Composer LaFave tackles the history of film music in this noteworthy book. For many years, the musical accompaniment to silent movies was determined in theaters by local musicians, but in the early 1900s, the studios began requiring that specific music be played with their movies. This was a major shift, but it was nothing compared to what happened with the advent of motion-picture sound. Not only did the talkies put hundreds of musicians out of work, they also signaled the creation of a whole new genre: movie music. Its first major practitioner, Max Steiner (Gone with the Wind), set the standard for how film music should complement and enrich the film experience; he was followed by greats like Bernard Herrmann (who wrote scores for movies by Orson Welles and Alfred Hitchcock), Nino Rota (The Godfather), and many others. LaFave approaches his very big subject thematically, exploring the music for such film genres as mystery and noir (home of jazz and somber saxophones); SF and westerns (in which grand orchestral themes connote other worlds); and horror (discordant notes, jarring juxtapositions). For both musicians and casual readers.
