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

[Faleel 5,347]

Your own? Your preciousss?

[Matt C 453]

Not just Sherlock and Doctor Who, but Robin Hood is guilty of that too. They'll even re-use music from a death scene for another. Seriously.

Haha, I know which scene and cue you're referring to. A shame they didn't record new music for such an important death.

There was one cue, "Him I Liked", was reused for three death scenes in RH. Roy, Kate's brother, and Guy were all underscored with the same music.

[Jay 37,355]

Out of all the ways a show can cut corners and save money, re-using score cues (for major scenes) seems like a poor choice of one.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

It's been done on TV for ages. Remember shows from the good old days? Star Trek, Lost In Space, Mission Impossible, but even slightly more recent stuff like The A-Team, Battlestar Galactica (the original), The Love Boat etc etc...

[Jay 37,355]

I've never seen a single one of those shows, and that doesn't change my point anyway.

[Faleel 5,347]

Lies!

[Quintus 5,399]

From my own personal collection ...

You normally borrow soundtracks from the local library?

[Dixon Hill 4,234]

Anyway, I'm now listening to Catch Me If You Can album from saxophonist Amy Dickson. It's a compilation of John Williams' suite/concerto from the known film, Michael Kamen's terrific Concerto for Saxophone and Mark Knopler's Local Hero. It's a terrific disc.

Karol

I think I am going to get that disc. I already have one version of the CMIYC suite but I'd love to hear another interpretation.

In case you're hesitating, Michael Kamen's piece is the longest section of this album (about 29 minutes). Great stuff and not available anywhere else at the moment. Can't go wrong.

Karol

I just listened to that album yesterday. Kamen's concerto is nice; the first three minutes or so are classic, very tuneful.

[crocodile 8,012]

I wish someone re-recorded his The New Moon in the Old Moon's Arms. The performance/recording on the original release is atrocious. Sounds like a bootleg. Shame it's such an entertaining piece, I bet a lot of his film music fans would like it.

Karol

[Dixon Hill 4,234]

Haven't heard of that one. Listening now.

[Incanus 5,714]

I wish someone re-recorded his The New Moon in the Old Moon's Arms. The performance/recording on the original release is atrocious. Sounds like a bootleg. Shame it's such an entertaining piece, I bet a lot of his film music fans would like it.

Karol

Agreed most heartily!

[BloodBoal 7,538]

[Dixon Hill 4,234]

Minority Report - John Williams

Inception - Hans Zimmer

Close Encounters of the Third Kind - John Williams

The Dark Knight Rises - Hans Zimmer

[Sir Hilary Bray 235]

A New Hope, mainly the second half. Be it Princess Leia's Theme, so powerful both in its quiet moments but when it swells. Ben Kenobi's Death, the shock at Obi-Wan's death, the aftermath and the moment the TIE's attack ("Here they come!") or when the X-wings barrel roll into action and that relentless sound as Darth Vader makes the attack on Luke, Wedge and Biggs.

[crocodile 8,012]

The Blue Max. It is Goldsmith at his most extrovert, full of optimism and youthful energy. The music is a polar opposite to the one he would compose in his final years - it's busy and dense. And while his own personal style was just starting to emerge, you can hear shards of things to come. Entertaining.

Karol

[Naïve Old Fart 9,522]

Anyway, I'm now listening to Catch Me If You Can album from saxophonist Amy Dickson. It's a compilation of John Williams' suite/concerto from the known film, Michael Kamen's terrific Concerto for Saxophone and Mark Knopler's Local Hero. It's a terrific disc.

Karol

I think I am going to get that disc. I already have one version of the CMIYC suite but I'd love to hear another interpretation.

In case you're hesitating, Michael Kamen's piece is the longest section of this album (about 29 minutes). Great stuff and not available anywhere else at the moment. Can't go wrong.

Karol

I just listened to that album yesterday. Kamen's concerto is nice; the first three minutes or so are classic, very tuneful.

Kamen's concerto is the highlight of the CD; very nice stuff, indeed.

[crocodile 8,012]

Speaking of Kamen, I was also listening to large chunks of Lethal Weapons 1 to 4. Whew, that is exhausting. Terrific stuff, though.

The Matrix Revolutions, again

Karol

[publicist 4,643]

A friend of mine lent me the set but i must say, in all and utter honesty, it's mostly a waste of time. It's like wading through the black moors just to find the occasional pearl here and there - too much bloody stuff! (i even say the original album to LW 1 is a perfect musical selection of the material, while the complete score is a chore to listen to.

[crocodile 8,012]

Nah, there is a lot of stuff in there. It's just that, the composer finds himself re-arranging a lot of stuff from previous movies here and there.. I guess the eclectic mix doesn't sit well with many, either. But you have to admit that for a gentle soul that he was, Kamen could sure deliver some kick ass action - some of the more exciting pieces in the genre. I mean, listen to this - it might not be the most coherent piece of scoring, but you can't deny the excitement:

This is probably even better:

Also, the set is basically four separate score releases. It's a big does, by anybody's standards.

Karol - big fan of those and Die Hards.

[publicist 4,643]

That's what i meant: take three or four cues from each score and there isn't much left in either case that isn't redundant or functional. I chose a selection of maybe 20 minutes for each score and have heard around 10 hours of music for it.

[crocodile 8,012]

Arsene Lupin by Debbie Wiseman

Brothers Grimm by Dario Marianelli

Pan's Labyrinth by Javier Navarrete

Karol

[Incanus 5,714]

Arsene Lupin by Debbie Wiseman

Brothers Grimm by Dario Marianelli

Pan's Labyrinth by Javier Navarrete

Karol

Nice trio of scores. Which reminds me to take another listen of Arsene Lupin.

[Jay 37,355]

Olivier Deriviere - Remember Me

I listened to this because it was on Erik Wood's top 10 list of 2013 scores, at the #1 spot. Honestly, I don't get it. I didn't hear anything special here. A lot of repetitive music, and weird electronics *shrug*

Alexandre Desplat - The Grand Budapest Hotel

This album is all over the place! Bunch of seemingly unconnected ideas to open things, then it settled into a bit of a rhythm, then you get that montage piece, then it's all over. I dunno. I'm sure it all makes sense if you've seen the film.

Danny Elfman - Mr. Peabody and Sherman

FUN! Like TGBH, a bit all over the place - there's a LOT going on here - but it seems more cohesive than the above, at least after one listen to each. Lots of references to existing work here, probably the most in any Elfman score (it all makes sense, as Peabody is traveling through time and meeting various characters). Will soon be listening to this again.

Alan Silvestri - Cosmos: A Space-Time Odyssey Vol. 1.

Not fully connecting to this yet, but it has a lot of promise. One of the problems is that it's so short. Many of the ideas introduced here might not pay off until future volumes, I dunno. Still, it's nice for Silvestri to return to more of his 90s sound, though there are still electronics present.

[crocodile 8,012]

Alexandre Desplat - The Grand Budapest Hotel

This album is all over the place! Bunch of seemingly unconnected ideas to open things, then it settled into a bit of a rhythm, then you get that montage piece, then it's all over. I dunno. I'm sure it all makes sense if you've seen the film.

Here's my take on it, if you fancy reading it.

Cosmos: A Space-Time Odyssey Vol. 1 by Alan Silvestri

[Dixon Hill 4,234]

Cosmos: A Space-Time Odyssey Vol. 1 by Alan Silvestri

[Koray Savas 2,251]

Olivier Deriviere - Remember Me

I listened to this because it was on Erik Wood's top 10 list of 2013 scores, at the #1 spot. Honestly, I don't get it. I didn't hear anything special here. A lot of repetitive music, and weird electronics *shrug*

Haven't listened to this one yet but his work for Alone In The Dark and Assassin's Creed: Freedom Cry is great.

[Jay 37,355]

You can check it out right now on Spotify

Olivier Deriviere – Remember Me (feat. Philharmonia Orchestra) [Original Soundtrack]

[crocodile 8,012]

Listening to The Grand Budapest Hotel again. This track is one of the most bizzare mixtures of styles ever:

http://youtu.be/N-1O7Faeck8?t=3m2s

Karol

[Sir Hilary Bray 235]

for my sins, the Glory soundtrack.

[Dixon Hill 4,234]

I listened to the Mass Effect soundtrack today because it was "suggested" as kind of a temp for something I'm working on. It's a neat melding of synthetic/acoustic textures, similar to Halo. I also played the game on a whim recently with a friend, pretty entertaining.

These are some of my favorites.

[Incanus 5,714]

Medal of Honor Airborne by Michael Giacchino

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

Star Trek: The Next Generation "Final Mission" by Ron Jones. Pretty much better than sex.

[Faleel 5,347]

First Knight - Jerry Goldsmith

.....loud and "boring"

[Sharkissimo 1,973]

Trevor Jones - Cliffhanger

Almost comically lame and devoid of any inspiration. A real hackjob.

[Jay 37,355]

You didn't even like the main titles?

[Sharkissimo 1,973]

It's a rip-off of Rosza's Spellbound .

[Incanus 5,714]

Glory by James Horner

Avatar by James Horner

Braveheart by James Horner

[Dixon Hill 4,234]

The Shawshank Redemption - Thomas Newman

For the fifth time in about two days.

[Incanus 5,714]

The Shawshank Redemption - Thomas Newman

For the fifth time in about two days.

That was my first Thomas Newman score and I have to say it has stood the test of time as it remains one of my favourites of his. The Freedom Theme is such a warm piece of Americana and Newman uses it sparingly but extremely effectively throughout but the whole score with its numerous little ideas is a delight from start to finish. Shame that the Prokofiev's Lieutenant Kije-styled little religioso theme didn't make it to the album.

[Joni Wiljami 1,206]

Shame that any of these greater scores of his didn't get the recognition from the Academy.

[Incanus 5,714]

He was nominated but didn't win for Shawshank or Little Women in 1994.

The Grand Budapest Hotel by Desplat: Second listen improves on the general opinion a bit but while there is more coherence upon closer scrutiny the relatively simplicity of the main idea and its constant repetition succeed in wearing me down by the end of the album no matter how Desplat varies the simple tune and the accompanying rhythm. Accompanying themes are equally subtle and simple in construction and leave very little memory in comparison to say Desplat's previous score The Monuments Men. But this is a different beast altogether and the music is written for a different purpose i.e. a curious blend of quirky drama and comedy in Wes Anderson style.

Typically for Desplat the orchestrations are very clear lined, the recording brisk but here the composer is obviously winking at the audience at the director's behest as he employs a strange, colorful and inventive bag of tricks to elicit humorously quirky atmosphere and energy for the film. Rather Slavic orchestrations for balalaikas, zither(?) and cimbalom colour the music, organ lends its subtle and more dramatic tones to the musical story and almost Morriconean male choruses chanting syllables appear now and then to enforce the Eastern European feel. There appears even a very liturgical Requiem Mass styled passage for chorus and soloist in the appropriately named track Canto At Gabelmeister's Peak.

My clearest new observation on the second listen is that the percussion plays a central role in this score and drums and beaters of all kinds (including some unusual effects like clapping) get their day as the music marches on in a series of pounding, rattling, rasping and pecking cues that obviously illustrate things being afoot and are interesting from constructional point of view and exude certain musical cleverness and inventiveness even though they are not highly emotionally engaging.

In the end I feel that Desplat has taken here the all-but-kitchen-sink approach that actually reminded me of the old comedic scores from 1960s a bit although it has to be said that this score is strangely more coherent in fitting all this material together. Even though the album is a bit more appealing on the second listen and I applaud the composer's inventiveness and seemingly endless capability to conjure such unique sounds in this day and age of cookie cutter film scores, I can't honestly say that this is top tier Desplat in my book even though it is bursting with energy and zany forward motion and knowing humour. But undeniably Desplat continues a winning streak of original film scoring here.

[publicist 4,643]

Be that as it may, Canto At Gabelmeister's Peak is a cue that other more streamlined 'classical' Hollywood-styled scores have to meet at face level to bump it from the BEST CUE 2014 list. GBH surely is more of a typical european score in the wake of Legrand, Barry, Morricone, Nicolai or de Roubaix - late 60's, early 70's - and as such it is hard to evaluate as proper film score but this together with MONUMENTS MAN surely rings in a top year for Desplat:

 

[Incanus 5,714]

Indeed. It is very refreshing that there are composers outside the mainstream of Hollywood type of scoring by committee who can and are allowed to actually write music with their own voice. This also depends on the collaborators and the composer has formed some great creative partnerships. Desplat despite The Monuments Men being a throwback stylistically to the old war movie scores managed to write a very engaging and resonant allusion to that genre and style but still keep it all based on his compositional voice.

[publicist 4,643]

And given the more and more schematic and arbitrary approaches to orchestration we must endure since the 90's (a problem that moves far beyond RCP but really became de rigueur with anonymous orchestrators standing in for the composer's voice with the coming of crunching schedules and lack of musical training on the composer's side) i nowadays value such idiosyncratic approaches much more. After all, how many more apocalyptic choirs and huge soundscapes with depressingly similar musical traits one can listen to before shouting ENOUGH! in film music's general direction? (and yes, that mostly goes for visible entertainment products)

[Incanus 5,714]

And given the more and more schematic and arbitrary approaches to orchestration we must endure since the 90's (a problem that moves far beyond RCP but really became de rigueur with anonymous orchestrators standing in for the composer's voice with the coming of crunching schedules and lack of musical training on the composer's side) i nowadays value such idiosyncratic approaches much more. After all, how many more apocalyptic choirs and huge soundscapes with depressingly similar musical traits one can listen to before shouting ENOUGH! in film music's general direction? (and yes, that mostly goes for visible entertainment products)

Yes the current approach has become the banal musical synonym of the word EPIC that is repeated in every conjunction by most people these days. When everything is EPIC it becomes just even, dull and bland.

Jane Eyre by Dario Marianelli

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Ah, another grumpy old men day!

[Incanus 5,714]

Ah, another grumpy old men day!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJNxj1FdKuo

First Knight by Jerry Goldsmith: Everything was better in 1990s. The grass was greener, sun shone brighter and Jerry Goldsmith was churning out great music. Those were the days.

Sleeping With the Enemy by Jerry Goldsmith: One of the first Goldsmith scores I heard on CD and thus has a certain nostalgia factor to me. An early 90's low key thriller score with a beautiful flute led main theme like which you won't encounter in many movies these days. O tempora o mores!

[Quintus 5,399]

It's a rip-off of Rosza's Spellbound .

I heard a suite of Spellbound the other day, can you show which cue you mean?

[Faleel 5,347]

I found FK underwhelming.

[Sharkissimo 1,973]

It's a rip-off of Rosza's Spellbound .

I heard a suite of Spellbound the other day, can you show which cue you mean?

I mean the main phrase of the theme. Dom -Du-Du - Doooom. The difference is that the Cliffhanger theme doesn't really go anywhere beyond that 4 note phrase, it just meanders.