Howard Shore
What Bernard Herrmann was to Alfred Hitchcock and Danny Elfman has been to Tim Burton, Howard Shore is to David Cronenberg. As the director’s sonic collaborator since the ‘70s, Shore has scored 15 of his films. The composer won Oscars for his music from the Lord of the Rings trilogy, but some of his finest work was accomplished on Cronenberg films such as The Fly.
Three of Shore’s out-of-print soundtrack albums are out this month on CD with bonus tracks (including demos, alternative takes and full versions). His music for Dead Ringers (1988) and Crash (1996) has an eerie, intense subtlety. For the more jarring, jagged Naked Lunch (1991), Shore collaborated with avant-garde jazz saxophonist Ornette Coleman, who plays on several tracks and composed a handful of selections. Coleman is a good complement for an hallucinatory film based on William S. Burroughs’ novel.
Crash: The Complete Original Soundtrack Remastered (Collector’s Edition Vol. 4); Dead Ringers Complete Original Score Remastered (Collector’s Edition Vol. 5); and Naked Lunch: Complete Original Soundtrack Remastered (Collector’s Edition Vol. 6) are scheduled for release Oct. 14 on Howe Records. Previous CDs in the series include music for After Hours, Ed Wood and “Soul of the Ultimate Nation,” an online role-playing game.
