Tom Guernsey

I didn’t have that level although mine included a 25% off voucher at LLL which I don’t think I’ve had (and had forgotten about until I double checked to answer your post!).

I’ll wait until it’s out in hard copy. In fairness there’s little we don’t know already but I’m not in a rush! I wish it had a bit more about the new recordings he did in the 90s but that’s the only thing I feel it could have done in greater detail.

Has anyone who did the kickstarter and has a copy read it yet? I read it voraciously over the last week and really enjoyed it. Don’t really know quite how much to write as I don’t want to spoil any of the interesting nuggets included (although not much I didn’t know already) for those who haven’t got a copy yet! Still overall a fascinating read and makes you want to listen to all of his scores again.

I’ve been making my way through these recently so might have to shell out for the upgrade. Then again they sound pretty great as it is! Definitely worth the investment for anyone who doesn’t own them as they are a terrific summary of Waxman’s music and a perfect companion to the Gerhardt album.

I wrote and complained when HTTYD3 came out as I agree it’s outrageous (even worse they treat Guernsey as “international” so the postage was even more astonishingly expensive). Maybe worth doing the same. Their old store had a half arsed delivery partner but it was at least fairly priced.

My bad for confusing my 20th century composers, although since Varese started a very popular record label with his friend Dave Sarabande, through which many Jerry Goldsmith scores have been released, I should clearly have known it wasn’t Stravinsky*. I’m not massively familiar with Varese’s (fairly modest) output but I don’t recall it sounding anything like POTA. Then again one of his most famous works based largely based on the Rite of Spring. So in a way, I was almost right… *may contain lies. The Omen on the other hand…

Yeah it’s something about Planet of the Apes being ripped off from Stravinsky which shows an astonishing lack of knowledge of Planet of the Apes and Stravinsky…

I can understand why she was so upset though. In world that’s so male dominated, even more so than for composers I would say, the only fictional representation of your profession and gender being about such a monster must be pretty galling. For what it’s worth, I enjoyed it for the most part even if Tar clearly knows fuck all about Jerry Goldsmith 😜

Fair. I’m not especially a fan either but some of his stuff is pretty enjoyable even if it lacks any kind of nuance.

I seem to remember AVPR being one of a number of Tyler scores that starts off great and gets more and more tedious as the album goes on. Also, Tyler positively suffocates most of his scores with compression so all of his (moderately interesting) orchestration is often totally buried. Only when I heard clips of concerts did I realise how good some of his stuff actually is. I think John Powell used to have this issue but has clearly realised the value of dynamic range…

It’s kinda Psycho with a full orchestra. If it is What Lies Beneath I’ll get it because it’s Alan Silvestri but I have to admit that the excellent 6 minute end credits suite covers all the best material in a fine concert arrangement.

That’s the name I’m gonna give my French restaurant… But yes Patton is a terrific score although as a listening experience, I favour the original album re-recording. To me it’s performed and sounds better than the original film tracks and has a bit more edge than the RSNO version although I find much to enjoy in that recording. His lack of an Oscar is astonishing if not actually surprising. The plebs love a hit song and a doomed love story… I’m currently devouring the JG book and his Oscar losses are carefully noted. Some are against fine competition where you can’t really fault the winner but several are clearly travesties. Patton, Chinatown and Papillon from that period of his career are film music milestones for highly respected movies. His judicious approach to spotting, artistry and depth is something some contemporary film makers and composers could do with taking on board. When the music appears in those films it’s meaningful but when it’s slathered over every scene like slurry on a field it just becomes wallpaper. I don’t mean to shit on Ludwig Goransson too much but his music in Oppenheimer barely says anything about anything. It just plays incessantly in almost every scene in a droning, vaguely doom laden way. Now he has more Oscars than Jerry, Elmer, Ennio, Alex North… etc.

I do. All you need is some Howard Hanson and the last movement of Mahler’s 9th Symphony and JW didn’t need to write anything else 😜.

As is this one…

One of those British composers nobody seems to have heard of but who I’d say is more interesting than a lot of his more famous contemporaries… this is probably the best place to start if you want to sample his output. Really thrilling stuff.