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ChrisAfonso

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Posts posted by ChrisAfonso

  1. After Marian insisted for years that I should watch BSG, I recently got the blu set and started watching it. So far (middle of season 1) it's enjoyable and interesting, with an intriguing premise, but still has to really grab me (I know, many series take some time to really hit their stride, many favorites of mine included). Also it's still a bit difficult to really get invested in something new, after bingeing Outlander the week before left me an emotional wreck for days (McCreary had a part in that, so I'm confident BSG is not that bad of a follow-up ;)).

  2. 10 hours ago, Jay said:

    Jojen Reed, Barristan Selmy, Mance Raydar, Shireen Baratheon, Hizdahr zo Loraq, Selyse Baratheon, Stannis Baratheon, Myrcella Baratheon, Doran Martell, Trystane Martell, Roose Bolton, Walda Bolton, Shaggydog, Alliser Thorne, Summer, Three Eyed Raven, Leaf, Hodor, The Waif, Rickon Stark, Smalljon Umber, Ramsay Bolton, Grand Maester Pycelle, Lancel Lannister, The High Sparrow, Loras Tyrell, Margaery Tyrell, Mace Tyrell, Tommen Baratheon, Black Walder, Lothar Frey, Walder Frey, and many others are all still alive in the books.

     

     Aemon Targaryen, the Lord of Bones, Balon Greyjoy, and Kevan Lannister are dead, though.

     

    Just a small nitpick, the Smalljon is actually dead in the books, too (killed at the Red Wedding), but the Greatjon is still alive (captive at the Twins).

  3. How is it an "error"? That's what he wrote in the sketch. It's obviously been changed to the notes we hear in the final version of the score. That's pretty cool!

    I'd say "error" (as in: composition error, the notes are wrong) isn't the right word, a composer can write what he likes and it's right in his music. But in my personal opinion it's obviously a typo/writing error, as a) in all the two-bar segments before he writes continuously rising figures and only here he goes back down and repeats three rising notes, b) the following jump to the A is awkward, and c) he corrected it later to the way we hear it in the recording. Yes, the final recording is just one of several clues, there are other examples of notes he changed around between different alternates, or between demo and final theme, but in this case everything points to an oversight while notating it down (Additional clue d): The system break between the two bars of the phrase makes it easier to accidentally confuse the line the notes continue on).

    (And to conclude with a bit of obvious joke-explainery, I didn't mean computerized "spell checking", but being able to hear it played back as written)

  4. That one's gorgeous.

    I read somewhere that he writes orchestrated sketches, just on piano but for various instruments. The orchestrators then transfer those sketches to a computerized score and then they help improve those sketches by changing things. Probably bowings, extra voices and other changes.

    Shore sketches on four staves, if it's him you're referring to.

    tumblr_nmf775qk9z1rrl50so1_1280_zpskbboj

    Bar 6 is a third too low, though... see what happens if you don't use a computer to check!

    ;)

  5. loert423, on 15 Oct 2015 - 5:39 PM, said:snapback.png

    Here's a little compilation of ideas I put together for a battle scene in a video game I was working on recently.

    https://dl.dropboxus...sketch1end.flac

    (The theme sung by the choir is the main theme of the game.)

    Nice work! There's a good coherence throughout that makes it work as a setpiece. I also like the mix, good balance (something I personally find quite challenging to achieve).


    This is the opening first few minutes of my new space opera piece with live orchestra.

    attachicon.gifKELM-SpaceTheaterOpen.mp3

    This sounds really good! As you stated, the Horner and Williams influences are obvious, but well executed, and I especially like the intro and bridging sections that sound a bit more individual :) Great orchestration, throughout.

  6. As bland as the overamplified and overreverbed beginning in the piano sounds by itself, I quite like that it's the chord progression from Han and Leia... I didn't notice it right now,but by the time the theme starts I had a real 'shock of recognition' moment :)

    The overall trailerization of the themes is a pity, yes... I guess nowadays that's hard to avoid, though I'd have hoped Star Wars would be more immune to this than other trailers.

  7. From what I recall, it was basically a short presentation of the flying theme, to get back into the mood of the last scene before the the intermission (the flying scene, of course), before quieting down (after about a minute) to a somber tone for the continuation with the scene where the mother puts out the candles.

    I was a bit disappointed that they didn't play the great piano-only beginning of the credits cue, but the flying theme is always nice of course ;)

  8. I would disagree with both the "Williams's style is the most distinctive of all composers" and "The only thing in his music that is distinctive are the melodies" sentiments. As Ludwig pointed out, what makes Williams's music distinctively his, apart from the superficial things that are easy to imitate (flashy fanfares, boom-tz, and such), are a multitude of small idiosynchrasies that are very non-noticeable for the average listener and take a lot of listening to start to really notice them, like the special kind of jazz-infused harmony, the kind of intervals by which he contructs both his themes and much else that's going on, etc. I wouldn't feel qualified to specify them all, but I'm convinced that Williams's unique "style" is just a combination of so many things that is very hard to really duplicate on a deeper than reasonably superficial level, but its uniqueness pales compared to a lot of composers with more overt, easily noticeable stylistic trademarks (Morricone, Elfman, and the like).

  9. Just got this CD (along with Pas de deux) yesterday, and although it's nothing really new, I find it quite enjoyable to listen to - the main theme is nice, some of the action material is quite engaging, and the ethnic elements are somewhat subdued, but add a nice character to the whole. The only short things that I found really jarring were the wailing Troy woman in track 1, and the Apollo 13 lift in track 4 (possibly further lifted from Aliens? I don't really know that one).

  10. What an awful week. Horner was one of the first composers whose music started my interest in film scores, shortly after Williams... that was around the time of Titanic. I loved the scores I directly experienced coming out those years, not knowing much of his older works. In the early 00ies I grew disillusioned with him after discovering that many cues I loved were relatively blatant rip-offs from classical works, and hearing that Troy interview. Then recently, when he was in Vienna, I warmed up to him (and his music) again, after experiencing that he was perhaps a bit socially awkward, but genuinely passionate about his work (and could tell some entertaining stories about it), and rediscovered some classics of his I hadn't really known well yet. Some of his compositional traits may continue to baffle me, but he left a tremendous amount of incredible music. A shame to see him go too soon.

  11. I applaud JW for writing concert suites, but in actuality I never listen to them. I prefer the music as it was heard in the film. The only exception might be the concert version of "Marion's Theme" from "Raiders of the Lost Ark" that he performed at Tanglewood a few years ago. I believe it is on YouTube.

    In general I'd concur. I think it's a good thing for those suites (or rather, self-contained theme presentations) to exist, as they make concert performances and thus a wider spread of the music more likely, but, especially regarding Williams, for me personally they seldom rank up with the original versions from the score - somehow they seem more artificial, cut up and packaged into bite-sized portions to be easier digested, rather than presenting more of the inherent, organic structure of the music (sorry if that sounded a bit pretentious there...). I guess the rawness, unpredictability, and non-conformance to standard intro/themeA/themeB/themeA-reprise/coda/boom-ts structure of the originals make it more interesting to listen to (repeatedly), at least for me.

    But this is just a sweeping generalization, and there are numerous exceptions - usually, the longer the suites are (consisting of multiple movements, and not just "theme from"), and the more organic the bridges between sections/cues are, the more a concert arrangement appeals to me. I hope the trend towards longer suites in film music concerts continues.

  12. I've finished Xenoblade Chronicles .Pretty good game that would have been 5X better with HD graphics

    it was long...100 hours and so many sidequests I gave up on doing them all

    One day I want to finish it (meaning the main story ;)), too... but it has been years since I had to put it on hold after a few weeks of initial progress, and I never could get back into it the few times I tried, mainly due to the enormous complexity of the gameplay systems (I know, not all necessary, but it just felt strange only remembereing the bare minimum of actions), and engagement in the story suffered from stopping midway through... I guess I'd have to start again at the beginning. A pity, as I remember the two weeks or so of playing it as one of the most engaging gaming experiences I've had, due to sympathetic characters, unexpected story twists, awesome scale and variety of the world, and great music. I wonder if this kind of game has become too long for my spare time.

    ---

    I just finished "Ori and the Blind Forest" a few days ago, which I'd highly recommend - gorgeous visuals, lovingly crafted world, engaging and heartbreaking story with more depth than was apparent at the start, great music (ranging from sweet and idyllic to suspenseful and epic), very responsive controls (best I remember for a platformer in a long time) and great game mechanics. It took me about 11 hours to get through, which was a perfect amount to both really get into it and also finish it while still freshly engaged in it.

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