[Closed] Now Playing XXXIX

Rise of the Planet of the Apes - Patrick Doyle

Fans of Thor will enjoy this. I still don't understand the 'Zimmeresque' comments - Zimmer didn't invent the ostinato or synth percussion, and this score is unquestionably Doyle throughout.

A little bit like THOR, I think. The RC/ostinato/wall-of-sound-like thing.

I like Doyle, but I was disappointed by APES. Fine film, but I was hoping Doyle would follow the tradition of previous APES scores by Goldsmith, Schifrin, Elfman etc. and provide some really interesting percussive effects other than the washed-out sound we hear here.

NP: Jacob - Marco Frisina

Wonderful. I love the main theme, especially the choral rendition in Giacobbe.

I'm pretty late to this conversation, but I've been on vacation for a week. I've heard a lot of Yanni, especially his early stuff, and I play quite a few of his piano-based piece, of which this is my favorite. It's a very long piece, but the melody is constantly changing and always interesting. The solo violin is also interesting in this performance, though I think I prefer the regular recording of this piece from his IN MY TIME album. I found several YouTube videos of that, but they were all accompanied by incredibly awful picture montages that I decided not to subject you to.

My general impression of Yanni is that he a) looks like captain hook, b) doesn't always know how to end his pieces well, and c) sounds pretty samey after a while. He has written some very enjoyable music, though, and I can't think of ever hearing anything of his that had chirping birds in it.

The two that you linked to seem like pretty standard Yanni pieces to me. I liked the nightingale piece - that was pretty. If you enjoyed those so much, check out his LIVE AT THE ACROPOLIS album, which has a lot of that and several pieces that I think are better. There are a couple pieces on that album, though, that I think suffer from some badly dated drums and electric guitar. I do enjoy Santorini, and depending on my mood I really enjoy Acroyali/Standing in Motion. On that last one skip the long intro (go to the 1:00 min. mark), and know that there's a massive shift from how it starts at about the 3:00 min. mark. It's fun. That album is quite varied. These two are in a similar style, but there's a lot of different stuff there.

You might be interested to know that Yanni is self taught. I've heard that he doesn't read music, but devised his own system of writing down what he plays that someone else then transribes into music that everyone else can read. Looking at his piano books you can tell that he hasn't been classically trained. His time signatures are some of the most bizzare I've seen, and they change frequently during the middle of a piece.

If you're interested, there is a "new age" pianist that I like much more named Jon Schmidt that really isn't very new agey at all. Perhaps I'll post about him in the non-film-score np thread when I have some more time.

Indeed!

Have you noticed that the TV trailer for SUPER 8 uses 'Through The Window' from COCOON!?

The Good Son Elmer Bernstein

When I first heard the score I was surprised by the tone Bernstein took with the incredibly beautiful and instantly memorable main theme. Easily one of my all-time favorite themes. I was expecting a really dark tradition horror-type score being the concept of the movie is creepy (as well as the creepy Macaulay Culkin in his career ending role).



I eventually deleted him from my "following" list because his tweets were becoming too nonsensical and hard to follow, but a lot of his tweets were hilarious (assuming it's really him). If you want to know what he's watching on tv, eating, or whatever is going through his head I recommend it.

Also, I recommend Twitter in general. It is a useful tool to follow sports, news, your career, etc. by following people in the loop. A lot of important events get tweeted before they even make it into the mainstream press.

NP: HIDALGO - JAMES NEWTON HOWARD

Superb!

Franz and I were talking about Yanni in the other NP thread. I enjoy his music. His Acropolis and Tribute album are among my most enjoyed album of his, mostly due to its orchestrated and lively nature, bolstering the accessible melodies and instrumentations.

Today is James Horner's birthday so I'm listening some selections of my favorite scores from him.

Can't wait to get this for my birthday in a few weeks! Based on the popular buzz (which makes me instantly suspicious it won't be any good) it was getting when it was initially released I decided to give the sound samples a listen and based on those I can't wait to hear the rest.

Holy smokes, that's high praise. I guess I'd better look into that one.

NP: Little Women - Thomas Newman.

A very fine album.

I love Morricone, and he often times falls into my favorite composer slot depending on what mood I'm in, but this one never did anything for me. The main theme is good, but it seems to be one of those scores where you have to be patient and wait for the good stuff to happen. I had that disappointing sinking feeling in my stomach after listening to it for the first time after hearing the high praise it normally gets. I couldn't stop thinking, "what if Jerry Goldsmith scored this?"



What tracks did you include in the suite? This has been in my pile of "maybe-get-rid-of-last-chance" CDs, but can't quite get myself to get rid of it yet. It seems like there is some good music in there somewhere it is just so boring to wade through it all.

Conrad Pope - Pavillon of Women

Close to perfection. Beautiful, heartfelt, complex and yet simple, very classically driven score with Chinese influences. Great emotions too. I love it.

NP: House of the Spirits - Hans Zimmer

This has lots of beautiful moments... I liked it!