Honest Question (Stalling/Bradley related)

[Leviathan]

Does anyone on this forum honestly consider Scott Bradley to be better than Carl Stalling on the subject of Musical Direction

[lonesome-lenny]

Bradley was a more sophisticated and experimental composer than Stalling, IMO. Stalling is a funnier and warmer arranger, and I think he was closer to the directors and animators at WB than Bradley might have been to the MGM crew.

Bradley could be sterile (and that might be the influence of MGM and their orchestra); Stalling's scores tend to sound earthier. Again, this may be due to the differences in each studio's equipment and orchestras. Nobody wrote string-section music like Bradley; no one could make great use out of simple instrumental combos like Stalling.

Thus, this is really an apples and oranges question. Bradley's scores excite me more. He delved into wilder waters than Stalling. Atonality and 20th century classical motifs are all over his mid-to-late '40s scores. But I think that, like Avery, he was an overachiever and a workaholic. He really burned out in the 1950s. His work becomes mechanical and rote. Seldom do his '50s scores do much for me, esp. after '52 or so.

But listen to his scores from the peak years of 1946-1950. For example, his score for Avery's "Lonesome Lenny," or for "King-Size Canary," or "The Cat That Hated People..." The Tom and Jerry cartoon "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Mouse" is another late-40s standout. These scores have brilliant coloration, instrumentation, and mood. They are all prime examples of what Bradley did best. Stalling couldn't write these kind of scores (and perhaps he didn't care to).

As pieces of music, I prefer Bradley's scores. Stalling's scores work terrifically with the cartoons, but leave me cold if I hear them on their own. A Stalling score, for me, cannot rescue a humdrum cartoon.

On the other hand, I don't like Tom and Jerry, but I'll watch the cartoons just to hear the Bradley score, most of the time. I can overlook the things I dislike about T&J and just dig the music.

It's a bit like watching Terrytoons just for the Jim Tyer scenes. It's that one outstanding element that towers over the rest of the work. (No offense to all the T&J fans on this forum. I don't think they're bad cartoons; they just don't do anything for me, aside from the gorgeous animation.)

In summation, it's really hard to say Stalling is better than Bradley, or vice versa. They're both great--the two best composers/arrangers in American animation.