What are you listening to now?
- This topic has 945 replies, 21 voices, and was last updated 6 hours, 55 minutes ago by
.
-
Posts
-
Nice cover of Doldinger’s “Happy Flight” from NEVERENDING STORY by the “Rundfunk Tanzorchester Ehrenfeld” (a tv show band over here):
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DQwUksMjSU0/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_linkSorry, thought WP would embed the post but apparently doesn’t support that anymore
Pinar Toprak’s best score to date (I also like her AVATAR: FRONTIERS OF PANDORA, at least when whittled down to 38 minutes from its insane running time), for this 2011 documentary about the 33rd America’s Cup. Big and epic when called for, but also downkey and intimate.
That Vangelis album has grown on me over the years, after initially being lukewarm.
It was the first time I listened to it. It absolutely had its moments.
This sumptous orchestral score totally blew me away in 2011. Chen is Chinese, but moved to France in his early 30s and became the last student of Olivier Messiaen, no less. He’s mostly written concert music, but a few scores as well. I should really set aside time to explore his other work some day, based on this brilliant effort. Plus, it’s given me an idea for a new topic.
That’s a good one. I’m soon on to Rachel Portman myself. The master of writing a beautiful theme, and then repeating it over and over again.
Wow, just came across this, and what a great recording. Perhaps the best since Karajan’s legendary 1974 account. Makes actually a case for 12-tone music as a venue for personal expression.
Schönberg’s Variations for Orchestra can by thorny, but when it’s performed with such verve and transparency, it’s great.Arnold Schönberg: Variations for Orchestra, Op. 31 / Kirill Petrenko & Berliner Philharmoniker
Yup, as mentioned earlier, I’ve reached Rachel Portman in my collection walkthrough now. This 1992 score is the earliest I own of her. Slightly whimsical, but SEVERAL themes on display here, not just the one she usually repeats. Love the more downkey woodwind moments. Possibly temp tracked with TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD? But the less said about the ugly brown border on the cover, the better. Don’t know why Big Screen Records did those.
Three suites, each 15-20 minutes in length, from various Young projects.
VIETNAM WAR STORY (TV series from 1987-88) is a typical Young mix of electronic, acoustic and vocal elements, the latter being mostly Japanese percussion and wind instruments. While not quite musique concrète, there’s not a lot of melody, but the timbres and soundscapes are quite captivating.
THEN MINSTREL’S SONG (a short film from 1981) is lighter and more melodic, but your enjoyment of it will depend on your acceptance level for medieval instruments that are often (and I would guess intentionally) out of tune. Mine, it turns out, is pretty low. 😉
THE TOWER (2002) had an earlier, full score release from Intrada, here we get a newly reworked 18 minute suite. It’s beautiful and soothing, with strings, piano, harp and vocals (with lyrics), wonderfully sung by Alžbeta Korcáková (who..?)
I have the old Cinema Septet CD by Young, which also has the first two on that disc, if memory serves. I’m guessing they reused that? (THE TOWER, I have on its own digital album….great score).
Cinema Septet I missed back then. Since that’s long out of print I think BSX is basically re-issuing. THE TOWER I have as well but I haven’t listened to it in ages and don’t remember how it is. Never really disliked any Young though.
I recently listend to another early Young compilation:
https://www.discogs.com/release/2529918-Christopher-Young-Def-Con-4-Original-Motion-Picture-SoundtrackRanges from Goldsmith like (DEF CON 4) some action stuff that reminds me a bit of Horner’s 48 HOURS (AVENGING ANGEL) some light Jazz (TELEPHONE) to atonal (TORMENT). Remember I bought that one probably in the late 90s for a few euros (back then even “Mark”) 2nd hand.
I have the old Cinema Septet CD by Young, which also has the first two on that disc, if memory serves. I’m guessing they reused that? (THE TOWER, I have on its own digital album….great score).
That’s right, both VIETNAM WAR STORY and THE MINSTREL’S SONG are on Cinema Septet, but on that release they were one each long track; now both have been split into six or seven separate cues. The liner notes also say that VIETNAM WAR STORY has been “revised”, but I’m not sure if that means anything more than the division into tracks (I haven’t compared them).
Ranges from Goldsmith like (DEF CON 4) some action stuff that reminds me a bit of Horner’s 48 HOURS (AVENGING ANGEL) some light Jazz (TELEPHONE) to atonal (TORMENT).
Yes, that release sure covers a lot of styles!
RVW is maybe my favourite classical composer, mostly due to the pastoral beauty of things like Greensleeves/Thomas Tallis/Lark Ascending etc. So when people went on and on about his ANTARCTIC film score, I eventually decided to check it out a few years ago, in its Gamba performance. Well, there is only a fragment of that pastoral beauty in it, but it’s pretty good for what it is, with all its dramatic highs and lows. Largely tonal and “English” (a lot of RVW’s modern stuff alienates me a little bit), there’s still about 10 minutes of non-stop, Rozsa-ian brooding at the end there, though, which is pretty heavy on the ear.
Randy Miller is perhaps best known as an orchestrator, but he’s a fine composer in his own right (there’s an interesting topic idea, btw), and this promo from 1994 displays some of that. Most of it is taken up by the rambunctious western music for DREAM RIDER. Big, full, orchestral sound throughout (plus some synth).
Ennio Morricone’s scores for the Italian Western could be quirky or idiosyncratic, but this one, The Guns for San Sebastian, is among his more conventional, but also simply beautiful. This is a lush, romantic and epic score by the Maestro.
Or course, one may rightly point out that it is neither really a western (it takes place in Mexico in the 18th century, so time an place are slightly off) nor Italian (it’s actually a French film), but who cares, it’s often on Morricone Italian Western compilations. At least parts of it. But the whole score is beautiful worth listening to.Some more Chris Young. This is Intrada’s expanded 2 CD release (sorry, Thor 😉 ) from last year.
It’s less dense than you might expect from a “creature” horror score by Young, and while there is some dissonance and angry orchestral and electronic outbursts, a lot of it is actually quite beautiful and haunting.Oh yeah, Species by Christopher Young is great, absolutely excellent score.
I’m playing:
It’s November going on December, so I can listen to Shostakovich’s 2nd Piano Concertos, which is aligned with Christmas season for me. Tonight it is this recording.
Such a lovely score (from 1984). You can clearly hear in the main theme that it was temped with CHARIOTS OF FIRE, which was all the rage at the time. But it’s mostly a lively orchestral affair, which Hartley always does so well. A truly underrated composer (also check out PRINCESS CARABOU, AN AWFULLY BIG ADVENTURE, ALICE IN WONDERLAND, THE LION IN WINTER and A THOUSAND ACRES while you’re at it).
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.