John Scott's Column

As time permits, John Scott will answer your questions and have the answer posted here. This week's question comes from Jay Cox:

Dear Mr. Scott, I have just received Your latest CD , Becoming Colette and quite naturally, it is simply terrific.

My question is, did you incorporate any classical music into this score ?

I have only had the chance to play the CD twice, but it appears you may have done this( and it works wonderfully ! ) as in the case with Jungle Book II.

Dear Jay,

Thank you so much for your enthusiasm over "Becoming Colette." We are delighted it turned out so well. We seem to be getting a very unexpected but good response to our efforts over this CD.

In answer to your question. I did not incorporate any classical repertoire into this score for a couple of reasons. One: it did not occur to me and two: the obvious piece to include would have been Offenbach's Can- Can from "Orpheus in the Underworld." In every film involving French Music Hall we get this piece and as right as it may be I just thought it would be nice for a change to have another Can-Can, and so I composed one in the style of Offenbach. All the other source music is my composition in the style of the French salon music of the day. You are right about "Jungle Book." The pieces I used occurred to me as I was composing and were meant to be a joke which I hoped people would recognize and enjoy the joke. If the right piece of classical music seems to be the best thing I would not hesitate to use it. On the other hand I hate it when a director or producer wants a piece simply because he happens to be familiar with it, not thinking that it is not appropriate or that there is a much better solution for the good of the film.