The Silver Screen Soundtrack Hour: The Music of Film Noir
Springing from a fertile mix of hard-boiled crime fiction and German expressionist cinematography, film noir presented a rough-edged alternative to the cozy stereotype of the American dream. While the golden age of film noir was the 1040s and 50s, its roots go back as far as hard-edged gangster movies of the 1930s, like the Humphrey Bogart vehicle High Sierra, while modern adaptations of the genre, like Chinatown and LA Confidential have kept the style alive.
““(Film noir) defied the emphasis on tonality common in classical Hollywood scoring practices.””
The music of film noir hides from the light, matching the dark cinematography and subject matter with dissonant and edgy scores. In this edition of The Silver Screen Soundtrack Hour, we’ll hear music from Hollywood all-star composers like Franz Waxman, Miklos Rosza, and Max Steiner, plus lesser-known composers like Leigh Stevens and Adolphe Deutsch. Selections will be heard from Sunset Boulevard, The Hitchhiker, Chinatown, High Sierra, and others.
Produced and hosted by Ken Nail, The Silver Screen Soundtrack Hour airs on Charlottesvilleclassical.org every Thursday at 9 AM and 6 PM, plus Saturdays at Noon. Visit our Facebook page, or contact Ken on Twitter at @ken_classical.