Rhythm Planet at the Movies – A Spotify Playlist

The Oscars ceremony airs tonight, and one of the coveted golden statues will be awarded for best soundtrack. This could be for original composed music, or for a soundtrack compilation of many different tracks, or a combination of the two. I have been thinking about some of my favorite film musical moments and gems, some of which are not that well known. I’ve selected a few for this Spotify playlist, and they include both original compositions as well as tracks that were brilliantly used in their films. They all stand alone as great musical works.

I have bypassed more obvious choices such as Isaac Hayes’ music for Shaft, that beguiling augmented chord Bernard Hermann used in Vertigo, the five-note whistle theme of Morricone’s The Good, Bad and the Ugly, or Delibes’ “Viens Malika” from Someone to Watch Over Me, also used in Room with a View. I love all these, too, but wanted to dig deeper for some lesser-known works.

Without further ado, my soundtrack gems list:

1. Luiz Bonfá: “

   Manha da Carnival” performed by Elizeth Cardoso from Marcel Camus’ 1959 film

   Black Orpheus.

2. Ryuichi Sakamoto: “

   Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence“—Sakamoto appeared in this

   film of the same name, which also starred David Bowie.

3. A.R. Rahman: “

   O Rey Chhori” from the epic

   Lagaan: Once Upon a Time in India. A perfect love song and blend of Bollywood and English lyrics from the king of Bollywood music.

4. Nino Rota: “

   Pin Penin” from Fellini’s

   Il Casanova—

5. Tomás Mendez: “

   Cucurrucucu Paloma” from

   Talk to Her. The 1954 bolero, sung here by Caetano Veloso, who performs it in a wonderful scene in the Pedro Almodóvar film.

6. Toru Takemitsu: “

   Music of Training and Rest” from the 1959 documentary film

   José Torres. Takemitsu wrote music that parallels Mark Rothko’s painting.

7. Elmer Bernstein: “

   Clark Street” from Otto Preminger’s 1955 film starring Frank Sinatra,

   The Man with the Golden Arm. This album also features very cool album art by Saul Bass.

8. Vladimir Cosma: “

   Sentimental Walk” from

   Diva

9. Stanley Myers: “

   Cavatina” from

   The Deer Hunter. Soft and evocative.

10. Fairuz: “

    Kamata Mariyam” from Julian Schnabel’s

    Before Night Falls. In my opinion, one of the most brilliant song placements ever—a great Lebanese diva singing a Good Friday song as Javier Bardém’s dying character drives a big Cadillac convertible in New York City while snow falls. Amazing.

11. Thomas Newman: “

    Brooks Was Here” from

    The Shawshank Redemption. Hypnotic, minimalist genius.