by musical tunesmiths of the day agin each other for plagiarism. The boffin would quickly prove that the tune in dispute could not have been plagiarised, it was not modern: it came from the likes of Bach, Purcell, Liszt, Mozart etc.
Over the years entire scores have been produced in such a way
Saint Saens Symphony No.3 - the Organ Symphony - contained the tune that became the theme for that delightful film Babe. The highly mannered film Brief Encounter may have quietly disappeared had it not been for Serge Rachmaninoff's Second Piano Concerto, and television's Onedin Line would surely have been forgotten were it not for The Adagio from Spartacus.
Technically i am devoid of musical nous. Can't read a note. Fortunately there was always music in our house when I was a boy. Both my parents played an instrument - father piano, mother violin - and both were members of respected choirs in the city. So I have a good musical ear. Easily sift the tuneful from the discordant. Heartily dislike the discordant. Am too old to change my mind.
So far as the scene or tune that stays with you applies, I would have cheerfully dismissed both the Brahms and the Shostakovich second piano concertos had the Brahms not been blessed with the magical cello/piano duet and the Shostakovich with that glorious Andante. Peter Donohoe performs the latter beautifully, and would be invited to play it at my personal Last Night of the Proms this year. What? No, of course it won't happen. I'm not an expert: It would be good, though, wouldn't it? Tatyana Nikolaeva was an enormous success playing it on the 1992 Last Night. About time it was aired in that way again. Let's hear it for Peter Donahoe
That's all for now..


        



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