YOUR ALL TIME FAVOURITE FILM SCORE ALBUMS!!!

Whether Uilleann pipes or bagpipes, my next fave upstages both by using drainpipes played under water!

43: QUILLS (2000) by Stephen Warbeck, on RCA CD (2000).

Warbeck is yet another composer on my Top 50 who is not a favorite composer with respect to his overall output ... but he accomplished a singular and 'way out' opus with QUILLS.

QUILLS covers a musical spectrum from the innocuous to the lurid ... and from period instruments to unorthodox non-instruments.

Review, if you will, the following lineup of performer credits from the QUILLS soundtrack album, some of whom are listed as member of The Lunatic Band:

Artwork By [Art Direction For Rca Victor] – Caroline Ulrich
Bass – Tim Harries
Brass [Serpent, The Lunatic Band] – Dave Powell
Cello – Nick Cooper
Clarinet [Bass], Performer [Damnoni] – Martin Robertson
Composed By [Score], Producer – Stephen Warbeck
Concertmaster – Rolf Wilson
Conductor [Score Conducted By] – Nick Ingman
Contractor [Music Contracted By] – Isobel Griffiths
Copyist [Music Preparation By] – Andrew Green (4), Graham Read
Drums [The Lunatic Band] – Paul Clarvis
Guitar – John Parricelli
Lute [Cittern, The Lunatic Band], Mandolin [The Lunatic Band] – Graeme Taylor, John Parricelli
Orchestrated By [Assisted By] – Andrew Green (4)
Orchestrated By [Orchestrations By] – Stephen Warbeck
Other [A&r Direction] – Bill Rosenfield
Other [Creative Executive] – Michael Knobloch
Other [Music Supervised For Twentieth Century Fox] – Robert Kraft
Percussion – Gary Kettel
Performer – Lunatic Band, The
Performer [Filophone], Performer [Whirring Stick] – Paul Clarvis
Recorded By [Score], Mixed By [Score] – Chris Dibble
Reeds [Shawms, The Lunatic Band] – Keith Thompson (2)
Strings [Piano Strings], Performer [Pole-cheng] – Stephen Warbeck
Trombone [Bass], Didgeridoo [Didjeridu], Pipe [Pipes, Drain Pipes] – Richard Henry
Trombone [The Lunatic Band], Performer [Bucket, The Lunatic Band] – Richard Henry
Violin [The Lunatic Band] – Dermot Crehans*
Violin, Soloist – Dermot Crehan
Whistle, Clarinet [Bass] – Sarah Homer

Curiously, when the Medieval serpent is utilized in a film score, the resultant soundtrack usually resides on my favorites list (such as Bernard Herrmann's WHITE WITCH DOCTOR and Jerry Goldsmith's ALIEN).

But much more than simply the serpent's presence places QUILLS into my Top 50.

Initially lulling the listener into a false sense of security, Warbeck's QUILLS sounds as if it could be a score from a Jane Austen adaptation. During its mid-section and throughout the remainder of its program, QUILLS possesses music which would not be out of place in a Hammer Horror.

The inspiration for the instrumental innovation was, in part, due to director Phil Kaufman.

The QUILLS soundtrack surprised and pleases me so much because it demonstrated that, in Y2K, a film score be as original as classic vintage scores like PLANET OF THE APES or ALIEN.

No Brian May?


#44 MAD MAX BEYOND THUNDERDOME - MAURICE JARRE


I remember being quite surprised to find the choice for the third instalment of Mad Max wasn't to be scored by director George Miller's regular composer Brian May but by French legend Maurice Jarre. The original album wouldn't have made it on to my list because it included the Tina Turner 1980's power anthems which I've always detested, thankfully Tadlow released a fabulous 2 disc of the complete original score that really opened up this awesomely percussive score. Poignant, powerful and rocking, this is brilliant fantasy scoring at its finest. It's also great to have the original albums three "suite" tracks which were edited together but makes for a personal nostalgic listening experience for me.

No 44:

Caravans (1978) by Mike Batt

In this list this is the only score of which I never saw the movie. I never seems to air on German TV. However, the score by Mike Batt is outstanding. That goes not only for the iconic main theme. The "radio version" has become an instrumental standard. The entire score is moody, melodic and just fun to listen to. I'm a big fan of Batt and I dig his film music. I wish there would be more.

Volker

Jarre does seem to divide people the most when it comes to big name composers.

A good choice. A score I enjoy a lot.

I'm really not sure how I overlooked that overwhelmingly MASSIVE fact, Edmund?

Ha, ha...you should slow down. This is getting way out of hand.

And before I forget ( because I didn't mention it ), great choice by the Captain on CARAVANS, bloody darned good score with a corking main theme.

Hey, I'm a 12-tone guy not a 12-stone fellow.

#44: THE VILLAGE (2004), by James Newton Howard on Hollywood Records CD.

This is the most recent title within my Top 50. Yet, THE VILLAGE is by now 10 years old.
I feel that a film or an album should age and ferment - as with fine wine - before being labeled as 'classic'.
While there may be a few new releases whose music I like, I shy away from calling something an instant classic and prefer instead that a musical work endure the passage of time so that the music's character and value can be assessed at critical distance.

JNH's THE VILLAGE is, thus far, my favorite film score and album from the 21st century.
Since THE VILLAGE is of a relatively recent vintage, I expect members here to be very familiar with it and I won't discuss it at length.

The aspect of this soundtrack which I love the most is its concertante form - that is, a instrumental soloist (in this instance a violinist) interacts with and apart from the orchestra.
THE VILLAGE is the sort of film score which I think is rather difficult to successfully pull off. It could be regarded as a Concerto for Violin and Orchestra by soundtrack collectors yet be viewed as film music by classical music lovers. THE VILLAGE is both, and there's not many of its ilk throughout the history of movie music.

I even fancy that THE VILLAGE ignited a mini-trend of having a virtuoso soloist perform in film scoring sessions (consider Howard Shore's EASTERN PROMISES or JNH's THE HAPPENING for cello and orchestra).
Desplat's THE PAINTED VEIL has pianist Lang Lang as its 'star' and this no doubt was a factor in having its soundtrack album appear on Deutsche Grammophon (not a label known to be associated with film music!)

Is this a genuine trend? Probably not, but it was very nice while it lasted.

James Newton Howard is not Ralph Vaughan Williams, and THE VILLAGE is not "The Lark Ascending".
But THE VILLAGE may very well be the closest thing to a romance for violin and orchestra that was issued forth from the world of film music.

Surprise choice there, Cobweb. I certainly did not expect something as 'commercial' as that, judging from your previous choices. Cool!

By the way, there are several film composers who have nurtured a relationship with Deutsche Gramophon in recent years. Perhaps the biggest name is Max Richter, who in addition to being a concert composer has also done his fair share of films over the the last few years, with soundtrack on DG. Actually, he's a composer that should be up your alley, but I'm sure you're already familiar with him.

Wasn't expecting that - i.e. a score I've actually heard and one that I can actually enjoy - from you, Cobweb.

Yeah, a masterpiece.

I was listening to THE VILLAGE yesterday. I turned it off halfway through and played some Vaughan Williams instead.