Post by erik on Aug 13, 2022 12:41:28 GMT -5
A south-of-the-border score by the much underrated film music composer Jerry Fielding is in the Classical Works Spotlight this time around.
Jerry Fielding: BRING ME THE HEAD OF ALFREDO GARCIA
Although he was never quite as well known as fellow composers like John Williams and Jerry Goldsmith, Jerry Fielding nevertheless made quite an (unsung) impact on the fine art of film scoring in Hollywood. After having been a victim of the early 1950’s anti-Commie blacklist, Fielding finally broke into the Hollywood film music world through his score for director Otto Preminger’s 1962 political drama Advise And Consent. And then in 1966, with his score for the made-for-TV adaptation of Katharine Anne Porter’s classic period novella Noon Wine, Fielding began a substantial collaboration with maverick Hollywood director Sam Peckinpah. Of the three Academy Award nominations Fielding got for original music score, two of them were for Peckinpah: the 1969 Western epic The Wild Bunch, and the 1971 psychological horror film Straw Dogs. Fielding’s penchant for working outside the box found an even better outlet when Peckinpah tapped him to do the score for the director’s 1974 film Bring Me The Head Of Alfredo Garcia. This combination of modern film noir, Western, revenge tragedy, black comedy, and horror set in Mexico, and involving a bartender (Warren Oates) out to scarf the head of a dead gigolo for a huge reward being offered by a vengeful land baron named El Jefe (Emilio Fernandez), gave Fielding quite the challenge. The score for the film incorporates the native music of Mexico, with much in the way of Mexican-style woodwinds, and a fair amount of Mariachi as well, but also source music (in the scenes involving Oates and the shady businessmen he has to deal with), and more sinister Mahler/Stravinsky-influenced dissonance. Most of the score was recorded and conducted by Fielding at London’s CTS Studios, although the track “Hacienda Suite” was recorded at Churubusco Studios in Mexico City with various Mariachi ensembles. Bring Me The Head Of Alfredo Garcia was basically barbecued by critics and audiences upon its release in August 1974; but it has since seen its stock rise as a truly bizarre cult classic. Fielding’s score, then and now, remains highly regarded by his peers in the Hollywood film scoring community and by film scoring buffs around the world.
Mexico City Mariachi Ensembles
CTS Studio Orchestra/JERRY FIELDING (Quartet)
Jerry Fielding: BRING ME THE HEAD OF ALFREDO GARCIA
Although he was never quite as well known as fellow composers like John Williams and Jerry Goldsmith, Jerry Fielding nevertheless made quite an (unsung) impact on the fine art of film scoring in Hollywood. After having been a victim of the early 1950’s anti-Commie blacklist, Fielding finally broke into the Hollywood film music world through his score for director Otto Preminger’s 1962 political drama Advise And Consent. And then in 1966, with his score for the made-for-TV adaptation of Katharine Anne Porter’s classic period novella Noon Wine, Fielding began a substantial collaboration with maverick Hollywood director Sam Peckinpah. Of the three Academy Award nominations Fielding got for original music score, two of them were for Peckinpah: the 1969 Western epic The Wild Bunch, and the 1971 psychological horror film Straw Dogs. Fielding’s penchant for working outside the box found an even better outlet when Peckinpah tapped him to do the score for the director’s 1974 film Bring Me The Head Of Alfredo Garcia. This combination of modern film noir, Western, revenge tragedy, black comedy, and horror set in Mexico, and involving a bartender (Warren Oates) out to scarf the head of a dead gigolo for a huge reward being offered by a vengeful land baron named El Jefe (Emilio Fernandez), gave Fielding quite the challenge. The score for the film incorporates the native music of Mexico, with much in the way of Mexican-style woodwinds, and a fair amount of Mariachi as well, but also source music (in the scenes involving Oates and the shady businessmen he has to deal with), and more sinister Mahler/Stravinsky-influenced dissonance. Most of the score was recorded and conducted by Fielding at London’s CTS Studios, although the track “Hacienda Suite” was recorded at Churubusco Studios in Mexico City with various Mariachi ensembles. Bring Me The Head Of Alfredo Garcia was basically barbecued by critics and audiences upon its release in August 1974; but it has since seen its stock rise as a truly bizarre cult classic. Fielding’s score, then and now, remains highly regarded by his peers in the Hollywood film scoring community and by film scoring buffs around the world.
Mexico City Mariachi Ensembles
CTS Studio Orchestra/JERRY FIELDING (Quartet)