Sight and Sound (2002) - Sensitive to nature
Details
- article: Sensitive to nature
- author(s): Geoffrey Macnab
- journal: Sight and Sound (01/Feb/2002)
- issue: volume 12, issue 2, page 70
- journal ISSN: 0037-4806
- publisher: British Film Institute
- keywords: Alfred Hitchcock, Careers, Classical music, Composers, Film & stage music, Geoffrey Macnab, Maurice Jarre, Nostalgia, Personal profiles, Topaz (1969)
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Abstract
Composer Maurice Jarre has maintained a separate career as a conductor and composer for the ballet and concert halls alongside his involvement in film, including the scores for "Lara's Theme" in "Doctor Zhivago" and the theme song for "Lawrence of Arabia." In an interview, Jarre looks back over his work, which included the scores for more than 40 movies.
Article
Composer Maurice Jarre is most readily associated with David Lean, with writing epic scores for epic movies. Mention his name and what inevitably springs to mind are the balalaika-fuelled strains of 'Lara's Theme' in Doctor Zhivago, or the rousing signature tune for Lawrence of Arabia. But the Swiss-based 77-year-old composer is far more versatile than that. In addition to his collaborations with Lean he has worked with the likes of fean Cocteau, Jean-Louis Barrault, Albert Camus, André' Gide, Alfred Hitchcock and John Huston. A former student of the Paris Conservatoire and a one-time musical director at the Théâtre National Populaire, he has maintained a separate career as a conductor and composer for the ballet and concert halls alongside his involvement in film. In a rare interview to mark the DVD release of Doctor Zhivago, he looks back over his work, which includes the scores for more than 40 movies.
Geoffrey Macnab: Is the classical music world still snobbish about film music?
Maurice Jarre: Yes. There's a big difference from country to country, but the French continue to think that music for film is just something you do to make money. They prefer to sit and yawn their way through hours of avant-garde music because they're afraid they might miss the next Rite of Spring.
Could you talk about your collaboration with Albert Camus?
I was working for a theatre company formed by Jean-Louis Barrault in 1947. Myself and Pierre Boulez wrote the music for all ...
