Patrick Doyle - Brave

[JoeinAR 1,957]

sorry but you're lying.

or deluded.

[Brónach 1,330]

[Matt C 605]

However I will continue to state my opinion, if you're not able to realize it's my opinion and you infer it as a fact, well that is your mistake.

Perhaps you should just add IMO at the end... that way no one gets confused or upset.

[alicebrallice 134]

And Doyle's score is certainly better than Hooper's nonsense and Desplat's questionable work (although I enjoyed the final score).

you must be joking. can you honestly say you didn't enjoy the half-blood prince?

[Richard P 5,303]

Hooper's OOTP is a mixture for me. I'd say a lot of it is more appropriate for the Potter universe than Doyle's CRASH - *silence*- FANFARE!!! style, but there are a number of cues that seem to show a total lack of emotion whatsoever.

I think GoF the film has far more problems than the bombastic music. My only criticism of substance is that I removed the 'Maze' cue from my playlist... it doesn't seem to do anything.

[JoeinAR 1,957]

However I will continue to state my opinion, if you're not able to realize it's my opinion and you infer it as a fact, well that is your mistake.

Perhaps you should just add IMO at the end... that way no one gets confused or upset.

it should always be implied unless we're talking statistical, geographical, or historical info.

And again I did say doyles score was the least not the worst.

I have all 8 Harry potter scores on my mp3 player. Hell there are John Williams scores that didn't make the cut. cough cough aotc cough cough.

[KK 3,313]

And Doyle's score is certainly better than Hooper's nonsense and Desplat's questionable work (although I enjoyed the final score).

you must be joking. can you honestly say you didn't enjoy the half-blood prince?

I admit, nonsense was too harsh a word. The Hooper scores have some merit and can be enjoyed, but they're easily the weakest of all the Potter scores.

[Wojo 2,458]

I can say with absolute certain that I have never heard a Hooper or Doyle score outside its movie.

[alicebrallice 134]

And Doyle's score is certainly better than Hooper's nonsense and Desplat's questionable work (although I enjoyed the final score).

you must be joking. can you honestly say you didn't enjoy the half-blood prince?

I admit, nonsense was too harsh a word. The Hooper scores have some merit and can be enjoyed, but they're easily the weakest of all the Potter scores.

you prefer dh1 over half-blood prince?

nothing makes sense anymore:(

[JoeinAR 1,957]

I enjoy Obliviate more than anything in HP4, 5, 6, or 8.

[Jay 46,244]

I don't think any of the Potter scores were good at all after Williams left

[BloodBoal 8,711]

[alicebrallice 134]

I enjoy Obliviate more than anything in HP4, 5, 6, or 8.

I too like obliviate. desplat at his best.

I don't think any of the Potter scores were good at all after Williams left

sigh.... only at jwfan.com.

[BloodBoal 8,711]

[Wojo 2,458]

You're right because jwfan.net also redirects here.

[Jay 46,244]

I don't think any of the Potter scores were good at all after Williams left

sigh.... only at jwfan.com.

Hey I gave them all a chance. I listened to all the OSTs at least twice. Just didn't do it for me. Deathly Hallows 1 was probably the best, then OOTP. Goblet was my least favorite, HBP was completely forgettable.

I don't like the way any of them work in the films either. Goblet and DH2 being the worst offenders.

[alicebrallice 134]

haha, umm.. okaaay...

to each their own indeed

[KK 3,313]

And Doyle's score is certainly better than Hooper's nonsense and Desplat's questionable work (although I enjoyed the final score).

you must be joking. can you honestly say you didn't enjoy the half-blood prince?

I admit, nonsense was too harsh a word. The Hooper scores have some merit and can be enjoyed, but they're easily the weakest of all the Potter scores.

you prefer dh1 over half-blood prince?

nothing makes sense anymore:(

DH1 is a tough one. I don't like the score very much, but I think it's a hair above half-blood, neither being particularly very good.

[KK 3,313]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EyBJkWJFIUI

All the Brave samples put together.

There are some RC tendencies which I hope the score doesn't stray too far into, but overall I'm looking forward to this score very much.

[Hlao-roo 390]

Patrick Doyle has had two incredible, amazing, wonderful scores. Henry V and Great Expectations. Music to die for.

A Little Princess, Hamlet, La ligne droite, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, Much Ado About Nothing. Then there are several more that are just very good overall. And several more that aren't bad, but mostly worth it for one or two highlight moments. I'd count Great Expectations among the latter.

Doyle wrote a beautiful theme for Great Expectations and does some wonderful things with it -- in the end the score doesn't seem to add up to terribly much, though. In your list, Marian, I'd probably replace La ligne droite with Into the West if we're talking about melodically strong but largely monolithic and repetitive scores. Also, for me Dead Again is a notch above Frankenstein in a battle of thriller scores from Doyle's earlier period. And, while we're at it, Indochine over Hamlet.

I still think As You Like It remains Doyle's (barely) saving grace over the last decade or so.

[Marian Schedenig 11,695]

It's been years since I've heard Into the West, but I believe the most memorable bits were the songs not written by Doyle. I thought about including Dead Again in the list. It's a fun score, my first by Doyle I believe, but in the end it's mostly an inspired collection of 90s Doyle tricks. Frankenstein is more varied. Indochine I still don't know, but Hamlet, which I didn't like much at first, has developed a very haunting quality for me. And I'm afraid I still haven't managed to get into As You Like It.

[Hlao-roo 390]

I'd encourage you to revisit Into the West. I don't doubt that Doyle's gorgeous melodic material, winsomely sung by his sister Margaret, was inspired by Celtic folk music, but I'm pretty sure it's original.

[Marian Schedenig 11,695]

D'oh, I confused Into the West with Est-Ouest. I don't even know Into.

[publicist 4,650]

The Blue Sea and the White Horse

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wytlKl7evvM

[Marian Schedenig 11,695]

Lovely.

[Incanus 5,890]

Indeed.

[BloodBoal 8,711]

[Hlao-roo 390]

Interview with Patrick Doyle

There are a lot of composers from the 80’s era you got started in with the likes of “Henry V” and “Dead Again” who also wrote big, lush orchestral scores. But many of them can’t seem to get work anymore because of how the whole dynamic of film scoring is changing. Yet you’ve managed to “re-invent” your sound with scores like “Thor” and “Rise of the Planet of the Apes.” How’ve you continued your career in that way?

I’m enthusiastically about all the arts from reading to the theater, and I’ll go to the cinema, as opposed to watching movies in my living room. I’ve always liked the visceral response of the cinema. Because when I go see movies, I’m also subliminally taking in the whole process of what is contemporary and modern. One of my favorite composers is Jerry Goldsmith. And if you listen to his work through the years, you’ll hear how he always embraced the world of technology and modern sound, but remained fundamentally strong in his traditional musical training. I like all music in that way, and am inquisitive about it. I really can adapt quite regularly. The process of writing “Thor” was fairly hard because I had to stop myself from becoming too, what would you say, “old school?” I had to keep pulling myself back all the time. Everything in the movies has changed. Maybe you’ll be in a phase where everybody is fast cutting, or there are long shots, hand-held shots. All these kinds of images and cutting dictate a certain rhythm in music. If you’re on a project like that, you have to learn to take stock in what you see in front of you, as opposed to you coming in with all your old bags. You have to come in and start buying some new stuff. I have always been updating my sounds, whether it’s finding them, or creating them. I remember for example when I did a film called “Blow Dry” many years ago. It was a small movie and didn’t do well, but it was a wonderful experience for me because I worked with a young programmer. He came from the pop world. I told him that I was going to make sounds and noises that I wanted him to emulate. And from that, I created some really new, different sounds. I made a conscious decision to something far from anything I’d ever done before.

[Jay 46,244]

Brave is now up for sale on amazon mp3

http://www.amazon.co...HO/ref=jwfancom

and iTunes

http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/id527775518?

[TheUlyssesian 2,745]

I don't think any of the Potter scores were good at all after Williams left

FACT.

[Hlao-roo 390]

The score seems to be getting decent notices from mainstream film critics -- I look forward to hearing opinions from others. I'd love to think the man was able to recapture a smidgen of his '90s magic, albeit with the inevitable concessions to modern blockbuster scoring.

[Brónach 1,330]

I expect these necessary concessions to just disappear altogether someday.

[publicist 4,650]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JEi43OrwoRs&feature=channel&list=UL

...all tracks.

[TheUlyssesian 2,745]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yAVqhKqqexQ

The main theme. Its rather lovely. Though Filmtracks says its used very sparingly in the score and this is its only full performance.

[Richard P 5,303]

It's definitely used sparingly, but it's in more than just that track.

But overall this score is relying more on smaller motifs than restating the main theme. It has a few rather uneventful tracks (i.e. Show Us the Way) but that's not really due to mickey-mousing - it's literally that not much happens at all, musically.

[Incanus 5,890]

Oh how much better that statement would have been without those drums. Modern film scoring has made me allergic to them by now.

[TheUlyssesian 2,745]

Caught the movie (it's bad). But the music was one of the better things about it. I could totally see it getting an Academy Award nomination if nothing better turns up.

[Jay 46,244]

Nothing better? THE HOBBIT is a guaranteed nomination, and John Carter is already a better score this year (not that the academy will nominate it)

[BloodBoal 8,711]

Nothing better? THE HOBBIT is a guaranteed nomination, and John Carter is already a better score this year (not that the academy will nominate it)

Exactly what I was going to say. Plus Lincoln.

[Jay 46,244]

Yup. The Hobbit and Lincoln were locks for nominations before a note had even been written.

[Brónach 1,330]

John Carter will be ignored at any prize it might deserve.

[BloodBoal 8,711]

John Carter will be ignored at any prize it might deserve.

Unfortunately, that's probably true.

[Jay 46,244]

Yep

[TheUlyssesian 2,745]

I meant in a general sense Brave might not be worthy of a nomination, but if the year is weak it could get in. It is a good score.

Also, absolutely love the John Carter score, its comfortably the best so far if my memory serves me right and I am not forgetting anything. Prometheus has a very good main theme but the rest of the score is ordinary.

[Jay 46,244]

Harry Gregson Williams' contributions were better then Streitenfield's

[KK 3,313]

Harry Gregson Williams' contributions were better then Streitenfield's

Its funny that Williams' theme is the one you come out of the theater humming, not Streitenfield's. But the score was surprisingly decent and you can tell that the composer is learning, slowly but surely.

[wanner251 18]

Saw Brave... I actually loved it (which I'll probably get some heat for here). The score definitely has its moments when those silly rolling drums stop. In the end, it's definitely good film music, but I'm not sure that it is good music outside of those little moments where it is really quite good. It does seem like it never fully realized its potential.

Since I believe that filmmaking is first-and-foremost modern storytelling, I tend to judge scores for their ability to musically recollect or tell the story on its own. In the instance of Brave, I find the cues to be too similar to each other to clearly tell the story again to me. Though I like it for its good choices to match the action/emotions onscreen, it doesn't really hit that musical narrative high point for me. But, then again, who are we to judge a score outside of its intended context?

As for Patrick Doyle, I don't think that he has done a better score than Gosford Park, both on and off the screen.

[Richard P 5,303]

Harry Gregson Williams' contributions were better then Streitenfield's

Its funny that Williams' theme is the one you come out of the theater humming, not Streitenfield's. But the score was surprisingly decent and you can tell that the composer is learning, slowly but surely.

I think the score works perfectly in the film. It happens to click with me as music, but it won't for many others.

I don't at all get this notion of Streitenfeld 'learning'. I've seen his work in action in 2 films now (the other being The Grey) and in both cases I think he provided what the film needed. Giving Prometheus a bolder, more orchestral score would've taken away a lot of the tension, in the same way that Poledouris' unused Breakdown music would've entirely changed the feel of the movie.

[TheUlyssesian 2,745]

As for Patrick Doyle, I don't think that he has done a better score than Gosford Park, both on and off the screen.

How about Henry V? That contains some really momentous music. Like this -

[Hlao-roo 390]

A very good score by Doyle, one of his best in awhile, enriched by a stirring Celtic melody that could easily have been milked to its last drop but, as has been remarked, has been embroidered into the fabric of the film with surprising care and restraint. The soundtrack bears some weaknesses that mark Doyle's blockbuster stylings (e.g., largely unimaginative action scoring, some of which could probably be interchanged with Howard's contemporaneous Snow White) while avoiding the bombast that at times gets the better of him. (The bagpipes work: they're either source music or defensibly representative of the on-screen tribalistic blustering.)

The film is middling Pixar. It never (organically) builds or sustains the kind of delirious energy and momentum that their best work does. The narrative's central relationship is skillfully developed -- mother and daughter are archetypal but three-dimensional, perhaps to the detriment of the male cutouts that surround them -- but the careful craftsmanship is nearly undone by a completely unconvincing appeal to gratingly anachronistic social mores.

In context the film is beautiful to look at (in contrast to what I expected from the trailer); Merida's wild, intemperate locks are thrillingly alive.