Spanish film music?
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Listening to the works of Pascal Gaigne at the moment, a composer I’ve enjoyed for a long time. Coming off of MATKA EDENIIN – A JOURNEY TO EDEN (2011) and KATMANDÚ – UN ESPEJO EN EL CIELO (2012), right now I’m playing his compilation album RETROSPECTIVE (2012), soon on to LAS MANOS DE MI MADRE (2013) and LOREAK (2014). Gaigne is not Spanish, he’s French. But he’s primarily worked on Spanish productions.
So it reminded me that we should have a topic for Spanish film music. Quite a lot of good ones to choose from. Do you have any favourite composers and/or scores?
I know probably far to less about Spanish film scores. A favorite is probably Javier Navarette’s PAN’S LABYRINTH.
Ferando Velazquez has done some good ones like THE ORPHANAGE or his “Morricone” score THE IMPOSSIBLE. The Quartet compilation MUSIC FOR FILMS is really nice.
I already mentioned the the huge 4CD set of Anton Garcia Abril’s EL HOMBRE Y LA TIERRA.
Jose Nieto I remember to be good. I have two scores but haven’t heard them in a while so I don’t remember them.
There are two compilatios UNA MUSICA DE CINE ESPANOL that I remember to be quite varied and interesting. Also didn’t listen to that for some time……… Curse of larger collections 😉
Totally blank. Came to think of it, I don’t think I have a single album by a spanish music artist in my collection.
I know of Neuronium/Michel Huygen.
or his “Morricone” score THE IMPOSSIBLE.
I’ve always felt more Delerue than Morricone, but yes – spectacular score, his masterpiece.
I own exactly two albums of spanish film composers. One of Alberto Iglesias “Hable Con Ella” and one of Fernando Velazquez “L’Orphanato”.
That’s it. But I really like both scores.I don’t know how many Spanish composers are represented in my collection. Maybe 10-15. Would be beneficial to spread the recommendations out a bit.
Alfonso de Vilallonga’s BLANCANIEVES (2012) is a good one. A retelling of the Snow White story, with very colourful, orchestral details. Album is too long, though, so needs whittling. Mine is 47 minutes.
I’ve always felt more Delerue than Morricone, but yes – spectacular score, his masterpiece.
Yeah, indeed a bit of both in that final track.
Some more I like:
- Joseba Beristain ELCANO MAGELLANES: Nothing “earth shattering” but a nice large orchestral with choir score for an animation
- Frederico Jusid’s ISABELLA. Large orchestral with equally large choir, a little bombastic at times
- Roque Banos ALATRISTE or EL CORAZON DE GUERRO: Orchestral historic scores if I remember right. Or THE MACHINIST I think was good, too, but more dissonant.
Alberto Iglesias should surely be named. Sadly I never really warmed up with him so I don’t have any favorite score.
Some more known composers names I know at least some tracks of:
Victor Reyes, Angel Illarramendi, Alejando Amenbar,Maybe you should do a Spanish composer special on the site later 😉 I am inspired to listen to some of these albums again the next days now.
Good selections, although Jusid is Argentinian, not Spanish! I know, tricky with some of those Hispanic names.
although Jusid is Argentinian, not Spanish!
Dammit! I last minute removed Luis Enrique Bacalov who I thought was Spanish in ITaly only, too!
Maybe we should just rename the topic to “Spanish speaking composers” 😉
Alejando Amenbar,
Right! I forgot about Amenábar. I love his score for “The Others”.
So, I have three.Maybe we should just rename the topic to “Spanish speaking composers” 😉
And if we extended it to Portuguese composers I could add Nuno Malo. But I think, these extension make no sense. Spanish composers are Spanish composers. That’s it.
Malo is very good at creating absorbing scores – they have a bit of melancholy that sucks me right in.
Nuno Malo is excellent (I asked him to sit in the international Harpa jury once, which he did), although outside him, a topic about Portuguese film composers would be relatively meager, I think. 🙂
Back to Spain — Malte mentioned Ángel Illarramendi earlier. He is my favourite Spanish composer bar none, a present-day Georges Delerue of sorts (and like Delerue, he does incredibly well with bittersweet melodies, less well with suspense and action). I have 14 of his albums, all of which I would recommend: 180, AUNQUE TÚ NO LO SEPAS, BAZTAN, BUEN VIAJE EXCELENCIA, COMPONE PAR ELIAS QUEREJETA, CUANDO VUELVAS A MI LADO, EL HIJO DE LA NOVIA, EL REY DE LA GRANJA, HÉCTOR, LUNA DE AVELLANEDA, TIEMPO DI TORMENTA, YOYES and UNA HISTORIA RECIENTE (a rejected score for LA LENGUA DE LAS MARIPOSAS, which Amenàbar – who’s from Chile, by the way – ended up scoring instead).
But if I were forced to choose just ONE, it would need to be LOS BORGIA, the Spanish film version from 2006. Gorgeous pastiche variations of renaissance music, but with lusher, more modern orchestral landscapes. I mentioned the track “Funeral de Jean” in the thread about the medieval melody “La Folia” in film music, but I recommend listening to the full soundtrack on Spotify:
Amenàbar – who’s from Chile, by the way
He was born there. But his mother is spanish and he moved to Spain when he was 1 year old, grew up in Madrid and started his movie career in Spain which, I think, justifies calling him a spanish film maker and composer.
Sampled the SPotify samples of LOS BORGIA. Sounds indeed very Delerue even the action tracks remind me of him. Nice.
Amenàbar – who’s from Chile, by the way
Ah, another one I got wrong! At least I didn’t sneak a Portuguese speaking Brazillian in there, too 😉
Fernando Velàzquez was already mentioned in the thread, more specifically his masterpiece LO IMPOSSIBLE. But there are a couple of others worth mentioning, like his fairly recent, CINEMA PARADISO-like score for LA CONTADORA DE PELICULAS (2023) and a rather unknown concert work (or possibly a short film score?) called AMAIAREN KONDAIRA from 2022. Only 18 minutes in length, but well worth your time:
I checked out some of his scores. But the only two that I liked were “El Orphanato” and “Lo Imposible”.
I also recently checked out some more works of Amenábar apart from “The Others”. And there I liked “Abre Los Ochos” quite a lot. Gave me some James Horner vibes in a good way.
It’s been ages since I had anything “to do” with Amenábar, but maybe time to re-acquaint myself with both his films and scores.
Looking beyond the big Spanish names for a moment, there are a number of less known names in my collection where I own one (maybe two) of their works, yet I’ve never really explored the rest of it, for one reason or another.
One of those names is Ivan Palomares. A kind, young guy with much promise. I hung out a bit with him in Croatia a few years ago, during a film music festival there, but I remember oversleeping one morning, after a heavy night of drinking the night before, and we were supposed to have met for breakfast. Always felt guilty for that. But then in the years since, I’ve noticed a few new and interesting things by him. Like the TV series LA COCINERA DE CASTAMAR (2021). Never saw it, but IMDB describes it thusly: “Set in early-18th-century Madrid, the plot follows the love story between an agoraphobic cook and a widowed nobleman.”
Palomares writes great pastiche music, again combining it with more lyrical, modern sensibilities on occasion. Two volumes were released, I recommend checking it out:
Big shout-out to Manuel Riveiro, who mightily impressed me with his retro 80s/90s adventure score for LIVE IS LIFE in 2022 — a top contender for me that year! Alas, I haven’t explored his other work much since then, should remedy that. I’m open to recommendations, but I doubt many of you have explored him either?
A composer that came out of nowhere in the early 2010s to truly impress me was Marc Timón Barceló (or just Marc Timón, I wonder if the Barceló bit has something to do with him hailing from Barcelona?). First with the colourful animation score for THE LITTLE WIZARD (2012), and then what I think is event music for some form of live Roman pageant called COLISEUM (2014). The latter allows Timón to let it all loose as he channels his inner Miklós Rózsa here and there. Well worth your time, if you have 56 minutes to spare:
I know the name but totally unfamiliar with him. Perhaps he just dropped the last name when moving to LA as just “Timon” is surely easier to remember…
OK, one more Spanish score before the weekend is over.
I’ve mentioned this score elsewhere, like the “What are you listening to now?” thread. It’s Oscar Martín Leanizbarrutia’s score for the 2021 film CLARET. It could easily have fit in the “The Religious Sound” thread as well, as there are psalm-like structures aplenty. But also a more wistful, Delerue-ian approach that I always fall for.
Paloma Peñarrubia did a wonderful score for LA VIDA CHIPÉN in 2022, that mixes synths, hammond organs, jazz and classic baroque. Was definitely a highlight that year, and well worth highlighting. I should seek out some of her other work.
I think it was Malte who brought up Roque Baños earlier in the thread. He was very interesting once upon a time, especially all his variations and permutations of the classic Bernard Herrmann sound. In later years, he’s veered more towards various boring thriller tropes, which is not his forte. He’s more interesting when he works on Spanish-language productions, and less so with Hollywood or English-language ones.
I have four Baños scores that I like – GOYA EN BURDEOS (1999), SEGUNDA PIEL (2000), LAS 13 ROSAS (2007) and CANTINFLAS (2014). If I were to pick a favourite, then maybe the earliest one, GOYA EN BURDEOS, about the Spanish painter Goya who moves to Bordeaux towards the end of his life and reflects on his past. Baños mixes chamber-sized late 18th century classical tropes with certain regional colours (castanets!) and a more fullbodied, ominous orchestral sound that indeed wears its Herrmann on its sleeve.
By (mostly) chatting to myself here, I have pretty much exhausted my collection of Spanish film music by now. But I have one final trick up my sleeve.
Back in the early 2000s, I got a fan-made 2CD sampler of some Spanish film music that, in addition to previously mentioned Illarramendi and Iglesias, also included selections from José Nieto, Joan Vives, Eva Gancedo and Bernardo Bonezzi – none of whom have been mentioned before in this thread. There was no artwork for it, but as it happened, this was back when I was e-mail pals with Jim Titus. He designed loads of CD-Rs for me. He said he later used some of those designs in a portfolio when he got those gigs for various major labels. I always found that amusing.
Anyhoo, here’s the 2CD sampler in question. Sadly, I can’t find it on my shelf now. Don’t know what happened to it. But I suppose I can recreate it if I want to.
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