Re: Pastorale Symphony

[Tim Conway <timcon@COMSWEST.NET.AU>]

Dominic Lesnar wrote:

>When that episode originally aired, a friend was so moved by that scene and
>Beethoven's music (he had no idea of the source of the music, just that it
>was *good*) that I was obliged to give him a birthday gift of... the 6th
>symphony! (Not Gould's version). Hmm, I doubt he's since listened to it, but
>each time they air that episode I dig mine out and enjoy the babbling brooks
>which surround me!

Has nobody seen Disney's cartoon 'Fantasia', first released in, I think,
the 1940s? It has the most joyous (and perhaps kitsch) representation of
LvB's Pastoral (not Pastorale) Symphony ever devised, complete with a
non-PC, fat, belching, quaffing Bacchus and numerous fawns, nymphs,
satyrs and assorted tosspots and nubiles. An 'improved' Fantasia has
recently been released but I'm not sure in what way the improvement is
achieved. It is designated a 'kids' film but if you haven't seen it, give
it a go when it hits your video store. The JSB T&F in d-minor alone is
worth the hire price.

...and then Max Kuenkel wrote:

>Yes, that scene is magical. I'm sure that scene is used in film schools.
>It's one long take, if I remember correctly (I haven't watched TV in over a
>year). What a wonderful scene. I wonder how many people got turned on to
>classical music by watching that scene. Maybe a lot. Of course, the same
>could be said for the famous death scene in "Soylent Green". If anything,
>that was even more powerful, perhaps the most powerful use of Beethoven's
>music in any movie, ever. If you haven't seen it, watch Soylent Green. There
>is only a minute or two from the 6th symphony, but that minute will blow you
>away.

OMFIAMP (One man's fish is another man's poison), but although I've never
seen Soylent Green I have seen A Clockwork Orange. Stanley Kubrycht
(sp?), the producer and director, bought the screen rights of AB's novel
from Anthony Burgess, so the story goes (although it may be that K bought
the rights from someone else who had previously bought them from AB) for
a mere £200 or thereabouts when AB was ill and impoverished in, I think,
the late 1950s. Luckily, AB made his way in the world through his other
writings.

A Clockwork Orange is a powerful work and features a 'hero', Alex, a
young thug who beats people up but loves LvB, in particular the 9th
Symphony. This is all set in the future, and in 1963, the year the film
was first released, the most futuristic way of playing music was by
cassette tape. Wow. Nonetheless, that particular lack of vision in no way
detracts from the film, its story or the magnificent score. Most people
will remember the absolutely incredibly _right_ use of the The Beautiful
Blue Danube for the docking of the space craft in 2001: A Space Odyssey.
Kubrycht was a master when it came to choosing music for films.

Beethoven's 9th permeates the film in the most powerful way imaginable.
One of the nastiest scenes is set to our hero singing Singing In The
Rain. However, Alex's love of the 9th was imbedded in AB's novel and was
not chosen by SK.

Kubrycht allowed distribution of the film for a while in the early 1960s
and then withdrew the film because, I think, of bad reviews. Now that he
is dead, the owners of the film have re-released it. Give it a go (but
tell your aunt to close her eyes when the music gets 'nice').


Tim Conway
Broome, WA, Oz