Composer Angelo Badalamenti, who had notable collaborations with director David Lynch on works such as ‘Blue Velvet’ (1986), ‘Twin Peaks’ (1990-91) and ‘City of Dreams’ (2001), died last Sunday ) at his home in New Jersey, USA, of natural causes at the age of 85.
A classically trained composer, Badalamenti has also collaborated with various singers in virtually all musical genres throughout his career. Some of his main collaborations have been with Julee Cruise, Nina Simone, David Bowie, Paul McCartney, Liza Minnelli, Anthrax, Tim Booth and LL Cool J.
Born March 22, 1937 in Brooklyn, New York, Badalamenti studied music at the Eastman School of Music and the Manhattan School of Music, where he earned a master’s degree, before beginning his professional career as a music teacher, pianist and composer.
His first works in the cinema were the excerpts from “The War of a Man” (1973) and “Law and Disorder” (1974).
The collaboration with Lynch began in 1986, when the director hired him as a vocal coach for the star of “Blue Velvet” Isabella Rossellini, who was supposed to sing in the film. The partnership worked out and Badalamenti ended up scoring the feature film and co-wrote the song “Mysteries of Love” with the director.
This opened many doors in his career, leading Badalamenti to compose themes for works as diverse as “A Hora do Pesadelo 3: Os Guerreiros dos Sonhos” (1987), “Férias Frustrated at Christmas” (1989), “Nu em Nova York” (1993), “The Secretary” (2002) and “Hell’s Hut” (2002)
He also composed the opening music for the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona.
Despite his prolific career, Badalamenti has never abandoned his partnership with Lynch. They worked together in ‘Wild Heart’ (1990), ‘Lost Road’ (1997), ‘A True Story’ (1999), ‘City of Dreams’ (2001) and even in the short film ‘Rabbits’ (2002).
But the cornerstone of this collaboration occurred in the series “Twin Peaks” (1990-1991), which earned the composer a Grammy, as well as success on the music charts with the hit “Falling”, sung by Julee Cruise in a scene from television attraction.
“I sit down with Angelo and tell him about a scene and he starts playing these words on the piano,” Lynch told The New York Times in 2005, explaining their creative partnership. “Sometimes we’d even get together and come up with things on the piano, and before you know it, it was leading us to an idea for a scene or a character.”
“When we first started working together, we had a kind of instant rapport: I didn’t know anything about music, but I was very interested in atmosphere and sound effects,” said the director. “I realized a lot about the sound effects and music working with Angelo, how close they are to each other.”
Badalamenti added that “David’s images are very much influenced by music. The tempo of the music helps him establish the rhythm of the actors, their dialogue and the way they move. He would sit next to me at the keyboard, describing what he was thinking as I improvised the soundtrack. Almost all of ‘Twin Peaks’ was written without me seeing a single frame, at least in the pilot episode.”
The composer was involved in both the original series and its derivatives – the film “Twin Peaks: The Last Days of Laura Palmer” (1992) and the revival “Twin Peaks: The Return” (2017).
He has also formed strong relationships with other renowned directors, most notably Paul Schrader, with whom he worked on four films (in ‘A Strange Passage to Venice’, ‘Marks of Vengeance’, ‘Auto Focus’ and ‘Dominion’ ), as well as Jean-Pierre Jeunet (“Thief of Dreams” and “Eternal Love”), Jane Campion (“Sacred Fire!”), Danny Boyle (“The Beach”) and Brazilian Walter Salles (“Black Water”) .
In a 2018 interview, Badalamenti explained how he came up with the famous “Laura Palmer theme” for “Twin Peaks”. “David walked into my little office across from Carnegie Hall and said, ‘I have an idea for a series. He sat next to me at the keyboard. [do piano] and said, “I haven’t recorded anything, but it’s like I’m in a dark forest with an owl in the background and a cloud over the moon and sycamore trees blowing very softly.”
“I started hitting the keys on the opening chord of ‘Twin Peaks Love Theme’ because it was the sound of that darkness. It said, ‘A beautiful troubled girl is coming out of the woods, walking towards the camera…’ I played you play her breathing. ‘And she comes close and climaxes and…’ I continued to the music as he continued the story. ‘And from there, we let her go back to the dark forest.’
“The grades just came out. David was stunned, as was I. The hair on his arms stood on end and he had tears in his eyes: ‘I see ‘Twin Peaks.’ I did it.’ I said, ‘I’m going home to work on this.’ “Work on it?! Don’t change a note.’ And of course I never did.”
Below the theme of Laura Palmer, the opening song of “Twin Peaks” and the recording with the voice of Julee Cruise, singer who passed away last June. To complete, the last video presents Badalamenti’s arrangement for the version of “Blue Velvet” sung by Isabella Rossellini in the film “Velvet Azul”.
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Source: Terra
Amanda Larkin is a celebrity journalist at Gossipify, known for her in-depth interviews and unique perspectives on the entertainment industry. She covers celebrity news and gossip, providing readers with engaging and informative content, and understanding of the inner workings of the industry. She’s respected for keeping readers up to date with the latest trends and providing a fresh perspective on the celebrity world.
