"Flowing Shadows, Echoing Sounds: A Global Appreciation of Movie Music Classics"

Author: Miao Yimei
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-09-01
Features: The development of Chinese cinema over a century vividly records the significant contributions of contemporary Chinese composers. This book selects representative film music works from the historical trajectory of film music, offering lively and well-structured introductions and critiques, blending professionalism with entertainment. These unforgettable film scores evoke shared memories of a generation. The time when the author wrote this book was incredibly busy—completing a doctoral dissertation, finishing graduation projects, teaching at work, and searching for suitable new job opportunities, among other things. Frantically spinning, overwhelmed, the author made bewildered and helpless efforts. Yet, the author signed on the book without hesitation and spent the following months immersing in watching films day and night, losing sleep, feeling stomachaches, living like a (divine life). Music, writing, and film—these detached aspects of life were almost the entirety of the author's life and work, making the author always feel like an incredibly lucky person.
The author studied music, but for how long, it's hard to remember. All that remains is the memory of always feeling uneasy in school, until entering the conservatory, when the author began to become a happier and more confident person. Watching films was also an innate passion. As a child, every time the author went to the movies with adults, they would sing back every song from the film verbatim for their father. It was from that moment that their father decided to have the author study music. For the author's small-town childhood and poor parents, studying such an aristocratic art was not understood.
The content of this book is concise, vivid, and well-structured. The author provides a comprehensive overview of film music, with each chapter's title serving as a brilliant distillation of its fundamental characteristics. For every piece of film music, the author attempts to approach it directly from an appropriate angle, using minimal words yet filled with fresh and clever insights.