My parents and their peers had the CBS series ‘Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra’ with legend Leonard Bernstein teaching them about dead European masters. My band-geek friends and I had ‘Amadeus.’
Mind you, those aren’t remotely the same thing: the maestro of ‘West Side Story’ covered as many composers as he could in a dozen years of television, while Milos Forman’s milestone adaptation of Peter Shaffer’s play focused entirely on one guy for three hours — Mozart. Well, two, really; the epic narrative is nothing without the envious counterpoint of Antonio Salieri (it’s F. Murray Abraham’s greatest performance) recounting why he should be held in eternal contempt for sabotaging Wolfgang’s career and possibly poisoning him. (The truth remains a permanent mystery.) Even so, Salieri’s compositions don’t figure into this soundtrack. Apart from an 80-second Gypsy traditional and a choral piece from Pergolesi, the entire set is a study in the title prodigy. Like the incredibly detailed, impeccably executed film, which I vividly recall seeing in 70mm at ye olde Cinedome in Orange, the music within floored me. Still does now, which I attribute foremost to that crucial aspect of any quality vinyl: the opening cut. Fast or slow, atmospheric or in-your-face, it ought to grab you, or why bother? The tensely dramatic first movement from Symphony No. 25 in G Minor did just that, gripping my psyche like transcendent prog-rock (behold! that crescendoing chord at 5:10 before the final charge!) and galloping into my gait with the earworm strength of the era’s best grooves. I was hooked. Have been ever since.
Anyone else remember the music video stitched together to sell this to us ‘kids,’ splicing bits from then-current heroes into an array of scenes from the movie, edited to the rhythms of a condensed Symphony 25 fanfare? Better than Falco.
#SoundtrackSunday 013:
‘Amadeus’
Fantasy, 1984
d: Milos Forman