The Composer in Hollywood

Palmer, a broadcaster, orchestral arranger and music writer who has published books on a number of modern composers, discusses the life and works of 11 of the great creators of film scores from 1930 to 1950: Max Steiner, Erich Korngold, Alfred Newman, Franz Waxman, Dimitri Tiomkin, Roy Webb, Miklos Rozsa, Bernard Herrman, Alex North, Elmer Bernstein and Leonard Rosenman. He shows how, after the advent of talking movies in 1929, these men developed a new type of music that enhanced the images on the screen and intensified dramatic effect. Writing in language understandable to the lay reader yet sophisticated enough to hold the interest of the professional musician, he re-creates the powerful spells that many of the famous scenes in movies from Hollywood's Golden Age exerted on audiences and shows how mood was achieved by the brilliant interweaving of music and drama. His analysis should do a great deal to help the movie score gain acceptance as a legitimate form of composition. Illustrations not seen by PW. (May)