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The Conversation
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Composed and Performed by:
David Shire
Produced by:
Douglass Fake
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LABEL & RELEASE DATE
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ALBUM AVAILABILITY
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Limited release available only through soundtrack specialty outlets.
Unlike other entries in this Intrada series of collectibles, this album did not sell out
in the first few years after its release. It was still available for its original
price as of 2008.
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AWARDS
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None.
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Buy it... only if you have an appreciation for this very fine film,
because the score can really only be enjoyed by listeners who can place
its unconventional minimalism in context.
Avoid it... if you expect the extensive solo piano work by David
Shire for this score to maintain a consistent tone, due mostly to the
insertion of early synthetic distortion as specific accompaniment to the
story.
BUY IT
 | Shire |
The Conversation: (David Shire) "He'd kill us if he
had the chance." This line, the most memorable from one of the very best
films of the early 1970's, highlights the Francis Ford Coppola thriller
starring Gene Hackman and a young Harrison Ford. The Conversation
is a film for which sound editing was paramount, because the plot of
Coppola's story revolves around a private investigator (Hackman) whose
life is completely consumed by the controlled environment of his
eavesdropping technologies. The story and its characters are
gut-wrenching in their sorrow, malice, and determination, and the film
has a whopper of twist at the end that left audiences feeling as though
they'd been had. Technologically, the elements of sound are the most
complex feature of the film, with much of its overall production period
spent in the post-shooting process of using the newest electronics to
manipulate the sounds which Hackman's character is heard recording on
his equipment. Composer David Shire, a brother-in-law of Coppola, was
approached to score the film at a time in his career when he was looking
for a big break. When first learning of the opportunity to score The
Conversation, Shire was sure that the Coppola film would afford him
a big budget with which to write for a large orchestra, and his career
would subsequently take off. When he instead discovered that Coppola
wanted the entire score to be performed by one instrument, Shire was
shocked. Little did he know, however, that The Conversation was
indeed destined be the career breakthrough he was looking for after all.
The score is studied even today as an example of minimalistic scoring at
its very finest. The purpose of the score was simply to extend the
persona of Hackman's character, Harry Caul, and it succeeds very well at
this task.
That main character is a painfully lonely man, paid for
eavesdropping in a large city environment, and because of this
occupation and setting, Caul has (along with his own sax performances)
visions of his own life in an alternatively jazzy sort of world. To
accompany Caul's emotional journey, Shire's score consists largely of
one instrument: the piano. Shire's own piano performances are, in many
ways, the heart of the film, and in the final cut, they are an elegant
way of allowing all the complex layers of sounds from Caul's work to
take the spotlight. The title theme is a simple, but flighty piano piece
with just a hint of jazzy rhythm that is, in its construction, a very
enjoyable piece. But since the film has such a dark underbelly, that
theme turns sour as the story transforms into a manipulative tale of
counterintelligence and Caul is exploited to the point of madness. To
address this side, this score was one of the earlier experiments in
synthesized elements being used to augment or distort a traditional
performance. For the scenes of fright, as Caul becomes nervous for the
lives of those upon whom he is spying (along with the belief that he is
to be their agent of doom), Shire's music was altered by Walter Murch,
the film's editor, to utilize experimental electronic grinding and
distortion techniques, weaving in and out of mono and stereo
presentations. Since the centerpiece of the spy-like recordings in the
story occurs in a crowded park, sounds of street bands and other audio
artifacts were mixed brilliantly with the lonely themes for Caul,
sitting far above it all. Understandably, these solitary piano solos
don't work quite as well on album.
Because of Coppola's somewhat unpredictable method of
approving the music, some of the temporary mono recordings by Shire
before the film was even shot were used in the final cut of the film.
And with the street sounds integrated with the score so well, they could
not be easily separated for an album release. In its latter half, the
score also contains a significant amount of low key pounding and other
droning on the piano, representing the frantic pace at which the jazzy
mystique is lost. Only in the final cue does Shire's piano provide an
echo of the Caul character's sanity that existed in the first six or so
major cues. The 2001 debut album for The Conversation was the
second in the eventually lengthy series of "Special Collection" releases
from Intrada Records. It had been a frequently requested score on CD for
many years. Its incredible use in the film proves that minimalism can
indeed work to perfection, and because the film is studied by students
across the globe, the score was naturally in demand. To listen to the
album in its entirety, though, is difficult, because without knowing the
immediate context of the visuals on screen, the lesser-thematic
sequences of Shire's performances are indistinguishable from the
distorting sound effects. Ironically, the best cue on the album is one
that was never used in the film. Shire recorded his title theme with a
small ensemble to give it a fuller personality, and that final track on
the album is not surprisingly the highlight. You simply must have an
appreciation for this film to be able to enjoy this score, and even if
you are an enormous fan it, only ten minutes or so of the score is all
that is required on album. Nevertheless, it is still an important work,
not only in its relation to the fine production as a whole, but also in
that it led to countless other assignments for its obviously talented
composer. *** @Amazon.com: CD or
Download
Total Time: 37:22
1. Theme from The Conversation (3:30)
2. The End of the Day (1:36)
3. No More Questions/Phoning the Director (2:16)
4. Blues for Harry (Combo) (2:38)
5. To the Office/The Elevator (2:37)
6. Whatever Was Arranged (2:06)
7. The Confessional (2:18)
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8. Amy's Theme (2:48)
9. Dream Sequence (2:32)
10. Plumbing Problem (2:51)
11. Harry Carried (2:44)
12. The Girl in the Limo (2:23)
13. Finale and End Credits (3:52)
14. Theme from The Conversation (Ensemble) (2:27)
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The insert contains extensive notes from the director, editor, and composer.
An excerpt from Francis Ford Coppola's note is as follows:
"The Conversation falls in the category of a 'personal film'. This was the holy
grail for film students, the notion that one could write and ultimately make a
personal film rather than a Hollywood or industry film. Even then, over 25 years
ago, the distinction was clear: A personal film could be about something that
meant something to you; that did not depend on big stars and tremendous action
sequences, but was more introspective, more evocative; it was about things you
had feelings for. The Conversation was a script I worked on for several years. I
wanted to make it my first for American Zoetrope, our new independent film
company.
Ironically but not surprisingly, it took The Godfather to get The Conversation
made. The Conversation was only made at all as an inducement to make a 2nd
Godfather film. The script was really inspired by Michangelo Antonioni's Blow
Up, conceived as a thriller to have some small commercial appeal, but designed
to explore an inner, lonely part of myself. For all these reasons, I stressed to
David Shire that I did not want a large orchestral ensemble, but something
simple, haunting and lonely as I imagined Harry Caul was himself.
David, of course, had the equipment to write and orchestrate a film score as
good and big as any composer, so I worked with him almost as an actor, to move
him to try something daringly simple, that did not show off all his great
talents and abilities. Eventually I thought that a single voice would be the
most appropriate solution for what I had in mind‹a single piano, recorded with
the greatest simplicity; something that had a slight jazz figure to it, as Harry
was a frustrated jazz 'wanna-be' ‹but to avoid the obvious, like using a sax or
trumpet.
Of course David couldn't believe that this wasn't just a first step and that
later we'd surely orchestrate it, bring in strings, show off a little. But the
first sketches David played were so effective, capturing the mood of the story
so well, that I resisted further decoration. I think of David Shire's score for
The Conversation as one of the most effective, most successful film scores that
I've had."
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