Tom Guernsey

By the way, the music from LotR was the first two movements from the symphony. It was even played as such, with a short pause between movements. Clearly Wicki knows the work well and it was a terrific performance. Oddly I enjoyed the epic bits less than the quieter parts. Some of the choral writing in the bigger passages is texturally kinda blocky at times, the whole ensemble moving at the same time. I far kite enjoyed the slithering Ring material, the carefree whimsy or Hobbiton and the gorgeous music for Rivendell. Dramatically the whole passage for the Bridge or Khazad Dum and the aftermath as everyone mourns Gandalf’s “death” and the finale were the most satisfying for me.

Thank you! It was the same concert hall (but don’t think it was the same orchestra) that I saw the premier of John Powell’s Prussian Requiem. Obviously very different but equally impressive. I must admit that I really appreciate Danny Elfman writing concert works in a style that is recognisable from his film work. I do really enjoy JW’s concert works, but given how many indelible melodies he’s given us, it would be great to have a violin concerto that was as memorable as the classics of the genre! I did enjoy the wit and humour in the concerto, including when the audience appreciated the humour of Currie having to dash round the stage. Thanks for the video!

Yeah it was kinda pleasant in the way that most Portman scores are but it’s the kind of score you expect to be swept away by. But I wasn’t.

X-Men 3 would be good. I’m not super desperate for more Bourne especially but I think the later scores are missing a couple of good cues from whah I recall from prior discussions.

Agreed. And a year between releases feels perfectly well spaced out to me. And I can’t believe preparing the conductor score would need two years either.

Agreed. It does seem an awfully long way ahead especially since the first one was last year. I mean it’s almost surprising they weren’t done as a 6 disc boxed set. Sure it’ll be worth and hopefully there will be some other goodies in the interim.

Copied from awesome concert thread for those who might not follow that thread but are curious about his new percussion concerto! I meant to write a few more comments just after the concert but I ended up hanging around the stage door for an autograph, but he never came out. Probably got whisked away via a separate entrance. He was indeed in the audience, in fact he was in my row! See photo… Disappointed not to have got an autograph and say hello but then I did meet him after Alice in Wonderland in concert a few years ago and got an autograph and a photo then so I can’t say I’m doing too badly! The percussion concerto was excellent and a world premiere performance. Oddly, the program notes don’t actually say anything about the music beyond that it was written after a chance meeting with Colin Currie who was the superb soloist. I’m pretty sure I’ve seen him before performing the world premiere of Michael Torke’s percussion concerto. Elfman’s concerto is broken down into four movements, triangle, DSCH (that’s the four note motif Shostakovich used to use as his calling card and apparently was used by Elfman in his Dolores Claiborne score according to Wikipedia) down and syncopate. Much like his other concert works it’s unmistakably Danny Elfman but with far more interesting development and precision than some of his film music. The scoring is for strings, percussion soloist, piano, celeste and four or five members of the percussion section who were positioned behind the strings so there was some brilliant interplay between them, the soloist and the orchestra. The one thing about a percussion concerto is that it’s very theatrical compared to other instruments as the soloist has to dash round the stage as the wide range of mostly tuned percussion instruments were positioned either side of the conductor (Ludwig Wicki who did a great job with this as well as the other selections he was probably more familiar with… he’s the conductor on the recording of the LOTR symphony). Must be quite a challenge for a percussion soloist over and above the usual stresses of being a soloist. Essentially you have several different solo parts depending on which instrument you’re playing so have to be in the right place as well as playing the right notes! I’m sure there will be a recording at some point but it won’t quite convey the interplay between the soloist and the other percussionists which worked wonderfully well . The Batman suite included (from what I recall - the programme notes by Jeff Bond no less, didn’t say) the opening titles, descent into mystery, waltz to the death, up the cathedral, and from Batman Returns, the music for Catwoman and Penguin, followed by finale from the first movie. There seemed to be a few places with either additional or more prominent choral contributions. I definitely got some chills when the Batman theme bursts through in the main titles, Wicki did a great job of milking those buildups for everything they were worth! I think the “suite” from Alice in Wonderland was the opening track “Alice” from the sequel score which is about half the original Alice track but goes off in a slightly different direction in the middle and a different ending. It’s one of those scores I know the main theme but can never really remember much about the rest of it! Alas there was no encore. I bet my other half a fiver they would play The Simpsons theme as a witty encore, sadly I was disappointed… That was probably the only disappointment, absolutely phenomenal concert.

If LLL or Intrada gave us two years notice of a release there’d be a riot ;-).

I meant to write a few more comments just after the concert but I ended up hanging around the stage door for an autograph, but he never came out. Probably got whisked away via a separate entrance. He was indeed in the audience, in fact he was in my row! See photo… Disappointed not to have got an autograph and say hello but then I did meet him after Alice in Wonderland in concert a few years ago and got an autograph and a photo then so I can’t say I’m doing too badly! The percussion concerto was excellent and a world premiere performance. Oddly, the program notes don’t actually say anything about the music beyond that it was written after a chance meeting with Colin Currie who was the superb soloist. I’m pretty sure I’ve seen him before performing the world premiere of Michael Torke’s percussion concerto. Elfman’s concerto is broken down into four movements, triangle, DSCH (that’s the four note motif Shostakovich used to use as his calling card and apparently was used by Elfman in his Dolores Claiborne score according to Wikipedia) down and syncopate. Much like his other concert works it’s unmistakably Danny Elfman but with far more interesting development and precision than some of his film music. The scoring is for strings, percussion soloist, piano, celeste and four or five members of the percussion section who were positioned behind the strings so there was some brilliant interplay between them, the soloist and the orchestra. The one thing about a percussion concerto is that it’s very theatrical compared to other instruments as the soloist has to dash round the stage as the wide range of mostly tuned percussion instruments were positioned either side of the conductor (Ludwig Wicki who did a great job with this as well as the other selections he was probably more familiar with… he’s the conductor on the recording of the LOTR symphony). Must be quite a challenge for a percussion soloist over and above the usual stresses of being a soloist. Essentially you have several different solo parts depending on which instrument you’re playing so have to be in the right place as well as playing the right notes! I’m sure there will be a recording at some point but it won’t quite convey the interplay between the soloist and the other percussionists which worked wonderfully well . The Batman suite included (from what I recall - the programme notes by Jeff Bond no less, didn’t say) the opening titles, descent into mystery, waltz to the death, up the cathedral, and from Batman Returns, the music for Catwoman and Penguin, followed by finale from the first movie. There seemed to be a few places with either additional or more prominent choral contributions. I definitely got some chills when the Batman theme bursts through in the main titles, Wicki did a great job of milking those buildups for everything they were worth! I think the “suite” from Alice in Wonderland was the opening track “Alice” from the sequel score which is about half the original Alice track but goes off in a slightly different direction in the middle and a different ending. It’s one of those scores I know the main theme but can never really remember much about the rest of it! Alas there was no encore. I bet my other half a fiver they would play The Simpsons theme as a witty encore, sadly I was disappointed… That was probably the only disappointment, absolutely phenomenal concert.

I remember that too! I don’t think Sleepers interested me much at the time but it’s certainly grown on me but I remember being amazed at how epic and grandiose that cue was at the concert. It certainly sounded much more impressive live than it does on CD (even more so than the usual extra buzz you get from a live performance). As to the original question, given that Journey to the Island is basically the reason why I love film music there’s pretty much no contest. The only real issue is that it comes to a quiet and slightly ominous conclusion which isn’t necessarily ideal for a concert. I don’t quite know how you’d rework the ending. Or maybe it doesn’t matter, not everything needs an epic conclusion (Jaws theme concert arrangement, I’m looking at you…).

According to his official Facebook page, The Hidden World will be out early in 2024. In my head it was next year. But it’s actually the year after. Talk about pacing yourself ;-) Having said that, there’s less interesting missing from the OST from what I recall and it’s already mixed fairly well but I shall look forward to it eagerly none the less.

Alan Menken’s score for the Lincoln documentary is well worth hunting down. It’s probably long out of print now. I guess it’s a bit more on the nose Americana than JW’s but some lovely writing none the less. There’s a few tracks of either speeches or period tunes (I have programmed them out) but a solid half hour or Menken’s non-Disney side. God knows how he ended up scoring it!

I believe it’s the FOTR section of the Lord of the Rings Symphony. And a superb performance it was too!

Technically I haven’t seen it yet but very excited to hear Danny Elfman’s percussion concerto!

The original radio version of The League of Gentleman has a sketch which involves a dating agency called Close Encounters... you can probably guess how the prospective dates find each other on their first meeting!

Loved every minute. I almost wish I could go back in time and listen to it for the first time again, but I'll console myself with just being able to enjoy the whole thing in superb sound. I'm glad JP has moved to more natural, less compressed mixes these days, his music sounds much better like that! If anyone wants an embarrassment of custom covers, I heartily recommend https://www.thesoundtrackgallery.com/2020/12/how-to-train-your-dragon-2-john-powell.html which will make you cry at having to actually choose... There's also some on Deviant Art and elsewhere. However, for the main programme, I went for this one as it perfectly mixes epic with the core relationship between Hiccup and Toothless. I believe it was from here http://customscorecovers.blogspot.com/2019/ but I'm not 100% sure! Lovely stuff.

Yeah, he would have been great! Would that have been off the back of his Oscar win though? If so, it may have been to cash in on that.

I thought they did a great job with just upgrading the existing effects where necessary and adding a few subtle extras. I do kinda feel that showing all of V'Ger wasn't really necessary, the glimpses of the various sections as the Enterprise flies over are more exciting than the whole thing, but I can understand the impetus to do so. I have to admit that those shots of the tiny outline of the Enterprise against V'Ger always gave a sense of scale that Star Trek ship effects rarely (if ever) get. As a kid I was enthralled by those shots in a way that the more standard ship effects from the later movies didn't quite enter my imagination (effective though most undoubtedly are... Star Trek V... not you, although even that has a couple of neat moments). However, I think the subtle enhancements to, in particular, the shots where the crew walk to the core of V'Ger are vastly improved with the hexagonal tiles materialising and the backdrop of the Enterprise now correctly proportioned. Matt painting artists pre-CGI really were wizards but that's one of the few where they really didn't quite get the perspective right although I acknowledge that the curves of the saucer section must be a nightmare to get it right from the angle they went for. Still, can't wait!

I can't help but thinking that Disney haven't announced because, aside from the prestige of having JW writing the theme and being one of a handful of composers who have any kind of public recognition, it's just not really on their radar and only we care enough to want to know! However, my anticipation is growing... I do hope it's someone else other than Ludwig Goransson. His music is nice enough but, a bit like with Discover and Picard giving the impression that Jeff Russo is the Star Trek go-to TV composer, I'd rather a bit more variety!

I'd love to hear that, but I can't help but feel that Anakin's theme is too lilting in nature for such a reworking. I can't help but feel it would sound a bit (sorry) forced into that kind of setting. I concede that the fanfare version for after the Pod Race is great (as I mentioned before I think) but I'm not sure it would stand up to a more sustained heroic version. It's meant to be rather more innocent, with darkness only really hinted at, but not really especially heroic.

Thanks Jay, I don't like to be that guy who bitches about delivery issues as I know shit happens, but it's getting kinda annoying now! First time I got two copies of something (think it was Babe) and they sent me another copy! Then another copy of Lionheart turned up weeks after I had received my original order. I'm just glad it had HTTYD2 in it, I think I'd have had a meltdown not getting it knowing that it was stuck at some sorting office since Saturday (thanks Royal Mail tracking app...). I'm guessing it's an international store thing. They seem to have a new fulfilment company but given they are making the same errors, I'm wondering if it's not just the old one with new branding! They have literally one job. Anyway... moving on! Awesome you got yours, hope you're loving it as much as I am. This is proper holy grail stuff for me, I absolutely love HTTYD2, it's everything that makes me love film music, tuneful, uplifting, sad, epic, brilliantly using the full scope of a symphony orchestra and yeah, I even love the song, (I love Jonsi and Sigur-Ros, which helps) especially when hints of JP's themes are woven in and out of the texture like echoes, it's magical. Excuse me a moment, I think I have something in my eye...

Sadly you’re probably right. Burgon isn’t exactly likely to be a big seller. His Robin Hood score is terrific too. Much more low key than most other efforts but really great.

Finally... it has arrived. I knew you were all waiting for this important update. However, I'm going to add a minor bitch... for about the third time in a row, Varese have sent something wrong in my order. I got HTTYD (1) instead of Iron Giant. I appreciate mistakes happen but it's getting a bit ridiculous now! Ah well, at least I have HTTYD2 and Dante's Peak to enjoy and further anticipation for the Iron Giant. I'm patient. Honest.

It has to be said that JW is a lot more nuanced in his classical references and really only uses them as a starting point, definitely nothing like the level of similarity that James Horner used to indulge in. I mean, I still love his music, but he was definitely in a different league in the homage/plagiarism stakes. Then again, I'm always amazed that James Horner still pretty much always seems to sound like James Horner, despite this (although that could just be me!).

Yeah they were pretty meh... funny how nobody ever really gets past the first couple of books when making these films. Burgon's score is indeed absolutely lovely; as far as I know there isn't any kind of official release, just the music featured on the Burgon compilation that Silva Screen put out a number of years ago. Happy to be corrected on this!