If you are an aficionado of Science Fiction and have ever watched Ridley Scott’s 1979 Classic Movie: The Alien… a lasting and impressive Sci-Fi Movie Franchise enduring well nigh on 40 years now… it may have escaped the notice of many that one vital segment of “incidental music” that married perfectly with the emotional climax of the movie was NOT entirely composed by Jerry Goldsmith. But rather, this important contribution was selected over his own score at the suggestion of the Movie Editor Adrien Brody. Goldsmith was later said to be distraught over this rejection of around eight solid weeks of his hard work.
Nonetheless, it must be considered that much of the music also used in The Alien had been previously composed by Goldsmith, while having created the same score in part for the Montgomery Clift movie, “Sigmund Freud”. In any case… Brody’s Movie Editing sensibilities did us a great service as the movie-going public for all time when he made his argument for the “other music” to Ridley Scott. He felt this way because The Alien was a film that would completely and relentlessly compress the unbelievable tension felt by the audience for the entire length of this amazing film.
Adrien believed that Howard Hansen’s Symphony #2 “Romantic” would fill that sound space with the gush of emotional relief that all in the audience would want more than anything in the world in those closing moments as Lieutenant Ellen Ripley manages to outsmart and kill the dreadful and nightmarish Xenomorphic Creature; borne of the imagination of Hans Rudi 'H.R.' Giger.... and at just the right moment, too.
For anyone too impatient to sit through this fine, sentimental and romantic 30 minutes of good listening and want to dial right in on the segments used in The Alien Film… start at around 4:30...again at 11 minutes in, then at around 16:45... and listen for the overarching movie theme as it returns in crescendo towards the very end of this fine symphony… played not by the Musicians of The London Philharmonic Orchestra as it was for 20th Century Fox in the film… but by a group of what appears to be High School and College Age kids...(from Wheaton College) and they give this music a sterling performance.
“Incidentally...” Howard Hansen was not only a composer of Romantically Thematic Symphonies… He was also the Head Conductor of the Rochester New York Symphony Orchestra, as well. Though Hansen is deceased... I wonder if Adrien Brody would have liked to mention to him, "Nice Work, Mr. Hansen… You’ve unintentionally written an Important, 'incidental' piece of music ...that will last forever in cinema history to be heard on our film: The Alien...":
NOTE:
The Wheaton College Video version is no longer available to be linked...So the Peabody Institute Orchestra of Johns Hopkins University plays the same piece here instead. Although the entire Symphony Number 2 is worth listening to, the Key Parts used in the “Alien” Movie occur at 4:10, 10:30 and at the Finish… with 26:15 for the Crescendo:
Nonetheless, it must be considered that much of the music also used in The Alien had been previously composed by Goldsmith, while having created the same score in part for the Montgomery Clift movie, “Sigmund Freud”. In any case… Brody’s Movie Editing sensibilities did us a great service as the movie-going public for all time when he made his argument for the “other music” to Ridley Scott. He felt this way because The Alien was a film that would completely and relentlessly compress the unbelievable tension felt by the audience for the entire length of this amazing film.
Adrien believed that Howard Hansen’s Symphony #2 “Romantic” would fill that sound space with the gush of emotional relief that all in the audience would want more than anything in the world in those closing moments as Lieutenant Ellen Ripley manages to outsmart and kill the dreadful and nightmarish Xenomorphic Creature; borne of the imagination of Hans Rudi 'H.R.' Giger.... and at just the right moment, too.
For anyone too impatient to sit through this fine, sentimental and romantic 30 minutes of good listening and want to dial right in on the segments used in The Alien Film… start at around 4:30...again at 11 minutes in, then at around 16:45... and listen for the overarching movie theme as it returns in crescendo towards the very end of this fine symphony… played not by the Musicians of The London Philharmonic Orchestra as it was for 20th Century Fox in the film… but by a group of what appears to be High School and College Age kids...(from Wheaton College) and they give this music a sterling performance.
“Incidentally...” Howard Hansen was not only a composer of Romantically Thematic Symphonies… He was also the Head Conductor of the Rochester New York Symphony Orchestra, as well. Though Hansen is deceased... I wonder if Adrien Brody would have liked to mention to him, "Nice Work, Mr. Hansen… You’ve unintentionally written an Important, 'incidental' piece of music ...that will last forever in cinema history to be heard on our film: The Alien...":
NOTE:
The Wheaton College Video version is no longer available to be linked...So the Peabody Institute Orchestra of Johns Hopkins University plays the same piece here instead. Although the entire Symphony Number 2 is worth listening to, the Key Parts used in the “Alien” Movie occur at 4:10, 10:30 and at the Finish… with 26:15 for the Crescendo:
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