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

[bollemanneke 3,348]

Thank you! And loads of people here seem to forget that JW started the whole discontinuity thing with HP3.

[Naïve Old Fart 9,527]

G.O.F. is a score that I like, in spite of myself.

It's not my favourite Doyle, but it's a competent score, that gets the job done, with aplomb.

[Thor 7,504]

It's a wonderful score. "Harry in Winter" is one of the best things Doyle ever wrote. Shame the franchise went downhill from there, score-wise.

[bollemanneke 3,348]

The film version of that cue is way better than the concert piece though.

[Thor 7,504]

Could be. I'm never up-to-speed on various versions of compositions. I only listen to the track on the OST anyway.

 

Now playing:

 

 

I could never stomach the opening "Swing March" track (it just grates!), but plenty of other nice, loungey cues here. The comedy cues are too goofy for their own good.

[Raiders of the SoundtrArk 2,433]

The Danny Elfman Batman Collection by Danny Elfman (obviously)

AMAZING!!!!!! 

[Tom Guernsey 2,284]

3 hours ago, Edmilson said:

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Patrick Doyle)

 

My first time listening to the OST album in about 10 years. And now I can understand why @bollemanneke likes this score so much: it's a rousing, epic score with an excellent performance by the LSO. The new additions to the franchise are great, specially Harry's heroic theme and Voldemort's new theme. It has some thrilling action music, engaging suspense and some really touching moments like Death of Cedric and Hogwarts' Hymn.

 

 

Randomly I listened to this today and thoroughly endorse this comment. Superb stuff. 

[Kühni 485]

.

[77 3]

I have the new 2021 issue CD of Dracula / Curse of Frankenstein by James Bernard. It's a great listen, sound quality is excellent to my ears. [It is newly recorded after all, not from the 50s]. When I saw that the album ends with a new bonus track written by a modern composer I thought "oh no, filler material!" but it is actually a really good track and rounds off the album beautifully.

 

Does anyone have this CD, or know of a digital download version? I ask because I suspect there is a small fault on my CD but need to check. Have searched for an online preview for comparison but turned up nothing. Track 1 seems to crash in just a little too quick, like a fraction of a second is clipped off the front, but I'm not sure. I looked at the waveform in Audacity but am still not convinced either way.  

 

If I return it, would a replacement CD just have the same fault anyway I wonder? 

 

[Naïve Old Fart 9,527]

James Bernard! Fantastic stuff!

[Thor 7,504]

James Bernard was always a little too "sturm und drang" for me, but now and then, there's a more downkey track that stands out.

[Bespin 8,481]

Remembering the great "JW" year we had in 2019!

 

- John Williams - The Rise of Skywalker (FYC)

- John Williams - Minority Report (2019's expansion)

- John Williams - Monsignor (2019's expansion)

- John Williams - Superman: The Movie (2019's expansion)

[thestat 348]

The greatest piece of orchestral mayhem is here>

 

 

One day I will write why this score is so important. But the other tracks composed by Mancina are incredibly revealing about the leitmotif approach he took 

 

 

 

 

Rock that out you wellies!

 

 

Nightwish is invariably orchestral and so beautiful......

 

 

The orchestral score is beautiful

[thestat 348]

Guys   If you like Poledouris, you will love this Finnish metal madness, performed by the Helsinki Symphony and Chorus....5:00 onwards is better than Poledouris.....

 

[Bespin 8,481]

A score funnier than the movie for sure!

 

Some great late Goldsmith!

[bruce marshall 1,315]

 

[publicist 4,643]

 

Three imposing war-themed scores came out in 1989 almost simultaneously, 'Glory' by James Horner,  'Born on the Fourth of July' (Williams) and 'Casualties of War' (Morricone). Back then, all were reviewed by a german magazine and their classification stuck with me: John Williams' music tends to be a declamatory commentary, Morricone's contribution recalls a broad religious passion á la modernized Bach while James Horner's 'Glory' shows clear tendencies towards the oratorio form.

It is surely Horner's best work for Edward Zwick from a purely musico-centric perspective, and the first where he truly succeeds in bundling differently musical building blocks into a homogeneous whole instead of treating them in isolation (as in 'Willow' for instance). Horner would not be Horner if he didn't plunder his conceptual ideas for later works as 'Braveheart', though to me, the only one of these as significant as 'Glory' is 'The Four Feathers', which weds eastern and western in a most brilliant fashion.

 

Now a civil war epic follows certain rules and the crystalline trumpet motif built from two major triads establishes them right at the beginning of 'A Call to Arms'. Soon after, the movie's inspirational main theme makes a muted appearance - it's brilliant, an acapella (children's) choir that only leaves a foul aftertaste when you realize it's a note-for-note rip from Prokofiev's 'Ivan The Terrible' (Ivan Employs the Boyars). Prokofiev's harmonic language is also very present throughout, as is Stravinsky's 'Symphony of Psalms' and of course, every trailer's most loved piece back then, Orff's 'Carmina Burana', which Horner tried to rewrite several times at the behest of Zwick, every time sounding a bit more like Orff.

 

Listen here to the Prokofiev melody. I usually don't like being that exacting, but with the big inspirational spell this theme has in 'Glory', it's worth pointing out that the credit 'Music COMPOSED and conducted by James Horner' just doesn't cut it.

 

 

That's not to take away the stringent, baroque aura of the Harlem Boy's Choir, which solemn contribution is seldom broken up by loud battle music (this new album introduces us to another hitherto-unreleased Prokofiev rip, though, a rhythmic piece again modeled on 'Battle on the Ice', but what else is new in Horner's oeuvre). 

 

The baroque idiom mentioned above Horner couples to success with his most flowing romantic americana style, which the director even nixed at first as being too romance-romantic, but Horner proved him wrong: in this movie exclusively focused on men in battle, the sweepy strings enrich rather than muddy. Also, Horner sparingly quotes classic fife-and-drum stuff from the period, and fuses them with his theme to great effect (in the movie) in a montage of soldiers marching the land.

 

The beginning of the end is heralded with a cluster-like effect from the bells at the end of 'Preparations for Battle' leading into the Orff-like cue that beckons the inevitable death of the black soldiers and Matthew Broderick, with a liturgical aftermath appropriately titled 'Epitaph to War'.The 'Closing Credits' offer one neat musical trick still up Horner's sleeve: only at the end the triad fanfare is set to text, '... when the trumpet calls - Glory', though now all glory is truly gone, substituted by a funeral march. It's proof that Horner could go far beyond surface mush like his other Zwick scores (sorry, LOTF) but sadly, Hollywood rarely called him up on it.

[Bespin 8,481]

Two great Goldsmith expansions from 2019.

• The Great Train Robbery
• Air Force One

[Raiders of the SoundtrArk 2,433]

Drop Zone by Hans Zimmer

A nice action score from his early age, there's already some melodies he'll reuse in PoC an Gladiator

[Bespin 8,481]

I finally can only listen to the sequel trilogy scores in their FYC format.

 

Hurry up an expansion. 

[Brónach 1,302]

Revisiting some of the Jablonsky Transformers scores. I will actually defend a lot of this with my life. I haven't seen the movies lol

[Thor 7,504]

2 hours ago, Brónach said:

Revisiting some of the Jablonsky Transformers scores. I will actually defend a lot of this with my life. I haven't seen the movies lol

 

The first score is bloody brilliant. The others, I could give or take. I've just started watching the movies again, as they were recently put on Netflix.

[Naïve Old Fart 9,527]

28 minutes ago, Brónach said:

I will actually defend a lot of this with my life.

I've only seen the first film, but...er... you'll actually defend these score...with your life?

[Raiders of the SoundtrArk 2,433]

I've watch all 6 movies:

The two first are fun, stupid movies with some horrible directing and really nice too. 3&4 are boring as hell, far too long and too serious although there's still plenty stupid stuff going on. 5 is the only one I really like, Hopkins and Wahlberg are fun, the story is more interesting and SFX are stunning. Finally Bumblebee is quite of an UFO here, more dreamy and poetic (but don't worry there's still Transformers madness in it)

 

Black Sunday

A terrific score with great action writings I love it more each time I listen to it

 

The Accidental Tourist

A brilliant romantic score. Even if it is a bit repetitive, the theme I always charming and evolving and beautiful way

[publicist 4,643]

Orchestral Suite from 'There Will be Blood'

[Naïve Old Fart 9,527]

A good and effective score, from a monumental film.

[A24 4,333]

I love how the cluster in the beginning sets the tone of the movie.

[Brónach 1,302]

On 10/11/2021 at 7:15 PM, Naïve Old Fart said:

I've only seen the first film, but...er... you'll actually defend these score...with your life?

 

the first part is real the second is hyperbole

[Jay 37,361]

Basil Poledouris - Starship Troopers

 

Been listening to every version, official and unofficial, over the past couple weeks.  Great, great score.  I wish we had a definitive edition with every cue in perfect sound...

 

 

Howard Shore - The Lord of the Rings Rarities Archive

 

So many cool little tidbits in here.  I wish we had a definitive edition of each score with every cue recorded all together properly

[Naïve Old Fart 9,527]

4 minutes ago, Brónach said:

 

the first part is real the second is hyperbole

Phew! That's a relief! 

[Raiders of the SoundtrArk 2,433]

17 minutes ago, Jay said:

Basil Poledouris - Starship Troopers

 

Been listening to every version, official and unofficial, over the past couple weeks.  Great, great score.  I wish we had a definitive edition with every cue in perfect sound...

 

 

Howard Shore - The Lord of the Rings Rarities Archive

 

So many cool little tidbits in here.  I wish we had a definitive edition of each score with every cue recorded all together properly

I second that. Starship Troopers score is probably one of which I listen to the more this day. Such a perfect score which doesn't make you regret Goldsmith absence

As for the LotR well recording sessions are definitely needed. I'm wondering if LLL could tackle them, they would do such a beautiful set

[Jay 37,361]

Indeed, the Matessino/Bulk style treatment given to those 3 scores would be utterly sublime.  I doubt a more "clinical" approach to the scores like that will happen while Shore's alive, though

[Raiders of the SoundtrArk 2,433]

That's very sad to hear because I'm not that in hurry for Shore to pass out but I definitely need those scores. I'll cross my fingers to get them while Shore's alive

[publicist 4,643]

 

I finally whittled down Al Newman's immortal 'How The West Was Won' to a good 90 minute program without folk arrangements and source music. It's an americana favourite of mine, capturing the expansive Copland style as well as the classic folk songs of the period in a glossy Hollywood garment. There's also some darn good action scoring, as in 'Cheyennes' from ca. 02:00. Oh, and that Main Title i sure for the ages.

[Thor 7,504]

Spurred on by the discussion over on FSM, perhaps? I've been meaning to whittle down my set of HTWWW too (probably to some 60 minutes or so), but I have so many other titles that stand in line ahead of it that need the same.

 

 

Here's another I need to whittle down a bit. I mean, I love the score, I love jazz and funk of the 70s, but at 70 minutes, it stretches tolerance (especially the 20-minute penultimate "jam session" track).

[publicist 4,643]

Crime in the Streets is a 1956 film about juvenile delinquency, directed by Don Siegel - and with Franz Waxman expertly serving the then-hot jazz idiom of Elmer Bernstein's 'Man with the Golden Arm' (Waxman for sure was recalling his Berlin jazz band days of the late 1920s and early 1930s). It's equally Bernstein, but also dives into Duke Ellington' more academic handling of the genre, which is unsurprising, since there was hardly a more academically-minded composer than Waxman in those days, for a moment forgetting Rózsa's many days researching archaic music for his historical score, though Waxman tended to do it genre-independently. May this begin my autumn Waxman celebration.

[Naïve Old Fart 9,527]

23 hours ago, Thor said:

Spurred on by the discussion over on FSM, perhaps? I've been meaning to whittle down my set of HTWWW too (probably to some 60 minutes or so), but I have so many other titles that stand in line ahead of it that need the same.

 

 

Here's another I need to whittle down a bit. I mean, I love the score, I love jazz and funk of the 70s, but at 70 minutes, it stretches tolerance (especially the 20-minute penultimate "jam session" track).

That man's a bad mutha- 

Shut your mouth!

But I'm talkin' about Shaft

 

[publicist 4,643]

On 12/11/2021 at 9:31 AM, Thor said:

Spurred on by the discussion over on FSM, perhaps?

 

No, but i just looked it up and lo behold, it's still the same blinkered nerds discussing ancient souvenir lp lore and order numbers. 

[Naïve Old Fart 9,527]

On 12/11/2021 at 8:31 AM, Thor said:

(especially the 20-minute penultimate "jam session" track).

If you think that's long, try his epic rendition of By The Time I Get To Phoenix, from HOT BUTTERED SOUL.

[Raiders of the SoundtrArk 2,433]

Legend (MBR) by Jerry Goldsmith

I've never seen the movie nor listen to the score before but what a great score it is. Lot of terrific materials, Goldsmith juggle so easily between weird/oppressing writings and light/wonderful movements

 

Saving Private Ryan (LLL) by John Williams

My Williams album of the day. Perfect from beginning to the end. Hymn to the Fallen is such a perfect piece, gives me goosebumps every time

[Tallguy 3,386]

You know there are days when Williams' Olympic Fanfare and Theme comes on and I think it might be the best thing he ever wrote. And I think "That can't be true." And then I realize "Yes it can."

[Marian Schedenig 8,193]

1 minute ago, Tallguy said:

You know there are days when Williams' Olympic Fanfare and Theme comes on and I think it might be the best thing he ever wrote. And I think "That can't be true." And then I realize "Yes it can."

 

And then I listen to Summon the Heroes.

[Raiders of the SoundtrArk 2,433]

1 minute ago, Marian Schedenig said:

 

And then I listen to Summon the Heroes.

And then Battle of the Heroes and then The Imperial March and then I continue all along his repertoire to get back to Olympic Fanfare and Theme and realized that every themes he wrote lead me to think "it's the best one": I can't rank most of them because each offers a unique moment that will transport me for the rest of my life or until I listen to some more

[Jurassic Shark 12,075]

1 minute ago, May the Force be with You said:

I can't rank most of them because each offers a unique moment

 

Or perhaps because they all sound alike.

[Thor 7,504]

12 hours ago, publicist said:

Crime in the Streets is a 1956 film about juvenile delinquency, directed by Don Siegel - and with Franz Waxman expertly serving the then-hot jazz idiom of Elmer Bernstein's 'Man with the Golden Arm' (Waxman for sure was recalling his Berlin jazz band days of the late 1920s and early 1930s). It's equally Bernstein, but also dives into Duke Ellington' more academic handling of the genre, which is unsurprising, since there was hardly a more academically-minded composer than Waxman in those days, for a moment forgetting Rózsa's many days researching archaic music for his historical score, though Waxman tended to do it genre-independently. May this begin my autumn Waxman celebration.

 

Yes, it's a great one. One of the reasons Waxman is my favourite Golden Ager is his innate sense of modernity that is often overlooked, i.e. his ability to merge the typical Viennese "histrionics" with whatever was happening in contemporary concert music, jazz or other things.

[Tallguy 3,386]

23 minutes ago, Marian Schedenig said:

 

And then I listen to Summon the Heroes.

 

The thought crossed my mind. Man when those horns let loose at about 5:10 it's transcendent.

 

15 minutes ago, May the Force be with You said:

And then Battle of the Heroes and then The Imperial March and then I continue all along his repertoire to get back to Olympic Fanfare and Theme and realized that every themes he wrote lead me to think "it's the best one": I can't rank most of them because each offers a unique moment that will transport me for the rest of my life or until I listen to some more

 

This is a seriously good take. But OTOH it's pretty much why Olympic catches me by surprise. It seems just a tiny bit more.

[Raiders of the SoundtrArk 2,433]

22 minutes ago, Jurassic Shark said:

 

Or perhaps because they all sound alike.

I was expecting that one lol

[bruce marshall 1,315]

Does anybody NOT love

this?

What a breathe of fresh air this was into the necrotic world of symphonic scoring

Does anybody NOT love

this?

What a breathe of fresh air this was into the necrotic world of symphonic scoring

[Bespin 8,481]

Currently watchin' "For your eyes only" for the first time.

 

Great James Bond, for a Moore...

 

BUT THIS... SCORE???

[Naïve Old Fart 9,527]

It is rather rubbish, isn't it?

I'm not sure which score is more innapropriate: Conti's FOR YOUR EYES ONLY, or Legrand's NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN?