2001: A Space Odyssey, Elvira Madigan, and Fantasia

Well, "Diva" made me go and listen to "La Wally' - but it is only really THAT aria that I love!

I must confess that "Amadeus" triggered a love for Mozart - for which I am truly grateful.

Thinking....

Thinking as well ... ... more thinking ... :wink:


<edited>

LOL! So it is! Well spotted, Walter...

I know he's probably not up there with the greats but I loved the movie soundtrack to The Mission by Ennio Moricone and the Passion by Peter Gabriel.
I have a fairly large collection of classical music but these two artist helped me expand my 'classical' tastes in a more modern direction.
I loved Amedeus.
The scene at the end of a veitnam movie, (the name escapes me) with a man being shot as the helicopter rises still haunts me, partially because of the music.


If you're interested, there are some really good tapes/books for children put out by the CBC here in Canada, semi-fictional, about the lives of the great composers, Vivaldi, Beethovan ect. A really good introduction to the classics. http://www.fredflaxman.com/ClassicalKids.html
Thanks, Ceili

celli- Funny you should mention that. On Refdesk, they have a site of the day. Today, the site is called "Essentials of Music," which describes musical periods, and composers with audio excerpts.

http://www.essentialsofmusic.com/

Kubrick seemed to be drawn towards using classical music:

Handel, Bach and Mozart in "Barry Lyndon"
Rossini in "A Clockwork Orange"
Ligeti in "Eyes Wide Shut" (Ligeti also in "2001")

"The Music Maker" -- Ken Russell's quirky homage to Tchaikovsky, but even better

"Mahler"

I mentioned another film recently where the classical music score is so wonderfully intergrated:

Khatchaturian's "Gayne Ballet" and "Spartacus Ballet" in "The Hudsucker Proxy." Even the famous "Saber Dance" pops up at an appropriate time (I think it was hula hoops!)

Aah, Phoenix, great thread. I have always loved movie soundtracks, but we're speaking of classical here so I'll list two pieces of classical music that I heard for the first time in a movie. (and immediately bought on a CD.)

Barber's Adagio for Strings featured throughout "Platoon".
and
The female duet "Dome epois l jasmin" from the opera Lakme which was featured in a Tom Berenger/Mimi Rogers thriller, Someone to Watch Over Me. I have two versions of that piece now. It was also played softly in the background of True Romance as Dennis Hopper's fingers were chopped off. (lol)

Rachmaninoff's Rhapody on a Theme of Paganini became very popular after the movie, Somewhere in Time (Christopher Reeve and Jane Seymour). The complete soundtrack of that movie was a best seller and I think my office staff all bought a copy.

The finale of Sibelius' Finlandia was featured in Die Hard II.

Philadelphia with Tom Hanks featured a lot of classical music , Mozart and others, but the one that most impressed me was LaMama Morta from Andrea Chenier by Maria Callas. It was a deeply emotional scene ,as Tom Hanks made Denzel Washington listen as he played the record (music with which Denzel was not familiar) while he moved around the room, explaining the meaning.

The Magnificent Obsession with Rock Hudson and Jane Wyman had a soundtrack comprised of Chopin ,and Brahams if I'm recalling correctly. I fell in love with Chopin and bought the record.

What has impressed you?

I think Ken Russell's ARIA qualifies for discussion here; I'm not a big Russell fan, but this movie blew me away in theatrical release - I had the good fortune to see it in a newer theater which boasted a brilliant screen, excellent projectors, and most adequate sound system - and it remains today one of my DVD favorites.

Raggedyaggie- Interesting that you mention, "Magnificent Obsession". That film was made a long, long time ago. It is one of the movies where the music had a great impact on me.

Playing Wagner's "Ride of the Walkyres" as background, while the helicopters, under the command of Robert Duval, rise in Apocalypse Now was inspired, I thought.

"Angel Face" with Robert Mitchum and Jean Simmons, directed by Otto Preminger with the "original music" credited to Dmitri Tiompkin. Trouble is, the main theme is directly extracted from Brahm's "Symphony No. 3! I should count the times that Holst "The Planets" has been paraphrased in scores. There were several pieces of classical music in "Out of Africa" played on an old grammaphone.

"Howards End" has a Richard Robbins score I own on CD but also excerpts several classical pieces:

André Derain (from "La Danse (1906)")
Percy Grainger (end title "Mock Morris")
Percy Grainger (opening title "Bridal Lullaby")
Ludwig van Beethoven (Symphony No. 5)

thanks for the 'planation.

i had this image of underwater dancing hippos committing suicide on jupiter's moon of titan.

now that would work on broadway.......

Metropolis has the greatest classical music sountrack!

The new animated or the original? The original was silent but Giorgio Moroder wrote I kind of rock opera score for it in 1984. The newest restoration does have a classical music background but uncredited where I can find anything about it. I think I'll purchase it just to find out!

BTW, welcome to A2K and the Film Forum, Ionesco!

Here's the official site and you can purchase it from them but I found it for around $20.00 at BestPrices.com. It say a "newly recorded orchestral soundtrack" but doesn't say if it is original music or uses classical music. LINK:

http://www.kino.com/metropolis/