Mr. Who

Just got back. It was rather good!
 
Despite a full orchestra involved (slightly under-appreciated), the emphasis was fully on the soloists - all of whom were superb.
 
Highlights:
 
A brief but intense suite from The Rock - didn’t expect that to turn up but it was fun
 
A glorious - and very lengthy - suite from The Prince Of Egypt. This was utterly superb. Parts from the burning bush and chariot sequences, punctuated by some fantastic live vocals.
 
Gladiator - this was great due to the presence of Lisa Gerrard. The Gladiator Waltz, the wheat stuff… all covered
 
Lot’s of other enjoyable smatters. Bit drunk.
 

 
 

@mosabri2 I think you're vastly overstating HZ's pianistic deficiencies. Your point would make more sense if you were talking about, like, the E.T. end credits or the solos in Snowy's theme—something that could only be written by someone intimately familiar with the repertoire and with the sounds an excellent pianist can produce.
 
But the feather theme is super simple. Totally diatonic, not fast, with easy pop chord changes and a melody consisting of three-note scale fragments and basic arpeggios. It's great because of its simplicity.
 
Silvestri didn't need to be a virtuosic pianist. He "just" needed to be really, really great at a much rarer skill: the ability to craft a tune that sounds totally inevitable, that gives the right feels, and that lingers in your ear and heart. And I'd argue that HZ has written some tunes like that as well, albeit very different in style.

Really puzzling allegations here. HZ got his start as a keyboardist. He may not be a world-class virtuoso, but I'm sure he could get his fingers around something basic like the feather theme. (It's a great theme, but not remotely difficult to play.) And I believe Djawadi started with guitar, graduating summa cum laude from Berklee, so he's probably not the world's worst musician either.

I think that being a good pianist is not at all a requirement for composing great music. A composer’s main instrument might be cello or guitar or piano etc and the quality of the music they write is not dependent on their proficiency at performing piano.

Certainly. Many a great composer were lousy pianists: Haydn comes to mind, but also Schubert and Wagner.
 
Okay, "lousy" is not necessarily the right term, but certainly not very great pianists.

I think that being a good pianist is not at all a requirement for composing great music. A composer’s main instrument might be cello or guitar or piano etc and the quality of the music they write is not dependent on their proficiency at performing piano.

2) I think that track was meant to be used during the action scene of Rabban Harkonnen's attack to the fremen, when they get scared and run off, since I think there's no music in that scene. Perhaps they felt it worked better without score, butfrom what I remember, it could fit in there.
 
5) I noticed this as well while listening to the soundtrack again a few days ago. Particularly, in Harkonnen Arena, Feyd-Rautha's theme reminded me a lot of that Seduction theme, so I checked both Harkonnen Arena and Seduction back to back and it definitely feels like the same melody but with vastly different arrangements.
 
Listen to 0:45 of Harkonnen Arena and then to 0:50 of Seduction.
 
I also remember there were some unreleased variations on this idea.

So, now that Part 2 has been digitally released, I've rewatched it and have some thoughts.
1) The theme @MaxMovieMan calls "Fremen Chimes" appears twice in Part 2: 0:00 in The Sietch, and the unreleased track when Jessica leaves Paul to travel south.
2) The track Ornithopter Attack appears nowhere in the movie
3) The drum beat in Harkonnen Arena is in 7/4 (odd time signature just like Feyd Rautha's theme), while the beat under Kwisatz Haderach is in 4/4, so I'm not 100% that a thematic connection is implied.
4) The first 3 notes of Feyd Rautha's theme is a retrograde inversion of Paul's theme (The One)
5) There is no Seduction theme, it's just Feyd-Rautha's theme played in a high register on a harp or guitar
6) The Emperor's theme is played twice: 0:39 in The Emperor, and the unreleased track when the Emperor's guard humiliates the Baron.

Here is my complete cover set for Ramin Djawadi's 3 Body Problem S1: https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjBibLE
 
I really like the show and thought that the art designs for the promotional material, including the character posters (which are often dull) were inventive so I tackled most of the available material. To access the covers click the Flickr link!

Here is my complete cover set for Ramin Djawadi's 3 Body Problem S1: https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjBibLE
 
I really like the show and thought that the art designs for the promotional material, including the character posters (which are often dull) were inventive so I tackled most of the available material. To access the covers click the Flickr link!

3 Body Problem Episodes 1-3
 
Super impressed with this show, one of the most exiting new shows in quite a while. Full of mysteries and interesting ideas. Looking forward to see how it unfolds and I believe S2 is being written right now!
 

Dune 2 has made almost $630 million at the box office:
 
https://www.boxofficemojo.com/release/rl68715265/?ref_=bo_we_table_3

(emphasis mine)
 
That's indeed one thing that struck me as extremely done already in the first film, because it seemed so natural and powerful without being an intrusive effect.

No more Newman indeed.
 
 

Two concerts in Paris!
 
Orchestre de Paris / Alexandre Desplat
Grande salle Pierre Boulez - Philharmonie de Paris
duration: approx. 2 hours
29.01.2025, 8.00 p.m.
30.01.2025, 8.00 p.m.
 
Meeting with Alexandre Desplat
Salle de conférence - Philharmonie de Paris
duration: approx. 45 minutes
29.01.2025, 6.45 p.m.
 
Concert:
https://philharmoniedeparis.fr/fr/activite/concert-symphonique/27131-orchestre-de-paris-alexandre-desplat
Meeting:
https://philharmoniedeparis.fr/fr/activite/rencontre/27928-rencontre-avec-alexandre-desplat
 
PROGRAMME:
The Imitation Game
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
The King's Speech
The Tree of Life
Little Women
The Shape of Water
Fantastic Mr. Fox
The Grand Budapest Hotel

Paris Orchestra
Alexandre Desplat, conductor

It is a privilege to listen to Alexandre Desplat in person lead the Orchester de Paris in a fascinating anthology of his best scores : Desplat sorcery, which has seduced even Harry Potter, comes into action !  
Winner of two Oscars for the soundtracks of The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014) and The Shape of Water (2018), Alexandre Desplat is today one of the major figures in film composition. From Paris to Hollywood, we could almost exhaust ourselves listing the prestigious collaborations that have already punctuated his career, from Jacques Audiard to David Fincher, from Wes Anderson to Stephen Frears, via Peter Webber or Guillermo del Toro...
If the elite of the seventh art are fighting for it, it is because there is, in addition to a know-how which no longer needs to be demonstrated, a Desplat "paw", which imposes itself despite the scrupulous care that he focuses, above all else, on serving the world of the film entrusted to him. Capable of seducing, disquieting, bewitching in an ambiguous manner, intoxicating, galvanizing, Desplat's art merges with cinematographic narration, which does not prevent it, with its melodies in the bass register, its harmonies subtle and unstable its violent epic bursts, to remain eminently personal.

I think I said: "Bring it back in one piece", not: "Bring back one piece"

“As it was written, Lisan al gaib” - Stilgar

“Why did the emperor choose this path and who will our next oppressors be?” - Chani
 
”Long live the fighters” - Paul Atreides
 
“My desert, my Arrakis, my dune” - Barron Harkonnen
 
- We are House Atreides. There is no call we do not answer. There is no faith that we betray“ - Duke Leto

”It’s not the plane, it’s the pilot”
"We used to look up at the sky and wonder at our place in the stars, Now we just look down and worry about our place in the dirt."

Howard Shore - The Hobbit Trilogy (Special Editions)
 
I love these scores!! There are some truly phenomenal themes here. Sometimes it's a bit too much maybe. Especially on the 3rd album with 6 cues of battle music. But because Shore does so many interesting and cool things with his themes and the orchestra it remains a joy throughout!
 
My personal favorite cues from all 3 albums:
 

Trailer tomorrow!!
 
 

Agreed.
 
 
I liked Lynch well enough in NTTD... but she was nothing compared to Ana de Armas. Can we have HER character back please?
Nolan hasn't had anything to do with Bond so I'm not sure why you bring him up. But while he wouldn't be my first choice to return, I'd rather have another Zimmer/Mazzaro Bond score than another Thomas Newman one, even though I'm a much bigger Newman fan than Zimmer fan in general. But Newman never did a cue as good as this for Bond:
 
 
Agreed here too... hopefully with David Arnold?
 
 
I used to think The Mask of Zorro was amazing... it hasn't all aged as well as I'd have hoped. But I still really like it. Legend of Zorro is indeed mostly horrible (even though I love the Horner score even more than the original, and Catherine Zeta-Jones somehow looks even more beautiful in it than she did in the first).
 
 
This I agree with 100%. Redeem that franchise by ending it on a high note rather than that terrible second entry. I'm sure Banderas can still kick plenty of ass as an older Zorro.
 
Yavar

My bet is the next Q will be a Dumbledore type. Or a woman.
 
You know, I'd be really onboard with Emma Thompson as Q.

I hope they do it like in the old days and keep the actors at least for M but preferably also Moneypenny and Q in place. There’s no need to replace them.

I read that there will be a 4th movie. Honestly I enjoyed the 3rd movie quite a bit. The scene where he sports a VR headset and walks around London fighting people with baguettes brought the house down in the theatre where I saw it a few years ago.