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What Is The Last Score You Listened To? (older scores)


Ollie

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What makes a score "autumnal"?

I should say it is slightly different things to different people. For me it is perhaps a certain warm yet melancholy tone, something that reminds you of the feeling of autumn in rather poetic terms. But it certainly can be of different mood as well. Music that connects with the light, sight and sound of autumn, not necessarily because you listened to it first time then but because it is autumn to you in musical terms one way or the other.

I know, I know it is a vague and scientifically unconvinving answer but there you have it.

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What makes a score "autumnal"?

I should say it is slightly different things to different people. For me it is perhaps a certain warm yet melancholy tone, something that reminds you of the feeling of autumn in rather poetic terms. But it certainly can be of different mood as well. Music that connects with the light, sight and sound of autumn, not necessarily because you listened to it first time then but because it is autumn to you in musical terms one way or the other.

I know, I know it is a vague and scientifically unconvinving answer but there you have it.

I'd say Elmer Bernstein's Far From Heaven. Certainly has that feeling of warm autumn in it.

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What makes a score "autumnal"?

I should say it is slightly different things to different people. For me it is perhaps a certain warm yet melancholy tone, something that reminds you of the feeling of autumn in rather poetic terms. But it certainly can be of different mood as well. Music that connects with the light, sight and sound of autumn, not necessarily because you listened to it first time then but because it is autumn to you in musical terms one way or the other.

I know, I know it is a vague and scientifically unconvinving answer but there you have it.

I'd say Elmer Bernstein's Far From Heaven. Certainly has that feeling of warm autumn in it.

Yes a very autumnal and terrific score that one. :)
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Interesting. How much of it comes down to instrumentation? Are there warm, plaintive scores that sound wintry, summery, or spring-like to you?

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Interesting. How much of it comes down to instrumentation? Are there warm, plaintive scores that sound wintry, summery, or spring-like to you?

I can only speak for myself but it might in part be about instrumentation but on the other hand I know very similar scores in style and in instrumentation that say completely different things to me, seasonally speaking. Good example is The Village by JNH which sounds like autumn to me, perhaps due to the setting of the film but also because of the mood of the score, which I actually heard first and thought of autumn, the feel the film just enhanced later on when I saw it. Then again Christopher Young's score for Creation, very similar in tone and instrumentation sounds winter to me.

Good example of a warm, plaintive score from JWs ouvre that sounds like spring/summer to me is the above mentioned Stanley & Iris.

I am sure there is some kind of musical memory trace in all of this, the layers of meaning and time and place becoming all meshed into a feeling that music somehow is attached to the feel of a particular season. Maybe you played this particular track or score during autumn or spring, perhaps the tone of it all has the feel of that season in your mind, could be that the color of the music reminds you of a season. It is difficult to quite put your finger on why exactly some music sounds like spring or winter or summer or autumn.

Could be that the damn nostalgia has also something to do with it. ;)

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Interesting. How much of it comes down to instrumentation? Are there warm, plaintive scores that sound wintry, summery, or spring-like to you?

I can only speak for myself but it might in part be about instrumentation but on the other hand I know very similar scores in style and in instrumentation that say completely different things to me, seasonally speaking. Good example is The Village by JNH which sounds like autumn to me, perhaps due to the setting of the film but also because of the mood of the score, which I actually heard first and thought of autumn, the feel the film just enhanced later on when I saw it. Then again Christopher Young's score for Creation, very similar in tone and instrumentation sounds winter to me.

Good example of a warm, plaintive score from JWs ouvre that sounds like spring/summer to me is the above mentioned Stanley & Iris.

Sabrina too.

For Goldsmith, a good example would be A Patch of Blue.

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Interesting. How much of it comes down to instrumentation? Are there warm, plaintive scores that sound wintry, summery, or spring-like to you?

I can only speak for myself but it might in part be about instrumentation but on the other hand I know very similar scores in style and in instrumentation that say completely different things to me, seasonally speaking. Good example is The Village by JNH which sounds like autumn to me, perhaps due to the setting of the film but also because of the mood of the score, which I actually heard first and thought of autumn, the feel the film just enhanced later on when I saw it. Then again Christopher Young's score for Creation, very similar in tone and instrumentation sounds winter to me.

Good example of a warm, plaintive score from JWs ouvre that sounds like spring/summer to me is the above mentioned Stanley & Iris.

I am sure there is some kind of musical memory trace in all of this, the layers of meaning and time and place becoming all meshed into a feeling that music somehow is attached to the feel of a particular season. Maybe you played this particular track or score during autumn or spring, perhaps the tone of it all has the feel of that season in your mind, could be that the color of the music reminds you of a season. It is difficult to quite put your finger on why exactly some music sounds like spring or winter or summer or autumn.

Could be that the damn nostalgia has also something to do with it. ;)

The Village makes me think of autumn, but Creation makes me think of spring :)

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There you have a good example of individual these perceptions and interpretations are. :lol: And for some scores they are surprisingly similar as with The Village.

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Alexander - Vangelis

Oh, boy! I don't know what's the general opinion on this, but ...

Although Alexander is one of the few films which I would have actually preferred JW to score (not that I've heard he was ever going to do so, just wishful thinking on my part) and such a situation drives my imagination wild, I actually love this to death. As a Vangelis thing, mixed up with epic film sensibilities this is actually gorgeous. It's really tender and sweet, but as it has happened to me with several Vangelis scores before, I'm unlucky and many of my favourite moments aren't on the OST. :(

Overlooking the fact that there were wild possibilities for this score, less "ordinary" than what resulted (due to probably hiring Vangelis, and I don't know how to make that "ordinary" not sound like I'm knocking it down), this is a really emotive work that shows a lot of atmosphere, trascendence and sense of adventure.

This deserves an analysis!

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X-Files: Fight the Future - Mark Snow

"Crater Hug" just epitomizes the entire score, so beautiful, wondrous and optimistic. I Want to Believe is much more listenable and enjoyable, but I enjoy that mid-1990s sound. :)

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Batman, Batman Returns, Batman Forever, Batman: The Animated Series and Batman: The Mask of Phantasm.

Geez, those films (and series as well) used to sound good.

Karol

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Batman, Batman Returns, Batman Forever, Batman: The Animated Series and Batman: The Mask of Phantasm.

Geez, those films (and series as well) used to sound good.

Karol

Can't argue with you there. All those scores are great, defining the sound of Batman to me. :)
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I hope LLL will release The Animated Series: Volume 2 this year. They said more Batman stuff is on the way this year... Who knows? Maybe it's one of the ComicCon releases? Pure speculation on my part.

Karol

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Alexander - Vangelis

Oh, boy! I don't know what's the general opinion on this, but ...

Although Alexander is one of the few films which I would have actually preferred JW to score (not that I've heard he was ever going to do so, just wishful thinking on my part) and such a situation drives my imagination wild, I actually love this to death. As a Vangelis thing, mixed up with epic film sensibilities this is actually gorgeous. It's really tender and sweet, but as it has happened to me with several Vangelis scores before, I'm unlucky and many of my favourite moments aren't on the OST. :(

Overlooking the fact that there were wild possibilities for this score, less "ordinary" than what resulted (due to probably hiring Vangelis, and I don't know how to make that "ordinary" not sound like I'm knocking it down), this is a really emotive work that shows a lot of atmosphere, trascendence and sense of adventure.

This deserves an analysis!

Analysis you say?

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Oh noes! Vangelis has had temp trackitis!

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Sea Symphony by Ralph Vaughan Williams

Attaboy! :D

The Bourne Identity is a very cool score!

I've most recently listened to Lauridsen's Lux aeterna and Sibelius's Finlandia - after all, I'm playing it this Sunday! ;)

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I've most recently listened to Lauridsen's Lux aeterna and Sibelius's Finlandia - after all, I'm playing it this Sunday! ;)

Attaboy! :D

:music: Prologue from JFK

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Standard Operating Procedure by Danny Elfman

A very unique score in Danny's career and extremely rewarding in the long run. In fact one of his best. A clash his trademark sad melancholic style filtered through mechanical Glass-like techniques gives me chills. There is something unsettling about this combination, especially coupled with the subject matter of this film.

Karol

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Cutthroat Island - John Debney

Just delightfully, over-the-top swashbuckling music. The 2-CD complete score is a bit too much, but the quality of music is superlative. I can't believe the idiotic Jerry Bruckheimer went for the RC/MV approach during post-production on the first Pirates of the Caribbean and got rid of someone like Silvestri, who would've done gangbusters during his early 2001-2003 output (who is pretty equal to Debney in terms of overall output).

I think with some judicious editing, you can probably cut in Debney's score in Curse of the Black Pearl and it would sound so much better.

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Species - Christopher Young

The main theme is sheer beauty, everything else is good -- but I can't get enough of that theme. Those silky woodwinds, the seductive celli... Young really captured the allure of Natasha Henstridge's hybrid character.

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Taras Bulba

The only thing there is to say is :up:

Karol

Hoping to listen to that soon. It has received such universal praise and Waxman is the man. :)

Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas by Harry Gregson-Williams: One of the composer's best scores. Highly entertaining, melodic, full of sense of adventure, mix of modern and old fashioned swashbuckling and hearty themes it is a great listen from start to finish.

Kingdom of Heaven by Harry Gregson-Williams: Completely opposite of Sinbad, this score is surprisingly introspective, lyrical, exotic and ethereal for such an epic story although at times it rises to grander heights of choral and orchestra fury. The choral and soloist music is the highlight of the score, Gregson-Williams' themes building subtly through the album to reach a subdued but satisfying finale. One thing I missed was a real sense of the orchestra and its scope, the recording and orchestration somehow diminishing the sheer size of the ensemble to an astonishing degree. Still without a doubt one of the career highlights of HGW, a truly effective blend of epic and intimate, orchestral and ethnic.

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Kingdom of Heaven is quite the revelation from HGW. I've never heard anything like it since - the maturity of his approach to the orchestra and use of choir is something you wouldn't see coming from a guy who has a few too many RCP tendencies sometimes. I believe he swapped this with Zimmer (who did Madagascar instead) who didn't want to do 'another Gladiator' and I'm very glad he did.

The Wildest Dream Imax score by Joel Douek

Discovered some time ago, and gave it a full listen yesterday - it's a very impressive, mostly orchestral score with a solid theme, and some very rich orchestration, particularly for strings. It has the usual cliches you'd expect for an Imax film about Everest, but it pulls them off effortlessly.

It's one of those scores where the guy easily has the talent to do a major mainstream film.

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I used to listen to Kingdom of Heaven again and again, playing strategy games lol

Which strategy games? Age Of Empires? Pfff, how original!

BloodBoal - who used to do the same, but with Gladiator score.

When I would play AOE2 with the guys on my dorm floor in college in competitive matches, they would explicitly bar me form playing as the Spanish because the conquistador unit made the game so unbalanced.

Then again, I had no strategy for the Franks, who could build castles for like half the stone.

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Phantom of the Opera,

Star Wars

The Empire Strikes Back.

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I loved the Age of Empires games. Even bought the soundtrack CDs back in the day. A friend and I used tO play to Last of the Mohicans a good bit.

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Standard Operating Procedure by Danny Elfman A very unique score in Danny's career and extremely rewarding in the long run. In fact one of his best. A clash his trademark sad melancholic style filtered through mechanical Glass-like techniques gives me chills. There is something unsettling about this combination, especially coupled with the subject matter of this film.
Karol

Have to admit that I've never heard this one and I'm a pretty big Elfman fan. But sounds a lot like Iris. But then thats understandable considering how Iris lifts many of the different trademark moments in Elfman's career. I'll have to check SOP out.

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It is somewhat derivative of his other works. But then again that does happen a lot with Elfman. The excerpts of two movements from Serenada Schizophrana are lifted directly. It's a good score, but different as well.

I listened to Dark Shadows. Didn't finish it, as I'm really tired. The music is definitely well written, but not terribly accessible. A lot of it comprises of dark and moody Gothic horror music, which might not be the most relaxing thing. Sounds deifinitely "smaller" than most Elfman-Burton collaborations and I can't hear a really strong thematic idea in there. It's all solid but not as listenable. Will try again later.

Karol

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I decided it was a John Williams day so today as background music to my day I listened to:

-Angela's Ashes

-Catch Me If You Can

-War Horse

-1941

-Harry Potter and the Philosopher's (Sorcerer's) Stone

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Good choices, especially the first three.

Karol

Angela's Ashes really has some gorgeous moments. There isn't another JW score like it.

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Good choices, especially the first three.

Karol

Angela's Ashes really has some gorgeous moments. There isn't another JW score like it.

Presumed Innocent? ;)

I'm kidding of course, those scores are obviously radically different. With the exception of the main titles of course ;)

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Good choices, especially the first three.

Karol

Angela's Ashes really has some gorgeous moments. There isn't another JW score like it.

Presumed Innocent? ;)

I'm kidding of course, those scores are obviously radically different. With the exception of the main titles of course ;)

Hmmm...I never realized that those two main melodies have some things in common. Or maybe I did, subconsciously...

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I decided it was a John Williams day so today as background music to my day I listened to:

-Angela's Ashes

-Catch Me If You Can

-War Horse

-1941

-Harry Potter and the Philosopher's (Sorcerer's) Stone

Excellent selection of scores sir! :)

Good choices, especially the first three.

Karol

Angela's Ashes really has some gorgeous moments. There isn't another JW score like it.

Presumed Innocent? ;)

I'm kidding of course, those scores are obviously radically different. With the exception of the main titles of course ;)

Actually those two themes are not very similar and the similarities are very superficial. I think it has to do with the form and contour of the opening of both themes not the exact melodic content.
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Oh noes! Vangelis has had temp trackitis!

I recently learned that it's actually a track from a sample library, Vangelis just uses it straight without adding or changing anything, but it can be heard in many places. The Bourne Identity is the first score I know of, then it can be found in Gregson-Williams' Man On Fire, and some TV shows. I know for certain it's in Dual Survival. I remember listening to Alexander for the first time and going "Whaaaaa??" :lol: Now I wonder where the Deep Blue Sea/Shrek/Dune (?) melody comes from. Seems a bit too lyrical and melodic for a sample library.

I listened to Dark Shadows. Didn't finish it, as I'm really tired. The music is definitely well written, but not terribly accessible. A lot of it comprises of dark and moody Gothic horror music, which might not be the most relaxing thing. Sounds deifinitely "smaller" than most Elfman-Burton collaborations and I can't hear a really strong thematic idea in there. It's all solid but not as listenable. Will try again later.

Karol

I'm listening to it for the second time right now. I had the same reactions upon my first listen. It's very atmospheric, no themes that I picked up on. Quite different for a Burton film.

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Good choices, especially the first three. Karol
Angela's Ashes really has some gorgeous moments. There isn't another JW score like it.
Presumed Innocent? ;) I'm kidding of course, those scores are obviously radically different. With the exception of the main titles of course ;)
Actually those two themes are not very similar and the similarities are very superficial. I think it has to do with the form and contour of the opening of both themes not the exact melodic content.

My comments were made in jest. The themes are different indeed, but as you said, the piano openings are similar in structure and tone. That's what I pointed at for an attempt at a joke.

But the scores couldn't be more different. Those scores couldn't really be compared. Thus, my comment was never meant to be taken seriously ;)

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I'm listening to it for the second time right now. I had the same reactions upon my first listen. It's very atmospheric, no themes that I picked up on. Quite different for a Burton film.

That's usually a good sign. Scores like this often rule at the end of the year.

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I'm listening to it for the second time right now. I had the same reactions upon my first listen. It's very atmospheric, no themes that I picked up on. Quite different for a Burton film.

That's usually a good sign. Scores like this often rule at the end of the year.

Or they suffer the fate of some of the obvious accessible scores and fall into obscurity. But it is true that discovering some music takes a good while and open ears rather than casual listen scanning for ear pleasing highlights.
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Dark-Shadows.jpg

On Spotify: Elfman's new foray into the now abundantly musty smelling Gothic-garden of Tim Burton On first listening it's lean and mean stuff, thematically condensed down to the essentials.The main thematic idea is a flexible fateful five-note motif, very cleverly varied.Otherwise mysterious, well-orchestrated suspense scoring dominates(70's Alto flutes.. i like!).Every now and then, Elfman gets carried away with quite harsh synth effects,which, although well done, are not quite fitting with the rest.It sounds as if someone forced Elfman to add some artificially funky effects so that the audience gets it that they're watching some postmodern mayhem and not Burton's latest badly-scripted clunker.

Not world-shattering, but respectable. 3 of 5.

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Dark-Shadows.jpg

On Spotify: Elfman's new foray into the now abundantly musty smelling Gothic-garden of Tim Burton On first listening it's lean and mean stuff, thematically condensed down to the essentials.The main thematic idea is a flexible fateful five-note motif, very cleverly varied.Otherwise mysterious, well-orchestrated suspense scoring dominates(70's Alto flutes.. i like!).Every now and then, Elfman gets carried away with quite harsh synth effects,which, although well done, are not quite fitting with the rest.It sounds as if someone forced Elfman to add some artificially funky effects so that the audience gets it that they're watching some postmodern mayhem and not Burton's latest badly-scripted clunker.

Not world-shattering, but respectable. 3 of 5.

That more or less sums up my feeling so far.

Karol

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