Maurice Jarre

In this video, violinist Jon Rose controls ring modulation with the K-Bow, a Bluetooth enabled sensor bow for string instruments, turning Maurice Jarre’s Lara’s Theme, from Dr. Zhivago, into atonal sheets of sound. Read more…

Composer Maurice Jarre died in Los Angeles last weekend, after a long battle with cancer. Jarre, 84, won Oscars for his scores for Lawrence Of Arabia, Doctor Zhivago and A Passage To India.

“I think his legacy is to have been amongst those who really revolutionised the modern soundtracks world,” said Jean Michel Jarre of his father. “The specificity of his work and his talent was to create such strong moods and melodies attached to movies forever. You can listen to three notes of the soundtrack of Lawrence Of Arabia or Dr Zhivago and it’s a very strong reminder of the whole movie.”

Jean-Michel explained why his father’s soundtracks were so different to those made today.

Jean Michel is currently working on his In-Doors World Arena Tour, and sees it as an opportunity to keep the memory of his father alive.

“I’m quite moved by starting this world tour and carrying and conveying and spreading his name all around the planet, in the next few days and weeks, so it’s kind of a continuity.”

Renowned film composer Maurice Jarre, who won the Academy Award three times for his epic scores, has died at 84. He was best known for his soundtrack to Dr. Zhivago, but he composed over 100 scores in his career.

Maurice Alexis Jarre was born Sept. 13, 1924, in Lyon, France. He studied music at the Paris Conservatory, where his teachers included the Swiss composer Arthur Honegger, the timpanist Félix Passerone and Joseph Martenot, the inventor of an electronic keyboard, a predecessor of the synthesizer.

Jarre married four times; he is survived by his wife, Fong, whom he married in 1984. Other survivors include two sons, synthesist Jean-Michel, and Kevin, a screenwriter; and a daughter, Stéfanie. Though Mr. Jarre had lived in the United States for decades, the president of France, Nicolas Sarkozy, issued a statement after his death, calling Mr. Jarre “a great composer” who, by working in film, “broadened the public for symphonic music.”

“He showed everyone that music is just as important as images for the beauty and success of a film,” said French President Nicolas Sarkoz. Read more…