KK

That's a shame, though not surprising at all. It was hard not to like the earnestness of the whole thing.

For those who've watched it, is Killing Eve worth checking out?

Those examples are all problematic in their own way. But at least when you're inviting musicians into a studio in early stages, there is a more conscious effort into understanding the ethos of a sound/colour/instrument outside the Western orchestral canon. There is room for play and exploration. Whereas increasingly advanced sample library presets are starting to kill the imagination in composers. There is also a difference between employing (and sometimes appropriating) such "non-traditional" instruments to generate a unique sound/textural palette (like Horner and the Shakuhachi, or Thomas Newman and half his career) and employing ethnic instrumentation to try to reflect the cultural context of the film (in this case, representing Ancient China). For the latter, I expect the composer to do their homework, especially with a massive budget picture like this. Making these nuanced choices all off of what sounds good on a computer is lazy lazy musicianship. And it probably explains why this Mulan score has no real personality of its own. Look to early Zimmer, or even Görannsson (for something more recent), for better examples of what more substantial investigations into musical worlds outside their own look like.

SL is a far better tune though.

Lol. Something about reducing an entire musical culture to a sample library from which to pick and choose the sounds you like seems kind of problematic to me. But I guess that's how film music operates these days...

Indeed. Out of Africa is the more impressive score too, just in scale. But Somewhere in Time has that Delerue-esque intimacy that makes it more affecting. On the other hand, I can't stand the Dances With Wolves theme, sadly.

It might not have the big "sweeping" quality, but it's easily the strongest melody of the bunch.

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Pretty much! The Tony is always the toughest one. Musicals are just a much harder crossover, especially with today’s musicians/composers. How far is Lin-Manuel Miranda with his EGOT?

I like this outcome! Congrats to the both of them!

Wishful thinking. I doubt Shore really wants that.

I've been revisiting Marianelli's score. And while it lacks a stronger central idea, there's actually a lot of lovely Debussy-esque colour to it. It's definitely a grower.

This is true. But hey, I found myself bobbing my head to some of Reznor's killer grooves and humming along poorly to Britell's morose adagios. Sadly, I was mostly staring at the clock with the Ludwig stuff... It's not like any of this is glorious, era-defining music anyway. But I know I had a good time with some of it, and didn't care so much for the rest.

How dare you! It's quite fun for what it is. And it works really well in the show. Ludwig's score left no real impression for me and was mostly a chore to sit through.

I enjoyed Reznor's score. I did not enjoy Ludwig's. I can live with this verdict.