The Music of Ben-Hur

Here is an interesting feature that talks about the entire score of Ben-Hur by Miklos Rozsa. As far as epic scores go, this is one of my personal favorites. Unfortunately, the composer (to my knowledge) did not film many interviews, so we have to rely on interviews with other composers to learn about how the score was put together.

Jerry Goldsmith Archive Interview

In a nearly two hour long interview, Jerry Goldsmith tells his life story for the Archive of American Television project. This is a great resource for anyone wishing to learn more about the life of the composer.

James Horner talks about Star Trek II

It is always invaluable to hear a composer speak about why he created a film score in a certain way. Just imagine if it had been possible to videotape Beethoven or Mozart speaking about THEIR works. Resources like this become all the more valuable (and poignant) when the composer passes away suddenly. While many of the greats (including James Horner) have passed on, at least we have a portion of their thoughts set down and recorded.

Jerry Goldsmith talks about Alien

A look inside Goldsmith's thought process when he created the score for the ever-terrifying Alien (for a sense of contrast, keep in mind that he composed Alien in the same year as Star Trek: The Motion Picture!!) In fact, if you listen closely, some say that you can hear some of the same minor themes in both films. Primarily listen to the music early in Alien when the camera is panning through the empty corridors of the Nostromo and compare to the music in the scene where Spock is stealing a thruster suit rather late in the film.