Jim Ware

The only detail I have for Geisha is 'late Summer 2005', so you're probably pretty close with the August-September suggestion. Looking at the metadata of the session photos on the interview with cellist Steven Erdody here, the picture at Royce Hall was taken on August 12th 2005. A (limited) set of parts from the sessions were dated between July 18th and August 15th.

Perhaps, but most of the target audience has already dropped cash on the Kickstarter and isn't going to be willing to pay for it again.

The latest version I have is dated July 16th 2024.

On the subject of The Hobbit, the third film has one of my favourite callbacks as Bilbo and Gandalf reach the edge of the Shire. A wistful statement of Gandalf's material, hints of the History of the Ring and the Heirs of Durin/Istari hybrid material that opens An Unexpected Journey.

Almost certainly down to money - JNH isn’t cheap.

This album has a dodgy master - I pointed it out to Qobuz ages ago but never had a response. It seems to be the same on all streaming (and download) services. I don’t know if the physical release is similarly affected. This isn’t the issue - this album still sounds crap on high-resolution lossless streaming services.

The ensemble varies from cue to cue, but it was a big live orchestra with a hefty brass section (eight horns, six trombones, four trumpets, cimbasso occasionally), adulterated with synths and samples as you would expect. The mixing makes it sound more synthetic than it really is.

John Neufeld and Conrad Pope.

The bulk of HP1 was orchestrated by Conrad Pope, Eddie Karam and Larry Rench, with a couple of pieces by John Neufeld. I can’t see any evidence of the involvement of Pete Anthony, Alexander Courage or Benjamin Wallfisch. Don’t trust everything you read on Wikipedia.

Brandon Roberts has been writing additional music as part of Marco Beltrami’s team for quite some team. I’m looking forward to this!

Criterion attempted to licence it from Apple, and Apple said no.

Crash was never banned in the UK, only in Westminster. https://www.bbfc.co.uk/education/case-studies/crash

This was performed in London on Saturday night by the LPO and Ben Palmer (along with a bunch of other Shore stuff), with Shore in attendance.

I remember that rehearsal! It was rushed, tense and Wicki’s monitor fell off the podium.

I don’t recall there being a cut there, although there are at least two edits elsewhere in this track.