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I don't see this in DG's "news" tab for Joe, but it does appear on the artist main page.

Looking for peer review — I tried transcribing this snippet near the end. How did I do?

Six (or even nine) end credit suites are not unmanageable, so I personally recommend you go through all of them for the listening experience. Then you can decide which ones you like most 😁 This is not tongue-in-cheek. My personal opinion is that 4 & 5 are "through-composed" (with some rocky transitions here and there) but 6-1-2-3 start showing some structural fatigue and feel more nakedly like concert suites bodged together. (See other comments from folks upthread.) As Datameister says: 4 my guilty favorite for how smoothly it flows from theme to theme. No last-second "evasive action!" modulations (in my opinion), and of course it distinguishes itself by being the only suite to kick off the staff roll fanfare in D flat major. But the other five bring their own charms and trade-offs. I adore 1 & 2 for how they end — brooding reminders that the prequels sketch out a tragic trilogy — and the scope of 3 is matched perhaps only by 9 (out of scope for your question).

I think this assessment is a tad harsh. The central motif from Up remains popular with the general public, for example — I'd be a fair bit surprised if you have no impression of it. As for existing franchise work, the background mandate to retain the legacy themes is an everpresent thing — I think he did a lovely job orchestrating TOS's main theme for Trek 2009. Here's a wild card among original compositions: what about the music for Space Mountain? Well, on the other hand the first Giacchino theme that comes to mind for me is the "Hope" motif from Rogue One. I remember my jaw dropping (in a bad way) over the segment where the title card would have come up in the film.

Michael Giacchino and John Powell off in a dark corner: (I know what Keith meant, but still.) I...kind of wish this presentation would get an album release of some sort. I know it's all stuff we've heard before, but the collector in me doesn't really get offended by more recordings.

I actually never purchased a copy of HBP, but I remember picking up OOTP because I was smitten with the opening. In truth, I was a stupid kid who loved the mysterious wind writing over a powerful unidentifiable whoomp deep in the bass register. Then all the stuff after the opening logos kind of...felt like "nothing was happening." I was also smitten with Doyle's hemiola Hedwig over the opening logos — and I still am. From his own website, it seems he's looking for a new creative outlet outside composing for film!

Turning away from How Do You Live? a moment, an excerpt of Joe's new piece, "Adagio," has popped up on his Instagram. EDIT: he met with the head of UMG while in California. Interestingly, his set with the LA Phil sandwiches La Mer between his compositions. I'd be very curious to see if DG wouldn't be interested in releasing a recording of this or something, but the Ghibli material probably hits a little too close to the recent "A Symphonic Celebration."

That's correct one of the more spartan staff rolls in the Ghibli canon.

A snippet of "Ask Me Why" has surfaced on Joe's Instagram, apparently recorded live from a recent (business?) sit-down at Studio Ghibli.

I don't have the album in hand just yet, but some trivia — it seems track 29 (祈りのうた — "Prayer Song") is at least partially based on a piece of the same name from Minima_Rhythm II. The regular sevenths on the white keys were striking enough to make me sit up in the theater and make a mental note to check on it.

Yup!

I just got back from seeing the film and I'm not sure what to make of it. It's probably something I'll have to watch again to help digest. As for the music...hmm. I haven't formed an opinion on that either, but I'm most curious to see what the moviegoing public is going to think. Folks pick up Hisaishi for a particular...brand of tunefulness. That much seems to be reflected in things like his Ghibli concerts and his new DG release. He's smuggled bits and bobs of his minimalist style (when he's not literally posing with Terry Riley in his mountain retreat for Instagram) into his Ghibli scores, but they tend to be grounded in something the audience will go home humming. All this is to say that I don't feel confident I could even write down what I heard in this film, unlike the genius folks who can bootleg Helena's Theme after one sitting like Mozart casually transcribing a secret church hymn. It looks to me like Miyazaki turned to Hisaishi and said "go wild," and Hisaishi gleefully turned the minimalist dial to 11. Interestingly, if I read the credits correctly, the orchestra is named "Future Orchestra Classics," one of his current partners for his classics series. I forget if the makeup is largely the NJP, but I get the sense it's not — I need to look into that. Or just wait four days.

Oh, nuts. Hadn't noticed until you pointed it out. I console myself by thinking this is actually a rare case where I am probably happy to refer back to the recording at the Budokan — the attacks feel sharper, which is great in my book.

It's been a bad month year for my wallet but every day I remember that the score isn't yet available sends me into conniptions.

Yikes! A cue named in the French Alps.

Am I missing an inside joke here? Is there a dual meaning to this?

Geh. It probably is. It's a bit galling that they tried to pad that out as a bonus. Then again, I'm quite ready to drop 9460 JPY (66 USD) on Joe's Brahms cycle later this month, so it's clear that I'm a real chump with my money.

I was hesitant to say this but I guiltily confess that I greatly prefer the tone and pacing of Ayaka Hirahara from the Budokan concert. In Mai's hands, some phrases are curiously bent in unexpected ways (though it's not as though I speak Japanese, maybe there's a good reason for that) that catch me off-guard. Yeah, that is a bit strange. Might it just be a clerical error? Phil Cobb is likewise credited for a trumpet solo in "Merry-Go-Round," but there's barely any solo to speak of that I can hear.

I'm not even halfway through the album and I want to cheer for Grace Davidson. This is the first time I've heard a Mononoke that not only inflected the solos with character but also dialed it back nicely when the full choir was in play. Her performance of Mother Sea is also fabulously serene — it sounds effortless.

I haven't listened yet, but it is a jarringly pleasant surprise to see The Bach Choir credited for the singing on this album. I'm also extremely pleased to finally see an album release of the vocal arrangement of Reprise. Yes!!!

I'm just desperately curious as to what's going on with 8/9/11/12. We're clearly getting the abridged "live concert" presentations of everything (otherwise Kiki for starters would be 24m long), so what's the split situation here? The Howl set is usually Symphonic Variations on The Merry-Go-Round of Life Cave of Mind The Merry-Go-Round of Life so is 8 going to end with "Cave of Mind" and just...let Spirited Away plus Totoro interrupt? Similarly, Spirited Away usually pairs "The Name of Life" with that special vocal version of "Reprise." We can see "The Name of Life" is going last, here, so does that tell us anything about track 9? And unlike Howl, Spirited Away's headliner does not (outside the score) lend itself to variations. If it's not just the Japanese version of "The Name of Life" (which I confess I would find somewhat disappointing), then I imagine it could be "Reprise" (at last).

Might it be "music video" versions plus behind-the-scenes? "Melodyphony" with the LSO had such a setup, with ~40m of bonus content (really just three full tracks with recording session footage and then a longer documentary-style feature).

I've just had a listen to this and I'd say I'm pleasantly surprised. Even without the film to put things in context, a casual listener (and virtual non-gamer) like myself has lots to look forward to just hunting for allusions in the musical tapestry. This may seem an odd pick, but I most enjoyed The Warp Pipe. Hearing the "underground theme" in such a high register used as vaguely creepy underscore grabbed my attention.

It's a lovely album, but it makes me wonder - what next? I can't see them reworking existing suites of Ghibli music to follow this. Does this mean it's all Joe's concert works from here?

I'm of two minds about this — new recordings of new (even modestly changed) arrangements can really get me (A Stroll comes to mind, and I don't believe that's had a proper album release since Totoro Orchestra Stories). Re-releases of old recordings aren't really my thing, and as delightful as it is, I'm starting to feel like The Merry-Go-Round of Life has had a thoroughly well-worn run. I'm curious about the symphony, yes, and I also wonder if this deal has any implications on his Music Future series on Octavia / Exton. A wild wish, while I'm at it — The Promise of the World, while not a Hisaishi composition, is lifted so strongly by his orchestration that I would dearly love to see it re-recorded some day.