Magnus

RIP... Great actor, sad to see him go.

RIP - A very sad loss to the movie industry.

RIP

Coming in a little late, but I've pretty much just heard the music. Anyway, it struck me that the Medallion Theme (especially the quick rendition in "Miracle of the Ark" at about 2:55) and "Call of the Crystal" is basically the same music. Same intervals (for the most part), even the same key. Very nice touch though!

He may not be the greatest conductor technically, but at least according to my dad (principal cellist in the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra), the reason for why orchestras follow him as well as they do is because he lands particularly his down beats very well.

Tragiskt att läsa från en svensk.... Nevertheless, I don't believe that the Zimmer type score will forever dominate the movie world and maybe the directors with a tad more musical ear will hopefully turn their heads to Giacchino and the composers with a good grasp of the craft. Zimmer, in my opinion, lacks too much in harmonising and orchestration to ever sound even remotely interesting to me... but I guess we'll see what the future holds for us.

380. He has been used in a Simpsons joke at least once.

I guess that would be Elvis Costello (he did a show with the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra about 10 years ago). Esa-Pekka Salonen, Valery Gergiev just to name a few.

There's another video game music tour (http://www.play-symphony.com/) that is a bit more "serious", no light shows, but they install TV-screens with clips from the games they're playing music from. It's a good show, I attended the concert a few months back in Stockholm. It seems though they don't have that many concerts per season, but should you get an oppurtunity, check it out.

Fantastic theme, how can anyone hate it?

RIP, he was one of the great ones.

I haven't heard it as on CD yet, but in the movie I thought it was great! Clearly worthy of an A-.

Just saw the movie, it's a good entertainment for 2 hours, but nothing special. The music however, I wasn't bothered by, I was afraid it'd be a Zimmer sound to it, instead I got a Sandman theme that seems to be pretty inspired by Ravel's orchestration of "Baba Yaga's Hut" from Pictures at an Exhibition and nicely worked out harmonics overall. Anyway, as I said, it's good for 2 hours of entertainment.

I'm with Jeshopk on this one. Regardless whether it be LotR or any other fantasy project, I'd like to hear a JW score for it.

I regret to say that I haven't, though I think I could persuade a friend of mine to study it and perform it.

I really like the Cello Concerto and it'd be great to perform it one day... I am however a little concerned about it as well, since the orchestra might be written a little too thick some times, which makes it harder to hear the soloist. But I suppose that can be edited if it becomes a serious concern. His concertos are indeed very good, I especially like the Tuba Concerto and Essay for Strings. I've come to appreciate more and more of John's early works, they're very interesting. It's available on "Yo-Yo Ma Plays the Music of John Williams", published by Sony Classical.

I think it isn't that far fetched... Look at the popular music scene for instance, each decade they come up with something new that's even simpler (musically) then the former. Jazz of course is the exception that proves the rule (where, as I see it, got more advanced each decade). I fear that unless something more or less revolutionary happens soon, there'll be 2 chords maximum in the film music as well. (Could be exaggerated, but you get my point)

a) I love the sound of the viola; B) I love Williams concert works just as much, if not even more, as his film works, and I sure listen to all the movements with the same joy and dedication; c) Sure he tries to explore new grounds in everything he writes for, but I do tend to believe that he has much more liberty to do that while writting a new concerto instead of writting for Hollywood. I'm with Miguel on this one. I think I have come to a point were unless JW is really into scoring a film like Geisha it just won't be as interesting for me as he was before regarding film scores anyway. However, a Viola concerto is a genius thing to do, there hardly is any solistic pieces available for this instrument and it has for more potential then just playing back beats.

I'm actually kind of happy he's doing concert works instead of scores for now. Seriously, a new Spielberg score can only be as new, while in a Viola concerto he gets to explore new grounds. Also, on the retiring bit, musicians never really do retire, at least not conductors/composers/world soloists. I don't think they're capable of quitting it. It's what they live and breath for.

Absolutely gorgeous. Congratulations, you're enormously talented! Which orchestra is playing in that clip, by the way? And, did you orchestrate the score yourself? Reminds me a bit about Neptune from Holsts's Planet Suite (especially the Celeste bits and the overall atmosphere).

Here are three of my works made with Garritan. http://home.swipnet.se/~w-63313/compositio...%20Warcraft.mp3 (2005-06) (2.3mb) - Made for brass ensemble and percussion. http://home.swipnet.se/~w-63313/compositions/Ping-Pong.mp3 (2004) (1.6mb) - Made for Percussion and piano (and a tad impossible to actually perform, I believe). http://home.swipnet.se/~w-63313/compositio...%20Karlsson.mp3 (2006) (1.3mb) - A short piano piece for my composition class (with a small nod to Star Wars and re-uses the theme from Ping-Pong.) ...and another one in MIDI-format. The Garritan that came with Finale 2007 didn't have enough sampled instruments to make this one work. http://home.swipnet.se/~w-63313/compositio...de%20themes.MID - 2 vibraphones, piano and steel drums (quotes Star Wars Main Title in minor scale) For more of my projects, visit http://home.swipnet.se/~w-63313/compositions/

Horror: Bernard Herrmann Drama: Dmitri Shostakovich Action/Adventure: Erich Wolfgang Korngold Sci-Fi: Jerry Goldsmith Comedy: Danny Elfman Mystery: Michael Giacchino (think his jazz sound could do well in a film noir) Romance: Peter Tchaikovsky Fantasy: John Williams (I do want him to do Warcraft... the movie rights are purchased, it's happening!)

I'd love to see him score Warcraft - The Movie, or whatever it'll be called.

It's a good attempt for a sample... but sadly, it sounds too mechanical, because a computer probably never can learn to find musical and melodic lines properly... that will forever be organic.

Agreed, that part is genious!