Jerry Goldsmith

 

 

[1929 - 2004] True legend of music for films, American composer Jerry Goldsmith was one of the few composers who retain his own creative longevity even crossing the vices and fashions of the American film industry. The quantity, variety and quality of his compositions placed him as one of the most respected and appreciated composers of the cinematic medium.

 

Goldsmith began studies in piano early childhood. Later studied composition with Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco, and piano with Jacob Gimpel (that recorded piano passages in Planet of the Apes). At the University of California he also had composition lessons for movies with Miklos Rozsa. Goldsmith began his composing career writing for radio and TV where he became known with musics for series Gunsmoke, Twilight Zone (The Twilight Zone) and Thriller. The music for the western Black Patch (1957) was his first composition for a feature film. It was followed by a remarkable sequence of great movies and great soundtracks: Freud (1960), The Blue Max (1966), The Sand Peebles (1967) Planet of the Apes (1968), Patton (1970), Mephisto Waltz (1971), Papillon (1973), Chinatown (1974), The Wind and the Lion (1975), The Island on the Stream (1978) and The Omen (1976), work that earned him his only Oscar.

 

Always innovative and incorporating whatever it need for efficiency of music, Goldsmith redefined much of the soundtracks idiom during his career. Some work for thrillers as The Boys From Brazil (1977), Coma (1977), Alien (1979) and Cassandra Crossing (1978) are memorable in their effectiveness. With Poltergeist (1981) and First Blood (1982) conclude a long evolutionary cycle and started an adaptation to the frenetic style of the new American cinema. Would still deliver great works as Basic Instinct (1992) and The 13th Warrior (1999) and would give continuity to its efficiency in action films as in Air Force One (1997) US Marshals (1998) and The Mummy (1999).