Dunge_Onmaster

The original recording is in some passages quite unsatisfactory from a musical point of view, as particularly the brass section of the Hungarian orchestra had problems with intonation and rhythm.
 
For me it would be option 5 and 6.
 
Lionheart is simply one of my favourite scores of all time and I am hoping for a re-recording as brilliant as Tadlow did for Conan and Destroyer a few years ago.
Although I greatly appreciate Goldsmith's pure synth scores as works of art with deliberately reduced timbres, I think an orchestration of those ideas would be hugely exciting.
 
A re-recording of the end credits from Rambo II as a bonus track would be the icing on the cake. And as a further mini addendum, I might suggest a newly recorded version Jerry's theme to the short-lived TV series H.E.L.P. (1990), which was never available before. Just an idea. 
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8Xl0_1W-5s
 

Finally, two very obscure additions to my physical collection, which has grown only minimally in recent years. To be honest, I would have preferred to save myself the 15 € postage to Germany plus exactly 7.13 € customs duty if Buysoundtrax had offered their new releases separately as a purely digital purchase. 
 
A quick word about the music: 
 
Joe Kraemer's "Wonders of the Universe" is a nice compilation album of his audio drama scores for Big Finish's "Space: 1999" (2021-2022). Unfortunately, these are purely sample-based recordings, but you can hear the passion and inspiration Joe put into his extravagant orchestral compositions. The sample libraries used are of a very high quality and since I have been dealing with MIDI orchestration myself for many years, I probably have a certain guilty pleasure for this sound Musically, everything revolves around an ominous, minor-interval motif consisting of six notes not unlike Barry's "Black Hole", which gives the whole score a uniform melodic structure.
 
"G-Savior" is a team effort by Louis Febre and his mentor at the time, John Debney, for a Canadian TV production from 1999. It's a kind of Power Rangers meets Starship Trooper meets sci-fi anime with an ultra-low budget. If my ears aren't completely deceiving me, this is one of those typical synth-orchestra scores from the late 90s that were recorded almost exclusively with the Gigasampler from Nemesys. But I could be wrong and at least some of the solo instruments were recorded live. For the aforementioned nostalgic reasons, I can personally overlook this very synthetic sound as long as the music itself is solid. And that is definitely the case here: The memorable heroic main theme is introduced in the first track and runs as a musical thread through the entire score.

Hello there,
 
some time ago I made a little piano arrangement of the powerful orchestral conclusion to Richard Wagner's "Das Rheingold" (1869), the first of his four Ring operas. Here, several of the most important leitmotifs are musically interwoven in a sweeping triumphal march: the Valhalla motif in it's full glory, followed by the Ring motif in a somber interlude and finally a climactic coda over the motif for the Rainbow Bridge, which leads up to Valhalla itself, the mythical Castle of the Gods. Wagner is considered one if not THE the most influential precursors of Hollywood Golden and Silver Age film music. Not only because of his well-known leitmotif technique and choice of mythological sujets, but also because of the often very expansive harmonic structures with distant-third relationships all over the place and, of course, his modern-sounding, very brass-heavy instrumentation.  
 
Maybe here are some fellow "Wagnerians" who will enjoy this little hommage:  
 
 
 
For reasons not entirely unironic I like to play this every year at the welcoming ceremony for the new 5th graders at our school... 

Best regards,
 
Dustin

I really liked the use of Wagner's music on Terrence Malick's The New World.
 
You'll love to talk with @Chen G., he also really enjoys Wagner.

Prior to Lohengrin, Wagner wrote overtures in the style of Fidelio and the Freischutz, where the idea was to provide in the overture as many of the tunes of the opera as possible, in an order that effectivelly tells the story of the opera in miniature.
 
So, in Flying Dutchman, the overture opens with material from the Dutchman's "Der First ist Um" narration in act/scene one, Senta's Balad from act two, the Sailor's Dance from act three and finally the concluding redemption at the very end of the piece. So its really an encapsulated, ten minute "abstract" of the opera with virtually all the tunes.
 
In Lohengrin, he decided to instead focus on just one theme that runs through the entire work, and with this conceptual distinction he changed the terminology to "prelude" (Vorspiel). In this prelude, we don't hear any of the music associated with the villains (Ortrud and Telramund), or any of the fanfares associated with King Henry, or any of the anciliary tunes that appear through the piece. Its really just one tune (the main theme of the "good guys", Lohengrin and Elsa, to which all the other musical material is related anyway) that gradually builds to a big crescendo, and then a rapid diminuendo. Also, rather than end on a big cadence, Wagner has it end quietly and segue right into the opera proper.
 
As a result, its one of the most seamless and probably the most celebrated of Wagner's overtures and concert pieces, and very much looks forward to the preludes of Tristan, Parsifal (Lohengrin's prequel), and to a lesser extent Meistersinger, Le Tannhauser and The Ring.

Nice arrangement!
 
You might like this thread:
 
 

This is the thread to discuss the original Ring.
 
Recently, I discovered The Shorter Ring, a 6-minute piano condensation by David Matthews. What do you think?
 
 
 
 

If I should ever release a tribute album, this would be the cover... 

Hello there,
 
some time ago I made a little piano arrangement of the powerful orchestral conclusion to Richard Wagner's "Das Rheingold" (1869), the first of his four Ring operas. Here, several of the most important leitmotifs are musically interwoven in a sweeping triumphal march: the Valhalla motif in it's full glory, followed by the Ring motif in a somber interlude and finally a climactic coda over the motif for the Rainbow Bridge, which leads up to Valhalla itself, the mythical Castle of the Gods. Wagner is considered one if not THE the most influential precursors of Hollywood Golden and Silver Age film music. Not only because of his well-known leitmotif technique and choice of mythological sujets, but also because of the often very expansive harmonic structures with distant-third relationships all over the place and, of course, his modern-sounding, very brass-heavy instrumentation.  
 
Maybe here are some fellow "Wagnerians" who will enjoy this little hommage:  
 
 
 
For reasons not entirely unironic I like to play this every year at the welcoming ceremony for the new 5th graders at our school... 

Best regards,
 
Dustin

Since I was asked for sheet music via PM: Hal Leonard has licensed my arrangement and is now offering it on Sheetmusic Direct.
 
https://www.sheetmusicdirect.com/en-US/se/ID_No/686157/Product.aspx
 
Sorry, I had no control over the price. Would have preferred to post it similar to Bandcamp with "name your price". Anyway, maybe one or the other wants to try it ;)

Hi,
 
last year I arranged Jerry Goldsmith's iconic main theme for "Star Trek: The Next Generation" as a little jazz piano fantasy. Alexander Courage's opening fanfare for the original series from 1966 as well as some other well-known motifs (like the one for the Klingons) appear along the way. Hope you'll enjoy!
 
 
 
Best regards,
 
Dustin

Hi,
 
last year I arranged Jerry Goldsmith's iconic main theme for "Star Trek: The Next Generation" as a little jazz piano fantasy. Alexander Courage's opening fanfare for the original series from 1966 as well as some other well-known motifs (like the one for the Klingons) appear along the way. Hope you'll enjoy!
 
 
 
Best regards,
 
Dustin

Hi,
 
last year I arranged Jerry Goldsmith's iconic main theme for "Star Trek: The Next Generation" as a little jazz piano fantasy. Alexander Courage's opening fanfare for the original series from 1966 as well as some other well-known motifs (like the one for the Klingons) appear along the way. Hope you'll enjoy!
 
 
 
Best regards,
 
Dustin

Hello,
 
a couple of friends from Austria have produced a small Star Wars-inspired fan-film. What the flick lacks in dialogues and dramaturgy is hopefully compensated by the excessive overuse of homicidal martial arts elements    (All are passionate fencers.) Well, since John Williams unfortunately didn’t have the time, I had to step in for the music.  
 
 
Have fun,
 
Dustin

Hello,
 
a couple of friends from Austria have produced a small Star Wars-inspired fan-film. What the flick lacks in dialogues and dramaturgy is hopefully compensated by the excessive overuse of homicidal martial arts elements    (All are passionate fencers.) Well, since John Williams unfortunately didn’t have the time, I had to step in for the music.  
 
 
Have fun,
 
Dustin

I'm vaguely familiar with Isaacs, but only by name. I've never heard anything by him. So thanks for the review; looks like an interesting disc.