June 24, 2015 - Church of Satan

In Memoriam James Horner (1953-2015)I first encountered composer James Horner’s work when I saw the theatrical release of Corman’s BATTLE BEYOND THE STARS. He impressed me with the skilled symphonic development of his fine thematic material and the savvy references to other composers of film and orchestral music that were woven into his score. I placed him on my radar as being a refreshing new voice in the tradition of Goldsmith, Williams and other masters, so that I could look for his coming scores that I suspected would elevate the films with which they were wed. He did not disappoint.Horner’s musical vocabulary was derived from the great Western orchestral tradition, from romantic bombast to avant garde soundscapes as well as aspects of folk and popular expression. I could tell that he enjoyed many of the same works as myself since there were direct allusions to Wagner (The Flying Dutchman in the wonderfully propulsive KRULL score), Shostakovich, Prokofiev and others whom I admired. In KRULL and THE WRATH OF KHAN he employed a variant on the grinding climax from the first movement of Britten’s Sinfonia Da Requiem. Clearly this fellow studied and loved the same pieces that I had. I did not see this as a form of theft or repetition, rather it was that Horner used certain musical materials from earlier masters as their emotional meaning was apt for a number of films and would serve the imagery well. And he made them his own.Horner’s skills in imitating varied musical styles were extraordinary, from the Swing music in COCOON to the impressive blend of dissonance, Mozartian delicacy, and sweepingly transcendant choral passages for BRAINSTORM. His ALIENS score was a fine successor to Goldsmith. With its nod to 2001 through a paraphrase of Khachaturian’s GAYNE—likewise signifying the loneliness of deep space—and the clangor of struck anvils driving forward the desperate efforts of the military, it fully heightened the elements that Cameron had brought to his splendid sequel. For THE NAME OF THE ROSE Horner demonstrated that he could use synthesizers to create evocative sounds suitable for a medieval Sherlock Holmes dealing with the religious suppression of wisdom, joy, and any truth that could threaten tenuous faith.The heroic sonic tapestry he wove for the second and third STAR TREK films evoked a sense of swashbuckling bravado for Kirk and his crew, offering a potent and iconic set of themes for the courage of the crew of the Enterprise, the villainy of Montalban’s Khan, as well as the barbaric aggression of the Klingons, climaxed by the majesty of the result of the detonated Genesis device. He deftly captured stalwart bravery, whether it was successful or not, in scores for GLORY, BRAVEHEART and TROY. Collaborating on Cameron’s TITANIC cemented Horner’s eminence, and won him top awards, and the popularity of the same director’s AVATAR enlivened via Horners exquisitely rendered, complex textures, made certain that his sounds would be known throughout many cultures around the globe.THE ROCKETEER may be my favorite of all of his scores as it is imbued with an extraordinary sense of nostalgia from the very opening bars that then fulfills all of the various recreated vintage aspects of Johnston’s dazzling film, particularly embodying the exhilarating thrill of solo flight that worked on the same exalted level as had Goldsmith’s brilliant work in THE BLUE MAX. Clearly, flight evoked a very powerful response in Horner, and so while it was a saddening shock to learn that he had died in an accident, it was made less so in that his life was lost while flying solo in a small plane—his final hours spent doing something that clearly meant as much to him as his creative work.Maestro James Horner has written an extraordinary body of music, well-serving the many and varied films for which it was crafted, but which can also stand on its own for the beauty of its expressive melodies and supporting harmonies, so well orchestrated to create a sound that one could immediately identify with his deeply musical thinking. I am saddened that his life was cut short so that there will not be additional masterworks to expand his oeuvre. I will be enjoying his music as long as I live, my heart soaring with the symphonic glories that will long stand as tribute to his sublime creativity.Hail James Horner! —Magus Peter H. Gilmore

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