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Desplat13

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Posts posted by Desplat13

  1. My complete John Williams collection:

    Star Wars (all 6)

    Schindler's List

    Jurassic Park (#1)

    Hook

    E. T.

    Main Titles from Indiana Jones and Jaws (from iTunes)

    Last I counted, I had 44 JW soundtracks (plus two compilations).

    You should get a ton more JW scores, particularly the Indy scores, Home Alone, Catch Me If You Can. . . .

    Of course I want all of them. Who wouldn't? I am trying to slowly build my film music collection, as my funds cannot really support anything more than a slow build. Oh, and Indy is amazing. But it is out of print, and so very expensive. I was very tempted to at one point, even with the unreasonable price. But that was right after having seen Raiders, and I only barely held my sanity long enough to convince myself that it was too much money, and that a better price would come around if I waited. Which is what I am doing...

    Colin Thomson

  2. Maglorfin - Unfortunately I don't have many John Williams Soundracks... I'm poor. haha. But actually the real reason is because I haven't seen all the movies that he's scored. :-\ I've been a fan of John Williams since I was reeeeallly young. When I first saw the old Star Wars movies. (but the first soundtrack of his I ever bought was Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone.) I didn't join the fan site before because... I didn't want to join and have people be mad at me for not seeing all of the movie's he's done. There are quite a few on that list, jaws, star wars episodes 1-3, a few indiana jones movies. i know... shame on me. :P .... also I really like James Horner. I can't wait to see Spiderwick Chronicles!

    My complete John Williams collection:

    Star Wars (all 6)

    Schindler's List

    Jurassic Park (#1)

    Hook

    E. T.

    Main Titles from Indiana Jones and Jaws (from iTunes)

    Movies scored by John Williams I have seen:

    Star Wars (all 6)

    Jurassic Park (#1)

    Raiders of the Lost Ark

    Part of Hook

    I think that is pretty much it.

    Hopefully that makes you feel better.

    What really is much more important is the Beauty and the Beast soundtrack. :cool:

    Colin Thomson

  3. Yes. It's the Maurice wolf attack rather than the Belle wolf attack.
    Also, what is "Be Our Guest (Score)"? That says album only on iTunes. I'll get the whole thing if I need to. What is that track of?

    That's incorrectly labeled. It's a demo.

    Ok. cool. Thanks very much.

    Colin Thomson

  4. Also, what is "Be Our Guest (Score)"? That says album only on iTunes. I'll get the whole thing if I need to. What is that track of?

    In the chronological list for Beauty and the Beast, it says Wolf Attack form Music from the Magic. Is that different from the West Wing wolf attack music?

    Colin Thomson

  5. The special edition version of "West Wing" is longer (it includes the wolf confrontation music).

    Are you sure? On iTunes special edition it says 4:25. In my original edition it says 4:25. Did they replace old music with new?

    Colin Thomson

  6. I have the original soundtrack to Beauty and the Beast, and love it. I was looking on iTunes, and saw that the only difference between the special edition and the original is the 'Human Again" song, another version of "Be Our Guest" (not sure where from), "Beauty and the Beast worktap and demo" and "Death of the Beast early version". If I bought these individual tracks on Itunes, would I be getting everything from both albums? Thanks in advance.

    Colin Thomson

  7. To be honest with you, I really don't like the term "atonal" to describe music that just sounds less traditional.

    What does "atonal" mean anyways? Without tone.

    Well, all of Schoenberg's work uses tone. Any 12-tone serialism piece uses tone. In fact, it revolves around the concept of different tones.

    I'd say there is no such thing as an atonal piece of music. Perhaps a percussion piece...but even then with cymbals, the harsh sound is just because there are so many tones squished together.

    Therefore, every single piece of music is tonal. Some just sound differently than others, and use different techniques. I can't even say that it doesn't sound traditional, because one man's noisy bells is another man's gamelan music...

    Just my little opinion, I suppose :lol:

    Atonal does not mean music that is less traditional. Like Henry said, it just means that it does not center around one tone. So perhaps there could be a better word than 'atonal', but that is the one we are stuck with to describe not music that sounds weird, but musc that does not center around one tone.

    Colin Thomson

  8. Atonal music is such a difficult subject. It's cold, forbidding and hopeless music that I can't stand. Maybe it's simply weakness, but I hate it. I want to hear some small degree of warmth and understanding. Not cruelty. Atonal music is NOT cruel by definition, but it is arduous to write and listen to. Suffice it to say that some amazing talent and skill goes into the best atonal pieces.
    Though not a film music composer, Alban Berg is a good example of atonality. And if you want to listen to some of his stuff online, there are demos for VSL of three of his pieces. Go to the link below and scroll down to the pieces by him, and click on them.

    Not a fan myself, but, hey, maybe you'll love the stuff.

    http://vsl.co.at/en/67/3920/4687.vsl#

    Colin Thomson

    This is interesting stuff. It's not really atonal, more like free tonal.

    Right. Berg used Schoenberg's 12 tone scale, but he also did not shun using more familiar methods for producing emotion. Sometimes he even has hints of a semi-tonal melody line, but they are always short, and the larger part of his music I would definitely call atonal. So perhaps over-all, his music is free-tonal, because parts get close to tonality, but other parts are firmly atonal.

    Colin Thomson

  9. Does anyone have any examples of atonal main themes or something like that? I'd be interested to see (hear) if I indeed do find it sounding somewhat out of the ordinary, what with my having no knowledge of music theory whatsoever.

    Though not a film music composer, Alban Berg is a good example of atonality. And if you want to listen to some of his stuff online, there are demos for VSL of three of his pieces. Go to the link below and scroll down to the pieces by him, and click on them.

    Not a fan myself, but, hey, maybe you'll love the stuff.

    http://vsl.co.at/en/67/3920/4687.vsl#

    Colin Thomson

  10. Hm, definitely JW using a tritone in that theme speaks for itself too, and would very likely spark the interest of those church circles calling HP books a subdued invitation of innocent children to wicked witchcraft and devil worship ... Mi contra Fa, diabolus in musica! :) (Though it's pure rubbish of course, my ever-favourite use of tritone is the beginning of Holst's Saturn, the Bringer of Old Age (a famous repetition of F-B and Eb-A chords), ever so thoughtful and delicate ... :thumbup:)

    That is interesting. Liszt's tritone usage in the 'Inferno' movement from his 'Dante' symphony is another good example. It is interesting to me how these associations go. At one point both the fourth and fifth intervals were considered dissonant, and a tritone was the worst possible nightmare. Now, every seventh chord has a tritone in it, and we know how common they are.

    Colin Thomson

  11. Probably my favorite 'classical' composer (if the term is applied very losely, as it seems to be here) would have to be Franz Liszt. It is amazing to me that there still seems to be a little bit of the prejudice against him that was around during the end of his life. In reality, he was the pioneer of some of the modern techniques Wagner is given so much credit for. I believe Liszt actually used the double-dissonance 'Triston und Isolde' chord that Wagner is so famous for in one of his pieces before Wagner did. He basically invented the 'rock star' (perhaps not a good thing, but still history-changing), as well as the symphonic poem and many other things.

    Also, he was really a like-able guy, who tought tons of students and never charged anything for the lessons. At the end of his life, when he had fallen out of favor with the critics, he told his students not to perform his pieces because he thought it would hinder their career. Also, he was a big promoter of other people's music, unlike many of the people who's music he premoted. He helped Wagner when the police were after him, and conducted Wagner's music when it was out of favor, thus introducing to the world the music that would have such a revolutionary effect.

    Best of his music:

    All Hungarian Rhapsodies

    All Symphonic Poems

    Totentanz

    Opera piano transcriptions, especially 'Reminescences de Don Juan'

    Liebestraum

    Funerailles

    Rigoletto Paraphrase

    La Campanella

    Piano Sonata In B Minor

    Harmoonies du soir from '12 Etudes d'execution transcendante' (though the rest are probably good, I have yet to listen to them)

    Faust Symphonie

    Dante Symphonie

    But then, I am a pianist, so I can't help but love his stuff.

    Colin Thomson

  12. oh wait,it's favourite finale of a cue,not Finale in a film...

    K.M.

    I think the original post specified the finale of a film or a concert work. But it's not like the distinction is important.

    Yeah, I think that is what I said. But it doesn't matter, any finale that you love.

    Colin Thomson

  13. I haven't got a clue what any of you are talking about ;)

    Anyone want to elaborate this for someone with no musical knowledge at all?

    Tonal music (music that sounds 'normal' to us) is written in a certain 'key' that is made of up seven notes, and centers around the first note of those seven. Atonal music (usually sounds 'weird') cares not for the seven notes, using all twelve available, and does not center around any one tone (of course, there is a lot more to each of these discriptions, but this is the basics).

    What is unusual about this piece is that it centers around one tone (the E note) but uses all the tones available to do so, which is something that is not easily done.

    Hope this clears things up and is easy enough to understand :D

    Colin Thomson

  14. What is your favorite finale/culmination of themes? I mean the big last hurrah of a piece, the finalizing resolution, where the composer uses all the means at his disposal to move you after having prepared you through the rest of work. Film or classical music (or anything else).

    My favorite: Last three and a half minutes of the third movement of Rachmaninoff's 3rd concerto. In my opinion, probably the best three and a half minutes of music ever written.

    Colin Thomson

    Colin, I honestly was going to say the end of Rach 3rd. Impossible to not get goose bumps listening to those last few mins, especially as a culmination. And the absolute best recording of this 3rd movement is Kissin with Ozawa and the Boston Symphony on RCA. His 1st movement is painfully slow, but nothing tops his 3rd movement.

    I've only ever heard the Kissin performance on youtube, so I cannot really judge that. But the Arcadi Volodos version is what I have and it is amazing (though Horowitz is, as always, the master of this piece also).

    Yes Horowitz' rendition was so good that Rachhmaninoff himself preferred it over his own... but then again Rachmaninoff never heard Kissin. :D

    I've seen that YouTube video and it just doesn't come close to doing it justice. Go do yourself a favor, go shell out the 15 bucks for the CD, put on a quality set of ear phones, and say hi to God for me when you get to heaven. I have about two thousand classical albums, and I can honestly say this one is in my top 5.

    Ok, you convinced me. I just bought it. Now, I just have to wait...

    Colin Thomson

  15. I actually played the C and D Minor Rachmaninoff Concerti a few years ago. Hardest part is that little super fast Eb scherzo in the 3rd movement.

    I think I have just about every single recording released of the Rachmaninoff, the best by far is the Volodos. Also the Liev Ove Andnes is great. Both are sensational live peformances.

    Ive seen it live a bunch of times all over the US, gives me the chills after that last note.

    The andre watts is unique because the finale he takes the closing riff in eights not triplet quarter notes. But he also has a few cuts that he takes.

    Martha Agerich has the fastest tempo of the third movement.

    Not a fan of the

    And I hate when they take the short cadenza (my teacher made me) in the first movement. The story goes Rachmaninoff wrote the long huge one first,

    it wouldnt fit on the record so then he wrote the short one.

    Ok sorry - huge Rach fan, I have played most all of his music.

    Also love the Throne Room Finale of Star wars into the end credits, pretty exciting.

    I've played parts of the Rach 2, but have not attempted #3. Props to you for learning such a hard concerto. I have learned Prokofiev 2nd which many people consider harder, but I think Rach 3 is the hardest in the repertoire.

    Volodos' recording disappointed me a bit. His transcriptions are amazing, but his Rach stuff didn't impress me. I agree on Argerich. Fastest tempo, but it does nothing for me. I have not heard Liev Ove Andnes's recording.

    What are your thoughts on Kissin's live recording with Ozawa? If can look past his painfully slow 1st movement, it's amazing. He takes all the ridiculous "ossia" passages, including one that is pure insanity (to do it live boggles my mind). And as far as the end of the 3rd movement, I can't think of any rival. Another great one is Horatio Gutierrez.

    You know, I have heard a lot about how Kissin's performance is too slow on the first movement, but when I listened to it, it really didn't bother me. I thought it was an interesting take on such a commonly played piece.

    Of course, Argerich is always amazing.

    Colin Thomson

  16. Indeed, it does contain all 12 notes of the chromatic scale, but by the true definition of 12-tone music, it does not qualify as such.

    Yeah, I don't think I would call it exactly atonal. Sounds like it has interesting modulations, and enough passing tones to give each of the twelve tones a sounding. But it sounds tonal in a creative, more distant modulations, way.

    Of course, I only listened to it once quietly, and it was the first time I had ever heard it, so I could easily be wrong.

    Colin Thomson

  17. What is your favorite finale/culmination of themes? I mean the big last hurrah of a piece, the finalizing resolution, where the composer uses all the means at his disposal to move you after having prepared you through the rest of work. Film or classical music (or anything else).

    My favorite: Last three and a half minutes of the third movement of Rachmaninoff's 3rd concerto. In my opinion, probably the best three and a half minutes of music ever written.

    Colin Thomson

    Colin, I honestly was going to say the end of Rach 3rd. Impossible to not get goose bumps listening to those last few mins, especially as a culmination. And the absolute best recording of this 3rd movement is Kissin with Ozawa and the Boston Symphony on RCA. His 1st movement is painfully slow, but nothing tops his 3rd movement.

    I've only ever heard the Kissin performance on youtube, so I cannot really judge that. But the Arcadi Volodos version is what I have and it is amazing (though Horowitz is, as always, the master of this piece also).

    And yes, Beowulf. To play that piece is one of my lifelong ambitions. Someday...

    Colin Thomson

  18. What is your favorite finale/culmination of themes? I mean the big last hurrah of a piece, the finalizing resolution, where the composer uses all the means at his disposal to move you after having prepared you through the rest of work. Film or classical music (or anything else).

    My favorite: Last three and a half minutes of the third movement of Rachmaninoff's 3rd concerto. In my opinion, probably the best three and a half minutes of music ever written.

    Colin Thomson

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