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Masters and Commanders


Pieter Boelen

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I hope I never "grow out" of compilations. Hearing fresh interpretations of familiar music keeps it interesting and validates it as more than simple underscore for a movie.

Yes, even Pirates of the Caribbean.

Neil

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I hope I never "grow out" of compilations. Hearing fresh interpretations of familiar music keeps it interesting and validates it as more than simple underscore for a movie.

Yes, even Pirates of the Caribbean.

Neil

I've heard very, very few good ones. I check them out, but I rarely find anything worthwhile. I am uninterested in yet another performance of a familiar piece. If it's revamped, that's one thing. But just a rerercording of something I have? I have too many new film scores I'm excited about or old film scores I'm just discovering.

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Plus, compilations also expose people to new music. I learned a lot (and will continue to learn) about new music from compilations. They offer a lot and should not be looked down at. Kunzel alone got me interested in film music more than just about anyone else making records with the possible exception of John Williams, which led me to Kunzel's albums anyway.

Neil

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Plus, compilations also expose people to new music. I learned a lot (and will continue to learn) about new music from compilations. They offer a lot and should not be looked down at.

They can make one aware of new music. That is certainly very important. But it's been a long time since I've seen a compilation that introduced me to new good scores. The vast majority of the ones that I've seen come out over the past few years have had little or no interesting material. The only compliations I am enthusiastic about are ones that actually present the music in a new way. 'Yo-Yo Ma plays Ennio Morricone' is a superb album, and it totally reorchestrates and reinvents these cues, the vast majority of which I was familiar with before.

The only things on this album I am not familiar with are the Manicini and Morton Gould selections. The only reason I might purchase the album is for these tracks.

I'd rather crawl face first through broken glass then support you in THAT opinion.

A big fan of the works of Nic Raine and the Prague phillharmonics, are you?

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A big fan of the works of Nic Raine and the Prague phillharmonics, are you?

Incidentally, Prague was a major gateway to my collection of John Williams soundtracks.

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A big fan of the works of Nic Raine and the Prague phillharmonics, are you?

I like a few of their albums, like the LOTR one, and their James Bond re-recordings.

But if that's the only concept you have of re-recorded scores then you are sadly lacking. (but hey, what else is new)

Varese has done some great stuff with the NPO, the LSO and the RSNO.

The Gerhardt re-recording with the NPO are outstanding too.

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My criticism was not of rerecordings, but of compilations. And Prague seems to be the most visible producer of compilations out there. Aside from Prague and Kunzel, I can't think of many regular producers of compilations.

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A big fan of the works of Nic Raine and the Prague phillharmonics, are you?
Incidentally, Prague was a major gateway to my collection of John Williams soundtracks.
Mine too. A compilation called 'Star Wars and more' was critical in my becoming a film music fan. I was not questioning their value in giving people a taste of film music, but of their value to someone who is familiar with practically everything on such a compilation.
The gerhardt re-recordings are for the mosrt part compilations, and Varese has also done a bunch of them.
And the one I have was invaluable- introduced me to the world of Georges Delerue. But what is the value if one knows practically all the music, unless it is a significant reimagining of the music?
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You'd think they'd include a piece from Master and Commander since the title and all

and I would be interested in a rerecording of some of the score

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Track 9 (the Boccherini) was featured in Master and Commander (IIRC it's the first piece Aubrey and Maturin play together). And the film's score, while effective in context, struck me as rather bland on the album. The classical selection, though, was quite good.

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I don't have problems with compilations at all. I don't buy them frequently, but not because I think there's something inherently wrong with them. I have found, however, that re-recordings are frequently inferior to the originals. Particularly when Prague is involved.

As far as this particular album goes, the idea of it is rather cool, but I'm listening to the Pirates samples with a horrified expression on my face. Okay, not really. The emotions I'm feeling have transcended the possibility of being displayed on my face. For those of you who don't know or are in denial, I actually rather like Pirates--not for originality or for subtlety, but simply because I enjoy some of it. But in my opinion, this rerecording abandons the qualities of the score that were effective and emphasizes those that weren't. The percussion is acoustic, which is nice...but it's also boring and suffers from snare overdose. The arrangements sound childish to my ears, and the tempi are ridiculous. A big part of the effectiveness of "The Medallion Calls," for instance, was the broad and humorously grandiose delivery of it in the film. In this rerecording, it sounds trite, unfunny, and not grandiose in the slightest. I love the idea of a purely acoustic POTC...but not this particular execution. Ugh.

The only exception to this is Two Hornpipes, which I rather like on this album. I'm sure it's just a coincidence that Zimmer didn't actually write this piece. :)

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What about "The Best Of Space Music," which Williams recorded with the Boston Pops? That's a compilation album, with all new recordings, but it seems to be fairly decent. Truth be told, I couldn't say whether the recordings are significantly better than the originals or are reinvented in someway. However, it is a quality compilation album (I think, unless I'm severely separated from the opinion of this forum).

~Conor

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I think, unless I'm severely separated from the opinion of this forum

Don't be afraid to be "severely separated" like that. There are plenty of not-so-great ideas that work their way through this community. Despite what you may hear, even our eldest members are capable of being wrong.

That being said, I haven't heard the album you're talking about, and I can't find any samples online, so I can't really say if you and I are "severely separated" or not.

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I've grown out of compilations. Especially ones where I know just about all the cues on them.

Ive had this CD since it was released. It is excellent. Aside from the Pirates & Cutthroat selections I dont think I had heard of a single other film represneted. Awesome music, and certainly lots of unfamiliar stuff on this one.

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