Farawyn

I watched Jane Campion's The Piano yesterday for the first time in years. Wow... This has to be one of the most exquisite films ever made. Intelligent, daring, perfectly acted, brilliantly scored... A masterpiece.

All editions seem to be available on December 18th. Just in time for Christmas...

I agree. It was never supposed to be a historical reconstitution, simply a fun and stylized war movie... Aesthetically, it surpasses anything ever done in its category (Sky Captain, Sin City...)

Each film score composer has his or her musical trademark, a particular "sound", something that he masters, that was a contribution to film scoring in general. I tried to "summarize" the contributions of some composers (obviously this is very schematic). Do you agree with these interpretations ? What do you think characterizes the "sound" of John Williams, Basil Poledouris, etc. ? -Hans Zimmer : rythmic, heavy brass superposed with strings (Crimson Tide, The Rock, ...) -Jerry Goldsmith : high-pitched violins with a counterpoint synthesized rythm (Legend, Total Recall, Basic Instinct...) -James Horner : the four-note danger motif (just kidding ) -Thomas Newman :delicate piano notes over light strings (The Shawshank Redemption, Cinderella Man) -John Barry : heavy layers of violins combined with brass instruments (Out of Africa, Dances With Wolves) -Philip Glass : tense and jerky violins, often combined with piano (The Hours, The Illusionist) -John Williams : closely-woven themes, often developed in poignant strings or rousing brass instruments (Schindler's List, Star Wars...)

But Beowulf wasn´t written by the Brothers Grimm. Unless that's not what you mean? Lol sorry, I didn't express myself correctly. I meant that Beowulf has acquired less fame than many Grimm Brothers tales. Which is a pity.

Thanks !

Don't get me wrong... I know Beowulf quite well personnally, having read a lot about it because of my passion for Tolkien. I was just saying that it is a dificult and complex tale, and has hence acquired less fame than Grimm Brothers tales for example (unfortunately, might I add). [edited]

Not as well-known and accessible as, I don't know, Anastasia for instance.

By the way, how is "Vangelis" pronounced exactly ? I had always thought the g was pronounced as in "jerry" ; however, I was interested to hear Jack Black's character in The Holiday use a soft g, as in "great".

Beowulf looks really ambitious and promising to me ! Making a seemingly "adult" animation based on a tale not so well-known is a daring move for a studio-financed movie.

I used to surf around on filmtracks.com and soundtrack.net quite a lot, but rapidly got tired of both these sites. The first seemed to me almost overcritical by times (I remember reading a review where the webmaster didn't give a five star rating to Seven Years in Tibet -- which is acceptable -- just because the score wasn't better than Schindler's List... -- which is a strange way of noting -- ). The second seemed, to the contrary, to be too objective at times, and all in all not very "welcoming". Now, I usually go to musicfromthemovies.com or soundtrack-express.com . What are your favorite film score review sites (besides this one of course... ) ? Secondly, what do you think is to be reviewed ? -The music itself, divorced from the film ? -In relationship with it ? -In relationship with other similar film scores ? -The sound quality ? -The Cd packaging, liner notes, etc. ? -All of the above ? Personnally, I really tend to examin the music on its own ; great sound and packaging may add something, but bad music in a great Cd isn't worth much... For instance, I listened recently to a very old Cd of Stokowski's Fantasia, and was completely blown away by the power of his orchestration... despite a very simple mono sound quality. Do you agree ?

I definitely agree. I'd add that if AOTC maybe lacks identifiable themes, it brilliantly managed to capture musically the "feel" of the movie, in a very atmospheric way. Perhaps it's that "feel" that bothers listeners by times, more than the music itself. Let me explain. This is purely subjective, but I've always felt sort of alienated (no pun intended ) when I listen to the whole Geonosis part. The cues are both vast and dry as the desertic landscapes, and yet mechanic and cold, like the droids. All in all, the feelings the score provokes in me are different from those of any other JW score.

You're right ! There is a musical "hiccup" at 4:45 ! Errare humanum est ... Strange it passed unnoticed.

It has rather horrible sound quality actually. You really think so ? How come ?

I hope you followed Greg1138's advice and checked out both HMV and Virgin, which is where I left an enormous amount of money in February 2005, when I went to London to JW film music concert. BTW, is anybody considering going to this concert? I'll try my best to go, gotta check those CD stores and come close to bankruptcy once again ... I did follow his advice... all to well ! I am close to bankrupt, but happy, and purchased : -Superman, Rhino edition (at last !) -Supergirl -Cutthroat Island -Medicine Man -The Russia House -Angela's Ashes -1941 -Tristan and Isolde -The Iron Giant -A.I. (the musical DVD edition -- fabulous sound quality !) I'd love to go to that concert, but my finances won't allow me to...

I answered yes ; JW definitely changed my perception of music and even art ; his music is inspring , comforting, interesting... The man himself, bright and yet humble, is as it has been said a model for excellence. This is an essential topic : can music change one's life ? Yes of course ! How many have been influenced by Mozart, the Beatles, Sinatra... (or more regrettably by less talented "artists") ? Why could'nt film scores change one's life likewise ?

Abraham' s Theme is played, if I remember well, when Ben Cross' character, Abraham, remembers loosing against Eric ; the hymn could be Eric's theme (track 4 in the album).

I was there ! I looked for you, bur I didn't find you... The place was much smaller, and more crowded, than I expected ; but the concert exceeded my expectations ! Here are a few reactions : -First of all, the choice of music was fantastic ! I never thought we would get to hear so much ! Hearing a non-choral Hymn to the Fallen was remarkable ; JFK being played was a good surprise (yet the trumpet soloist didn't sound very energetic) ; the Lord of the Rings piece (the Breaking of the Fellowship) was well-executed -- I was disappointed to hear some booing... No comment <_< . The "boos" were maybe caused by too much... booze (several people had pick-nicks, and lots of empty bottles surrounding them...) -My favorites : Star Trek and Ilia's theme : GORGEOUS ; The Superman March was perfect ; Out of Africa was amazingly played (I had never adored the theme , but when played live, it's almost like a different piece) ; the Escape/Chase/Saying Goodbye medley was indeed fabulous. -The conductor, Xavier Roth, was extremely good ; he had an interesting way of almost dancing around whilst conducting ; the spokesman, also a drum player, called Neil something I think, was very entertaining : two favorites among his numerous jokes : he joked that he asked Schwarzenegger what composer he'd have liked to be... Schwartzie answered "I'll be Bach" ! ; the spokesman also did a funny imitation of Sean Connery telling Pussy Gallore "I found your bra on my bed ; I didn't touch it... I knew it was a booby trap !" -The audience was passionate, and had a genuine attachment to the LSO ; there were numerous Star Wars Celebration participants ; many of us asked for some Indy, but the encores were almost exclusively Star Wars... which was great anyway ! All in all, a truly wonderful event. I hope I can come back next year, to hear some Indiana Jones !

Great news indeed ! By the way, are there any photos of the super-duper-mega-ultra-limited-ultimate DVD set available ? In most cases I would agree. I'm only saying that with Blade Runner and all the various versions and interpretations, it seems that it wasn't meant to have just one meaning or vision. I agree with you, Vaderbait1. Blade Runner's fate seems almost to be a cinematographic equivalent to the fate of Tolkien's wonderful Silmarillion : no one really agrees on "THE" version... For Blade Runner, this is in fact quite coherent ! Philip K. Dick's novel is one of uncertainty and dream. To set the meaning of the work in one film version is to go against the essence of the original literary work.

We're not geeks, we're passionate ! I suppose we like JW because he composes great music (that alone moves us out of the geek category), but also because his music is not "self-centered". His music deals with pain, joy, love, beauty... The geek likes one thing only. We like JW because it's a way of understanding so much more than his sole scores !

Absolutely! Blade Runner's multi-styled score is probably one of the best marriages between music and images. The two are so organically intertwined that they are inseperable. Vangelis was the perfect composer for Blade Runner because he let himself inspire solely by the visuals. For those who are interested, the latest issue of Empire magazine (UK) has a special of 20 pages named "25 years of blade Runner" which also includes words about the score and vangelis. Alex I definitely agree, Alexcremers. The score from Blade Runner, one of the weirdest ever conceived, is also one of the best. It illustrates perfectly the movie. It's quite a pity that Vangelis doesn't make scores more often. Blade Runner, Chariots of Fire (the main theme and the gorgeously delicate "Abraham's theme" are fantastic), 1492, Alexander and a couple more... Quite a small production for so many years. However, I must say I am FURIOUS that Chariots won the oscar over Raiders !

The 2-disc set for The Dark Crystal is one of the few "limited edition" Cds I own. If you can find it, it's definitely worth the purchase (plus, there's a LOT more material than on the latest edition by LaLaLand). It's one of the best fantasy scores ever !

Great ! I'll be there at 6:45 too. I'll be wearing a grey jacket and a green fedora like hat. See you there I hope !

IMO, ESB is a better score than Star Wars : A New Hope. It seems clear that ESB gave the Star Wars saga its definitive musical direction. In comparison, ANH is a fantastic swashbuckling score, one of the best ever written, but IMO doesn't have the epic quality of ESB. ANH seems, to me, to be only a preparation for ESB (though JW didn't know there would be a sequel). For Episode IV, he began the leitmotif trend, suggesting a backstory (the emotions provoked by Binary Sunset for instance), perfecting some of the most heavily orchestral action cues ever heard. Episode V brings all of this to a new level. The leitmotives are now "hummable", and more cleverly used (permutations for the love theme range from timidity -- the end of Asteroid Field -- to despair -- Carbon Freeze --) ; the number of motives expresses this backstory (Cloud City for example) ; the action cues are arguably more energetic ( and the orchestration is simply better : to me, ANH still, at times, "sounds old" ; The Clash of Lighsabers could have been recorded yesterday ). ESB is, in my opinion, all in all, the best soundtrack ever : varied, massive, innovative, beautiful.

Maybe... : 1- Sean's Theme (MR) 2- Remembrances (SL) 3- The Clash of Lightsabers (ESB)