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


Ollie

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Herrmann's is very dark, and perfectly captures the isolation one feels in the middle of moors. It's dark, cold and moisty. Williams' is very romantic, very pastoral, very much like 5 o'clock tea in a ancestral yorkishire manor. I haven't heard Marianelli's yet, but Hermann's and William's complement each other very well on different sides of this story

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That's true.

Marianelli's is best described by the word "foggy". Gloomy score with some delicate violin and female vocals (both solo and choir). It's not the kind of thing that will impress you from the samples and takes more than one listen to appreciate. If you thought Williams' work is "dark, cold and moisty" then this one is even more so, but in a more modern sense. But, still, it remains a very classically-influence works, so I'd encourage you to at least give it a listen or two.

You might not like Marianelli, but you have to admit guy has got some skill!

Karol

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Missed it They don't exactly show it in multiplexes over here. But heard it's quite good.

Anyway, Marianelli's score tries to accomplish the same thing the other ones did, but doesn't really mimmick their style. He apparently never listened to them (or at least not as a part of his research).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jfQnqLbYET0

Karol

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Tron Legacy - Daft Punk

Every time I listen to it, I'm just blown away by it. The electronics are so well-integrated with the orchestra, and that theme is wonderful. The last four tracks alone are worth buying, the most impressive cues being "Flynn Lives", "Finale" and "End Titles." Everything else is very good, but those cues are just standout. A very pleasant surprise from 2010.

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How would you rate it in comparison to Stargate, ID4, and Tomorrow Never Dies?

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How would you rate it in comparison to Stargate, ID4, and Tomorrow Never Dies?

Stargate > ID4 (although album-wise complete ID4>SG) > Tomorrow Never Dies (I'm a sucker for James Bond) > Last of the Dogmen > Godzilla

However, I must admit, I am the least familiar with LotD (I just bought it and used to listen to it only on crappy-quality mp3), so my reception of it may change in the upcoming months.

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Tomorrow Never Dies might be my favorite DA score, as much as I absolutely LOVE ID4. It's just so.... fun!

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Obviously ;)

Seriously, though, Godzilla is a hell a lot of fun, but it's also overbearing at times. Stargate on the other hand is a full-blown, colourful fantasy score, with bold themes, fantastic orchestration and a pinch of magic and wonder.

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I find that Tomorrow Never Dies and ID4 work PERFECTLY in their complete releases - its the only way to listen to them.

For Stargate and Godzilla, I feel like there's about 40 minutes of great stuff and a lot of filler

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Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by John Williams: This is a score I have not visited in a while and the old cliché holds true: I did not remember how beautiful, powerful and simply wonderful this music for the third installment of the Potter saga is. For a score comprised of such eclectic elements as big band jazz, medieval instrumentation and melodies, Rossini-esque waltzes and 20th century stylings this music feels coherent and is a delight from start to finish. Williams' music is mischievous, magical, terrifying, inspiring, uplifting and poignant. The medieval feel in instrumentation adds another attractive layer to the wizarding world, one that perhaps should have been addressed earlier as it somehow suits the environs of the story so well. The orchestration is one of the most delightful aspects of the score, Williams finding great instrumental combinations and using soloists in interesting ways. Good examples are the gossamer duet of harp and celesta and dexterous flute solo in Secrets of the Castle and the recorder solo in the WIndow to the Past that lends an air of simplicity, innocence and childlike longing to the music.

As Williams almost started anew with his music in the 3rd film the thematic material is all new and there is plenty of it. Double Trouble, A Window to the Past, Dementors' theme, Patronus, Sirius Black and other themes create a deft and emotional tapestry that has the qualities of best Williams themes. Memorability, emotionality and intellect that capture the story elements so well.

The action music is exciting, Williams using a fugue form in Quidditch 3rd Year to a great effect, the Whomping Willow presenting its own fast percussive motif that simply grabs hold of you and giving a fast and athletic brass and percussion pummel to the listener. The Dementor music provides cold and unrelenting choral passages and oppressive ostinato motif that winds up and around the listener while the brass belts out classic conflicting chords. And the Patronus theme, shimmering and soothing choral motif offers a balm to the chaos of the Dementors with a simple yet heavenly calm sounds. Combined with the Window to the Past on noble horns in the Finale it becomes all the more moving and beautiful. Buckbeaks' theme is yet another take on the concept of flying by Williams and he succeeds in creating a new sound for the experience of soaring through the air with this lofty material that ascends to the stratosphere with the help of a timpani and percussion solo that calls the listener to rapt attention before the orchestra whisks them high into the air.

Only down side of the music is the presentation on the album which reprises notatim in the end credit suite too much of the music already presented on the album. The complete score for the film would be most welcome since the whole thematic and instrumental tapestry deserves to be heard in its chronological order and fully fleshed out.

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I've been listening to Philip Glass' 1000 Airplanes on the Roof recently, and it's great. I love the way he develops all the various, interconnected motifs. It holds your attention from start to finish, which isn't easy to do with such a repetitive style.

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The River by John Williams: An interesting small Americana score amidst Williams' most prolific and succesful blockbuster period. The love theme of the score is a gorgeous slightly jazzy creation, the main theme jaunty and down to earth. Guitar solos are a special feature here offering Americana with a rustic feel, Williams writing a couple of longer passages for the instrument, especially in the finishing track Young Friends' Farewell with it wistful tones. Flute is another solo instrument utilized beautifully in the haunting solos of the Love theme with trumpet but the clear and pure tone of the instrument used extensively throughout the score. The Ancestral Farm theme with its lyrical and noble feel receives only scant few renditions but the most beautiful reading in the track Ancestral Home which is a long triumphant development of the idea. A small Americana gem I seem to be revisiting with growing frequency.

1941 by John Williams: This score is both fun and remarkably dramatic. More of my thoughts in the 1941 threads.

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Metropolis Symphony by Michael Daugherty

Not a film score, but, similarily to John Adams' City Noir, draws inspiration from comic books (Superman character), film music and the popculture. Fantastic, full of colour and kitsch. Very much like Elliot Goldenthal's output. One of the best bits about it is Red Cape Tango: the surprising arrangement of Dies Irae. Fantastic piece!

http://www.dailymoti...-symphony_music

Karol

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I wonder if Williams NEEDED to do something like The RIver in the middle of all those big blockbusters to give his brain something completely different to work on, and to get out some ideas he couldn't use in the big scores. Probably made him more invigorated to take on the next blockbuster (which was ROTJ then TOD) having spent time working on a smaller, different kind of score

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I wonder if Williams NEEDED to do something like The RIver in the middle of all those big blockbusters to give his brain something completely different to work on, and to get out some ideas he couldn't use in the big scores. Probably made him more invigorated to take on the next blockbuster (which was ROTJ then TOD) having spent time working on a smaller, different kind of score

Possibly. Surely he put his heart into this score, even though it has never got recognition among the fans it IMO deserved. It's one of the most underrated work of his, but also very satysfying to listen. Over the course of last few years, it has become on of my most played soundtracks of his.

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I just listened to Amistad for the first time in quite a while. My impression of it remains about the same - the thematic material is all quite good, and there are a number of very evocative passages, but the score (at least as presented on the album) does get weighed down somewhat in the middle by blandly pleasant TPM-esque underscore. Not bad music by any means, but just a little vanilla for my tastes. Partly for sentimental reasons, and partly because of the greater variety of music in TPM, I find myself preferring that sort of style in that score.

Anyway, still a nice effort by the maestro. Cinque's theme (the melody, not necessarily the track) and "Dry Your Tears, Afrika" are the highlights here.

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I wouldn't claim it to be Williams' most varied score, and in fact there's plenty of music in the middle of the album I only vaguely recall. But nevertheless, Amistad probably has become my most played Williams score of recent years.

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City Noir by John Adams. Another film music stew wrapped in the concert music packaging. It draws from our little corner of music world and builds a great stylistic tribute to the medium. I'd love to hear it live. Maybe one day.

Jurassic Park III by Don Davis. The composer clearly studied Williams' manuscripts very closely because he went into great detail with all the little nods and winks here and there. His performances of the two main themes might now carry the same power as the original but I'm still amazed at the score's quality as a whole. And yes, there are also a lot of Davisisms and Matrixisms in the score, which give it a lot of character. Some of the frenetic string and brass writing is spectacular. Underrated, fun (and really noisy) romp of a score.

Copernicus' Star by Abel Korzeniowski. A feel good album of the year. I come back to it whenever I feel there was something missing from many of the blockbuster scores of 2011. Works every time. :)

:music: Empire of the Sun by John Williams

Karol

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Copernicus' Star by Abel Korzeniowski. A feel good album of the year. I come back to it whenever I feel there was something missing from many of the blockbuster scores of 2011. Works every time. :)

Karol

Not only of 2011, I am afraid. Not only.

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Yeap it's a damn good score despite its "musical inspirations". I was actually flabbergasted by how awful the respective film looks (just saw the opening sequence) in comparison to how glorious the score sounds. Abel Korzeniowski is really a talented composer with a lot of heart to his writing.

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The 13th Warrior and The Mummy by Goldsmith. The first one is better the the latter, which seems a touch... uninspired.

Iris - Cirque Du Soleil by Danny Elfman

One of the best albums of the year, no doubt about that. There is such a vitality to it. It starts in relatively standard manner by the composer's standards. Elfman quotes one theme that appeared in Charlie, SOP and Serenada Schizophrana (well, the bonus track on that album). But after that his imagination literally explodes. You can see why it took him 3 years to write this. There is so much freshness to it and yet, at the same time, you hear that it is pure Elfman. Has a passion of his early career and technical prowess of his modern self. Utilizes both orchestra and electronic intruments to great effect. The entire work is obviously very eclectic (going for genre to genre), but there is a fantastic flow to the whole album. You can tell he loved the experience and it might be one of his very best works (and that's something I didn't expect). Pure joy of music. My physical CD can't arrive fast enough!

Karol

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Hook.

Whoah. I had heard parts of it here and there but I had never given a serious full listen to it. There's so much to like here, it never stops sounding cute and emotive or funny. I realized there are an awful lot of different melodies at play, and most of them are just genious, which boggles my mind. Also I don't know how JW manages to make them sound so innocent.

I only saw the film when I was a kid and I can't remember it at all, but this score is priceless.

:music: Hook's Blues

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Hook is what I consider to be a quintessential Spielberg/Williams score in that is captures the wonder and childhood magic so indelibly and honestly. There is a sense of play and good spirit about it that is simply not possible to capture more than few times in a life time. I have a certain nostalgic connection to the film but I actually became more interested in it through the music. It is a score where everything from themes to orchestration just clicks perfectly with me. It is complex, emotional and varied and indeed has that strong intangible element, magic, to it.

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Hook is what I consider to be a quintessential Spielberg/Williams score in that is captures the wonder and childhood magic so indelibly and honestly. There is a sense of play and good spirit about it that is simply not possible to capture more than few times in a life time. I have a certain nostalgic connection to the film but I actually became more interested in it through the music. It is a score where everything from themes to orchestration just clicks perfectly with me. It is complex, emotional and varied and indeed has that strong intangible element, magic, to it.

I think of it more as a great guilty pleasure, it is much too diabetes-sugary Disney style (and too reminiscent of scores which came before it), but when all's said and done, you're probably right, you grab it at christmas time and there's no other score of this scope quite like it.

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Green Lantern

At first I only liked about, 5 or so tracks. But I've come to enjoy it more as I listen to it.

Now, If only I could find the Lonely Dusk (Choir Remix) that was in the trailers.... :sadwavey:

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Home Alone (La La Land Expanded Edition) - John Williams

Now this is a great score, and a great edition! As one of my JW favourites, I would probably have worn out the CD already, but luckily, I listen to it mostly imported on my PC ... :D

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Home Alone (La La Land Expanded Edition) - John Williams

Now this is a great score, and a great edition! As one of my JW favourites, I would probably have worn out the CD already, but luckily, I listen to it mostly imported on my PC ... :D

Is it a seasonal score for you or do you listen to it throughout the year?

I personally find it a bit strange listening to Christmas carols in the middle of summer. :P

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Is it a seasonal score for you or do you listen to it throughout the year?

I like to listen to it pretty much throughout the year, I just love it way too much to limit myself to only listen to it 2 or 3 months a year! :D

I personally find it a bit strange listening to Christmas carols in the middle of summer. :P

Well, that's one way of thinking about it but on the other hand, it can make you a little cooler when it's so hot outside and you remember all that snow and icicles! :D

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Well, I don't listen to LLLR's Home Alone that often, certainly not outside of Christmas, but it is an awesome CD of an awesome and fun score.

I actually listened to First Knight this morning, and have been listening to The Black Hole a lot, along with Dexter season 4.

I also gave Intrada's First Knight another spin the other day. Great stuff.

Oh, and Star Trek V got it's frequent spins. :)

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