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Memoirs of a Geisha Solos


cmh90790

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There's no real distinction between who plays what since the music was dubbed and remastered in final stage (meaning music editors add/remove sounds). Here is a link that explains their role(s): http://www.allmusic.com/album/memoirs-of-a-geisha-original-motion-picture-soundtrack-mw0000351871

 

Also there's a youtube link showing the process of the music in memoirs of a geisha - you can see how they are added.

 

If you wan't I can go over and listen to the album/score again...

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  • 2 weeks later...

I don't have the album available at present, but as far as I recall, Perlman only plays on the "Chairman's Waltz", and its affiliated track(s?) . Don't think there's any solo violin work elsewhere on the album... 

 

 

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All solo cello; it's just unusual to hear such altissimo A string writing in a film score, so by default, and because Perlman was involved, we assume the really high solo string scoring is violin. 

 

Had Williams intended for the end credits to feature both soloists, he would have written duo passages for them as well (which he actually did in his "Memoirs" suite for cello & orchestra). 

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There's nothing on album that leaps to mind. The little bit of playing they do together seen in the documentary, is simply a series of cadences, and sounds improvised.

Perhaps they were simply present on the same day, and being friends, decided to have a bit of fun?

Or perhaps there's unused material that features both soloists, or even a separate recording of (an early version?) one of the movements that ended up as part of the suite for cello & orchestra...

 

I think I've seen most of the sheet music from the sessions, if not all, and don't really recall any cues featuring both, but I could well be wrong. 

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I was referring to the short section in the video where they play together (after the overdubbed music); just a few cadences, and it seems like lighthearted fun, unrelated to any known cues from the score. 

 

"The Rooftops of Hanamachi" is solo cello, if memory serves, and as such, is performed by Yo-Yo Ma. 

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17 hours ago, Bajak said:

Alright, thanks.

One more thing, I found this documentary about the process of creating the score and you can clearly see Yo-Yo Ma and Itzhak Perlman playing together. Since they don't play together anywhere on the album, I am wondering, whether it's from a scene in the movie (which I haven't seen), or whether it's just practice (each playing his own thing), or whether it indicates that it could be Perlman on A New Name... A New Life after all. Unfortunately, it's inaudible so I don't know what they are playing, but perhaps, with your abilities, you could tell just by seeing what strings is Yo-Yo Ma playing?

 

Williams wrote and recorded A LOT of music for this movie that sadly didn't end up neither in the film nor on the OST album.

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