Sharkissimo

The Adventures of Tintin

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Serving pandiatonic realness. I wonder if Howard Shore has this somewhere in his record collection.

I LOVE Lepo Sumera, he was a friend of mine gone way too soon.  I wrote a musicological analysis of this work too but what you hear as Howard Shore is really mediant harmonic intervals...the major third which is a sci-fi and fantasy convention.  It is a major third harmonic interval and sounds very spacey.  I use it anytime I want someone to think of sci-fi or fantasy.  Regardless, others should explore this composer's output.  He was also a prolific film composer though mostly of Eastern European art films.  He was very interested in film music, sci-fi, and pop music but also so kind and humorous.  We exchanged multiple emails and then I lost contact only to learn later he had died at the age of 50.  His last email to me was telling me about his upcoming opera which I don't know if he completed.  He was always kind, jovial, and sincere.  Damn, it's so crazy to realize it's been 20 years since he died.  That was the same year as my dad.

Serving pandiatonic realness. I wonder if Howard Shore has this somewhere in his record collection.

Serving pandiatonic realness. I wonder if Howard Shore has this somewhere in his record collection.

Speaking of "Join Me," there's a cute little detail which may be the first instance I know of where micro-editing actually strengthens the motivic integrity of these scores. @BrotherSound I know you'll appreciate this!
 
On the OST, the lugubre string statement of the Anthem of Evil theme ends at 1:18 with a little melodic figure in Eb-min, Cb5-Bb4-Eb4-Bb3. 
 
 
On the FYC, that same passage cuts to a few measures later (or has an alternatively composed ending?) at 1:08.  Regardless of how it arose, the figure is now Cb5-Bb4-Eb4-Gb4. AKA Kylo Ren's diatonic "redeemed" motif.
 
 
 
 

Here's some of the score for another short film from last summer. Channelling some more old-school romance with piano and string quartet. The recording isn't great, and there are a few flubs (we were pressed for time) but I'm pretty happy with this one. Curious to hear your thoughts: @Dixon Hill @karelm @Loert @SteveMc @Nick Parker
 
 
 

Not a dumb question at all!

It's a synthesizer, "synth voice," playing a high chromatic cluster with a quickly pulsating quality. The pulsation is especially noticeable a few measures in.
 
 
Coloristic touches like this are something I sorely miss in the Sequel Trilogy, which, as well-orchestrated as the scores are, are for the most part lacking in these weird ambiances.

Does anyone else here like Roy Budd's film music? When I first heard anything by him I thought his music was a bit cheesy and too 70's for my taste way back when. However, that changed a few years ago when I was browsing in the soundtrack section of Tower Records and they were playing the car chase music from the movie Fear Is the Key; it is the first and only time I have ever bought a CD on the spot after hearing something played in a shop. Since then his music has really grown on me and I have read that some of his best scores will be remastered and re-released by Silva Screen this year. His best scores are typified by a heavy bass line, very 'fat' brass arrangements, funky rhythms and fiendish piano riffs (Budd was a magnificent jazz pianist). He died tragically young after suffering a brain haemorrhage in 1993.
 
For the uninitiated, here are a few YouTube videos showcasing some of his best stuff:
 
 
The first clip features Budd himself playing. I know it's the sort of music that probably isn't to everyone's taste (I think you have to like jazz / funk at least a bit), but I wondered what other John Williams fans thought about him.

Indypendence Day?

... Casino?

I need some Russian pick-me-up music as an antidote:
 
 

Well, he pretty much defined the swashbuckler score.

Even after thirteen years, listening to this makes me go all melancholic:
 
 

I wouldn't call Korngold's background purely musical, as his biggest success pre-Hollywood was as an opera composer (and co-writer of his own libretto). But I would argue that Steiner was a better film scorer than a composer, whereas Korngold was an (opera) composer who also wrote film scores which function like operas.

Put on your glasses and think laterally.

They're in Bespin's OP.
 
Do keep up darling.

They're in Bespin's OP.
 
Do keep up darling.

Edit: Posted The Rocketeer just a few seconds after Jay, and attempted to do The Member of the Wedding with 🍆 👰🏽 🤵🏽

Arrival!
 
Edit: Posted while Jay just had a croissant and a ring.

Last half-century, so that would mean 1970-2020?
 
In terms of game changers, it's not enough to list great or 'classic' scores. It has to have had some sort of impact and influence, whether on the industry as a whole or within a particular genre, for example. As such, I do find several examples listed in this thread so far not quite there, IMO (or they are, in fact, the result of a previous, more game-changing influence).
 
I have a lecture on film music history that I've done many times over the years. It goes back all the way to film's beginning in the 1890s, but if I were to list what the 'game changing' scores in the period asked about here were, these are some (primarily US cinema -- I have a separate section on alternative cinema):
 
A CLOCKWORK ORANGE (1972)
 
Carlos' "Switched on Bach" album had been a huge success in the classical/electronic crossover area, not to mention the popularity of the Moog, but it became iconic with CLOCKWORK and opened up a whole new arena for electronic film scores.
 
STAR WARS (1977)
 
Re-popularized the neoromantic style (note I say re-popularized, it didn't re-introduce the style, as many people claim - as that particular style never went away)
 
HALLOWEEN (1978)
 
Carpenter's stripped-down, beat-based synth music has had an immense influence, especially in recent years. See STRANGER THINGS below.
 
MIDNIGHT EXPRESS (1978) 
 
The dawn of the pop producers doing film scores, MIDI technology and synergy effects (such as the "Call Me"/"Chase" reuse)
 
BLADE RUNNER (1982)
 
It took some time before this influence took hold, but the broad synthscapes eventually became a stalwart of sci fi, in particular. And the organic mix of sound effects and music.
 
TOP GUN (1986)
 
The main theme is really the "prototype" of the power anthem that Zimmer would later develop and popularize. Also symptomatic for the early days of a hit song that would sell soundtracks (it was not the FIRST to do this, this goes back all the way to stuff like HIGH NOON and "Do Not Forsake Me", nor was it the first in the 80s, but it's very much part of that trend).
 
EDWARD SCISSORHANDS (1990)
 
Everyone was doing Elfman's "magical" SCISSORHANDS sound for a number of years, even ads (Elfman himself has said he was so tired of hearing the SCISSORHANDS in commercials that he just decided to do them himself at some point).
 
BASIC INSTINCT (1992)
 
The go-to sound for erotic thrillers for a number of years.
 
THE PIANO (1993)
 
While minimalistic music had been around for decades, and Philipp Glass is really THE main influence on a lot of film music to this very day (we wouldn't have Max Richters, Abel Korzeniowskis or Dario Marianellis without him), one could argue that it was Nyman's THE PIANO that truly popularized the idiom. His Greenaway scores were never popular enough to have that kind of impact.
 
THE ROCK (1996)
 
The four cornerstones of Zimmer's influential 'power anthem' style are BLACK RAIN, CRIMSON TIDE, THE ROCK and the PIRATES movies. But it was truly popularized with THE ROCK, the gateway into film music for a whole new generation.
 
AMERICAN BEAUTY (1999)
 
Everyone was doing the 'quirky' marimba Newman sound for years to come, even Elfman in the DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES theme.
 
GLADIATOR (1999)
 
Composers like Mychael Danna had been fooling around with wordless, middle eastern-sounding vocals for years, but it was Zimmer -- along with power anthem stylings -- that popularized it. Any given historical epic in the years that followed used the GLADIATOR template.
 
THE BOURNE IDENTITY (2002)
 
Completely revolutionized the action genre. The power anthem was drawing its last breaths with the PIRATES movies, and in comes Powell -- a former Zimmer pupil -- and boils it down to a steady ostinato with slight chord modulations on top.
 
INCEPTION (2010)
 
I'm convinced even Zimmer adhered to Powell's stripped-down action sound when he did the BATMAN movies. He built on this further with INCEPTION, which became a huge reference point. A more lusher, rhythm-based sound than Powell's.
 
STRANGER THINGS (2016)
 
Neither the first, nor the best synthwave score, but one that has had the greatest exposure and influence in recent years.