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Who are these "composers"?

He used to play for Liverpool!

NP: Cowboys & Aliens - HGW

Not atrocious at all. Very disappoint listen as far as a western score. But not bad as anything but.

Yeah... even at 31 minutes I occasionally find my attention wandering, but it will be nice to have an official CD of it for the first time.

You sound like Thor!

Humm... I thought I had the trademark on that line!

-Erik-

NP: Last of the Mohicans (Jones/Edelman)

A favourite film, and a favourite score (more for Jones' efforts than Edelman's). This is the full score.

Even though I haven't heard this yet, I have a feeling you're being far too kind.

Battle Beyond The Stars - James Horner

This pre-Kahn study (or extended Kahn opus; not sure which one was first and I can't be bothered to look it up) is THOROUGHLY enjoyable and a wonderfully symphonic and melodic listen, the likes of which -as only becomes clear when such an old gem is released- we have been missing for FAR too long in this day and age.

Horner at his derivative best weaves a lush tapestry of unabashed Romanticism, with some fine thematic and beautifully orchestrated work.

BSX's new release is topped off by a not bad disco-ish source cue and a shitload of electronic sound effects by Alan Howarth and the Raine/Prague Symphony rendition of the Battle Beyond The Stars main theme.
Interestingly I prefer the original recording, rough and sometimes slightly off as it is: there's a little harsh edge to it that really fits the music!
Nevertheless THIS is what a good release should look and sound like: chockfull of great music and excellently fun goodies. Well done, BSX!!!

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand....



-Erik-

I think the last three minutes is a real choir (16:40 - 19:05 ) ?

Man that would have been great to hear in the movie. Actually, even if I think Titanic is a superb work that made the movie even better, never understood why he didn't use a real choir.

That fake choir is one of the major reasons I've never been too fond of Titanic.

NP - The Other Boleyn Girl - Paul Cantelon

The last four tracks of this (especially the last two) are really, REALLY great. Who would expect such grandeur and beauty from a guilty verdict and an execution?

Harry Gregson-Williams - The Magic of Marciano

Pretty little score, something completely unexpected from the composer, known mostly for his better or worse (often worse) blockbuster scores.

First surprise, it's a small-scale work, not dissimilar to Horner's To Gillian on Her 37th Birthday in terms of arrangement, but without (that's the second surprise!) electronics, any electronics. So we have warm and emotional (particularly in the final cue) strings, woodwinds (flute, clarinet and an oboe), a harp, piano and a French horn (actually mixed quieter than in the Horner score, which makes it not that jarring to me, this score never gets "epic" in any way, fortunately). There is also a very nicely used (sampled maybe? Sometimes it does sound a bit like taken from Broken Arrow) children choir.

Largely restrained, it explodes emotionally in the final cue. And a good side is that the release is a tad over 20 minutes long, so it never overstays its welcome and makes a very good impression, especially due to its very beautiful theme. How subtle Gregson-Williams is in the score is how he handles the main theme harmonically. In general, the sad theme is written in minor key, but he always ends it with a major key, giving hope, something his master (it was written in 2000, Harry Gregson-Williams was still a part of Media Ventures by then, mind you) would never think of (and that said by the biggest Hans Zimmer fan on this board except maybe Nautilus!).

Long story short, I really like this score and it came to me as a surprise. I got the promo thanks to a HGW fanboy I know. I love what he does with the theme, I love how an emotional explosion is worked out from all the restraint. And I love that this score is coming from, of all composers, Harry Gregson-Williams. I can recommend it to fans of restrained scores, especially restrained Horner works.

Actually, it's not hard to explain at all (just to contradict myself). Horner's an actual composer with actual training. He wrote the music for synth choir, not for real choir. Therefore it works with synth choir but not with real choir. Not rocket science after all.

I didn't mean to imply anything about Debney, by the way. He was presumably only doing what he was told (the life of the film composer - even when only conducting!)

I don't really agree about Horner, though that won't be a surprise to anyone. I rarely think what he does is detrimental to the film (he goes OTT with the emotional manipulation sometimes, but that's just the type of film he usually scores). I love the fact that he writes these long pieces, records without click track, etc - it goes against the grain for a film composer but I think it gives real air to his music, and usually makes the score in the film sound like it's breathing along with it rather than being a slave to it. Also - he's one of the few where the whole score generally sounds like it was conceived as an entity rather than being made up of a series of smaller entities. Perhaps all this just lends weight to your argument, I don't know; but it's why I think he's the best there is (octogenarians and near-octogenarians excepted).