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Thor

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  1. Like
    Thor got a reaction from Marian Schedenig in Film Music Fans in Austria rejoice!   
    Thanks for taking a look and elaborating, Marian! I first heard of him while assembling my list of oldest living film composers over on FSM a few years ago. Then I researched him, and found - as you say - that he was the composer of many sex comedies and the like, a genre that has always spawned great, loungey scores. After that, I got the really enjoyable compilation in the "Deutsche Filmkomponisten" series (he's Austrian, but I suppose many of the productions were German).
     
    As there aren't THAT many internationally famous Austrian film composers beyond Korngold (Gold? Wander & Kloser? Haslinger?), and given his advanced age, I thought perhaps he was a famous entity in Austria. Like most people, at least culturally aware ones, know who 91-year-old Per Nørgård is in Denmark.
  2. Like
    Thor reacted to GerateWohl in What Is The Last Score You Listened To? (older scores)   
    Wuthering Heights - Ryuichi Sakamoto
     
    A really beautiful score with a fine striking longlined love theme that seems to be repeated about a hundred times. But when the album is over you just want to start again from the beginning. 
     
  3. Like
    Thor reacted to Naïve Old Fart in What Is The Last Score You Listened To? (older scores)   
    DRACULA (1979)
    Oh, wow! What a powerhouse of a score!
    It's true to say, dear JWfaner, that in July of '79, and coming on the heels of the superb 2-LP set of SUPERMAN, DRACULA was a bit of a letdown. Also, it's a stone cold fact that the vinyl album sounded utter shite.
    Not so, the new (ish) release. It really brings out hidden depths of the score, and the C&C presentation puts so much more meat on the musical bones.
    JW can write great soaring scores, and he can write chamber piece scores, but it's his dark, angry music that sets him apart from the rest of the herd. His work on DRACULA, THE FURY, and, to an extent, CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND has almost no equal. Only Jerry's THE OMEN trilogy and Kilar's BRAM STOKER'S DRACULA, imo, compare favourably.
    A truly underrated work, that deserves to be heard by as many people as possible.
  4. Like
    Thor reacted to Marian Schedenig in Film Music Fans in Austria rejoice!   
    Is he? Looking him up on IMDb, I've seen one of his films: Der Bockerer, a 1981 drama about an Austrian butcher standing up to the Nazis during their regime not such much out of principle (he's too naive for that), but more out of personal spite. We saw that in school; I remember director Franz Antel being a highly lauded Austrian film maker during my youth and up to his death in 2007 (he was born in 1913, like my grandfather, who if I remember correctly went to school with him), mostly based on this film and I guess a few he made afterwards - before that, he was mainly known as the director of countless sex comedies since the early 50s. Gerhard Heinz's filmography looks very similar (though I can't see in this endless list of any of their earlier films overlap), except that he seems to have stuck with the sex comedies even after Bockerer, when Antel had finally managed to rid himself of them. They collaborated on three sequels, the last three films of each of them (I haven't seen those). The only other filmography entry of his I recognise is two episodes of the famed weekly documentary series Universum, which has been showing on ORF (the Austrian national public TV station) every Tuesday since 1987. According to Wikipedia he's also written Schlager songs earlier in his career. None of that makes it sound like he's particularly distinguished or well known. Where do you know him from?
  5. Surprised
    Thor reacted to Marian Schedenig in Film Music Fans in Austria rejoice!   
    I've… never heard of him?
  6. Haha
    Thor got a reaction from Jurassic Shark in Film Music Fans in Austria rejoice!   
    Yeah, although the "necro-posting" (or whatever it's called....I'm hesitant to call it necro-bumping) was unintentional in this case, I love it when these things happen. "16 years later"....great stuff. Where were you when I posted my first post here on May 24, 2002?
  7. Like
    Thor reacted to Edmilson in Film Music Fans in Austria rejoice!   
    Well, let's see... this was three days after my 9th birthday. It was a Friday, so the party was probably on the next day. We were living in a very small town during those days, which was wonderful for a kid, so they turned the local party room into a movie screening room, where they exhibited the recently released DVD for HP and the Philosopher's Stone. That because they saw that I liked movies and really liked Harry Potter, so they did a thematic party.
     
    I still remember when the movie begun and the John Williams theme over the Warner logo. I think I may have more memories of that than my actual session at the "official" movie theater six months before.
     
    Warner wouldn't like that if they knew it though  I remember that those old DVDs had a lot of warnings against "public exhibitions" of the movie and etc.
  8. Like
    Thor reacted to filmmusic in What Is The Last Score You Listened To? (older scores)   
    A facebook friend of mine said that this was Kilar's Dracula 2, a masterpiece, the best score for a TV production ever.
    I am not sure if it holds up to that title, but it sure was great, with Dracula-like chorus pieces, minimalistic of course as always with Kilar's music.
     

     
    In Kilar mode again. The vocal theme was sublime.
  9. Like
    Thor got a reaction from Jurassic Shark in James Newton Howard thread   
    A JNH concert sounds great, but clicking at the link, only post-millennium scores are mentioned in the blurb, which I (for the most part) find underwhelming. If this had focussed on the 80s and 90s stuff, I'd be totally envious of anyone able to attend.
  10. Like
    Thor got a reaction from Brando in The Fan Obsession Thread   
    I think that's the crux of the matter. Obviously, fan obsession (heck, any obsession) can be unhealthy. That's why we have movies like THE FAN or MISERY. When it's taken to the extreme, and the line between reality and fiction is blurred.
     
    I do think most people manage to navigate that limit pretty well. At least in my own life, I've never encountered any "scary" individuals like that. I've READ about them, like that guy stalking Spielberg some years back, but not actually met anyone. Not that I'm aware of, anyway. Unless you count autograph hounds etc.
     
    Finally, there's the question of research legitimacy and invasion of privacy. I'm well aware I tread that line myself, when I go into such detail about Williams' early life, for example. That particular thing combines three interests of mine - John Williams, artist beginnings (I edited a magazine on debut films a few months back that also nurtured some of that) and genealogy (I'm very much into researching my own lineage, but as an extension of that have an interest in the genealogy of other people too, at least those I have some connection to). The important thing here is SELF-CENSORSHIP, i.e. know what's appropriate to share and not.
     
    And ideally, whatever findings one encounters in one's research, will reflect on the way we approach their work too (for example, knowing that Williams has musicians all over the place in his family, certainly informs his early schooling in that area).
  11. Like
    Thor reacted to filmmusic in What Is The Last Score You Listened To? (older scores)   
    Magnificent main theme, and a very good score overall, albeit short.
    Unfortunately only an LP has been released.
     
  12. Like
    Thor reacted to Naïve Old Fart in New Album - FSU University Wind Orchestra: John Williams 90th Birthday Celebration   
    See? See?!
    None of this 'Escape/Chase/Saying Goodbye' malarkey.
  13. Confused
    Thor got a reaction from bruce marshall in John Williams’ First and Last Great Score   
    They're fine, but as I've said before, I think something happened to Williams or his style  in the three years of film music absence between 2005 and 2008. The Williams who returned was not the same as before. Often more cellular and motivic. I think there are many nice things in the years since, whether on a track level or even whole albums (especially WAR HORSE, THE POST and THE FABELMANS), but nothing that matches the greatness level of those 2005 efforts.
  14. Confused
    Thor got a reaction from bruce marshall in John Williams’ First and Last Great Score   
    First: NOT WITH MY WIFE YOU DON'T
    Last: MUNICH
  15. Thanks
    Thor got a reaction from Andy in What Is The Last Score You Listened To? (older scores)   
    Looks like a great box, if you ask me. Even beyond "entry level". Most of his other compilations are director-centered anyway.
  16. Surprised
    Thor got a reaction from hp_gof in The official Alexandre Desplat thread   
    You and I have a very different opinion of what constitutes "fun". I find it to be an excruciatingly boring score.
  17. Like
    Thor reacted to Andy in What Is The Last Score You Listened To? (older scores)   
    I wonder if this is a good entry level purchase?
     
    Philippe Sarde Box Set
  18. Thanks
    Thor got a reaction from Andy in What Is The Last Score You Listened To? (older scores)   
    Here are some of my favs, for starters:
     
    Allons z'enfants
    Deux hommes dans la ville
    Dis-moi oui
    Fort Saganne
    Harem
    Hellé
    J'ai épousé une ombre
    La fille d'Artagnan
    La princesse de Montpensier
    Le Bossu
    L'Ours
    Mangeclous
    Sister Mary Explains It All
     
    Tess you're already familiar. I also dig his Le Cinema de Georges Lautner compilation.
     
    I think many of these are available on streaming platforms. Good luck -- he's a composer well worth exploring. Not all are equally great, and he repeats himself a few times, Horner-style, but nothing that will ruin the journey.
  19. Sleepy
    Thor got a reaction from Chewy in The official Alexandre Desplat thread   
    You and I have a very different opinion of what constitutes "fun". I find it to be an excruciatingly boring score.
  20. Like
    Thor reacted to filmmusic in What Is The Last Score You Listened To? (older scores)   
    Just listened to this too.
    While Sarde isn't great in my book like let's say John Williams, with easily recognizable melodies, he never fails to deliver good music.
  21. Like
    Thor got a reaction from Andy in What Is The Last Score You Listened To? (older scores)   
    Sarde really knows his way around period tropes, and infusing them with various interesting, contemporary elements (other examples would be LE BOSSU or MANGECLOUS, for example). This 1994 effort is one of the best in that regard.
  22. Like
    Thor reacted to Cristian Lee in The Official Zbigniew Preisner Thread   
    These days I listened for the first time to the album Our World released in 2017 and it's great, after a few listens it quickly became one of my favorite. I have no information about this project I couldn't find anything about it. The album consist of ten suites which are quite long, 6 or 7 minutes. I like this because it's departure from other Preisner's scores when we have short cues. Preisner use some of his material from other scores but I also hear new music. I think I need to remake my top 10 and include this album because it's amazing! I recommend this for any Preisner's fan. Does anyone else listened to this album? 
     
     
     
     
     
     

  23. Like
    Thor got a reaction from MikeH in Danny Elfman's BEETLEJUICE BEETLEJUICE (2024)   
    It had some problems, for sure, but it also had some spectacular elements that saved it for me -- the production design, the make-up, the performances of Tim Roth and Helena Bonham-Carter (in particular) and an amazing Elfman score. That's enough for me to give it a thumbs up.
  24. Love
    Thor got a reaction from Loert in Your Favourite Jerry Goldsmith Score   
    THE MUMMY.
  25. Like
    Thor got a reaction from Trope in What Is The Last Score You Listened To? (older scores)   
    I think that was the idea, yes. TITANIC is a masterful score for a masterful film. I know it's "hip" to dislike such a massive hit, but if that's the case, I embrace my "un-hipness" with much joy.
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