[Nils Jacob Holt Hanssen]

For my top three favorite composers – Williams, Goldsmith and Chris Young, I think my collection is pretty complete, with some 360, 200 and 100 CDs, respectively. I also have, I think, all their LPs, at least the ones released concurrently with the movies (I haven’t joined the recent vinyl resurgence craze).

My definition of “complete” is basically everything the composer has composed – meaning, for instance, that I don’t have every release where Williams was “only” the pianist or arranger.

I realize that being a “completist” might seem somewhat stupid. I mean, I buy every Goldsmith release, but I’ve listened to CRIMINAL LAW maybe twice (or was it once…?), and I have no plans to do it again. Still, trying to get a complete collection of something (or someone) can be fun. And as Thor said, once you start, it can be hard to stop!

I don’t really have any “holy grails” I’m looking for at the moment. These days, I mostly buy stuff that’s readily available, either new releases by my favorite composers, or other stuff that I’ve sampled and found interesting, or that other people have recommended.

Thor, I’m sorry to hear that your tinnitus is having such a negative impact on your listening. 🙁
I have tinnitus myself, but it’s not affecting my listening to any noticeable degree. So far, anyway…

[Nils Jacob Holt Hanssen]

Well, I’ve been to only one, for THE EMPIRE STIRKES BACK, which was a frustrating experience, as I reported here. Of course, I might have been especially unlucky with this one, due to a venue that’s unfavorable for such events (Oslo Spektrum), and a sound mix that did the live orchestral performance no favors, with the film sound basically drowning it.

So this experience didn’t exactly encourage me to go to more of these events, at least not to the ones done by Disney. Which would rule out some of those I actually WOULD be interested in, like more STAR WARS and INDIANA JONES, if I could trust that I would hear what the orchestra is actually doing. Not sure if this is a problem only at Disney-run events. Hopefully it is.

[Nils Jacob Holt Hanssen]

Thanks, Thor!

[Nils Jacob Holt Hanssen]

As far as I know, it’s not available anywhere. I got an audio copy from an NRK acquaintance. Let me know if you want a copy.

Sure – would love to!

Thanks also for the link to your Montages review. I must have read that back in the day, but I see now that you wrote that PATTON did not have echoplexed trumpets – while my recollection, as I mentioned above, is that they had! 😀 Guess we’ll have to listen to the recording to settle that. 🙂

[Nils Jacob Holt Hanssen]

Beer so far. Nothing fancy, just ordinary Frydenlund Pilsner, which I like quite a lot. I’m far from a beer expert, but I recently heard that Frydenlund was voted the best of the Norwegian “industrial” beers, so maybe I’m actually on to something. 🙂
Switching to red wine tomorrow, probably.
Not that I’ll be consuming a lot of any of it – I’m at the cabin in Trysil with my sister and her family. 🙂

[Nils Jacob Holt Hanssen]

Did we go together? I can’t remember.

We sure did! And had a beer or two afterwards. 🙂

[Nils Jacob Holt Hanssen]

If they ever decide to go back to Williams’ style, one excellent choice would be Kevin Kaska. To my ears, he’s the best Williams clone out there. The score he did for THE ORVILLE episode “Electric Sheep” is terrific. He doesn’t just try to sound like Williams there, he actually pretty much does sound like him. His orchestrations are vibrant and exciting. Granted, in that episode, some tracks are clearly inspired by things like “Battle in the Snow” and “The Adventures of Mutt”, but they’re far from copies.

[Nils Jacob Holt Hanssen]

That was a great concert! (is it available in the NRK app/website, Thor?) I remember they were quite faithful to Goldsmith’s originals, including live echoplex effects during PATTON, for instance.

And wow – it’s been 14 years already! 😮

Edit: This was a reply to Thor’s post from 12th March about the ‘Jerry Goldsmith Live’ concert with the Norwegian Broadcasting Orchestra. I thought the original post including the picture would be included when I used ‘Reply’ on the post, but apparently not.

[Nils Jacob Holt Hanssen]

Yes, that’s a good one, too!

[Nils Jacob Holt Hanssen]

Sometimes, some massive synth/orchestral soundscapes feel just right. 🙂

[Nils Jacob Holt Hanssen]

You’re right, Thor – the KRULL 2CD IS a bit too much to get through in one sitting. I don’t think I’ve ever done that myself! But in appropriate doses, I really enjoy the wonderful energy and vigour in Horner’s writing here. And he was barely 30 at the time!

[Nils Jacob Holt Hanssen]

My list would probably be something like this:

1. Krull
2. Living in the Age of Airplanes
3. Sneakers
4. Star Trek III: The Search for Spock
5. Aliens

Why Star Trek III and not II, you may wonder, with II being many people’s favorite? Well, I never really liked the main theme from II, for one thing. I always thought it sounded uninspired an forced. I remember being very disappointed with it, after having been spoiled at that point with all the great Williams themes from the first two Star Wars films, as well as Goldsmith’s wonderful Star Trek: The Motion Picture. Of course, Horner’s ST II theme IS used quite a bit in III also, but III has a lot of other material that I think surpasses a lot of what II has to offer: The Klingon action material, and the music for Spock and Vulcan, particularly the Katra Ritual sequence.

[Nils Jacob Holt Hanssen]

I usually order from Intrada or Screen Archives.
Yes, shipping costs are high, but I feel I should support the specialist vendors (and labels). 🙂
For more mainstream releases (including soundtracks) I often use Amazon (.com or .co.uk).
Thanks for the recommendations for other vendors, Thor and Sigbjørn! I didn’t know these, but I’ll check them out!

[Nils Jacob Holt Hanssen]

Yes, they’re both in their 60s now, but if they stay active and healthy, we could still get quite a few years of Star Wars music from them. 🙂

[Nils Jacob Holt Hanssen]

Eirik beat me in suggesting James Newton Howard 🙂 . I think he – and Alan Silvestri – would be excellent choices.

With those two, there would be no need to actively try to emulate Williams – if they stick to their own, large-scale orchestral styles, it would mean we could still get meaty, skillfully orchestrated scores that would sound late-romantic, but still modern.

A lot of people seem to think Giacchino and Desplat would be natural choices, but I’m with others here that they would not be at the top of the wish-list. To my ears there’s something too straightforward and unimaginative about their orchestrations, especially when they write large blockbuster-type scores.

[Forfatter]

Innlegg