Tora Tora Tora - Score Only by Jerry Goldsmith Full Orchestra - Digital Sheet Music

SKU: A0.1801663

1970 was a very big year for composer Jerry Goldsmith: amazingly, in addition to Tora! Tora! Tora! and Patton, he also scored The Ballad of Cable Hogue, The Travelling Executioner and Rio Lobo, throwing a couple of TV movies in for good measure. All in a day’s work for this extraordinary maestro, who had already proven his mettle writing music for films akin to Tora! in both genre and theme: In Harm’s Way (1965), The Blue Max (1966) and The Sand Pebbles (1966) are all incisive studies of war and its attendant damage, scored with a combination of disturbing dissonance and sheer splendour.
The Main Title opens with a descending whine suggesting the deadly dive of a bomber. This instant summing-up of the horrors to come, bizarrely disorientating, segues into a spare and elegant Japanese-style motif initiated by the koto, gradually taken up by the ominous sound of the serpent, and eventually joined by the full orchestra, deployed for maximum exoticism - and threat. The conspicuous absence of violins from the score was apparently the result of a challenge from Goldsmith’s friend and fellow composer Alex North. The staggered rhythmic movement heard in the main title is a technique used to represent the concept of miscommunication in the film.

Created from the original manuscript, this release offers a rare opportunity to study film music in its authentic, original orchestration and arrangement. An opportunity not to be missed!