GENT 2014: MARTINEZ, ROMER, LAI, NINO ROTA + programme

don't know a lot by Martinez, I'm just glad they're gonna play "Once There was a Hushpuppy", one of THE most addictive tracks of 2012

Some pretty famous names there -- Bruno Dumont, Bret Easton Ellis, our own Eskil Vogt, Atom Egoyan, Francois Ozon, Spandau Ballet...unfortunately, it all takes place before I arrive.

That's a typo from you there. The composer's name is Cyril MoRin. I have no idea who Cyril Molesti is. The name is kinda scary.

Thanks Thor,
Yes that was a typo from myside but at least I misspelled 1 letter not 4........

Change your friggin surname for God's sake, if it's "molesti". Next thing you know: Jack Childraper

Interesting..... :o

Go on, Thomas, give us your thoughts on the awards!

I'll get things started...who on earth is Cyril Molesti? I've never heard of him and haven't found anything by him at all.

The Awards

Film Composer of the Year
Alexandre Desplat
Well, it's getting ridiculous to see him winning again and again. There were other strong contenders this year, and even though Desplat constantly delivers quality, it's soooo obvious he's the favorite of the board. 5 Wins now. Not even John Williams has achieved that. Nuff said

Best Original Film Score of the Year
The Grand Budapest Hotel (by Alexandre Desplat)
Seriously? I think this says it all.

Best Original Song written directly for a Film
‘Happy’ from ‘Despicable Me 2’
music & lyrics by Pharrell Williams
performed by Pharrell Williams
Well, let's just put aside the fact Pharrell is the most iconic song writer of the moment, Let is Go was award winning material this year.

Discovery of the Year
Daniel Pemberton for 'Cuban Fury' & 'The Counselor'
Pemberton's a good up and coming composer, but these these 2 scores never made it to anyone's top 10 list. Especially knowing we had Patrick Cassidy 'Calvary' and Steven Price 'Gravity' in the same list

Lifetime Achievement Award
Francis Lai

Spotify Public Choice Award
'Marina' (by Michelino Bisceglia)
Nuff said, only one which was known to the populas (The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug) and this small BELGIAN film gets the price. They don't even hide the fact they're influencing the winnings. Who in their right mind chooses this over The Hobbit?

Sabam Award for Young Composer
Cyril Molesti
Mostly everyone chose the other (UK) composer, but hell it seems they got a different taste than the main audience.

All in all, the awards are sooooooo European based, they're not even denying it anymore.

To give a bit more context, instead of saying it's shit, here's my view...

The Martinez part was indeed disappointing. No live drum performances, no live electronics and not even live steel drums for Solaris. I had at least expected Martinez to perform something. However, it was just the orchestral parts that were played with in the background a tape of the electronics or percussion and ambient sounds. So what was left were orchestral pieces that were rarely very interesting, and focused on slow strings and sometimes brass. However pieces from Kafka and Wicker Park were quite good. I like Martinez' music especially when he's in this cool eletronic and ambient mode. I love Solaris and like Contagion a lot.

I just don't understand why a composer who's known for electronics and percussion gets a concert focused on his often not so interesting orchestral parts. I guess Brossé has something to do with this? He's rather classically oriented. A wrong choice IMO. But perhaps it's just not an interesting composer choice for a concert anyway. Many reasons. But the orchestral performances of the whole event were all excellent. The orchestra has really been improving every year.

It was a brave choice and I thought this would be an interesting concert, which is what I said in this thread before. But I'm disappointed with the result. It could've been a much more engaging show. I noticed people leaving during the Martinez part and also after the last piece was performed there was not much enthusiasm. It actually ended with a piece from Contagion, so the last few moments were just a tape of the electronics. I have never seen something like that before. Such a pity.

More about the other sections later.

But lets say the time with film music friends during the rest of the weekend was fantastic all the way through.

Also the Nino Rota concert was a bit of a letdown. The first half was very good, excellent performances and all the classic themes and non-Felleni movies got great beautiful suites. The Godfather suite in particular was a highlight. The Felleni part started of with La Strada, which was good enough but what followed was a lot of circus and fanfare music... I don't know but this second half was not varied enough.

Sorry for all the complaining. It's because I love the festival so much, but it has disappointed me like never before.

Fascinating insights guys and I enjoyed reading your views. A shame about Sarde not being able to be there, that would have really disappointed me if I'd been there.

Thomas, there is some Sarde on Spotify but considering his output it's very little and is missing some major works like Tess, Quest For Fire, Ghost Story, Fort Saganne and my favourite of all, Le Train, among many others.

Not much I can add. I feel pretty much the same as Bregt.

I'm a HUGE Martinez fan (and I'm delighted that I got to interview him -- episode coming soon!), but if you remove the electronics from his work, it isn't THAT exciting. His forte is weaving these electronic textures with certain acoustic elements now and then. OK, so they played some of the electronics on a backing track, but that's rather lazy. I'd rather have Martinez on stage and perform either synths or drums of some kind -- like Zimmer did with INCEPTION a couple of years ago. This poor selection of tracks (NOTHING whatsoever from DRIVE or SPRING BREAKERS, for example!) affected the experience.

I also think the audience was the laziest one I've ever heard - not only for the Martinez part, but everything.

Most emotional moment for me was when Francis Lai was moved to tears by the accolades (finally a LITTLE bit of enthusiasm from the crowd).

Beyond the film music event itself, though, what really made this trip for me was the social holiday things AROUND it. The dinner at Bregt's place on Friday complete with Disney song karaoke, the road trips to Ypres and Bruges, the endless amount of soup, the heavy solo partying at Brussel's top beer spot (2800 brands!) with complete strangers, the brewery tours (especially tasting the rare Westvleteren Trappist, which is only served at the abbey itself) etc.

Yes, a cd has been released with the same selection like the concert, recorded back in September with the Brussels Philharmonic and Dirk Brossé. Last year's film festival release was excellent and based on the Scorsese in Concert performance.

Here's last year's live performance at the World Soundtrack Awards for the great last piece of this score
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dbgl6GXtShM