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2023 IFMCA Awards

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tomsmoviemadness

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http://filmmusiccritics.org/2024/02/ifmca-award-nominations-2023/

 

 

The International Film Music Critics Association will announce the winners of the 20th IFMCA Awards LIVE on the IFMCA YouTube channel on February 22, 2024.

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The nominees are:

 

SCORE OF THE YEAR

 

COMPOSER OF THE YEAR

  • LORNE BALFE
  • LAURA KARPMAN
  • BEAR MCCREARY
  • JOHN WILLIAMS
  • CHRISTOPHER YOUNG

 

BREAKTHROUGH COMPOSER OF THE YEAR

  • SHERRI CHUNG
  • PAWEŁ LUCEWICZ
  • MICHAEL “MIKA” PENNIMAN JR.
  • ŁUKASZ “L.U.C” ROSTKOWSKI
  • COREY WALLACE

 

COMPOSITION OF THE YEAR

  • “Can You Hear the Music?” from OPPENHEIMER, music by Ludwig Göransson
  • “Concerto for Flute and Orchestra, Movement 2” from THE PIPER, music by Christopher Young
  • “Found” from LA SOCIEDAD DE LA NIEVE/SOCIETY OF THE SNOW, music by Michael Giacchino
  • “Helena’s Theme” from INDIANA JONES AND THE DIAL OF DESTINY, music by John Williams
  • “Leaving Spacedock” from STAR TREK: PICARD, music by Stephen Barton and Frederik Wiedmann

 

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE FOR A DRAMA FILM

 

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE FOR A COMEDY FILM

 

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE FOR AN ACTION/ADVENTURE FILM

 

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE FOR A FANTASY/SCIENCE FICTION FILM

 

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE FOR A HORROR/THRILLER FILM

 

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE FOR AN ANIMATED FILM

 

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE FOR A DOCUMENTARY

 

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE FOR TELEVISION

 

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE FOR A VIDEO GAME OR INTERACTIVE MEDIA

 

BEST ARCHIVAL RELEASE

  • CHAPLIN, music by John Barry; album produced by Neil S. Bulk, liner notes by Jon Burlingame, album art direction by Scott Saslow (La-La Land)
  • HEIDI/JANE EYRE, music by John Williams; album produced by Mike Matessino, liner notes by John Takis and Mike Matessino, album art direction by Jim Titus (Quartet)
  • HOOK, music by John Williams; album produced by Mike Matessino, liner notes by Mike Matessino, John Takis, and Jason LeBlanc, album art direction by Jim Titus (La-La Land)
  • LAURENCE ROSENTHAL: MUSIC FOR FILM AND TELEVISION, music by Laurence Rosenthal; the Brussels Philharmonic conducted by Dirk Brossé, album produced by Thomas Van Parys/Film Fest Gent, liner notes by Laurence Rosenthal, Robert Townson, and Thomas Van Parys, album art direction by Stuart Ford (Silva Screen/Film Fest Gent)
  • MACARTHUR, music by Jerry Goldsmith; album produced by Douglass Fake, liner notes by Jeff Bond and Douglass Fake, album art direction by Kay Marshall (Intrada)
  • THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH/ON DANGEROUS GROUND, music by Bernard Herrmann; the Royal Scottish National Orchestra conducted by William Stromberg, album produced by Douglass Fake, liner notes by Steven Smith, album art direction by Stephane Coedel and Kay Marshall (Intrada)
  • NIGHT AFTER NIGHT, music by James Newton Howard; orchestra conducted by Gavin Greenaway, featured performers Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Hilary Hahn, and Maya Beiser, album produced by Michael Dean Parsons, liner notes by James Newton Howard and M. Night Shyamalan, album art direction nominee to be confirmed (Sony Classical)
  • THE ROCK, music by Nick Glennie-Smith, Hans Zimmer, and Harry Gregson-Williams; album produced by Stéphane Humez, liner notes by Kaya Savas, album art direction by Kay Marshall (Intrada)
  • SÉANCE ON A WET AFTERNOON/KATHERINE HEPBURN, music by John Barry; Orquesta de Córdoba conducted by Fernando Velázquez, album produced by Jose M. Benitez and Leigh Phillips, liner notes by Jon Burlingame, album art direction by Nacho B. Govantes and Jim Titus (Quartet)
  • A SYMPHONIC CELEBRATION: MUSIC FROM THE STUDIO GHIBLI FILMS OF HAYAO MIYAZAKI, music by Joe Hisaishi; the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Joe Hisaishi, album produced by Joe Hisaishi and Anna Barry, liner notes by Michael Beek, album art direction by Yuka Araki (Deutsche Grammophon)

 

FILM MUSIC RECORD LABEL OF THE YEAR

  • INTRADA RECORDS, Douglass Fake, Roger Feigelson
  • LA-LA LAND RECORDS, MV Gerhard, Matt Verboys
  • MOVIESCORE MEDIA, Mikael Carlsson
  • MUSIC BOX RECORDS, Cyril Durand-Roger, Laurent Lafarge
  • QUARTET RECORDS, Jose M. Benitez

 

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tomsmoviemadness
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http://filmmusiccritics.org/2024/02/ifmca-award-nominations-2023/     The International Film Music Critics Association will announce the winners of the 20th IFMCA Awards LIVE on the IFM

Jay
Jay

OK that is wild to see my name in the nominees list.  Wow!

Jay
Jay

There needs to be two categories   Instead of:   BEST ARCHIVAL RELEASE CHAPLIN, music by John Barry; album produced by Neil S. Bulk, liner notes by Jon Burlingame, album ar

Edmilson

Edmilson 8,920

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I'm sad to see Migration only getting one nomination, it should've been in Score of the Year as well.

 

Paesano's Marvel's Spider-Man 2 deserved a nom for best video-game score. I've been playing the game recently and I'm really enjoying the score.

 

But the most glaring omission is: why the hell The Sound of Music wasn't nominated for Best Archival? I was sure it was going to win this easily!

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Richard P

Richard P 4,189

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Supercell was a classic example of critics going wild for a score just because it's traditional and orchestral. The bits I sampled weren't overly interesting.

 

Wild Isles should be a shoe-in for best documentary score. 

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bespinGPT

bespinGPT 8,767

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I already had my eye on the "Laurence Rosenthal" (from Film Fest Gent), so I'm not surprised it's among the nominees. I'm a little surprised that no "James Horner" expansions made the nomination list, but it suits me, as I can't decide for myself if I really need any of them.

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bespinGPT

bespinGPT 8,767

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1 minute ago, Jay said:

OK that is wild to see my name in the nominees list.  Wow!

 

Well, I think you'll be even more surprised when you see it on the winners' list! ;)

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Edmilson

Edmilson 8,920

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53 minutes ago, Richard Penna said:

Supercell was a classic example of critics going wild for a score just because it's traditional and orchestral. The bits I sampled weren't overly interesting.

 

Yep. The album starts decently but then it quickly becomes rather uninteresting and generic. Critics really dug it because it's "old-fashioned".

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Erik Woods

Erik Woods 611

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3 hours ago, Edmilson said:

Critics really dug it because it's "old-fashioned".

 

One might think that if they didn't read any reviews of the score.

 

-Erik-

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Richard P

Richard P 4,189

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I read Broxton's review ages ago - didn't change my view either. There are a handful of nice moments here and there but I gave up fairly quickly playing the whole album... it was just a tad generic. Ironically, one of the highlights he points out sounds to me exactly like the sort of Williams temp track he preaches that the score isn't. It's a perfectly competent, functional score, but nothing special. I also think that this sort of full orchestra, twinkly approach is wrong for this sort of film. Mancina demonstrated perfectly how to do it.

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Edmilson

Edmilson 8,920

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Well, I did read Jon Broxton's review, which was what compelled me to listen the score on Spotify. I was eager to check it after reading the review... But in the end, I wasn't a fan. It has a pretty decent first cue, but after that the album is mostly generic suspense music that doesn't go anywhere.

 

I wish I could share JB's excitment for it, since the composer clearly knows how to write orchestral music. But in the end, I felt that this was a score that I, as a fan of old school orchestral scores Williams-style, SHOULD like but it didn't do anything for me.

 

I felt the same thing with Christophe Beck's Shazam! 2 btw.

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Erik Woods

Erik Woods 611

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That's fair, @Edmilson. Honestly, the "old-fashioned" style of the score was what first drew me in, and any score written in that style will get my attention immediately, but after listening to it, I found that it was more than just an "old-fashioned" film score. I think a short album could have benefited the listening experience, and getting a real orchestra to perform it would really have brought out it's greatness. But for the most part, I really enjoyed the score... a lot!

 

-Erik-

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Yavar Moradi

Yavar Moradi 2,990

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23 hours ago, Edmilson said:

I'm sad to see Migration only getting one nomination, it should've been in Score of the Year as well.

 

I agree. It was my second favorite score of the year, actually!

 

23 hours ago, Edmilson said:

But the most glaring omission is: why the hell The Sound of Music wasn't nominated for Best Archival? I was sure it was going to win this easily!

 

Well, you're right... but musicals aren't really the passion of most of the IFMCA, I don't think. I wonder how close it was to getting on the top 10, but I'm not at all surprised that Williams/Goldsmith/Barry/Hisaishi/Herrmann/JNH/etc. titles took precedence. Honestly I was pleasantly surprised Laurence Rosenthal made it, and kinda shocked that not one of the eight fine Horner releases did! (If I had to guess I'd say votes were probably split between Zorro/Sneakers/Battle Beyond the Stars.)

 

If I was going to bump something to include The Sound of Music, for my taste it would be The Rock, but Zimmer/Media Ventures fans are legion. And it was a very well produced album so it deserves kudos IMO... it's just not my favorite kind of film music, personally.

 

Yavar

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Erik Woods

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The live presentation premieres today at 12pm (EST) 9am (PST) 5pm (GMT)
 

The list of nominees can be found here
http://filmmusiccritics.org/2024/02/ifmca-award-nominations-2023/


Enjoy!


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GqlsogF8qaM

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Jay

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There needs to be two categories

 

Instead of:

 

BEST ARCHIVAL RELEASE

  • CHAPLIN, music by John Barry; album produced by Neil S. Bulk, liner notes by Jon Burlingame, album art direction by Scott Saslow (La-La Land)
  • HEIDI/JANE EYRE, music by John Williams; album produced by Mike Matessino, liner notes by John Takis and Mike Matessino, album art direction by Jim Titus (Quartet)
  • HOOK, music by John Williams; album produced by Mike Matessino, liner notes by Mike Matessino, John Takis, and Jason LeBlanc, album art direction by Jim Titus (La-La Land)
  • LAURENCE ROSENTHAL: MUSIC FOR FILM AND TELEVISION, music by Laurence Rosenthal; the Brussels Philharmonic conducted by Dirk Brossé, album produced by Thomas Van Parys/Film Fest Gent, liner notes by Laurence Rosenthal, Robert Townson, and Thomas Van Parys, album art direction by Stuart Ford (Silva Screen/Film Fest Gent)
  • MACARTHUR, music by Jerry Goldsmith; album produced by Douglass Fake, liner notes by Jeff Bond and Douglass Fake, album art direction by Kay Marshall (Intrada)
  • THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH/ON DANGEROUS GROUND, music by Bernard Herrmann; the Royal Scottish National Orchestra conducted by William Stromberg, album produced by Douglass Fake, liner notes by Steven Smith, album art direction by Stephane Coedel and Kay Marshall (Intrada)
  • NIGHT AFTER NIGHT, music by James Newton Howard; orchestra conducted by Gavin Greenaway, featured performers Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Hilary Hahn, and Maya Beiser, album produced by Michael Dean Parsons, liner notes by James Newton Howard and M. Night Shyamalan, album art direction nominee to be confirmed (Sony Classical)
  • THE ROCK, music by Nick Glennie-Smith, Hans Zimmer, and Harry Gregson-Williams; album produced by Stéphane Humez, liner notes by Kaya Savas, album art direction by Kay Marshall (Intrada)
  • SÉANCE ON A WET AFTERNOON/KATHERINE HEPBURN, music by John Barry; Orquesta de Córdoba conducted by Fernando Velázquez, album produced by Jose M. Benitez and Leigh Phillips, liner notes by Jon Burlingame, album art direction by Nacho B. Govantes and Jim Titus (Quartet)
  • A SYMPHONIC CELEBRATION: MUSIC FROM THE STUDIO GHIBLI FILMS OF HAYAO MIYAZAKI, music by Joe Hisaishi; the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Joe Hisaishi, album produced by Joe Hisaishi and Anna Barry, liner notes by Michael Beek, album art direction by Yuka Araki (Deutsche Grammophon)

 

It should be:

 

BEST ARCHIVAL RELEASE

  • CHAPLIN, music by John Barry; album produced by Neil S. Bulk, liner notes by Jon Burlingame, album art direction by Scott Saslow (La-La Land)
  • HEIDI/JANE EYRE, music by John Williams; album produced by Mike Matessino, liner notes by John Takis and Mike Matessino, album art direction by Jim Titus (Quartet)
  • HOOK, music by John Williams; album produced by Mike Matessino, liner notes by Mike Matessino, John Takis, and Jason LeBlanc, album art direction by Jim Titus (La-La Land)
  • MACARTHUR, music by Jerry Goldsmith; album produced by Douglass Fake, liner notes by Jeff Bond and Douglass Fake, album art direction by Kay Marshall (Intrada)
  • THE ROCK, music by Nick Glennie-Smith, Hans Zimmer, and Harry Gregson-Williams; album produced by Stéphane Humez, liner notes by Kaya Savas, album art direction by Kay Marshall (Intrada)

BEST RE-RECORDING

  • LAURENCE ROSENTHAL: MUSIC FOR FILM AND TELEVISION, music by Laurence Rosenthal; the Brussels Philharmonic conducted by Dirk Brossé, album produced by Thomas Van Parys/Film Fest Gent, liner notes by Laurence Rosenthal, Robert Townson, and Thomas Van Parys, album art direction by Stuart Ford (Silva Screen/Film Fest Gent)
  • THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH/ON DANGEROUS GROUND, music by Bernard Herrmann; the Royal Scottish National Orchestra conducted by William Stromberg, album produced by Douglass Fake, liner notes by Steven Smith, album art direction by Stephane Coedel and Kay Marshall (Intrada)
  • NIGHT AFTER NIGHT, music by James Newton Howard; orchestra conducted by Gavin Greenaway, featured performers Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Hilary Hahn, and Maya Beiser, album produced by Michael Dean Parsons, liner notes by James Newton Howard and M. Night Shyamalan, album art direction nominee to be confirmed (Sony Classical)
  • SÉANCE ON A WET AFTERNOON/KATHERINE HEPBURN, music by John Barry; Orquesta de Córdoba conducted by Fernando Velázquez, album produced by Jose M. Benitez and Leigh Phillips, liner notes by Jon Burlingame, album art direction by Nacho B. Govantes and Jim Titus (Quartet)
  • A SYMPHONIC CELEBRATION: MUSIC FROM THE STUDIO GHIBLI FILMS OF HAYAO MIYAZAKI, music by Joe Hisaishi; the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Joe Hisaishi, album produced by Joe Hisaishi and Anna Barry, liner notes by Michael Beek, album art direction by Yuka Araki (Deutsche Grammophon)

 

These two types of releases have nothing to do with one another at all.

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Jim Ware

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True. Archival and re-recording are in no way analogous.

 

8 minutes ago, Holko said:

The one where a third of the tracks phase. Fucking beautiful.

 

Do not get me started on this one!

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Holko

Holko 10,231

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Technically in many cases a looot of archival work has to be done for rerecordings, finding and organising the written material, reconstructing or reorchestrating missing or illegible stuff... but yeah

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Erik Woods

Erik Woods 611

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There is a reason we group them together. We have to have a minimum number of albums to choose from to make a category separate. There just aren't enough re-recordings to warrant a separate category AT THE MOMENT. Having said that, we always discuss these matters after the awards, and there is a possibility of changes being made for next year!

 

-Erik-

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Holko

Holko 10,231

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How much do you wanna bet that instead of "good rerecording of insignificant scores with technical issues vs 7 year long passion project gathering, organising and reworking materials on a massive scale to present a score in a completely new complete context", the thought process for voting was "ooh Herrmann, innovative, niche vs ew Williams, sappy mainstream"?

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Erik Woods

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12 minutes ago, Jim Ware said:

Do not get me started on this one!


Well, I talked to Mike Ross-Trevor about this issue when it was brought up on the Intrada forum, and he said there was no phasing. I'd actually find it interesting to read your take. 

 

-Erik-

Just now, Holko said:

How much do you wanna bet that instead of "good rerecording of insignificant scores with technical issues vs 7 year long passion project gathering, organising and reworking materials on a massive scale to present a score in a completely new complete context", the thought process for voting was "ooh Herrmann, innovative, niche vs ew Williams, sappy mainstream"?


You think you know the process, but you don't.

 

-Erik-

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Erik Woods

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4 minutes ago, Bespin said:

 

And there goes the fragile reputation of the IMFCA.

 

If you think so. :sarcasm:

BTW, John Williams won two awards including SCORE OF THE FRIGGIN' YEAR! yay! But, hey, let's bitch some more about what didn't win! 

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Jim Ware

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25 minutes ago, Erik Woods said:

Well, I talked to Mike Ross-Trevor about this issue when it was brought up on the Intrada forum, and he said there was no phasing. I'd actually find it interesting to read your take. 

 

It's an excellent performance let down by technical issues that mar a few tracks. I can live with the artefacts, but they really shouldn't be there. 

 

I'll defer to @thx99 for a more detailed explanation:

 

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bespinGPT

bespinGPT 8,767

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50 minutes ago, Erik Woods said:

 

If you think so. :sarcasm:

BTW, John Williams won two awards including SCORE OF THE FRIGGIN' YEAR! yay! But, hey, let's bitch some more about what didn't win! 

 

From the way you're speaking, it seems Hook wasn't chosen because John Williams has already won twice.

Speaking of this, I don't really see the point of awarding two 'best score' awards to the same score.

 

If Indy is chosen for the best score of the year, why not give the best adventure prize to another score?

 

I'm having trouble understanding the way you proceeded. And on Twitter, Jon Broxton seems to imply that Herrmann's re-recording was chosen because its production required a lot of talent and money. So, was making Hook easy and cheap? What are your selection criteria exactly?

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Erik Woods

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37 minutes ago, Jim Ware said:

 

It's an excellent performance let down by technical issues that mar a few tracks. I can live with the artefacts, but they really shouldn't be there. 

 

I'll defer to @thx99 for a more detailed explanation:

 


Interesting. I'm usually REALLY good at hearing anomonies, but I'm not 100% sure what I should be on the lookout for when it comes to aural artifacts caused by a notch filter. 

 

21 minutes ago, Bespin said:

 

From the way you're speaking, it seems Hook wasn't chosen because John Williams has already won twice.

I don't really see the point of awarding two 'best score' awards to the same score.

 

If Indy is chosen for the best score of the year, why not give the best adventure prize to another score?

 

I'm having trouble understanding the way you proceeded. And on Twitter, Jon Broxton seems to imply that Herrmann's re-recording was chosen because its production required a lot of talent and money. So, was making Hook easy and cheap? What are your selection criteria exactly?


That's not what I'm saying at all. What I'm saying is that NO ONE on a John Williams forum is talking about the fact that John Williams won two awards including the main prize, SCORE OF THE YEAR! Instead, all you guys are doing is complaining about what didn't win. BTW, complain away, but man, at least acknowledge the victories as well! And there is no mention of it on the front page on this website. Yeesh!

The point of the two awards is that one is an award for a specific genre, and the other is an award to the best score written from Film, TV and Video Games. 

And just because Indy gets an award for score of the year doesn't mean we hand the award to someone else in the genre categories. That's not how this works. We don't sit around a table and discuss our choices. It's a democratic vote. The score with the most votes wins. Pretty simple. 

When it comes down to voting, we have over 70 members who all vote for who they consider to be the best in each category. We all evaluate music differently. Someone likes Hook, awesome, they vote for it; if someone likes the Herrmann recording, they vote for it. The one with the most votes wins. And who knows, maybe Herrmann won by one vote over Hook. And I'm sure the other titles received votes as well. I'm not part of the voting committee, so I don't know the results. But that's how things go.

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Doo_liss

Doo_liss 6,423

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All that matters is what wins to YOU anyways.

 

(Meaning, the awards don't take anything away from what your personal favorite was)

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GerateWohl

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I remember the discussions here around the IFMCA Awards last year. And the more than justified complains about the handling of movie scores at the academy awards. Still, as an award celebrating the art of film scoring in the name of us fans of the medium the IFMCA award I would still consider the best there is out there.

Apart from Thor's yearly top 100 list of course. :)

 

To be honest, I don't care, who wins the IFMCA awards. I just enjoy it as a celebration of the art form.

And this year, as it seems, they recognize a best score of the year, when the hear it. ;)

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Jon Broxton

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7 hours ago, Holko said:

How much do you wanna bet that instead of "good rerecording of insignificant scores with technical issues vs 7 year long passion project gathering, organising and reworking materials on a massive scale to present a score in a completely new complete context", the thought process for voting was "ooh Herrmann, innovative, niche vs ew Williams, sappy mainstream"?

 

I'll bet you a billion dollars that that didn't happen.

6 hours ago, Bespin said:

I'm having trouble understanding the way you proceeded. And on Twitter, Jon Broxton seems to imply that Herrmann's re-recording was chosen because its production required a lot of talent and money. So, was making Hook easy and cheap? What are your selection criteria exactly?

 

I wasn't implying that at all. I was responding to your dismissiveness of the fact that the Herrmann album was "just a re-recording", which completely devalues the amount of time, work, energy, and money that is required to actually put together an orchestra and re-record two niche scores in today's media market. When you combine that with the excellence of the package, the quality of Steve Smith's liner notes, etc... it's a great album.

 

Having said that, Hook is a great album too. A fantastic effort from all involved, for a score that badly needed reworking and presenting in a better manner. That album did all that. It's superb.

 

So, at that point, it simply comes down to the personal taste of the voters. And more people liked the Herrmann set than Hook. That's really all there is to it.

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Richard P

Richard P 4,189

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I'd certainly put in a voice of support for archival expansions and re-recordings being in different categories. One is very specific to a recording process, interpreting and conducting the music, and getting the overall performance and sound right. The other has nothing to do with any of that - it's restoration and curation of material, where any shortcomings in the original recording are baked in.

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Tom Guernsey

Tom Guernsey 2,681

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1 hour ago, Richard Penna said:

I'd certainly put in a voice of support for archival expansions and re-recordings being in different categories. One is very specific to a recording process, interpreting and conducting the music, and getting the overall performance and sound right. The other has nothing to do with any of that - it's restoration and curation of material, where any shortcomings in the original recording are baked in.

I quite agree... it's a bit like when music shops (used to) put soundtracks and musicals together.

 

Surely you only need 3 or 4 choices for each category which I appreciate could be difficult if it's just new recordings of full scores, but given that it also includes re-recorded compilation albums (like the Rosenthal one), I'm sure there's more than enough to have a decent number to choose from. I'd potentially argue that a suites and themes type album is a fairly different proposition from a full score recording and should be another category, but them being considered together is a reasonable compromise.

 

Of course if this were the 80s and 90s every year would be... "and the winner is, John Williams and Boston Pops for whatever they released this year" and if JW had a year off, it would be "...and the winner is, Erich Kunzel and the Cincinnati Pops (except for the effing sound effects)."

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Richard P

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17 hours ago, GerateWohl said:

I remember the discussions here around the IFMCA Awards last year. And the more than justified complains about the handling of movie scores at the academy awards. Still, as an award celebrating the art of film scoring in the name of us fans of the medium the IFMCA award I would still consider the best there is out there.

 

These are certainly more relevant and obviously more appropriate choices than the tone-deaf and completely politics-driven oscars, and they do a great job of recognising fine scores from popcorn and other less prestigious films.

 

Although I think that gives fans more room to argue with the voters as we see here, because said voters are more aware musically, and that creates an expectation certainly here, that Williams should be winning whatever he's nominated for. In this case I disagree because Oppenheimer is a rare case where I think the popularly-hyped film's score is actually good. I also still think that huge parts of DoD being direct lifts is a problem when we consider it as an original work.

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GerateWohl

GerateWohl 5,040

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On the other hand, in a way I think, it is not bad that re-recordings are competing here about the archival release category. Because in many cases the restoration and re-recording might be a real alternative. Imagine if instead of the remastered and minimally extended re-release of Williams' Jane Eyre we would have gotten a proper re-recording.

This might be more relevant for such old scores than for scores from the 80s upwards.

But in a way, I think, that competition makes sense, and I see why the re-recording won this year (despite the sound issues in "On Dangerous Ground").

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Richard P

Richard P 4,189

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Another way to see it is expansion and re-recording. Both are archival but two different processes and sets of talents are involved. Hence you might want to recognise one person's amazing job of handling deteriorating elements, engineering the sound and getting round legal issues, while also recognising another person's talent of recording and mixing an orchestra and their overall interpretation of the source music.

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GerateWohl

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32 minutes ago, Richard Penna said:

These are certainly more relevant and obviously more appropriate choices than the tone-deaf and completely politics-driven oscars.

 

Although I think that gives fans more room to argue with the voters as we see here, because said voters are more aware musically, and that creates an expectation certainly here, that Williams should be winning whatever he's nominated for. I this case I disagree because Oppenheimer is a rare case where I think the popularly-hyped film's score is actually good. And I still think that huge parts of DoD being direct copies is a problem when we consider it as an original work.

Critics might overall have more knowledge on the subject. On the other hand, almost always they are not less driven by their personal ideology and preferences than any other common fan. Therefore, in general I don't value critic's top-10 choices not more than any other fans'. Between the positions 40 and 100 of their top hundred (and below) their view on things are becoming paticularly interesting and their competence starts to shine. But concerning the top 10 I would say, their vote is as good as any other fan's vote.

 

But that applies to almost every top-something list.

 

By the way, at almost any price given to someone by an organization like nobel prize or anything, there is always kind of laudatio or substantiation why the winner was chosen. Ok, The IFMCA is just chosing by vote. And there is no discussing commitee thar discusses and then comes to a conclusion. 

But at a critics award one added value could be, that there might be some kind of laudatio explaining the reasons for the choices and the characteristics, the value and the impact of the winning work. Imagine the feuilleton in the newspaper no longer providing reviews of movies or theater plays but just every week the journalist's personal top 10 lists of movies, music albums and plays. Actually not much of a help.

Of course, there are always pleasant exceptions. 

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Richard P

Richard P 4,189

Posted
Posted

You do get that discussion and analysis of why the winner won with some awards over here - some literary awards come to mind.

 

And that's actually something I'd welcome in this case - I'm all for whomever winning best score if there is a solid and objective-as-possible discussion of why a score is regarded as the best. And by the way, that does not include 'Williams is widely regarded as the best composer in the world and therefore he wins yet again'. You have to consider each individual score on its merits and downsides in order to do it properly.

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Edmilson

Edmilson 8,920

Posted
Posted

Yeah, I think it was a weird choice pairing, for example, JW's Hook expansion with the Herrmann re-recording with JNH's Night After Night on the same category. These are three completely different albums, especially the JNH one, which is a reinterpretation of his Shyamalan scores, unlike the Herrmann album which sought to recreate his actual film cues. 

 

I'm not saying these albums are un-worthy of awards, just that it's odd to see them on the same category. But I guess albums like the JNH and the Herrmann are much rarer than "regular" expansions and the IFMCA felt the need to acknowledge all of these albums.

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fommes

fommes 155

Posted
Posted
On 22/02/2024 at 6:20 PM, Jim Ware said:

True. Archival and re-recording are in no way analogous.

Indeed. I also suspect there should be enough re-recordings (and concert albums) each year to spotlight them in their own category.

 

16 hours ago, Jon Broxton said:

So, at that point, it simply comes down to the personal taste of the voters. And more people liked the Herrmann set than Hook. That's really all there is to it.

Although personally I believe it maybe shouldn't have won due to the technical issues, it's a great album!

 

By the way, that's twice a Herrmann album wins this category in the last three years:

 

BEST NEW ARCHIVAL RELEASE 2021 – COMPILATION

  • The Film Scores of Bernard Herrmann, music by Bernard Herrmann; album produced by Tony d’Amato, Gavin Barratt, Raymond Few, and Tim McDonald; liner notes by Tom Schneller; album art direction by Matt Read (Phase 4/Deutsche Grammophon)
  • Gabriel Yared: Music For Film, music by Gabriel Yared; the Brussels Philharmonic Orchestra and Vlaams Radiokoor, conducted by Dirk Brossé; album produced by Thomas Van Parys and Marijke Vandeburie; liner notes by Thomas Van Parys; album art direction by Stuart Ford (Silva Screen/Film Fest Gent)
  • Pedro Almodóvar & Alberto Iglesias Film Music Collection, music by Alberto Iglesias; album produced by José M. Benitez and Alberto Iglesias; liner notes by Pedro Almodóvar, Alberto Iglesias, and Manuel J. Lombardo; album art direction by Nacho B. Govantes and Luca Barcellona (Quartet)
  • The Pink Panther Final Chapters Collection (Trail of the Pink Panther/Curse of the Pink Panther/Son of the Pink Panther), music by Henry Mancini; album produced by Chris Malone; liner notes by John Takis; album art direction by Nacho B. Govantes (Quartet)
  • Spotlight On John Williams, music by John Williams; the City Light Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Kevin Griffiths; album produced by Pirmin Zängerle and Martin Korn; liner notes by Basil Böhni; album art direction by Roger Krütli (Prospero Classical)
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