Expert: David Froom - 7/4/2009

Question
I stumbled across a video on youtube that had a piece of music in it that I found very moving. I’ve been unsuccessful so far in finding out its origins, and it’s slowly driving me up the wall!  I just finished my masters in performance, and my girlfriend is getting her doctorate in musicology. Between the two of us, we’re pretty good at ‘name that tune’ type of stuff, but this excerpt has us both clueless. I originally thought it is by a late-Romantic western-European composer, but then I thought that it could potentially be film music. If you have any ideas as to what it may be from and who the composer is, I’d really appreciate it. Thank you.

-Trevor

http://www.tindeck.com/listen/hntw


Answer
I'm guessing, along with you, that it is film music.  I think I have no more expertise than the two of you -- I'm just a composer/music professor who has volunteered on this site.  

For me, the tips that it might be film music are the late-Romantic harmonic choices, but the lack of forward harmonic motion (this passage stays pretty solidly in e minor with a lot of repetition), the particular orchestrational choices (the way the melody is restated/emphasized with strings in octaves, the way the harp is used), and the lack of a particular strong stamp of personality (it clearly isn't Mahler, Sibelius, Bruckner, Strauss, Elgar, Brahms, Puccini -- though it sounds like it was written by someone who has heard their music).  Plus the fact that I think I've not heard it, and between you two and me, we've probably heard nearly all of the classical repertoire that might show up as background music on YouTube.

You might find a film expert who could ID this, either by film or composer (or both).  There are a lot of good film composers and informed film music fans out there.  If it is film music, it is likely from a movie from the last 15 years, so that should narrow it down a bit.

Good luck with your search,

David Froom