Summa This, Summa That
Inspired by all the fun I'm having with Tony Zhou's "The Marvel Symphonic Universe" video, I've got a quick little pop-culture quiz for you today. Let's have a show of hands: First off, how many of y'all recognize the name Zack Hemsey (without clicking on this link)? And second, how many of you recognize this?
Tony Zhou, of the aforementioned and undeniably-great "Every Frame A Painting" series, fleshing out a controversial claim that I've held for some time now: That the melodic underpinnings of Marvel's cinematic universe are entirely too safe and entirely forgettable; rather than being musically risky or memorable, they're "bland and inoffensive."
The eleventh (and final) section of Henryk Górecki's "Miserere." The ten choral sections that come before are over 30 minutes long (in total), and are comprised of only three words, repeated over and over again:
"Domine Deus noster (Lord our God)."
This section, coming after more than a half hour of repeating that short phrase, has even fewer:
"Miserere nobis (Have mercy on us)."
I don't like it quite as much as Sarah does (for mostly film-snobbish reasons), but it's got a really fun cast (including a great turn from the ever-great Ed Harris), makes great use of a fantastic, Copland-esque score from the legendary James Horner, and boasts one of the most absurdly-implausible-yet-true stories ever.
I'm listening to the finale of Johann Nepomuk Hummel's 3rd Piano Concerto (in B Minor), about which Greenberg says that while it is "mostly 'finger' music, consisting of scales and arpeggios in the style of Classical pianism, rather than 'arm' music that features huge leaps and thundering sonorities, it is a minefield of technical treachery." A "minefield of technical treachery," you say? Sounds awesome! (Literally. Heh.)
I'm not looking forward to it; not at all. The man's voice has been the mellifluous backbone to one of my life's greatest passions. I'm not even sure what baseball sounds like without him. But let's celebrate while we've got the chance. (The feedback bit from this clip is the best thing I've ever heard.)
Enos Edward "Yakima" Canutt was a champion rodeo rider, and early film actor, and an influential second-unit director and action coordinator. Oh, and he was John Wayne's stuntman. And mentor. And he played a huge role in Wayne's on-screen persona. (Wayne himself said that he "spent weeks studying the way Yakima Canutt walked and talked. He was a real cowhand.")
