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Jerry Goldsmith has scored over 150 films and countless hours of television. Although he finds the process "daunting," he always succeeds in creating something glorious for his films. Directors fight to get him and record companies battle for the right to release his music. I enthusiastically participate in these skirmishes.
Through his diverse masterpieces such as Planet of the Apes, Basic Instinct, Patton, Star Trek: First Contact and the Academy award-winner The Omen, he has become a "living legend" in his field. He is literally the standard by which film composers are judged.
Born in L.A., Jerry first wanted to be a concert pianist. After seeing Spellbound, he fell in love with both Ingrid Bergman and Miklos Rozsa's musical score. Suddenly, Jerry was determined to write music for motion pictures. Similarly, when I saw Logan's Run and Alien I knew I had discovered my passion—film music!
His creativity has had the same effect on thousands of young filmmakers and musicians for the last four decades. His creativity is ignited as he views the film for the first time rather than reading the script. He tunes in the director's vision and "gets inside" the characters. He composes themes which bind the film together and sustain the dramatic intensity. He also skillfully retains total control over our perception of the music. His soundtracks support the film without the audience being "aware" of the music. Occasionally, he shifts gears; bringing the music to the forefront for us to admire. Inexorably, his music draws you into the "realm" of the picture inspiring our total involvement.
Alchemy would be a good word for the unique sounds and nuances that Goldsmith generates. They become "characters" in his films. His mastery of electronics is remarkable, especially the way he stays a decade ahead with his textures effortlessly integrating them into the orchestra as part of his infinite palette. Who can forget Craig Huxley's "blaster beam" in Star Trek: The Motion Picture or the Coral electric sitar in Escape from the Planet of the Apes!
As the late Henry Mancini once said, voicing the opinion of his fellow Hollywood composers; "Jerry—you scare the hell out of us!"
Jerry Goldsmith helped create the uniquely American art form of film scoring. As Alexander Courage, the composer of the Star Trek TV theme once said of Jerry; "We can always count on him to find out what is best for a picture and take us there musically."
His passion and talent for film composing would seem to be unlimited. Jerry makes everyone from the actor to the special FX crew, the director to the CD company look good.
Bravo Jerry! — Neil Norman
When Gene Roddenberry pitched his idea for a television series called STAR TREK, he described it as "Wagon Train to the Stars." But beyond this high concept description, Roddenberry's goal was to create a program that would reflect an optimistic message. In this producer's utopian future, mankind's noble spirit wouldn't be lost amidst the wonder and danger of other galaxies. Instead, it would be a benevolent force among the alien worlds and civilizations it visited, bestowing them with the best qualities of the human race.
Gene Roddenberry's idealism continues to be hear in the themes that Jerry Goldsmith has composed for two of STAR TREK's TV incarnations and the scores of four motion pictures, a musical journey that now reaches the edge of the 21st century with STAR TREK: INSURRECTION. Goldsmith's sound is a bold combination of the symphonic and electronic, the orchestra's brass and string sections giving audiences the sense of excitement, wonder and space-age patriotism that's come to represent Roddenberry's vision.
Jerry Goldsmith had already blazed new musical trails in science fiction with PLANET OF THE APES, THE ILLUSTRATED MAN and ALIEN before taking his first cruise aboard the U.S.S. Enterprise with 1979's STAR TREK: THE MOTION PICTURE. He wrote a swashbuckling theme that would bridge the old and new generations of STAR TREK. It's become perhaps the second most popular TV theme next to Alexander Courage's music for the original series. And like the Courage music, Goldsmith's theme would grow beyond the big and small screens to become the music for the continued explorations into space. It was a leap into the public consciousness that represents the hold that STAR TREK has on imaginations the world over.
Goldsmith's themes and underscores take on a different role for every STAR TREK film he's worked on. His music represented the immeasurable scale of the Vejur spaceship in STAR TREK: THE MOTION PICTURE, the mystical quest for God in STAR TREK V: THE FINAL FRONTIER and the cold, robotic menace of the Borg in STAR TREK: FIRST CONTACT. Now with STAR TREK: INSURRECTION, Jerry Goldsmith takes the Enterprise-E to a world of eternal youth. It's peaceful Ba'ku inhabitants are menaced by the Son'a, a vengeful empire that has allied itself with the misguided Federation admiral. Only the crew of the Next Generation can save paradise, defying the admiral's orders of non-interference to rescue the Ba'ku, as well as the ideals that the Federation was founded on.
The STAR TREK films have always placed as much importance on their "moral" battles as ones which are fought in space, and STAR TREK: INSURRECTION provides Jerry Goldsmith with a dramatically rich story on which to paint his musical textures. Just as Gene Roddenberry used science fiction as a metaphor for topical events, Jerry Goldsmith uses any number of fantastic melodic effects as a way to make us believe in the film's characters. His talent for weaving strong themes through his scores has always distinguished his work as a composer, and Goldsmith's multiple themes once again draw viewers into the reality of the STAR TREK universe.
STAR TREK: INSURRECTION continues Goldsmith's experimental use of electronic and orchestral instruments, a style he's been applying to STAR TREK since his landmark score to THE MOTION PICTURE. Goldsmith uses it here for a sense of wonder, synthesizer chords becoming the magical existence of the Ba'ku. He adds flutes, strings and harps, letting the instruments play as ethnic music for another world. It's subtle throughout, even when playing the wonder of the crew's new found youth. But Goldsmith can also make his electronic music considerably darker to personify an out-of-control Data, or become the doomsday pulse of the Son'a's solar injector.
Goldsmith's score also continues its noble, military tradition here, trumpets, strings and other brass instruments reflecting the chain of command that bonds Picard to his shipmates. The Son'a's theme is ominous, yet proud, giving audiences an idea that there's more to their villainy than meets the eye. When the Son'a finally attack, their pursuit of the Federation mutineers with drones and attack ships is accompanied by a relentless action theme. Its steady beat is contrasted with the symphonic bravery of Picard and his crew. Goldsmith's strings and piano flourishes explosively convey both the tragedy of paradise lost, and the heroism of the people who are trying to save it. The Klingon theme which Goldsmith created for the first STAR TREK picture is also on hand again for the valiant Worf.
Perhaps Jerry Goldsmith's greatest talent is his ability to tell a story with music alone, and he keeps the film moving at light speed, never failing to engage our emotions. STAR TREK: INSURRECTION continues his remarkable journey on the starship Enterprise into the next millennia. — Daniel Schweiger, soundtrack editor, Venice Magazine.
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