Alex North

 

[1910 - 1991] "Of all of us he is the master" said Jerry Goldsmith, giving notion of the influence and importance of Alex North for a whole generation of composers in the American film industry. In the developing of the film composition, Alex North had fundamental importance for introduce the use of the jazz language. It was also one of the greatest updaters of symphonic writing, expanding and refining the drama, grandeur and subtlety on the soundtracks.

 

Without sufficient resources in youth, North worked as a night telegraph operator to fund his music studies during the day. Studied in the famous Julliard School, where he met and maintained friendship for many years with Bernard Herrmann. In the 40s composed for war documentaries, ballets and stageplays. Met and worked with director Elia Kazan on the stage production Death of a Salesman. Kazan would be responsible for North´s debut when invited him to compose for A Streetcar Named Desire (1951), a historical work that marked the introduction of jazz idiom along with the traditional symphonic comment.

 

Throughout North´s career stand out remarkable moments as Viva Zapata (1952), The Rose Tattoo (1955), Long Hot Summer (1958), Spartacus (1960), The Misfits (1961), Cleopatra (1963), The Agony and the Ecstasy (1965) and Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966). Also of worth mentioning is the theme Unchained Melodie did for the film Unchained (1955) a prison drama that would make success as a pop song in the version of the Righteous Brothers and eventually would be used with great success in Ghost (1990).

 

The creative longevity of the composer would be noticeable in Journey Into Fear (1975), Bite the Bullet (1975), Dragonslayer (1981), Prizzi's Honor (1985) and The Dead (1987). The composer Jerry Goldsmith was responsible for new recordings and availability of great works of Alex North. Among them the notorious soundtrack not used in 2001 A Space Odyssey.