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

Author: Tian Yimei
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-07-01
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 development of film music, introducing and reviewing them in a lively and organized manner, balancing professionalism and entertainment. These unforgettable film scores once again evoke shared memories of a generation. The time when the author wrote this book was exceptionally busy—completing a doctoral dissertation, writing a graduation project, teaching at work, and searching for suitable new job opportunities, among other things. Frantically spinning, the author made bewildered and helpless efforts. Yet, the author signed on to write this book without hesitation and spent the following months watching films day and night, losing sleep, feeling stomachaches, living like a god. Music, writing, and film—these detached aspects of life were almost the entirety of the author's life and work, which is why the author has always felt like a very lucky person. The author studied music, but for how long, it's hard to remember. Only remembers that when in school, the author would always feel inexplicably uncomfortable, until one day entering the conservatory, the author began to become a happier and more confident person. Watching films was also an innate hobby. In childhood, every time the author went to the cinema with adults, after returning home, the author would sing every line of the songs from the film to Dad without missing a word. It was from that time that Dad decided to let the author study music. For the author's small-town childhood and poor parents, studying this aristocratic art was not understood. The content of this book is concise, vivid, and well-organized. The author provides a comprehensive overview of film music, with each chapter title serving as a concise distillation of its fundamental characteristics. For each piece of film music, the author attempts to approach it directly from an appropriate angle, using minimal words but filled with fresh and clever insights.