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Carpenter's finest, I think. And yeah, it's one of BSX' best efforts!

NP: For Those I Loved (En Nom De Tous Les Miens) - Maurice Jarre

It's been quite a while since I played this, having it on vinyl and cassette previously.
With MusicBoxRecords' CD release I had a chance to revisit this score. I'd forgotten how strong it really is!
The vibe is closer to Paris Brûle-t-il? -my favourite Jarre score, by the way- then to most of his other works, aided by the strong presence of the accordeon throughout the score. It's a raw, lonely and melancholy sound and Jarre really squeezes the most out of it.

Dealing (for the greater part) with the progroms in Warsaw, the score isn't a happy one, but it is beautiful: unashamedly lyrical to the level of sentimentality (what do you expect? Apparently it's about a man losing his loved ones time and time again) it's carried by with a strong, dark string-driven melody line. Jarre pushes all the right buttons in this one : every chord progression, every melodic resolution hits the exact right spot and emotional response.

This score may just have shot to the top to be on par in my personal Jarre preferences with the aforementioned Paris Brûle-t-il? (which, incidentally, is just crying out for a proper rerelease or -oh grail of grails- rerecording).

The CD consists of two 'programs': track 1-16 is the original film score, and it is (to my mind) vastly superior to the more glib and slick second half which apparently is the music to the series of the same name (I had no idea there was a series?). The second half is fine in the sense that it revisits and reexamines all the themes from the first half, but the sound is so much cleaner, so much less raw that a lot of the intensity of the score is lost. It's well produced, to be sure, but rather flat emotionally.
Still, there's some wonderful material there.

This is a great CD release and heartily recommended, even if Jarre isn't generally your cup of tea.

I wish the score had a bigger orchestral palette, to be honest. The jigs are quite great however and I believe it's one of the best themes the man has ever written, very hummable and memorable. I think he's been getting better in melodies for quite a while.

The album is WAY too long, but the great thing is that whatever there is is some of the most melodic material he's written. I am, however, quite a big fan of when he combines the RCP on steroids approach with some more avant-garde techniques, which is why I love Eagle Eye so much.

Back to Tyler for a while: The Spanish Empire starts with a very interesting 70s vibe to it (!) .

Re: THE WHITE DAWN



Mine arrived last week, love it!



FACT!



Considering how long I've waited for a release of The White Dawn I was very disappointed after my first listen and that's purely down to the sound quality, I'd jump at a rerecording of this score.

It sounds so churlish to complain when we truly live in a golden age of film score releases.

Still probably my favorite score of the year, that one.

You can never accuse Brian Tyler of being lazy. His music, no matter how enjoyable it is listening to on CD, always has a high quality to it. Clearly a lot of thought and time has gone into making it.

I'd like to add that having just played through Far Cry 3, Tyler's score fit brilliantly and added enough emotion to the experience that it turned a really dumb generic plot into almost a tear-jerker.

Jóhann Jóhannsson - Prisoners

Writing my review of this wonderful score now. I think no film music moved me as much as this downright ascetic score written for a movie that is so deliberate and yet so tense with much of the tension being relegated to the impeccable performances by the actors, in particular Jake Gyllenhaal and an especially brilliant Hugh Jackman. I am so happy that came upon this score and film, it's plain mesmerizing.

Very deliberate and slowly building its atmosphere, it's a very acquired taste, but that's the exact film music I am looking for recently. The track Through Falling Snow is a definite highlight, but a great summary would be the eponymous final track. The rest of the score, while I love it, I would recommend only after seeing the film. It's a difficult work, more to appreciate than just listen to on an everyday basis, but that doesn't diminish its quality at all.

Played two scores in the car this morning.

The first was the excruciatingly dull and down right depressing Winnie Mandela by Laurent Eyquem. I read a lot of praise for this one but I can't hear it. It's overly simple and fails to deliver the emotional punch to the gut that I feel Eyquem was attempting to convay throughout the score. There were a few lovely tracks but nothing memorable. I doubt I'll ever play this one again.

I then moved onto a hidden gem... David Arnold and Kevin Kiner's blistering score to Wing Commander. Great main theme, first heard in the grand "Overture." Kiner picks that theme apart throughout the scores playing time. Thrilling action music with enormous orchestrations from Nicholas Dodd dominates the album highlighted by the incredible cue "Kilrathi Into Scylla." You rarely hear scores of this calibre these days! Great score!

-Erik-

Really!?? I love the score too but I couldn't listen to any score once a week. Besides, I like to stay hungry for greatness.

...and what a wonderful introduction for you.

A damn fine film too, without a doubt Steve McQueen's best performance.

It's an album that if you named a track I could hum it, albeit very awkwardly in the dissonant passages

Winnie Mandela - Laurent Eyquem

I thought everyone would love this. But it looks like it's only me. But love it I do. So moving. Reminds me of Delerue.

I'll have a listen to it tomorrow. After all this talk, I'm really curious.

Remember Me - Olivier Deriviere

Still my favourite of 2013 so far. Wonderful.