What are your favorite soundtracks that involve the violin (of course)
I decided to start this topic mainly because for years I've been desperately looking for the theme music to Miss Marple starring Geraldine Mcewan, but can't seem to find it anywhere. If any one has any info on this I would be eternally grateful, as I believe that I'm on the verge of going stark raving mad. There's also the bit about one's favorite soundtrack, but primarily the focus should be on the first request HELP HELP IS NEEDED. Oh yeah and I would also love to find the music to The Gift and why is it that the music to Psycho is also so extremely hard to find. Geez! Why do these people even bother putting out music and not even having the sheet music to go with it, because if anything they could at least earn more money!?? Great, now I'm having a tirade it's the middle of the night and I can't even play anything. AARGGHHH
Replies (39)
Why not include other instruments? I think it's important to share good examples of all kinds of instruments.
Violin: The PBS Series "Civil War"
Cello and Electric Guitar: Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
Alto flute: Disney's The Jungle Book
Tuba: Tubby the Tuba
Contrabass: Jaws
Those are all the featured instruments in soundtracks that come to mind right now.
Well, the film was a little hokey but I am a big fan of both John Corigliano and Joshua Bell, so I will have to go with The Red Violin...!
ooh, i played the civil war on PBS soundtrack for middle school orch, it was called ashokan farewell i believe, and i had the solo too :D
Catherine, you probably mean mainly the fiddle music during the chase scene through the mountain at the end. I heard it somewhere else as part of something larger, but I can't remember what. Maybe as part of an orchestral thing, but I can't remember. I do remember it surprised me when I heard it. I like the movie because my ancestors lived in the time and place it's set in. I always feel like I'm watching an old home movie.
There's two soundtracks that I listen to all the time, that have great violin sections.
The first is Pan's Labyrinth. If you haven't seen the movie yet, gotta warn you it's a very grim fairy tale for adults. It's done beautifully though, and with great music. In the liner notes the director calls the music the perfect soundtrack. Gotta love that admiration in his composer.
The second is Battlestar Galactica season 2. The composer started to mix middle eastern elements with Philip Glass type triplets. It's great fun, and suprisingly goes well with that show. It's won lots of awards too. Here's a link to here some of that with video, no less.
http://www.bearmccreary.com/
Click on Online Demo, then Video Demo, then Battlestar Galactica Promo #1: "Prelude to War".
Barry
I quite like the violin solo - and the player! - on the Sherlock Holmes series. The one periodically on PBS or the Mystery channel. Not the one with Basil whatsisname.
Emil, is that the series with Jeremy Brett? I've read a decent amount about the series because I think Brett's portrayal is absolutely stellar, and if I'm remembering right, the music was performed by the composer's daughter, because he wanted to give an impression of a "fine amateur," as Holmes was reputed to have been. The music fascinates me, as does the rest of the series.
Hi Juanita. I have played the theme from Miss Marple many times over the years. The version I played is by the well known film composer Ron Goodwin, is that the piece you are looking for? Regards John.
Hello, Juanita!
My favorite soundtrack, which definitely is carried by the violin, is the soundtrack to Schindler's List.
Itzhak Perlman's solo performances are deeply moving, even if one has not viewed this incredible film. John Williams' soundtrack and Perlman's playing are the perfect musical complement to the film.
Sheet music, three selections from the soundtrack (for solo violin and piano), are available at SheetMusicPlus.com, as well as at other on-line and retail vendors, I am certain.
Although I have been studying the Holocaust/Shoah for thirty-five years, by serendipity, I got involved in the Holocaust/Genocide Project of the International Education and Resource Network (iEARN) in January 1994, shortly after seeing Schindler's List. I have been involved in education about the Holocaust, intolerance, and antisemitism ever since (even getting the opportunity to work for the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, DC).
Thank you for starting this interesting discussion!
Cordially,
David
--
Oooh, here's a couple modern movie composers scores:
John Williams, "The Witches of Eastwick" Haunting, and mesmerizing.
John Morris, "Young Frankenstein", particularly for "Transylvanian Lullaby" The best haunting gypsy music in any movie. I've never seen this in print in sheet music form. If you find it, I'll buy you a steak dinner;)
Now if you want both these songs, pick up, Gil Shaham's cd, the devil's dance cd.
M. Night Shyamalan's "The Village" has a soundtrack by James Newton Howard that is rather violiny.
I remember when I saw this movie, I thought, "Wow, that is The Best Studio Violinist Ever!", and then in the credits, Hilary Hahn was listed as soloist...
I agree! I loved the music to The Village. Hilary Hahn is amazing! I remember it came out before I entered high school and I was going through the process of buying a new instrument to use through high school and college. One of the first things I played on one of the instruments was the theme from The Village and my dealer asked me if I improvised that on the spot. Unfortunately, I had to be honest. But what a beautiful soundtrack. That was the only good part about that movie. The music was superb, the plot sucked.
The plot was not the only questionable quality. I recall that the dialogue was pretty bad too.
The "I See Dead People" movie (name?) was good though.
While we're discussing the Village...
I agree...awesome soundtrack, and I need to find the music for "The Gravel Road". It has a rather 19th century/Scottish/celtic feel to it. "The Gravel Road" is part of "The Village" soundtrack...anyone know where I can obtain music for that piece? I want to learn to play it!
Thanks,
Dean
Juanita:
Is this the piece that you are looking for?
http://www.sheetmusicplus.com/store/smp_inside.html?item=8270885&cart=3391008652571115&page=00-01
Ted Sinoski
I like the theme from "Jeeves and Wooster" by Anne Dudley
I love Joshua Bell play Red Violin.
as well
Shindler List - Perlman
The Village - Hilary Hahn
Humoresque - Isaac Stern
Intermezzo - T.Seidel
Great Waltz (1938) - Toscha Seidel
The "Ladies In Lavender" soundtrack by Nigel Hess, also played by Joshua Bell, is beautiful.
My son's requested submission to the 24 hour film festival, he's a film editor and producer. He woke me up at 3 in the morning to quickly record a sound track. Considering I was still half asleep and you ignore the slight intonation ambiguities, I really liked that one.
That's the film where he had a damsel in distress tied to a tree when a "monster" pops out, but a REAL snake coming out of the brush slithers right at her. The ensuing debacle still makes my stomach hurt from laughing. She was screeming bloody murder to get loose although she was not tied that tightly. My ears still hurt from her legitimate screams.
No, no, it's not what you think. She said later that she collects snakes and when she saw this snake coming at her she went wild because she said she did not have that color snake in her collection and she wanted it. We released her and she dove into the brush and came out with it, put it in her purse and then got back against the tree and screamed about the "monster" attacking her. But she had a very small smile on her face because of the new addition to her collection.
I thought I was the only one who particularly noticed and enjoyed that PBS Sherlock Holmes violin solo!
What about tv commercials? Anybody notice the lovely solo for Prego sauce? It's played by a former teacher of mine, Regis Iandiorio.
>Well, the film was a little hokey but I am a big fan of both John Corigliano and Joshua Bell, so I will have to go with The Red Violin...!
Hey, I was just listening to this in my car a few hours ago after not hearing it for 9 months. Small world! I am simply amazed by Joshua Bell's versatility on it. In the movie you see different characters playing different types of music through the eras, and when you hear the soundtrack, you tend to visualize different performers. Alas, not so.
Say what you want about Josh - he does a fab job on this soundtrack. I'm hooked.
Raphael, I always wondered who played that. Thanks for telling us.
Oh yeah...forgot about Fiddler on the Roof. It's disturbing, though, that the sound doesn't line up with the picture. I haven't watched it recently and actually paid attention to see if that's the actual violinist, though.
Darby O'Connell and the Little People (or whatever it was called) has a great fiddle part, but the one onscreen is a fake. I hate it when they do that. Of course, are there any good violinists that act well?
Philippe Quint is supposed to be in an upcoming movie called "Russian Blue". He is a very fine player, and has movie-star good looks. Acting? We will have to wait and see.
I absolutley love Jeremy Brett, it's so sad that he wasn't able to complete the series. Lol Basil Whatshisname, irritatingly enough though, the sheet music is extremely hard if not impossible to find. The soundtrack is sold on amazon.com, but I wonder if there's any sort of machine that can detect the notes from a cd, as it is playing. I only put emphasis on the violin Rob, because since I've started playing, I've begun to notice how much the violin is involved in even today's television and film soundtrack's. Although, really it doesn't matter to me one way or the other.
Oh yes that's exactly it I've been looking for that two years Ted, thanks.
i like schindler's list theme song. it's performed by itzhak perlman, i think. and composed by john williams, if i'm not mistaken. and it suits the story of the film, too.
oh and i looooove that song from memoirs of a geisha. but the cello was the dominant instrument, not the violin, although i'm pretty sure perlman also performed in some of the songs. did he?
I always liked the Red Violin score--It's some of the best I've ever heard Bell play.
I think the score for the movie "Days of Heaven" is great.
Also, I was impress with the Laura Croft Tomb Raider (second movie). It was really great.
The Manchurian Candidate.
Atonal.
I like how Jesse plays the harmonica along with the soundtrack music in Free Willy when he's seeing if Willy likes his music...and they're such random chords by themselves. Because kids just go around, playing random chords on the harmonica, which somehow fit into the soundtrack of life....
I really like stuff by John Williams. I recently just heard the entire soundtrack to "Memoirs of a Geisha" and thought it was lovely. Especially the track "The Chairman's Waltz".
I like anime Lupin the 3rd with the quartet when there is a chasing
My friend made a movie in which the soundtrack was a single violin and a single cello...both played by a single person.
He recorded himself playing each part in a full-orchestrated score that he wrote, and recorded each part, one at a time...it sounded pretty impressive when it was finished...and it took him several tries since he played with some rubato.
I second the "Last Of The Mohicans" soundtrack. I also really like the soundtrack to "Girl With A Pearl Earring," composed by Alexandre Desplat. The main theme, "Griet's Theme" is gorgeous and available singly on iTunes.
My favorite soundtrack is "Requiem For A Dream," composed by Clint Mansell and performed by Kronos Quartet. An eerie, haunting soundtrack to match a nightmarish, beautifully filmed movie by Darren Aronofsky. The music perfectly suits the mental degeneration of the characters (particularly Ellen Burstyn in one of her best roles).
Hello,
So this song has been stuck in my head, and I think it might be from a movie soundtrack played on violins. If you listen to the music in the background being played here, it sounds similar. Can anyone please ID the song? That would be awesome!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EfE5g_zBIWI&t=12m
Wow! This discussion has been around for years. OK, I'll add a couple of favorites that are even older than this discussion thread:
- Old, old movie (1946), "The Magic Bow" - a fictional (very, very fictional) biography of Niccolo Paganini, with handsome Stewart Granger as Paganini, and soundtrack played by Yehudi Menuhin. Granger's imitation of violin playing in this movie was (as I recall) excellent. The script and story weren't so hot, however. In Menuhin's autobiography there's a photo of him in a period costume for a screen test for the movie. Wisely, they used him only for the soundtrack rather than as an actor.
- Not quite so old movie (1953), "Tonight We Sing" - A fictional bio of Sol Hurok, the famous musical impresario (played by David Wayne). There's a bit part for Isaac Stern, who plays the role of Eugene Ysaye. Stern looked nothing like Ysaye, of course, but one of the things he plays (with piano accompaniment) is the last movement of the Wieniewski 2nd Violin Concerto, and Stern gives a wonderful performance. He also plays Zigeunerweisen, an equally thrilling performance.
Cheers,
Sandy
Any soundtrack with solo violin?
Black Beauty is one of my favorites!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_Xy66FYG70
I also like this celtic theme for Asterix's movie
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ElPTXAOrIg
This discussion has been archived and is no longer accepting responses.
Violinist.com is made possible by...
Dimitri Musafia, Master Maker of Violin and Viola Cases
Elmar Oliveira International Violin Competition
Johnson String Instrument/Carriage House Violins
Subscribe
Laurie's Books
Discover the best of Violinist.com in these collections of editor Laurie Niles' exclusive interviews.
Violinist.com Interviews Volume 1, with introduction by Hilary Hahn
Violinist.com Interviews Volume 2, with introduction by Rachel Barton Pine
June 15, 2007 at 03:55 PM · I LOVE the Last of the Mohicans soundtrack -although it's more fiddle, it's so beautiful. Check it out!