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David Coscina

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Everything posted by David Coscina

  1. You're about to enter a world of pain! Excuse me?
  2. There are plenty of quieter subtle cues on Troy. Far more emotive than I heard from Horner. Obnoxious is the furthest adjective that would describe Yared's music for Troy for me.
  3. if The King's Speech wins, I won't mind as I feel Desplat has been robbed in the past but, in my opinion, the most deserving of this award is Powell. He did a tremendous job on Dragon.
  4. I would choose these to nominate based on what I have heard from them:
  5. I do hope Powell gets a nom and wins. If an animated score ever deserved to win it's HTTYD which, in my opinion, is very much superior to Giacchino's UP! from last year. I keep listening to it and find more and more detail in its construction. The level of compositional technique alone is a lot deeper than I have heard from scores in the past few years.
  6. Alex, you should check out HTTYD because it's an excellent film, not just an excellent animated film. They got Roger Deakins as the DOP in order to ensure that the lighting was a realistic as possible. Same filmmakers as Mulan and what I appreciate about this film in particular is that it achieves an emotional resonance without falling back on tired cliche's. There are some truly poignant moments in the film and John Powell's score. Some excellent editing and framing of characters too. The pacing is excellent as well. It's in my Top 10 films of the past decade easily and it's gaining ground on one of my fave films of all time. Seven Samurai is still my fave mind you but HTTYD is pretty damn great. They just linger on shots, they don't go for the ubiquitous humor in dramatic sequences and regardless of what Roger Ebert claims, there is character development. I've seen it something like 30 times now and it gets better and better with each viewing. It makes my wife cry and she's not prone to being over-emotional when watching films (that's the Japanese in her). David
  7. Koray, what did you think of Jackman's efforts on Kick Ass? That score impressed me quite a bit as did his interview regarding the music. The other guy interviewed with him was a bit of a wanker and kept swearing throughout the entire thing...not impressive.
  8. Looks like a stoopid movie but the score is quite engaging.
  9. Actually I just created a different account under my own name. My previous account was Fiery Angel. You can delete that one if you'd like. I'd rather go by my proper name from now on. David I can rename your existing account from "Fiery Angel" to your real name, that way you can keep your post count intact. That would be great if you could
  10. Actually I just created a different account under my own name. My previous account was Fiery Angel. You can delete that one if you'd like. I'd rather go by my proper name from now on. David I totally agree. I hear a real composer at work in his scores. Not that training is a must but I can hear it in his music. His voice leading is good, his sense of balance and color on the mark, and he's got a great gift for harmony and melody. I know he's assisted Powell on some stuff (I think even on HTTYD) so I'm not surprised that I like his work.
  11. Yes, Jackman is under RC but his style is very dissimilar largely because he eschews electronics and doesn't double his orchestra with samples or synths- a welcome change! He's worth checking out. I haven't heard anything I didn't like from his thus far. He's British and was educated formally which doesn't hurt.
  12. So I listened to most of the samples from iTunes this morning and I liked what I heard a lot. The thing that is immediately striking is the lack of electronics or dense orchestration. Everything is very clear and acoustic sounding. I've noted that from Jackman's other offerings such as Kick Ass and Monsters vs Aliens. He seems very old school in this manner and I like his arranging. I remember smiling when I heard his theme from Kick Ass and could clearly make out that descending bassoon line amidst the 12/8 string figure (a la Superman) and brass flourishes. I'm downloading the album as I type this as there appear to be some terrific cues especially the Biefuscian Armada track that is a little reminiscent of Powell's style but lighter and clearer. I hope Jackman continues to get more assignments as I feel he could do very well and give film score fans something to look forward to musically.
  13. I just watched HTTYD again and out of all the films I've seen this year, this is the best scored film. I thought Inception was decently scored but the music didn't necessarily add the extra dimension to the film that I found HTTYD did with Powell's score. Don't get me wrong- HTTYD is a damn great film regardless but the music adds that extra layer of wonder and excitement. I must have seen this film 20 times now and it has yet to wear off. It's an outstanding film and one that brings me back to the feeling of being a kid watching films again. That's a very rare thing for a film to achieve for me these days. I do hope Powell gets an Oscar nod. It's his most developed and impressive score to date.
  14. Blue. just for the record, I also love what Tangerine Dream did with Thief and Pat Metheny Group did with The Falcon and The Snowman. I do like scores outside orchestral ones. They just have to be well written. I have heard some Daft Punk and while it's not my thing, I think it's a good approach for this film. I do prefer Carlos' original.
  15. Well it's certainly a solid score, one of his most mature to date too. I would have to see it in context to appreciate it more though. I am so glad I have a signed copy from him mind you. It's framed and on my wall.
  16. How to Train Your Dragon by Powell reminded me of more inspiring times of old Mark. It might be a tad excessive at times but overall it's magical listening. There are themes, motives, and development of them along with some pretty terrific variations throughout the score. I hope Oscar doesn't forget this film. It's way ahead of Wall-E, Cars, Toy Story 3, Kung Fu Panda, UP! and even Rataouille in my books for achievement in animation/storytelling, and that includes the music. There are parts of HTTYD that are almost as complex as Korngold's swashbuckler scores. That's saying a lot about Powell's skill.
  17. Driving to Pittsburgh in 2003 to meet maestro after his concert. It was totally surreal talking to John Williams about his score for Accidental Tourist *(he almost gasped and said "I cannot believe anyone remembers that score) when I presented the CD (original Warner Bros release) to him to sign. Sadly, I have no photo record of it because my friend taking the picture forgot to load the camera with film beforehand. I was actually pretty mad at him for a while..... also drove to Chicago (stayed at Doug Adams' house for that trip) to see Williams in 2008 with Yo Yo Ma for the CSO concert that featured his Geisha suite. Balcony seats were primo amazing- we could almost read the score on the conductor's podium. Best John Williams experience though was travelling to Detroit also in 2008 with my wife to watch not only the concert but the rehearsal and luncheon the day before. Seats were amazing and to share the experience with my wife who also enjoys Williams' music was one of the best times ever. She really enjoyed The Cowboys Overture.
  18. Wow Thor those are some really great ones. Angela's Prayer is amazing and for me Remembrances was far more poignant than the main theme from Schindler's List, especially the B section. Whew I'm getting chills thinking about the music.
  19. ...and "Home Alone" isn't cute because..? There are parts of HOOK and Home Alone that I don't care for because of their tone. A lot of Home Alone, to me though sounds more Tchaikovsky-like so it doesn't bother me as much. I actually find much of The Philosopher's Stone very reminiscent of HOOK which has some beautiful moments but also kind of annoying ones too. But like I said, it's a personal thing. I don't think Williams is at fault. I was just saying this because Mark seems to think Williams Hedwig's Theme is the be-all and end-all. If you guys listened to as much Prokofiev as I do, you would find a dozen unsettling resemblances in Williams' music and his. Obviously Williams has a tremendous knowledge of classical repertoire and I would never accuse him of knowingly trying to copy something but there is a lot of Prokofiev in his writing. Almost as much as Horner's to be honest.
  20. I totally disagree. Yared has written better IMO, and of course, this is totally subjective at the end of the day. I'll take "Crazy Tom" over "Hedwig's Theme" any day of the week. But then again, aside from HOOK, I'm not terribly interested in Williams "cutsy" music. Oh, I also like Home Alone too.
  21. Thanks Mark and Thor and everyone for the nice comments.
  22. Gotta be honest- Enterprise all the way. Hedwig's Theme was one that was never nuts about. It never sat in the films either IMO. I much prefer "Harry's Wondrous World". That track has emotion, range and feeling. Hedwig's Theme is overly busy and how should one say? Too many notes.
  23. It's the octatonic scale. Bartok used this quite a bit in his music. So did Stravinsky. Examples of Williams using it can be found in that descending line when they find Crissie's remains on the beach in Jaws. I think Williams uses it quite a bit in War of the Worlds too. It pops up in his work throughout his career actually. Silvestri used it a bit in Predator with those ascending string lines. A lot of composers dig it because it's so atypical and off kilter. Example of a octatonic scale in C (play along!) C, C#, D#, E, F#, G, A, A#, C
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