[Closed] Now Playing XLIV

I'm confused now myself. The sure did Bennett's "Orient Express". I thought I had seen "Death on the Nile" floating around then, too. Maybe that was an older edition, though.

The Specialist - J Barry

It's good.

AFRICA was very good. It's my new favorite score of the year.

NP - DA VINCI'S DEMONS - Bear McCreary

First listen.

I think Revell's rejected score is excellent. One of his very best scores. Very unique instrumentation, which when talking to Tim Simonec took a lot of pride in.

-Erik-

One of the most beautiful and bold leitmotifs ever written for film.

James Horner - Enemy at the Gates

One of my all-time favourite James Horner score. Coming from a guy who hated For Greater Glory because of lack of originality, me loving this particular score may sound weird, but I think this score has much more going on for itself than just the copies of his own style. I'll try to describe why I think it's one of the best scores from the man, but before that I need to delve into my personal connection with the music, because it's relevant for my perception of it.

When the movie came out, I was a hater of James Horner. I never understood the complete love for Titanic and while I learnt to appreciate the music a bit more now (enough to give it a 3,5 rating rather than the 1 I was giving it when I first heard it, I also completely didn't go with the phenomenon of the music, that is, I haven't seen it in the cinema, only about two years later on VHS), I still don't really understand it either. Being a Horner hater, I kinda enjoyed Mask of Zorro (which I learnt to love later), which I got as a gift once and was returning to it (sorry Erik, knowing that it was your wedding song, but I have to say I dislike I Want to Spend My Lifetime Loving You, not because the music is bad, but because I don't really enjoy the way it was arranged as a pop song, my favourite Horner song is still Listen to the Wind), but then came a project that heavily interested me as a movie, because I've always been a bit of a World War II geek and the Battle of Stalingrad was something I was especially interested in because it was a turning point in the war. So I went to cinema and I loved the movie totally. The atmosphere, the visuals, the tension (the sniper scenes were almost unbearable sometimes, that brilliant I felt they were), the bleakness and, God, the SCORE! It was totally effective and aiding the film. So suddenly I started following Horner's career and I really like the composer right now (I am not a fan of the man himself, but that's because of what he said about working with Malick on The New World; ironically I am a huge fan of that album). Cristiada has, well, disgusted me, but I didn't lose respect for the man's composition talent, partly because of his Amazing Spider-Man score.

But, back to this score. First thing is the brilliant and coherently built bleak atmosphere, even if it's achieved through quoting the most ironic of Russian composers. So while it retains a Russian sound, the more "patriotic" elements of the score (Vassili's Fame Spreads, for example) are done with the irony that was so characteristic of Prokofiev's writing... It can't be taken overly seriously in something this bleak (and also this is aided by a very dark, if chewingly over-the-top, performance of Bob Hoskins as Nikita Khruschev). So it's not just quoting the cliche, it's deconstructing it in the same way the source material did it. And that's purely brilliant. So, the irony of Prokofiev (a recurring method of the score is using Prokofiev's method of going half-tone lower and getting back to the tonic in the low strings, which wonderfully adds unease and heaviness to the music) combined with the bleakness of Shostakovich (prevalent in the harmony and actually The Hunter Becomes the Hunted features at least a reference to the Fifth Symphony's Largo (the motif for harp and flute), which is something Horner took a liking in, including downright literal quotes in his Jack Ryan scores; Achilles' theme in Troy is in part a quote of the final part of the symphony) make for something both appropriately Russian in sound, but also bleak enough to hold the hopeless and anti-war atmosphere together. Add to it another Russian influence - this time nobody other than Sergei Rachmaninov and the famed four-note motif, which is bleak in its own construct, because being based on half-tones. The militaristic tone of the movie is aided by a natural thing in Horner's style, which is the preference of snare in the percussion section.

Second thing is the beauty of the thematic material, even if it's either a folk Jewish melody as some people suggested, or inspired by Mahler's 8th Symphony. There is a major and minor key twist to the theme and Horner knows how to use them.

Third thing is just one track. But WHAT a track. James Horner is the best purely symphonic writer working in the industry and yes, while John Williams' film scores are the perfect combination of intellect and compositional technique aided by an inherent understanding of storytelling throgh leitmotivic structure, Horner is the one who writes scores that formally sound like they were written for the *concert hall* rather than for the movie, sometimes it detracts from the film experience (Horner tends to go a bit his own way in the development, so while he retains the connection to the movie's pace and all, emotionally he can go south, because he's telling his own story and sometimes forgets about the emotions inherent in what's *on screen*, that's a controversial theory, I know, but that's the way I feel it). This advantage Horner, the composition PhD he is, shows to perfection in the opening track. The River Crossing to Stalingrad is a brilliant piece of film music (aids the movie totally and completely), but also a little masterpiece of a tone poem on its own. The way it's developed, the harmony, the polyphony, the use of instrumentation, the way it leads to the outburst at the end, the atmosphere. All comes together in form of a singular masterpiece and a definite highlight of James Horner's career for me.

Yes, it's a derivative score. You could hear Braveheart, Willow, Apollo 13, Balto, even Glory in it and the list is by no means complete. But still, the way it came together and worked in the movie makes it for a very good entry in James Horner's career in my book, a very well thought-out score on the conceptual level and something that plain... works.

Just played: Buddenbrooks (1979) - Eugen Thomass

A 11 part TV series based on the famous novel by Thomas Mann, with a great cast such as Carl Raddatz, Martin Benrath, Ruth Leuwerik and Volker Kraeft.
German composer Eugen Thomass composed a short but great orchestral score that pefectly captures the melancholic mood of the narrative. Three cues of the score are to be found on Musik in Deutschland 1950-2000 (Sony). Thomas conducts the Warsaw Radio Symphony Orchestra.

NP: Elizabeth: The Golden Age (2007) - Craig Armstrong /A. R. Rahman

Henceforth I will pretend this to be the score of "Man of Steel".

Volker

wrong thread.

The Emperor's Club - James Newton Howard

This score is never mentioned when it comes to best-of-JNW-lists. For me this is one of his all time best scores.

Volker

Because it's JNH doing his best Thomas Newman impression. It's a pleasant score but when I listen to a JNH's score I want to hear JNH composing JNH music. The Emperor's Club is no where near the quality of his all time bests, IMO.

-Erik-

It's one of those things that could catch me out in a quiz...

QM: Who wrote the score for The Emperor's Club?

Me: Thomas Newman

QM: Wrong, it was James Newton Howard

The thing is, somewhere in my mind I know it's JNH

Indeed, good stuff, liked it

Jesus, I'll listen to it then!

First though (still on Enemy at the Gates), I intend to have a first listen to None of the Brave, the 1965 John Williams score and my first pre-70s Williams I'll listen to.

"Pastiche" is a kind word I think. "Plagiarism" is the one I'd use. It might not quite meet the demands of a lawsuit, but in moral terms it is. It's Scent of a Woman, very very slightly rearranged. Large parts of the score are. Not just the main theme.