Recommend me some Hisaishi and some Ifukube

[BLUMENKOHL 1,068]

I've been having an Asian Composer weekend I suppose, with Tan Dun, Joe Hisaishi, and Akira Ifukube.

Unfortunately, the weekend has made me realize I'm way behind in regards to Ifukube and Hisaishi...so it is your job, to help fill in the gap.

I love Hisaishi's Princess Mononoke, I adore it, and Spirited Away, which is beautiful, but not quite Mononoke caliber...and I don't have much of Ifukube outside of his Godzilla works. By "don't have much of", I mean nothing.

[JWfangirl1992 18]

I love Hisaishi's Spirited Away, I'm not familiar with his other scores but Howl's Moving Castle was a great movie and i imagine the score is pretty decent too.

[Jacob 0]

I'm familiar with much less than even you are, but since I first heard it on online soundtrack radio I've really enjoyed Hisaishi's Mad Summer from Kikujiro.

Quite a fun and addicting little piece. The Amazon sample gives you a perfect taste of it.

[Kradia 1]

Madness from "Porco Rosso"

Oriental Wind from one of album.

Spirited Away is my favorite of his works.

Princess Mononoke is epic.

Howl's Moving Castle is light but dramatic. It's got a European flavor to it, especially with the accordion.

[Maglorfin 196]

For me personally, Hisaishi's symphonic poem Nausicäa (from the anime Nausicäa of the Valley of the Wind) is one of the greatest symphonic compositions of all time. Its magnificence and sheer beauty are far beyond words. You have to check it out!

[Quintus 5,399]

Dragon Boy ftw.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Screw them man, gimme some more Ilaiyaraaja!

[Miguel Andrade 1,263]

Joe Hisaishi's Brother is really wonderful.

But I'm sure the person to answer you is Peio...

[pete 907]

I don't really know where to begin with Joe Hisaishi, there's just so much great stuff.

His piano solo albums are fantastic, especially his Encore CD of film music and Piano Stories 4 are my favorite, but the others all have great pieces too.

Luckily, youtube is your friend:

Asian Dream Song from Piani Stories 2:

Spring from Piano Stories 4: (The sound isn't too great.. but it sounds great on CD)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=huPb0smrMxA

I stuck a few pieces under this walk around where I live and work in Korea.

The first piece "Hatsu koi" from the above mentioned Encore CD, is my all time favorite piece of Joe's:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=541850466574274957

Here's a couple of pieces from Gene, a Japanese documemtary:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u3pkXvG1Xm8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZVJkqRYDWSA

[Ollie 1,059]

As far as Ifukube goes I would recommend his other SciFi scores such as Rodan, War Of The Gargantuas, Dagora, The Mysterians, Battle In Outer Space, Frankenstein Conquers The World, Latitude Zero, Atragon, Varan, Yog and King Kong Escapes.

Also all of his Godzilla scores and his works for the Majin trilogy. It seems most of his works outside the monster genre are available on compilations. I would recommend the "Artistry Of Akira Ifukube" series which features his concert works.

I'd look at this site for a full listing of his works although most are hard to find and out of print.

http://www.godzillamonstermusic.com/

There are 4 pages devoted to most of his CDs.

I would recommend these 3.

http://www.godzillamonstermusic.com/I81223-4.htm

http://www.godzillamonstermusic.com/I54024.htm

http://www.godzillamonstermusic.com/KICC296.htm

[Panthera 0]

My Neighbor Totoro

Kiki's Delivery Service

Howl's Moving Castle

Laputa: Castle in the Sky