What Is The Last Score You Listened To? (older scores)

[Incanus 5,715]

Thirteen Days by Trevor Jones: A superb political thriller/drama score with a very engaging album for those who enjoy the militaristic patriotic Americana, steely action and interesting suspense writing. LSO performs thunderously under Mr. Jones' baton and the composer integrates electronics very well into the orchestral writing, the music soaring and brooding with equal conviction.

Suggested listening order of the album for a good dramatic arc: 2-3-5-6-7-8-9-10-4-11-12-1.

[DreamTheater 131]

The first track is the last... well well well... no wonder it's such a splendid one. Not a fan of the score myself but that first / last track is a stunner.

[publicist 4,643]

While I do not condone the generalized RCP ignorance, I do share the (unpopular?) opinion that film music should be judged only by its effectiveness in the film. This notion of scores needing to "stand on their own" is very silly indeed. As you say, some lend themselves to that, and some don't, but that is not a way to judge which is better. That's the product of a film music culture where what people *really* want is music that paints some sort of dramatic picture and is thus easy and gratifying to listen to, and whether that music happens to serve a film is an afterthought. Just look at how often and the manner in which people here and elsewhere talk about a score's effectiveness in its film. Like I said, an afterthought.

That makes releasing scores on cd a bit...pointless, yes? Thus, the notion of listening to score albums is silly in your estimation and yet you spend a whole lot of time doing and commenting on that?

[Dixon Hill 4,234]

While I do not condone the generalized RCP ignorance, I do share the (unpopular?) opinion that film music should be judged only by its effectiveness in the film. This notion of scores needing to "stand on their own" is very silly indeed. As you say, some lend themselves to that, and some don't, but that is not a way to judge which is better. That's the product of a film music culture where what people *really* want is music that paints some sort of dramatic picture and is thus easy and gratifying to listen to, and whether that music happens to serve a film is an afterthought. Just look at how often and the manner in which people here and elsewhere talk about a score's effectiveness in its film. Like I said, an afterthought.

That makes releasing scores on cd a bit...pointless, yes? Thus, the notion of listening to score albums is silly in your estimation and yet you spend a whole lot of time doing and commenting on that?

Now now, you can read better than that. Nowhere did I say anything condemning the actual act of listening to scores outside of the films.

[publicist 4,643]

Well, insinuating then - since we are gathered here to discuss listening to scores we often have not seen (and often must not, really). It's really a moot point though, a Thaxton rhetoric. Of course it's written for a movie but when it's released separately i don't know why it shouldn't be fair game to review it as separate entity.

[DreamTheater 131]

This is such a slow burner, but I love it still. Always have. Full of the famous Hornerisms but his emotional approach works wonders.

It's a very long album, but it never outstays its welcome.

James' tendency to craft really long cues, which take their sweet time to develop is a good reason why Deep Impact never fails to entertain me.

The three 10+ minute tracks found here are the stuff of dreams.

Our Best Hope for the atmospheric building suspense, mostly with synthesizer.

Drawing Straws for the big emotional climax of the film, which packs a real wallop within the film.

Goodbye and Godspeed for a gorgeous end credits cue that few films can claim to have. All done in that grand Horner fashion.

[Dixon Hill 4,234]

Well, insinuating then - since we are gathered here to discuss listening to scores we often have not seen (and often must not, really). It's really a moot point though, a Thaxton rhetoric. Of course it's written for a movie but when it's released separately i don't know why it shouldn't be fair game to review it as separate entity.

Ok, you've convinced me. You can do what you want!

[publicist 4,643]

It's fucking boring.

Well, insinuating then - since we are gathered here to discuss listening to scores we often have not seen (and often must not, really). It's really a moot point though, a Thaxton rhetoric. Of course it's written for a movie but when it's released separately i don't know why it shouldn't be fair game to review it as separate entity.

Ok, you've convinced me. You can do what you want!

That's all i needed to know...

[DreamTheater 131]

Nah, you just don't want to hear the beauty (in case you responded to me).

[publicist 4,643]

I bought it unheard and had to use the cd as coaster after listening to the vacuum that is NATIONAL LOTTERY.

[DreamTheater 131]

[publicist 4,643]

Don't try to hide your middlebrow taste behind Sly!

[crocodile 8,014]

Serenada Schizophrana by Danny Elfman. One of his finest.

Karol

[DreamTheater 131]

Don't try to hide your middlebrow taste behind Sly!

That reminds me, Horner still has to write music for a Sly film. The new Rocky would be interesting.

[Not Mr. Big 4,639]

Gladiator

Farm from Heaven

The Mission

[Brónach 1,302]

[Incanus 5,715]

QB VII by Jerry Goldsmith (Tadlow re-recording): Just got this soundtrack in the mail. And this is quite a magnificent score I must say. Hearing A Kaddish for the Six Million on this new recording is certainly goosebump inducing.

[publicist 4,643]

MINORITY REPORT - John Williams

Long time no see. Next to PRISONER OF AZKABAN and WAR OF THE WORLDS possibly Williams' last venture into full-blown dissonance and regret. Spielberg's movie - a visionary technology thriller disguising as modest whodunit - offers not much beyond a desolate and hopeless outlook on a mediatisated future society and Williams follows suit.

The tense, nervous outbreaks characterizing Pre-Crime come as ostinati-driven, vaguely modernistic workouts for the lower registers of the strings and brass with tick-tock wooden percussion, relentlessly driven without any musical resolution - we experience this force as moving without ever accomplishing anything. The only barely human-like element is a cautiously hopeful lament for Tom Cruise's vanished family that recalls a restrained Mahler (or maybe Bruckner) though it also feels elegantly detached, like a long-lost memory that can only come to fruition in Spielberg's fake 'happy' ending.

There are some scrupulous modernizations here that enrich Williams' palette that too often is content with a benign look back instead of forward: the siren-like, electronically processed vocals for Ann Lively, the key to the mystery at hand, give cues like 'Visions of Ann Lively' a nightmarish quality that find a culmination in 'Psychic Truth and Finale', a cue that also plays around with the hypnotic kind of ostinatos that Herrmann so loved (and that bled over into the same year's AOTC). There are also some deep electronically enhanced rumbles that, though mostly there for effect, also contribute to the bleak and monochrome feeling (though both director and composer made lots of the film noir connection i didn't find much of that beyond the vague Herrmann nods).

Two more or less serious-but-grim scherzos bring the whole thing round circle: this IS a Spielberg-Williams collab, after all! But probably, together with WOTW, it is the darkest and thus, least-loved of their mutual works. And while it still might fall short of a masterpiece, it's an energetic and engaging score that has Williams' customary classiness all over it without detouring into pushiness or roads too well-travelled (a common problem of Spielberg/Williams).

The album is a bit on the long side (74 minutes?) and recording quality suffers from Shawn Murphy's deep barrel-sound - to mush with love - that somehow plagued all his Hollywood recordings with Williams around the time.

[crocodile 8,014]

I like every single piece but dislike the score.

Karol

[Incanus 5,715]

Pretty spot on pub! I have always liked Minority Report a lot. It develops the minimalistic devices Williams employed already in A.I. and goes for a clearly darker feel overall. The recording could be a bit punchier as you say as some of the action material could have benefitted from more steely bite. While the film noir connection is certainly more in the film itself the score doesn't make overt use of those musical stylings and as you say the Herrmann-esque ostinati are perhaps the closest reminder of the genre here.

[publicist 4,643]

I would trade one LINCOLN for another MR in a heartbeat.

[Dixon Hill 4,234]

I'm glad to have both.

[publicist 4,643]

You don't have.

[crocodile 8,014]

I would trade one LINCOLN for another MR in a heartbeat.

I would trade both for another A.I.

Karol

[publicist 4,643]

All 3 for another CONGO!

[crocodile 8,014]

All Goldsmith for another Iron Man.

Oh wait...

Karol

[Dixon Hill 4,234]

E.T. for another CE3K

[publicist 4,643]

All Goldsmith for another Iron Man.

Oh wait...

Karol

But you will get your wish without even sacrificing the Goldsmiths...

E.T. for another CE3K

This time with organ!

[crocodile 8,014]

E.T. for another CE3K

Hey, why choose when you can have both with Cocoon thrown in for good measure. It's Super 8!

Karol

[Dixon Hill 4,234]

Oh my....

[publicist 4,643]

Call a doctor, quick!

[crocodile 8,014]

Search your feelings, you know it to be true.

Search your feelings. Such a strange phrase...

Karo

[Dixon Hill 4,234]

Get thee to a nunnery!

[Dixon Hill 4,234]

A.I. Artificial Intelligence - John Williams

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring - Howard Shore

[Jay 37,364]

2001 sure was a good year for film scores, eh?

[crocodile 8,014]

Altered States, Edge of Darkness (Music from the Edge), The Red Violin and Revolution. Listened to large chunks of all four John Corigliano score albums today. Other than obviously more challenging passages, he pens some really catchy melodic tunes, like the love theme from Altered States, for instance. It's absolutely gorgeous.

Karol

[Dixon Hill 4,234]

Pseudo-intellectual rubbish designed to appeal to the musical elite in their ivory towers. You sicken me.

[Incanus 5,715]

The Hour of the Gun by Jerry Goldsmith (Tadlow re-recording): As I have been expanding my collection of these excellent Tadlow re-recordings of various composer I felt I finally needed to get one of my favourite Goldsmith Westerns The Hour of the Gun. The score is a real treat, a showcase in musical economy as Goldsmith operates with a single main theme throughout (this is the composer's preference on most of his scores actually) and employs it on nearly every track but I can't say it ever becomes repetetive or boring during the whole 56 minute experience. The way he builds the obsessive motif to mirror the obsession of Wyatt Earp to kill his nemesis is a conceptually a wonderful idea but the way he draws all kinds of variations from the theme and how he treats it to countless different orchestrations is delightful to hear. Accordion, castanets and guitar are used to evoke the folksy Western idiom but the composer relies mostly on his 80 piece orchestra for dramatic support.

From the arid, sparsely orchestrated and harrowing Main Title to the emotionally powerful crescendo of The Ballot Box, from the gorgeous woodwind dance of the Painted Desert to the exciting Mexican fandango of Whose Cattle? and to the rueful yet resounding finale of A Friendly Lie/Hour of the Gun "End Titles" (to name only a few highlights) the score offers to my ears the classic Goldsmith class that is hard to resist, especially considering that I find the main theme so damn appealing, a sort of prototype for a Western that is not just about the glory of gunplay but has a slightly more pensive air to it. While it is not a high octane thrillride from start to finish this score has the gift of many Goldsmith scores of expressing the narrative very vividly through the music. The City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra under the direction of Nic Raine does a great job of recreating the music and capturing its spirit and feel and have once more proven to be a world class ensemble with a gift for switching styles and genres with ease.

The Red Pony Concert Suite included as a bonus on the album is by the composer's own words unashamedly influenced by Aaron Copland music who incidentally composed the music for the first film version of this collection of short stories by John Steinbeck. Goldsmith steers clear from quoting any Copland but his spirit infuses his writing none the less and the 13 minute piece is a lovely condensation of the score into 5 movements exuding that gentle, lyrical and pastoral Americana with few more boisterous and jaunty moments thrown in for contrast. Not a bad way to round off the album.

[crocodile 8,014]

Pseudo-intellectual rubbish designed to appeal to the musical elite in their ivory towers. You sicken me.

Yeah, but it makes me look respectable.

Heard a large chunk of this score last night in concert last night:

Karol

[Incanus 5,715]

Actually even though it is rather eclectic and uses a lot of traditional pieces the score for The Merchant of Venice contains some gorgeous vocal music.

I always think the counter tenor Andreas Scholl's voice is a bit unnerving, never mind the old tradition.

While it is a Shakesperean adaptation it contains some interesting references to literature from several centuries. E.g. The Bridal Ballad is particularly gorgeous piece featuring Hailey Westenra and lyrics from Edgar Allan Poe's poem of the same name. Also With Wand'ring Steps takes its lyrics from the last lines of John Milton's A Paradise Lost.

[crocodile 8,014]

Yeah, there are quite lovely duets for mezzosoprano and countertenor in this

Here's other stuff they played

Julius Ceasar - Ceasar Now Be Still - Rozsa.

Romeo and Juliet Suite - Rota

Romeo and Juliet Suite: Ai Giochi Addio - Rota

Romeo and Juliet: The Montagues & The Capulets - Prokofiev

The Merchant of Venice Suite - Jocelyn Pook

Hamlet Suite - Morricone

Henry IV Suite - Warbeck

Shakespeare in Love Suite - Warbeck

Much Ado About Nothing: Strike Up Pipers - Doyle

Henry V: Non Nobis Domine - Doyle

interval

Titus Symphonic Trilogy; Andronicus Passages 1, Revenge Wheel

Othello ballet: Carnival Dance, Desdemona & Othello Finale

The Tempest: Three Shakespeare Songs

A Midsummer Night's Dream: Bergamask Dance

Titus suite was really good. It wasn't what they played three years ago. Instead of playing several film cues, it was just arranged into one long piece with several film cues joined together and extended choral passages (that were not in the film version)

It was an extremely long concert as well, Two and a half hours of music. The Goldenthal segment was an hour long, I think. He was there, of course, as were Warbeck and Pook.

Karol

[Incanus 5,715]

Well Shakespeare has obviously inspired some brilliant music! I wish I could have attended.

[crocodile 8,014]

Being going through some Marvel superhero scores lately. Isn't it funny (or profoundly sad) that the most memorable material like this is being written these days by... Danny Elfman, Patrick Doyle, Alan Silvestri and James Horner? Or even Zimmer (if you're stylistically tolerant)? And these are not even their most impressive works, sometimes quite far from that.

Karol

[BloodBoal 7,538]

OK scores, maybe. Good? Perhaps. But memorable? Wut?

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

Re-animator by Bernar... I mean Richard Band.

Judge Dredd by Allen Silvester.

[Brónach 1,302]

I would trade one LINCOLN for another MR in a heartbeat.

yes

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

[crocodile 8,014]

OK scores, maybe. Good? Perhaps. But memorable? Wut?

Most memorable out of Marvel scores? Yeah.

Karol

[BloodBoal 7,538]

Well, that's sad!

[Marian Schedenig 8,193]

Here's other stuff they played

No Walton?