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The Best Music in Film
June Tabor
(British folk singer)
- S&S: What is your favourite film soundtrack music and why do you like it so much?
- "Maurice Jarre's music for Lawrence of Arabia (1962). The interrelation between camera and score is exemplary."
- S&S: In what ways does music best enhance a film?
- "Frequently by its absence. Jules Dassin's Rififi (1955) is a classic example - the 20 minute robbery sequence takes place in total silence. More recently, Wolfgang Petersen's Das Boot (1981), admittedly made for television but also shown as a director's cut in the cinema. is similarly sparing: music is only heard in relation to long shots of the u-boat at sea, and the claustrophobic atmosphere inside the submarine is reinforced by the sounds of the boat itself and the crew - no music at all (apart from the radio, which is part of life on board and not an imposed score)."
- S&S: Which film either has music that you wished you'd written or is one you would like to rescore and why?
- "Sergei Eisenstein's Alexander Nevsky (1938) score by Prokofiev - music is used to immense effect in the battle scenes instead of natural sound - I wish I'd written that!"