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There's a very particular use and sound Desplat gets out of his timpani, at least here in and Grand Budapest. Anyone know what it is? Is it synth? Are they recorded more usual to the mic or mixed louder than usual?

It sounds like small-sized timpani to me, which usually gives us that dry and poignant sounds.

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  • 7 months later...
1 hour ago, mrbellamy said:

 

Nice interview.

 

I wouldn't exactly call this "rare" necessarily in today's environment, but it's certainly nice to see!

Quote

How many films do you work on at the same time?

None. It’s one by one. Because I work so much, people think that I have a team writing for me, but that’s not why I chose to write music for films. I chose to write music because I like to write music. So every single note that comes out of my studio is written by me, and I wouldn’t be able to do two movies at the same time. I wait until I’ve finished one, and then I do the other one.

 

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Maybe it's just my inner fan speaking, but since he's working on Star Wars, I'd have expected him to at least name drop Williams.

I thought Desplat was a fan as well?

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Quote

Is there a contemporary composer you particularly admire?

 

A French composer: Pascal Dusapin, a concert composer. the way he thinks, the way he orchestrates, how prolific he is, his intelligence. He’s everything an artist should be.

 

 

YES!

 

 

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40 minutes ago, Pieter_Boelen said:

Maybe it's just my inner fan speaking, but since he's working on Star Wars, I'd have expected him to at least name drop Williams.

I thought Desplat was a fan as well?

 

I think it's just your inner fan getting nervous ;) JW slipped his mind in one quick interview with one or two questions that might have applied. 


Desplat loves Williams and has talked many times about his admiration in very specific terms.

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2 hours ago, Sharkus Malarkus said:

 

YES!

 

 

 

I think he said a number of intelligent, musically-aware things in this interview.  Encouraging. 

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2 hours ago, Pieter_Boelen said:

Maybe it's just my inner fan speaking, but since he's working on Star Wars, I'd have expected him to at least name drop Williams.

I thought Desplat was a fan as well?

Well, if you want Desplat to mention Williams...

 

At 29:35:

 

 

Starting at 1:01:08

 

 

Karol

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His Potter interviews had plenty of Williams talk, of course.

 

Really liked what he had to say at the end of this interview, actually, beyond the brief Williams praise. A pretty keen summary of what "good music" means, the nature of change in music, orchestra "versus" synth in the context of Williams and Reznor/Ross. All our favorite talking points.

 

 

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  • 4 weeks later...
13 hours ago, BloodBoal said:

 

First one caught me immediately, and I'm really loving the (I presume) main theme in that and the final track. Shows up as well in "Isabel," that is such a lovely little tune, I've just been sitting here listening to it. Also love the string writing in "To Resent." This sounds like it could be one of his most moving scores for me, actually. 

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  • 4 weeks later...
On 7/23/2015 at 2:33 AM, Muad'Dib said:

There's a very particular use and sound Desplat gets out of his timpani, at least here in and Grand Budapest. Anyone know what it is? Is it synth? Are they recorded more usual to the mic or mixed louder than usual?

 

Man, there is some funky instrumentation going on there.  The percussion sound I think you're referring to just sounds like a smaller drum to me.  I have no idea what to make of the winds from 0:11-0:25, though, particularly whatever instruments enter at about 0:21.

On 7/18/2016 at 5:43 PM, Sharkus Malarkus said:

 

YES!

 

 

Anyone singing Pascal Dusapin's praises wins big points with me.  His trombone concerto "Watt" is mind-blowing.

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On 19/07/2016 at 1:09 AM, crocodile said:

Well, if you want Desplat to mention Williams...

 

At 29:35:

 

 

Starting at 1:01:08

 

 

Karol

 

 

Very nice! What came across was how self-effacing they all are.

Can you imagine Goldsmith, Herrmann, Rozsa, Barry, and Horner, in the same room? :lol:

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On 23/07/2015 at 7:33 AM, Muad'Dib said:

There's a very particular use and sound Desplat gets out of his timpani, at least here in and Grand Budapest. Anyone know what it is? Is it synth? Are they recorded more usual to the mic or mixed louder than usual?

 

 

Good question. There's a number of things it could be.

 

  • A smaller timp ike Gnome says
  • A normal size timp "tuned up"
  • Close miking
  • Wooden or even snare drumsticks (Alex North was a big fan of snare sticks on timps)

 

 

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  • 3 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...

Alexandre Desplat composed and conducted the music for the upcoming Cousteau biopic. ( http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1659619/ )
The OST should be available today. What's interesting is that I came across what the film maker had to say about the music :

 

Quote

Je pense, (et je le lui ai dit), que c'est le plus beau thème qu'il m'ait donné. Quand un compositeur vous offre ce genre de musique, c'est un cadeau... Alexandre s'est mis au piano, regardant les images du film, il a trouvé ces notes devant moi. C'était très émouvant. Il a compris ce que je cherchais dans l'humeur comme dans l'émotion. A la fin de l'enregistrement en studio, je lui ai piqué la partition et je l'ai  donnée à mes enfants, qui jouent eux aussi du piano, afin qu'ils l'apprennent ! Je dois dire qu'ils ne sont pas encore très au point...

 

I made a quick translation (anyone french here, feel free to correct me if I made mistakes)

 

Quote


I think (and I told him), it's the most beautiful theme he ever gave me. When a composer offers this kind of music, it's a gift ... Alexander was at the piano, watching the images of the film and found these notes in front of me. It was very moving. He understood what I was looking for in terms of mood and emotion. At the end of the recording session, I took the score and I gave it to my children, who play piano. They are learning it but I must say it's not yet perfect



Now I really look forward to listen to it. Seems it's not available on spotify yet !

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Not really related to anything.

 

Just found this clip of Desplat conducting Godzilla main titles with LSO playing. It's not good quality but gives you an idea of what their take is like.

 

 

Karol

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  • 1 month later...

Netflix’s ‘Trollhunters’ to Feature Music by Alexandre Desplat & Tim Davies

 

This could be interesting, Desplat is doing the main titles and the main character theme.

 

Can't wait for Valerian as well, I don't care much about the film itself, but the score possibilites are mouth-watering.

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Valerian makes up for him losing out on Star Wars. 

 

Well LLL he was replaced by a lesser composer and Star Wars is better than everything so it'll forever be disappointing but at least we get this. 

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  • 3 months later...

Happened to catch The Danish Girl on a movie channel the other day...had totally forgotten Desplat was the composer!

 

I knew within literally 30 seconds it was him though (my husband is still quite amused and impressed by this ability ;))

 

Absolutely gorgeous score, and film....albeit quite sad - stayed with me long after.

 

What a uniquely beautiful compositional language he has....I love minimalism and like the way he dances around with it.

 

Made me think back a bit to Birth, or also Girl With a Pearl Earring, these are the type of films where I feel his voice really shines the most.

 

Eddie Redmayne and Alicia Vikander were so exquisite in this movie too, if you haven't seen it I highly recommend!

 

I wonder if the Cousteau movie is available on some streaming service/rental by now? Sounds interesting for sure.

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  • 5 months later...
  • 1 month later...
On 14-3-2017 at 0:27 AM, Saxbabe said:

 

I knew within literally 30 seconds it was him though (my husband is still quite amused and impressed by this ability ;))

 

 

Strange, I have this ability too! At first I think it's John Williams but then I know it can't be him so it must be Desplat.

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  • 3 weeks later...

First comments on Rogue One since the switch:

 

Quote

I have another question for you here about how you transitioned from working on Rogue One: A Star Wars Story to Valerian.

 

No, I changed because Star Wars went very late. It got delayed for two months. And I wanted to do this film with Luc and had I stayed in Star Wars I could not have made this movie with Luc. Yes, and I chose that moment to go for Luc because I was committed and that was it.

 

It wasn’t so much like you had to follow any specific beats from Star Wars at large and you wanted more freedom?

 

Well definitely when you when you work in the Star Wars movie you have the shadow of John Williams over your head. There’s no doubt that you’d be under a lot of pressure, but I knew that pressure because when I did the last two Harry Potter films.

 

Right, it was working from a John Williams score again.

 

Yes. Exactly. So, having this incredible shadow over your head and the responsibility of writing some proper good music for a sequel that was universal. So that was not something I feared.

 

(https://filmschoolrejects.com/composer-alexandre-desplat-choosing-luc-besson-star-wars/#ixzz4z7wMY4wi)

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From what i could gather third-hand is that indeed the schedule was very much a reason - he was expected to be finished long before Giacchino started writing - but also that there was a chaotic communication between several parties leading to lots of unwanted late requests that made parting the lesser of two evils.

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That makes sense. Not as acrimonious as I might have supposed.

I'm glad he went for Valerian, I thought that was a cracking score and I would prefer to hear it (and its style and features) in that film than in Rogue One. Infact I listened to (and cycled to portions of) Valerian for months before watching the film; then watching tight cues in Spaceship Chase was a thrill.

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  • 1 month later...

Oh hey, didn't expect the truth to be revealed so soon! I figured we'd have to wait decades and then uncover some scrumptious scandal such as Desplat was kicked out after his secret gay love affair with Gareth Edwards was discovered. 

Anyhow in seriousness, I'm happy it wasn't a case of his work being rejected or something of that caliber. 

 

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On 3/13/2017 at 7:29 PM, Denise Bryson said:

I only care whether he's doing Godzilla 2.

 

 

I think we’re getting one of the Zimmer disciples or he’ll go with his usual composer Douglas Pipes. I’d prefer the latter.

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  • 5 months later...

Two concerts in France :

 

Au-delà de l'image - Alexandre desplat (10€ to 65€)


Valérian, suite
Œuvre nouvelle, pièce pour flûte solo
(création mondiale)
Pelléas et Mélisande, symphonie concertante pour flûte et orchestre
Suite des musiques de The King's Speech, Girl with a Pearl Earring, Shape of Water, Birth, Ghost Writer, Twilight, Harry Potter

Emmanuel Pahud flûte
Solrey directrice artistique

Orchestre National de France
Alexandre Desplat direction

http://www.maisondelaradio.fr/evenement/concert-symphonique/au-dela-de-limage-alexandre-desplat

 

_________________________________

 

Musiques des films Harry Potter et les reliques de la mort, Twilight, Valérian, etc. (10€ to 20€)

Orchestre National de France
Alexandre Desplat présentation et direction

http://www.maisondelaradio.fr/evenement/concert-jeune-public/alexandre-desplat-harry-potter

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Seeing this thread made me think, "Boy, it's been kind of a quiet year for Desplat so far; only one new score from our most prolific Hollywood composer."

 

So I looked up what's on the docket from him and these sound like they could result in some pretty interesting music from Desplat!  I'm looking forward to them!

 

Operation Finale

Quote

15 years after World War II, a team of secret agents are brought together to track down Adolf Eichmann, the infamous Nazi architect of the Holocaust.

 

The Sisters Brothers

Quote

In 1850s Oregon, a gold prospector is chased by the infamous duo of assassins, the Sisters brothers.

 

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10 hours ago, Bilbo said:

Operation Finale sounds like my kind of movie!

 

Here's the trailer that just came out!

 

 

- Alway nice to see Oscar Isaac

- Interesting to see Nick Kroll in a non-comedic role

- Why does Ben Kingsley as younger Eichmann look weird?  Something off about the makeup

- It's like Munich but with moral certainty!

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  • 5 months later...

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