Jerry Goldsmith, composer of more great soundtracks and theme songs than one could shake a stick at, has died.
Just to list the ones that I find are particularly noteworthy would take a while, but just a few off the list includes:
The Mummy
Mulan
Star Trek: Voyager (theme)
Total Recall
Star Trek the Motion Picture (thus, the theme to Star Trek: Next Generation)
Aliens
The Omen
Barnaby Jones (theme)
Patton
Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (TV theme)
Perry Mason (theme)
Have Gun, Will Travel (theme)
And eleventy zillion others. Impressive, both in scope and length. I’ll miss him.
40 view(s)
Not to mention one of my favorites, Patton.
A huge loss.
Actually, I did mention it. But I agree, it’s a great soundtrack. Quite a talent.
If I were a betting man, I’d wager that much of the “classical music” of today that will survive to following centuries will be in large part that of soundtrack composers (most modern classical music being … um … well, certainly thesis-worthy, I guess). Goldsmith — and Williams, and Hermann, and others of that ilk — will be remembered.
Somehow I missed seeing Patton on your list. D’oh!
He also did the orginal score for Legend, which was replaced by the (in my opinion) inferior one by Tangerine Dream for the US release. If you can get your hands on the special edition DVD – it’s a lovely score.
I’ve often been tempted (and I never did care for the TD score), but I don’t really recall the flick as being that great. Maybe for the Wish List …
NPR’s All Things Considered had a short bit about his passing today.
Kitty Felde, host of KPCC’s Talk of the City, had an interview with music critic Jon Burlingame, who’s writing Goldsmith’s obituary for Variety.
By the way, Burlingame points out that Goldsmith did some music for Perry Mason, but did not compose the theme. He did not mention that it was the work of Fred Steiner, who would go on to compose much of the best music for the original Star Trek!
Ah. I (and IMDB) stand corrected. I ought to have remembered, since I’ve done some research into that theme song before.
Fresh Air replayed an interview with Goldsmith himself. You can listen to it this weekend. After that it will be archived, and you’ll have to purchase a copy of the show to hear it.
And one more: Music critic Andy Trudeau on Weekend Edition Sunday . He walks us through some very diverse Goldsmith scores. Probably the most interesting Goldsmith tribute I’ve heard, it’s about 13 minutes long! The article includes a list of recommended recordings, and links to related NPR articles.
Oh, they also ran a segment on fan reaction to I, Robot. Included is a link to a repeat of a 1987 Fresh Air interview with Asimov!