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Dixon Hill

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Posts posted by Dixon Hill

    Is Hans Zimmer the most revolutionary film composer of all time?

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    Didn't Zimmer used to be in a band among other things as well?

    You beat me to it. I was about to say that Zimmer had a history as a keyboard and synth player as well as producer in the pop/rock world before he started composing for film, and I think that history is clearly audible in his film music. Also, James Newton Howard commented that when he worked with Zimmer on Batman Begins, it was a good match because they both conceived of the score much like an album, i.e., the way a music producer would. Consider how different his soundtrack albums are from their respective films, blending cues together and rearranging them according to the concerns of an album. All this is to say that Zimmer's film music has strong roots in another kind of music than the formerly more typical connection to concert music. We could probably say it's a new kind of film music, but it would be difficult to call it a new, purely "filmic" type of music.

    Maybe we should stop calling him a composer. That might make people happier. He's like... a songwriter/producer who works on film music. Not saying that derisively, I just think maybe it better suits his whole aesthetic.

    I agree with the sentiment you raise, but it's not really fair to say he's not a composer, is it? Anyone who writes music of any kind is a composer. There's no other way to define it objectively. Why not just say there are different types of composers, some who have a background in pop and rock rather than classical? I know this isn't what you're saying, but it can sound like we're trying to preserve the term "composer" for only those who are "worthy" of the title, when there is no objective distinction to be made.

    No, I agree with you. I'm (rather jokingly) suggesting it might soothe the souls of others if Zimmer and Williams are more semantically segregated.

    Is Hans Zimmer the most revolutionary film composer of all time?

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    Didn't Zimmer used to be in a band among other things as well?

    You beat me to it. I was about to say that Zimmer had a history as a keyboard and synth player as well as producer in the pop/rock world before he started composing for film, and I think that history is clearly audible in his film music. Also, James Newton Howard commented that when he worked with Zimmer on Batman Begins, it was a good match because they both conceived of the score much like an album, i.e., the way a music producer would. Consider how different his soundtrack albums are from their respective films, blending cues together and rearranging them according to the concerns of an album. All this is to say that Zimmer's film music has strong roots in another kind of music than the formerly more typical connection to concert music. We could probably say it's a new kind of film music, but it would be difficult to call it a new, purely "filmic" type of music.

    Maybe we should stop calling him a composer. That might make people happier. He's like... a songwriter/producer who works on film music. Not saying that derisively, I just think maybe it better suits his whole aesthetic.

    What Is The Last Score You Listened To? (older scores)

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    In the short, or did you get your hands on the score itself somehow? It's so beautiful.

    Thank you!

    Henryk Gorecki's 3rd Smyphony, Symphony of Sorrowful Songs.

    The first movement especially is sublime. It's a powerful piece and shows how great the Polish were at using simpler tonal structures to create such stirring works.

    Wonderful piece. Try his second symphony as well. The first movement is... dense, but the second is outstanding.

    What Is The Last Score You Listened To? (older scores)

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    Never understood the love for his Halo music, but then again I think I stopped after 2, possible he got better with later installments.

    I could see 1 and maybe 2 being somewhat un-engaging outside of the game, but you're right, the subsequent ones do get better.

    This is a nice kind of "suite" presentation of some themes. I guess maybe the whole prog-rock/orchestral fusion thing is an acquired taste.

    What is the last Television series you watched?

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    On 10/20/2013 at 3:28 PM, Koray Savas said:

    So I went though Amazon Prime and made a list of all the shows on there that I would like to watch. I will finish off Fringe now that the last season is available for free, but what should I go through next?

    Alias

    American Horror Story

    Firefly

    Justified

    The Planets

    Sherlock

    Sons Of Anarchy

    The Tudors

    The Universe

    Alias, Firefly, Sherlock. 

    Howard Shore's The Desolation Of Smaug (Hobbit Part 2)

    in Tolkien Central

    Posted

    Never heard of Neil Finn before or since, but thanks to Lonely Mountain I don't wish to. Banal, MOR, overproduced trainwreck of a song. It's the kind of thing I imagine they play in the waiting room of hell.

    No a big fan of Lennox's solo career, but she did some decent stuff back with the Eurythmics along with the score for 1984, so that counts for something. That said, I thought Into the West was maudlin and schmaltzy.

    Hey, this is pretty groovy to me.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s2-Tn_w5E1w

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