5781 replies to this topic

[Incanus]

Don't give up hope yet BloodBoalie! Someday someone somewhere will leak the recording sessions! Someday!

[BloodBoal]

Yeah! I can wait. I have time. I have all the time in the world!

[chuckster312]

No no. Time is running out. The Walking Dead is upon us!!!

[Koray Savas]

I'm still waiting for the CD release, but I've played through the game 3 times so I can say it's probably one of the best scores of the year so far.

Don't you say that every time a new score comes out?

Hey man, if every score is better than the last one then that's totally possible.

If that was the case, we could finally leave in peace and harmony...

I didn't say anything of the sort this year and most likely not last year. I don't listen to scores much anymore. Too busy with other music.

[alicebrallice]

I don't listen to scores much anymore. Too busy with other music.

by the beard of zeus!

I don't know if I'll ever take a break from scores. of course I feel like listening to something else sometimes, but for how long? couple of hours, 1-2 days tops.

[Koray Savas]

It's not that I take breaks, it's just that the ratio changes. Right now I'd say my music listening is 25% scores and 75% everything else.

[Chaac]

I'm starting to betray orchestral music... with medieval and ancient music, and anything that sounds prehistoric. I find today much more difficult to get into than the past, musically speaking, for some reason.

[alicebrallice]

chaac, have you heard the score for the swedish movie arn - the knight templar? I think you'd like it.

and the score for the arn tv series:

[Chaac]

I've heard parts of the film score and I thought it was lots of fun. I didn't know there was a TV series.

[alicebrallice]

here's the intro:

[Pasi Tiitinen]

I prefer the Arn music in the Film by Tuomas Kantelinen.

[alicebrallice]

yeah, kantelinen is brilliant. but ciscar is pretty good too.

[Incanus]

I have still to listen to either Arn score. Kantelinen is certainly great but I can't help to think he is really shackled here in Finland since his symphonic style would flourish in larger films and arenas. Average Finnish film can't handle such scoring as the subject matter often demands subtlety and smaller ensembles and different or modern musical styles. Still it feels like versatile Kantelinen scores about half of major Finnish films these days.

But what I have heard from Kantelinen has been beautiful and melodic, emotional film music.

Family Plot by John Williams: Just as mischievous, suspenceful and fun as I remembered. Highlights are many, the opening Séance and End Credits being my special favourites along with the arresting The Mystery Woman cue. I should listen to this more often.

[alicebrallice]

my god!

inky and chaac, check your PMs

[Stefancos]

Hey that's not fair!

[BloodBoal]

What is going on in here? Why aren't the mods doing anything? Wait, I forgot: we don't have mods!

[Incanus]

What's happening? Whaaaat?!!!!

On another note I just listened to Jerry Goldsmith's The Final Conflict. Pretty darm awesome. Those majestic horns that open the score are just tremendous and the rest is not too shabby either.

[KK.]

The Final Conflict is very epic in its sense of operatic scoring. I love that opening with the horns. Its a shame though that the score didn't make use of the material from the original score. My favourite of the Omen trilogy remains to be the first one. It's a classic. No one can write music for the Devil like Goldsmith can...

[Incanus]

I have to agree. The third score has only subtle ties to the original which I found to be a shame from continuity point of view but the new music is one of Goldsmith's grandest and effective mixing of orchestra and choir. He truly could write scary music.

[alicebrallice]

Hey that's not fair!

what? you want a PM too?

[Jason LeBlanc]

It's one of my favorite Elfman scores!

Same! I have fond memories of ripping the DVD's iso to CD-R and wearing that out.

Yea, Mars Attacks! was one of the first score-editing projects I ever undertook, after Tomorrow Never Dies and The Phantom Menace

[Pasi Tiitinen]

It's not that I take breaks, it's just that the ratio changes. Right now I'd say my music listening is 25% scores and 75% everything else.

My listening is something like 80% Williams and 20% everything else.

But that again I don't listen to music that much. I have heard almost everything on classical side and pop, jazz + other shit

is not for me. I rather save my ears to the sounds from nature. This time a year birds singing is just fabulous.

[Maglorfin]

Eine Alpensinfonie by Strauss, the famous Karajan's 1980 recording with Berlin Phil. One of the greatest performances and recordings of this work.

I don't recall: Heard the Kempe recording yet? I like the Karajan (he's generally my first choice for Strauss), but in this case, Kempe wipes the floor with him. And the playing of Karajan's Berliners is rather sloppy in places.

Yeah, I've heard the Kempe recording. Believe it or not, I actually bought it primarily because you always spoke so highly of it! Boy, was I disappointed! The orchestra is for my taste far inferior to Berliners, the playing is not even close to BP's energetic, inspired and powerful performance. And, since you mentioned sloppy playing - plenty of it here, beginning e.g. with the long snare drum roll immediately before and the a2 cymbals crash at the beggining of Sonnenaufgang are horribile auditu - probably played on shit instruments (cymbals sound like 100 EUR instrument) and seemingly also played by pretty uncapable musicians - hell, even I would have done better job with that snare drum roll, what a terrible technique! The timpanist - after the concertmaster the most important orchestra member - isn't much better. Also, the beginning of Sonnenaufgang is played (and recorded) like it's written for solo trumpet and orchestra - totally not cool. Performance of Gewitter und Sturm - Abstieg is forgettable, Auf dem Gipfel also boring. Plus, whoever mixed and engineered this also had a very peculiar taste - more often than not totally wrong instruments/sections are at the front of the sonic image.

No hard feelings, Marian, I know you will disagreee on every point and I know Kempe's Strauss recordings are supposed to be all that, anthologic material and blah blah blah but this particular Eine Alpensinfonie recording is definitely the worst I've heard so far. I mean, golly, is it possible that a wrong performance was burned to the disc I bought?!

[Hlao-roo]

I have to agree. The third score has only subtle ties to the original which I found to be a shame from continuity point of view but the new music is one of Goldsmith's grandest and effective mixing of orchestra and choir. He truly could write scary music.

And he still does.

[crocodile]

The Tempest by Elliot Goldenthal

It is actually quite a good score. I really like the "songs".

Karol - now listening to his Grendel opera (in really crappy quality)

[Marian Schedenig]

Sorry you didn't like it. It's the Staatskapelle Dresden though, one thing you can't claim is that they're bad players on bad instruments (or just not suited for the music - Strauss dedicated the piece to them ). But I haven't noticed the faults you list, while Karajan's recording has has some very up front sloppy playing on very big moments. I still like the Karajan recording! (More than many critics, I think) I think neither is boring, both are well tempered. I generally like Karajan's indulgences in Strauss (with most other Strauss works, I prefer his recordings), but Kempe just seems more focused and immediate to me.

I do wish there was a 70s Karajan recording of this piece. I find his 70s recordings of the tone poems generally superior to the later digital recordings - better acoustics, better sound, and similar but slightly more gripping interpretations.

[Faleel]

Patton: Jerry Goldsmith.

[Richard Penna]

The Grey - Marc Streitenfeld.

Draws inevitable comparisons to Goldsmith's The Edge, but they are two very different films. The Edge celebrates the beauty of the wilderness; The Grey doesn't, and therefore there's no room for thematic vistas or nice rhythmic cues.

Very textural (in the natural sense, i.e. no hard synths) but also has some memorable motifs, while having a very rough, rugged sound.

[Incanus]

Snow White & the Huntsman by James Newton Howard: This score did not impress me on the first listen and felt rather heartless and generic heavily RCP styled summer blockbuster score. And after further reflection it still doesn't impress although the harmonic material sounds a bit more attractive now. Sadly the word "generic" still describes this score the best, nothing really stands out, not intellectually stimulating nor tugging at the heart strings.

Casino Royale by David Arnold: A highly enjoyable Bond score, one of my personal favourites infact.

[Richard Penna]

I find the song at the end of Snow White more interesting than most of the score.

It's just so generic.

[indy4]

America, the Dream Goes On:
This is such an enjoyable listen. Politically it's easy (and beneficial) to be skeptical about America right now. But artistically it's great to succumb to the desire to just loose yourself in the patriotism and in the good stuff America stands for (temporarily ignoring everything else). And even if you don't associate this music with America, it's fantastic music in its own right. The arrangements are very creative--I love the slide whistle in "When the Saints Go Marching In" and the unnerving bassoon ostinato in "American Salute." And the selections are spot on. I'm so happy to finally have "Hoe Down," rhythmically it's such a thrilling piece of music. When it comes to cheesiness, the crown jewel of this CD is the lyrics to Williams' own "America, the Dream Goes On." But the piece as a whole is awesome, and very similar to his work for the Olympics.

Dvorak: Symphony No. 9 "The New World" (Royal Philharmonic Orchestra):
I'm really glad to have finally heard this work, it's great. I hear a lot of influences for later composers, James Horner in particular. This is the second recording of "Carnival Overture" I've heard and I think I prefer it to the one with the LA Phil.

[KK.]

​James Horner's The Missing.

God do I love this score. It takes after the powerful weighty themes of Legends of the Fall and explores it with a dark, brooding intensity with the ethnic elements pratting away with such ferocity. The score's subtlety and atmospheric qualities may not be for everyone but there is just so much to appreciate in this score. Call Horner what you want, but when he's handling an ethnic matter in film, the man can rip it. And this is one of my favourite Horner scores. The soaring themes are bold, the action music is exhilarating (Rescue and Breakout is awesome) and the colour that Horner builds this score with decorates the score to take your breath away (the native chanting, the prattering flutes, the synth choirs, etc.). Easily a ***** score and one of my favourite of his of the decade.

[Matt C]

Journey 2: The Mysterious Island - Andrew Lockington

Buoyant, fun, and adventurous -- Lockington re-uses his original theme and expands the sound into a wider, more encompassing score. It still owes a lot to Nicholas Dodd's orchestrations, but it's fun. I can't imagine anyone not having a fun time with this score.

[Incanus]

Medal of Honor European Assault by Christopher Lennertz

Romeo & Juliet by Nino Rota: What can I say, one of the most beautiful and romantic film scores I have ever heard. Simply spellbinding to hear how a composer seems to capture the essence of romantic love in his lyrical and tender but tragedy laced score, the fragile bittersweet quality making it irresistable. The re-recording by City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Nic Raine is masterful representation of the music, both artistically and technically as most of the restoration work for the recording was done by Mike Townend by examining Rota's other scores for style (the original score manuscripts seem to have gone missing) and transcribing and reconstructing by ear from the earlier recording of the score and from the film itself. Every track is a joy to hear, revealing the composer's intricate thematic web where he puts his central ideas for both protagonists and the love theme through extensive variations, finding always a new ways to tug at your heart strings with superb orchestrations and melodic development. This is truly musical story telling at its best.

[publicist]

Snow White & the Huntsman by James Newton Howard: This score did not impress me on the first listen and felt rather heartless and generic heavily RCP styled summer blockbuster score. And after further reflection it still doesn't impress although the harmonic material sounds a bit more attractive now. Sadly the word "generic" still describes this score the best, nothing really stands out, not intellectually stimulating nor tugging at the heart strings.

It's no great shakes, but sadly, for a summer blockbuster score it still takes the cake. And if you hear it within the movie, there are actually some rather poetic moments, although the RCP noise helps a lot to ruin those.

[crocodile]

​James Horner's The Missing.

God do I love this score. It takes after the powerful weighty themes of Legends of the Fall and explores it with a dark, brooding intensity with the ethnic elements pratting away with such ferocity. The score's subtlety and atmospheric qualities may not be for everyone but there is just so much to appreciate in this score. Call Horner what you want, but when he's handling an ethnic matter in film, the man can rip it. And this is one of my favourite Horner scores. The soaring themes are bold, the action music is exhilarating (Rescue and Breakout is awesome) and the colour that Horner builds this score with decorates the score to take your breath away (the native chanting, the prattering flutes, the synth choirs, etc.). Easily a ***** score and one of my favourite of his of the decade.

I like this one as well.

Karol

[Incanus]

​James Horner's The Missing.

God do I love this score. It takes after the powerful weighty themes of Legends of the Fall and explores it with a dark, brooding intensity with the ethnic elements pratting away with such ferocity. The score's subtlety and atmospheric qualities may not be for everyone but there is just so much to appreciate in this score. Call Horner what you want, but when he's handling an ethnic matter in film, the man can rip it. And this is one of my favourite Horner scores. The soaring themes are bold, the action music is exhilarating (Rescue and Breakout is awesome) and the colour that Horner builds this score with decorates the score to take your breath away (the native chanting, the prattering flutes, the synth choirs, etc.). Easily a ***** score and one of my favourite of his of the decade.

I like this one as well.

Karol

It has been a while since I listened to this but it is a pretty terrific score indeed, stylistic recycling and all considered.

[Henry Buck]

Star Trek: First Contact - GNP complete release.

I had it in my head for a long time that this was a rough, oppressively action packed sort of score. While that's probably true of the second act, the first and third are full of wonder and adventure. It's much more a spiritual successor to The Final Frontier than I realized. The "First Contact" theme tends toward the sort of bland Americana Goldsmith dealt with often in his later career, but maybe it's the best example of that genre. It's also given lots of spacey wonder in the last few tracks before finally coming into its soft, patriotic sound. I think the use of the "quest" theme from The Final Frontier is curious. Goldsmith was so deliberate about this motive that he put it right into the main title alongside the Courage fanfare. I don't know why... but it works. Joel's contributions are fine and fit right in with his father's work. Anyway - a much more excellent score than I thought. Check it out if you liked Goldsmith's TOS movie scores, of course.

[lonzoe]

Yeah I own it but have yet to open it, but I plan on listening to it soon.

[Wojo]

I adore the score. It's my favorite TNG-era score. Is it because it's the first Star Trek score I ever owned? I won't tell if you won't.