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Williams' deep love of Claude Thornhill is well known, as he mentioned him as the source of inspiration also for Heartwood and one of the movements of the Conversations piano suite. I think it's almost moving to see JW keeping his passion for what he loved as a youngster so much alive even in this late phase of his artistic life. He's definitely an artist very much in tune with the deepest parts of his soul.

Elliot Goldenthal would've been such a perfect fit for this

The best score of 2013 was The Desolation of Smaug.

What a beautiful album! Thank you @Disco Stu This one was definitely a surprise:

I like that Zimmer is releasing these "sketchbooks" alongside his OSTs these days. In the case of Dark Phoenix for example, I felt the music as Zimmer conceived it was more interesting than the music than actually ended up in the film.

One of my favourite films ever. For that reason I try not to watch it too much... once a year usually. I felt that it was time, appropriately with some good wine to accompany. Fantastic jazzy score from Rolfe Kent.

I think there's some truth to this, but I also think Tolkien's dislike of Dune comes from much more basic level. Tolkien's characters are largely mythological archetypes. He's interested in morality, grace, and virtue, and thought his stories should reflect those things. He wanted to tell heroic tales, and if he has characters with shades of grey (mostly in The Silmarillion), it's typically because they were on their way to falling from grace. Tolkien didn't have "anti-heroes" as we'd think of them today, at most he had heroes who were flawed and Tolkien made clear they were flawed in ways one shouldn't aspire to. In short, Tolkien hated everything about what we'd now call "postmodernism". It shouldn't surprise anyone that Tolkien wanted to tell epic, mythological stories inspired by the Icelandic sagas he loved so much. Dune is much more morally relativistic, and this is reflected in almost all the characters. It's psychologically complex in an arguably Jungian way, that Tolkien would have found to be devoid of meaning. There's also a strain of nihilism and existentialism that Tolkien would have abhorred. Herbert doesn't have heroes as such, and none of his characters are on a hero's journey. Dune is also full of allegory, which Tolkien famously despised. If Tolkien was inspired by the Sagas of the Icelanders, Herbert was inspired by Lawrence of Arabia (a film he loved). I don't want to get into more specifics out of respect to people like Jay and Chen G. who haven't read it or seen the Lynch film, but basically, more or less everything Tolkien hated was in Dune. BTW, none of this is a criticism of Dune on my part. It's a great book in my opinion, and a masterpiece of science fiction that I'd recommend anyone read. But from Tolkien's POV, I get why he hates it.

An attractive woman in a tight outfit and my mind naturally gravitates to how good JW looks.

I'm here. Gorgeous night for a concert! And it's not even buggy

The Book Thief by William Johns

Yep that's the one! Personally, I prefer Angela Morley's arrangement that she recorded herself in the 50s (under her birth name) and that John Wilson later recorded for his Morley tribute album. I've always wondered why Williams commissioned a new one when he worked with Morley as an arranger/orchestrator frequently in the 80s. Here's that Morley arrangement:

Everyone who will be there: have a great evening! German/French TV station arte will show the concert tomorrow evening, 8pm CEST. https://www.arte.tv/de/videos/104491-000-A/anne-sophie-mutter-und-john-williams-mit-einer-urauffuehrung/

I was thinking they could mo-cap his head onto Tony Hawk and have him do some sick skating tricks

That's really cool!

Yes Do you know where you are?

Everywhere I go there is always someone using the word Wailing Woman. As if every time a woman sings in a song, its the same one when this sounds way different from what I am used to.

Anne Sophie said in a recent interview that she wants to record the concerto. Not sure if live or studio. There will be encores from the Across the stars album and arte will stream the full concert https://www.arte.tv/de/videos/104491-000-A/anne-sophie-mutter-und-john-williams-mit-einer-urauffuehrung/

With DG providing a post-live stream for the concert, I wouldn't be surprised if we get an official release by them before long (in 20 different versions and formats). Might be they make a separate studio recordings, but that's expensive, and it also can't be sold on video, so I would imagine there's a good chance they'll release a Blu-ray of the actual premiere concert.

Finally, these 2 rare Kritzerland sets. The Friedhofer's was a tough catch.

For the past 6-9 months my listening has more and more been dominated by jazz of the 20s-50s, so it's gratifying to see that Williams still keeps that music of his formative years in his mind. Thornhill is interesting because so much of his output is nakedly commercial but for the attentive listener (as I'm sure Williams was in his teen years) the Thornhill arrangements often have ear-tingling features of harmony and orchestration. By the end of the 40s Thornhill was also using Gil Evans as an arranger and started recording some less frivolous tunes by bebop pioneers like Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, and Illinois Jacquet. Clearly that specific Thornhill era was hugely influential on Williams. I like to imagine JW really vibing on something like this around age 17

Terry Pratchett famously wrote: "Do you not know that a man is not dead while his name is still spoken?" This new batch, which arrived on the 17th anniversary of Goldsmith's death, shows that Goldsmith is still very much alive in our world:

I will. Lucky you! Enjoy the performance!

It's not very good compared to Tron Legacy.

I admit I haven't heard the Danna. But Lincoln is an excellent Williams score, one of his most luxurious.

Fixed .

For 2012, my own pick is firmly in line with the "consensus". It's Danna's LIFE OF PI all the way. But there were other good ones: DANS LA MAISON, MANIAC, BRAVE, KATMANDU, TALE OF A FOREST, PUSHER, UNMEI NO HITO, THE LITTLE WIZARD, PROMETHEUS, 30 COULEUR, 90 MINUTTER, LINCOLN, THE IMPOSSIBLE, ISABEL, SALMON FISHING IN YEMEN, SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK, PROMISED LAND, DARK SHADOWS, BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD, SPRING BREAKERS, SUMMER IN FEBRUARY, A LATE QUARTET, BAZTAN, 30 I FEBRUARI, BIANCANIEVES, PEOPLE LIKE US....just to mention some.

Back in 2013, my favourite score of the year was a "double header" of WINNIE MANDELA and COPPERHEAD (Laurent Eyquem). But today, I consider PRISONERS (Jóhann Jóhannsson) the best. Of the poll options, I would pick GRAND PIANO. Here's my podcast episode about the 10 best scores of 2013 (in English), for anyone interested: http://celluloidtunes.no/celluloid-tunes-12-the-10-best-scores-of-2013-4th-international-edition/

In terms of listening experience, the best was Lincoln. But the score that worked better with the movie that year was Life of Pi. Well deserved Oscar for Danna.

Thornhill is this fascinating mixture of serious progressive jazz and a sort of pop classical easy listening sound; WIlliams' continued interest in him makes all the sense in the world given the interesting contradictions of Williams' own career! Williams commissioned a Dick Hyman arrangement of "Snowfall" in the early 80s that has stayed in the Boston Pops Christmas repertoire ever since.

Cruise could at least have shaved for the cover photo.

It's kinda funny to imagine Indy riding a bicycle away from bad guys. That would actually be quite fun! A nice twist on the usual motorbike/horseback formula.

This videogame music medley at the Olympic Opening ceremony is awesome.

Hope everyone enjoys our latest Soundtrack Spotlight episode! https://goldsmithodyssey.buzzsprout.com/159614/8913325-odyssey-soundtrack-spotlight-extreme-prejudice-1987 Kinda bummed I wasn’t able to participate, but it turned out great without me. Yavar

I started to type a response, but then I remembered this was a Dune thread and suddenly I lost interest. Sorry. And really mate, there’s no reason to devolve every conversation into a battle over excruciating minutiae. Read Dune and decide what Paul is for yourself.

I think Tolkien had a unique style of writing that draws you in, in a way few other authors can do

I agree. Tolkien was trying to build a mythology where there was a lot imagined beyond the borders of his concepts. The barely explained magic systems are one example. Frank Herbert wanted to wow us with the logic of his systems and how they all fit together to make a statement. Dune is more of a manifesto, in a vague way. Tolkien clearly wanted to write a timeless tale with timeless morals. Herbert, a novel with forward-thinking ideas that stimulated the mind. Not that Herbert didn't have an interesting story to tell but notice that it relied on multiple twists. He's clearly trying to be clever. A different kind of clever than Tolkien. That's my take.

I blame Arthur C. Clarke.

From Doug Adams's Twitter

It instantly gives Magneto more depth and makes the audience more confused about rooting for him or not!

I already explained my choice in the other thread. And at €33.95 plus shipping, the CD version was expensive enough. Good service by Music Box, too. With the new tax situation, they might become my new go to store for limited soundtrack releases.

I've done the same

I voted for CSR in both categories

Wonder Woman. Decided to revisit it for the first time since the cinema release. OK, I might have been bit harsh as it is better than I remember. Having said that, there's something tasteless about setting this story against a real world catastrophic event. Doesn't feel right and makes you wonder what was she up to during WWII. And it is annoyed you have to sit through 2.5 hours through a movie where you're essentially several steps of the main character. It's likeable enough but feels way too drawn out. Karol - who tends to comfuse some of the plot elements and characters between this and The First Avenger.

Just a short cue this week that officially completes the transition back to school. Enjoy Cue No. 9: Luna and the Return to Hogwarts!

Please don't go to all three concerts and let others also have a chance to get tickets!

I enjoy these covers that the artist Mizue Hamilton illustrated and designed for Capitol/Angel Records in the 1970s:

Anyway, the old varese CD sounds perfect to my ears on my hi-fi system.

Having just finished my first full viewing of TNG, there's a great deal more to it than the Borg episodes - and some of those are quite silly (Lore reprogramming some Borg who were separated from the Collective). Anyway, here's some things I took note of after watching TNG: - While Wesley Crusher is a fan favourite to hate on, I thought his character grew in places but the ending of his arc was completely botched. Instead of simply having him drop out of Starfleet to start his own life as a 24th Century Elon Musk, they inflated his ego bu making him a 'chosen one' to travel on different planes of existence with The Traveler. GTFO. - In Sub Rosa, the episode where Beverly fucks an alien ghost, they ignore the Prime Directive and instead of electing to help it find a new planet to survive, they shoot it with a phaser??!! What the fuck?! Upon further investigation I found this episode was ranked among many 'Worst Episode' lists. - I love Picard, Data, and Worf's character development throughout all of the 7 seasons - seeing Picard slowly open up made some mundane episodes great. It's also a shame some of that development was crammed into the last 2/3 seasons. - Working together to solve problems=TNG. I love how each member of the main crew is given a problem and through a chain of problem-solving, testing hypotheses and being put in demanding situations they are able to save the day. Discovery by comparison sadly lacks this major component of what I believe makes Star Trek what it is. - Ensign Ro was the sexiest character in both her roles on the show and I think it's a shame she didn't want to return for DS9. Her last episode was a surprisingly good send-off and cemented some of my feelings about Starfleet and the Federation as assholes, especially in s6 and 7. With her addition to the crew they were able to establish the Bajorans and Cardassians, fleshing out the world bit by bit beyond simple border disputes. - Riker is an On Again/Off Again asshole. Sometimes he can be understanding, empathetic, emotional. Other times he's got a stick up his ass that makes no sense in certain situations. Whilst I liked the idea of his clone in one episode, I couldn't decide who was worse. - What's up with Troi's accent? No other relation of hers has the same weird accent... - There's a great mystery episode in one of the later seasons where humans, Klingons, Cardassians (and Romulans I think) work together to solve an ancient mystery locked away in human DNA. The mystery was great up until the ending where instead of teasing a greater and still yet unanswered mystery, they just explain it away like they ran out of time. Which brings me to one of my greatest problems with the show: Deus Ex Machina and too little, too late. Interesting stories that go nowhere, or are wrapped up with no further questions. Urgh! There's more stuff I've jotted down somewhere, I just can't be bothered to find it. Picard feels like today's ethics and values transplanted into the world of Trek and the two don't mesh and instead comes across as an obvious appeal to modern audiences. Despite TNG being written in the late eighties/early nineties I never got the impression the characters or messages were of that particular time and I think that's what Roddenberry wanted. I don't have an issue with swearing, but it was incredibly off-putting and out of place.

So one disc for the OST and the other one for the six additional tracks?