New Age Music / Movie Soundtrack....Recommendations & Comments

[Guest Jerry]

Just got the original soundtrack which comes in various cover designs. John Williams continues his exploration of the galaxy far far away with another great other-worldly score. This time, vocal voices were added to create a beautiful theme. As the love between Anarkin and Padme blossomed, the score also took on a romantic turn. Of coz, there r enough suspenseful and action pieces to complement what I predict to be a better movie then The Phantom Menace. After listening to this wonderful score, I simply can't wait for Episode 2!

 

Read the review of the soundtrack here:

http://www.filmtracks.com/titles/attack_clones.html

[BobaFett]

This is even better than EP1! :P

 

[Guest Jerry]

Taken from Filmtracks.com:

 

The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers: (Howard Shore) The Lord of the Rings phenomenon strikes once again. Gone are the days of multi-year waits for fans of popular fantasy motion picture franchises. Only yesterday it seems that The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring took the world by storm, with its score by Howard Shore becoming the first fantasy epic to win the Academy Award for Best Original Score in years. Because of the rapid rollout of this series of films, it is interesting to note that Howard Shore was already writing music for The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers when he won that award. Audiences responded overwhelmingly well to Shore's approach to the first score, even beyond the expected rush of attention caused by new age sensation Enya's involvement with the project. Shore managed to single-handedly put John Williams' Harry Potter entry onto a distant back burner. Like the expanding editions of the Lord of the Rings DVD, fans have been falling over themselves to get at more of Shore's music for that film, and luckily for them, the hasty release of The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers should satisfy their needs --at least for now. Shore insured the continuation of his epic sound by utilizing the London Philharmonic in a massive colosseum and mixed with the sounds of two different choirs. The scale of the project is no less diminished, and no better evidence of that successive effort is the replacement of Enya with several operatic, new age voices from around the world for this score.

 

Shore also continues where he left off in the grand scope of his composition for this series. As the heroes' journey into peril continues, and the landscape of Middle-earth descends further into darkness, Shore bolsters his music with an increased size and thematic sweep. As promised by those involved with the post-production of the film, the score for The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers is bigger, more diverse, and arguably better than its predecessor. The instrumentation and use of voices is more powerful than in the previous film. Instrumentally, Shore adds the Hardanger, a Norwegian fiddle, to represent the Rohan, while the North African rhaita reed instrument accenting the Mordor theme, and log drums, dilruba, wood xylophones, and the cimbalon for Gollum all provide a rich texture for the score. Several solo voices are mixed with the two choirs for the score as well. The performance of "Gollum's Song" by Bjork-inspiring and longingly bitter-voiced Emiliana Torrini serves as the sort of title song for the feature, and Torrini's voice --as well as the others chosen for performances in the score-- are foreign sounding to enough of a degree as to color Middle-earth and the World of Men with a fantastic edge of mystery and intrigue. With the success of Enya's voice, Shore seems interesting in keeping a vaguely Celtic sound to the vocals. The choirs are mixed elegantly with the orchestra, providing far more sweeping thematic performances (of both lofty heights and quiet despair) that occupy several major cues for the film. Especially effective is Shore's choice to mix the choirs and solo voices so that they are occasionally indistinguishable, with the solo identity fading in and out to correspond with the action on screen.

 

Thematically speaking (and in an epic fantasy, the importance of the themes are significant beyond all else), listeners need to be prepared for the fact that Shore has created a cross-over score for The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. There is no triumphant introduction for the new themes, with sparse large statements of previous themes, and the score marches to its end with the obvious implication that the musical journey is not over. That said, Shore does offer more than enough blasts of theme throughout the center of the score to appease the thematically-minded listeners. Returning from the first film are the two central themes: the uplifting Shire theme and the bold Fellowship title theme. The latter of those receives the spotlight a few times, with an enormous statement of it (and other recognizable themes) in the "Uruk-hai" cue. The new themes introduced for the film are perhaps more muddled than expected, perhaps due to that very fact that their pronouncement isn't a bold in the early portions of the score as they could have been. To Shore's credit, however, the style and minor-major key shift techniques that he employed for the original themes have carried over to the new ones, causing them to blend into the mix effortlessly for the listener. There are more moments of majestic harmony in this score, as typified by the "White Rider" and "Hornburg" cues, and Shore almost always includes the choirs in these cues. The brass is well managed for heroic interludes, and the bass strings and timpani provide a resoundingly deep bass for the recording. Shore stays so consistent to Tolkien's world that a few of the lyrical choral passages are performed in Elvish, and these lyrics are translated for the listener in the liner notes. Shore's score reaches an incredible thematic climax in the final four tracks, with his statements of theme so massive that they set this score a step beyond anything for the previous film, and perhaps anything in the recent history of the genre.

 

[Warning: Two paragraphs of ranting to follow]

 

Not so magnificent is the situation of the music from The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers on album. As could be expected, Reprise Records descends once more to the lavish depths of commercial despair, cranking out several different album versions to catch the weary Tolkien fan or Howard Shore collector with an open wallet. Reprise churned out similar stunts with the first album, pulling out every marketing gimmick to help catapult the albums for The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring to incredible heights. For the sequel score, we let the games begin again. The regular $14 album you see in stores has all the same Shore score from the new film as the two limited, $23 to $30 albums: the store edition and the internet edition. The regular release has only the score in a standard jewel case with one of five two-sided "character cards," one online trading card from the film, a screensaver, the "Making of the Score" video, and buddy icons. The only extra music on the two limited editions is the impressive "Farwell to Lorien" performance by Hilary Summers for the previous film's expanded DVD version. The store-found limited edition comes in a gold foil embossed, dark blue leatherette CD wallet containing a 20-page CD booklet and also has a Two Towers image gallery, two exclusive online trading cards, as well as lyrics and poems. The Internet limited edition features deluxe leatherette packing, custom "belly-band" artwork, the 20-page CD booklet, and all five of the printed trading character cards from the standard jewel case editions. With the Internet edition, you also get movie trailers, image galleries, lyrics, poems, a score music video and "Making of the Score" video, screensavers, buddy icons, and (exclusively in the Internet edition) printable maps of Middle-earth and of Rohan & Gondor, The Two Towers print & color sets and two online trading cards. Just throw in fries and a Coke and you're set.

It is difficult to say which of the above is the most offensive. If these people at Reprise really want to impress us --the serious admirers of Shore's music and the greater film music community-- then they should flush their trading cards down the nearest toilet and spend the money it took to produce them on what everyone really wants: More music from the film. Seriously... how many people succumb to the fraud described above and purchase all of these gimmicks? What's the point? Shore's new material is the same on all of these releases. Compounding their error, Reprise once again requires you to provide your e-mail address, ZIP code, etc, etc, before you can access any of the special bonus material. And, for that matter, what if you don't have an Internet connection? No bonus goodies for you? Last year, we tested their site by signing a specially tagged e-mail address at Filmtracks to achieve access to the Fellowship of the Ring bonus material. We received a somewhat respectable 21 SPAM e-mails from them and Warner Brothers in the following year, but who knows where else that e-mail address is ending up. Privacy policies aside, it is simply wrong to require personal information from people in order to access material promised on the outer packaging. And while we're on the topic of commercial fraud, what is with these ridiculous trading cards? You get the oversized double-sided ones in the jewel cases (to hang on the wall, maybe?), and the plethora of online ones (a silly trend that the Topps company has started with its eTopps phenonemon for baseball cards, etc). Does anybody really give a shit about these things? Is anyone going to be buying Beckett Price Guide magazines in ten years just to see how much these things are worth? Nonsense. Please, Reprise Records, give it a rest. Do the world a favor just release more of Shore's music. Your pocketbooks would do just as well.

 

And that amount of unreleased music from The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers is considerable. Shore originally conceived of four hours of music for the second film alone, with over three hours actually recorded. Having 73 minutes of music on album at the present moment, this means that over 100 minutes of Shore's material for the full, expanded Two Towers film is unavailable on commercial album. So if Reprise wants to abandon their proliferation of buddy icons and put their efforts to an expanded release of the music itself, then there would certainly be enough material to warrant such a product. The actual musical presentation of the 73 minutes here, however, is stunning in and of itself. The sound quality is rich with reverberation that is necessitated by the fantasy genre. There are people who prefer a masterfully dampened score that removes the reverberation (or room echoes) from the recording. However, in the case of The Lord of the Rings music, Shore's intent was to record the score in a massive room and leave the wash of the reverberation to further the magical fantasy element of the music's effect. It may make it difficult to hear individual instruments in the intricate cues, but the overall effect is superb. Once again, Shore has produced a winner here, and there is no doubt that this score ranks atop the relatively weak competition in 2002. As a 70-minute listening experience, The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers is an even more stimulating and magical adventure. It contains more harmonic beauty and choral magnificence that will, combined with its generous recording quality, blow you out of your seat at almost a dozen places during its playing time. Don't hesitate to purchase the regular edition of this album and hope that in the years to come, more of this fantastic music is released on album. This time, Shore's music is good enough to overshadow Reprise Record's ludicrous marketing of it.

 

 

Score as Composed for the Film: *****

Score as Presented on the Regular Album: ****

Score as Presented on the Limited Editions: **

Overall Rating: *****

 

 

 

[Guest Jerry]

 

From Amazon & SoundtrackCollectors.com:

 

Excellent introduction to Philip Glass

The Philip Glass score was an essential part of the film.

Yet the music really stands on its own with this CD. The Hours is a kinder and gentler Glass that is accessible to people who are new to his music. For those of us who are hard core Glass fans, this CD is also a joy because its so beautiful. The piano solos are my favorite. I really think Glass should win the academy award for this score.

 

Breathtaking score for a phenominal movie

Phillip Glass provides yet another oscar-worthy score here with The Hours. I truly believe it is the best score since Requiem For A Dream. Nothing could have fit the film better than the haunting piano solos found on this cd. A MUST for any fan of The Hours.

 

The Finest Glass

I must admit to not being very familiar with Philip Glass' music, although being a movie fan I'm sure that I've heard him before. Sitting through the monumental film, "The Hours", you realize that this music is a flawless marriage of screen and soundtrack, and immediately, after the film ended, I found myself in the nearest music store, soundtrack in hand.

"The Hours" weaves a complex tale of the seemingly intermingled lives of three complex women, all dealing with various internal crises at significant points of their lives. Virginia Woolf, Clarissa Vaughn, and Laura Brown lives orbit around each other, as each feels their lives are insignificant, yet their significance reigns supreme around the lives of the other, hidden, deep, penetrating.

A film of this calibar requires an equally complex, moving score, and Glass not only provides it, but inspires the movie. Each piece illuminates and frames each scene without imperfection. In the theater, you sit in awe at the methodical action on the screen as your ears hear the fluid, grand movements and it's as if Glass is reading the mind of the audience scoring the movie as you think it should be. It is impossible to imagine this movie without the music, and the music without the movie.

While it is impossible for me to select a favorite piece among all of them, for this is a soundtrack which each pieces lends autheticity to the next, I must profess a love for the second track, "Morning Passage". There is a section towards the end of that piece when I was listening to it, I literally stopped what I was doing and listened intently, and then replayed it several times before continuing, a very strange act indeed.

I highly recommend this work: the emotional depth and honesty, the sadness and enlightment it provides is truly revolutionary.

 

I have not seen the film yet but the score has already affected me emotionally. Hope that the movie is as moody and moving as the score is.

 

 

 

 

 

[Guest Jerry]

From Filmtracks.com

 

 

Catch Me If You Can: (John Williams) Concluding a busy year for the maestro, John Williams completed his twentieth collaboration with director/producer Steven Spielberg for the crime thriller Catch Me If You Can. Williams has soared across the stars, into a future with pre-crime, and back to Hogwarts all in an eight month span, and Catch Me If You Can proves Williams' knack for diversity more than any of his others this year, or in recent times. The Spielberg film chronicles the true to life adventure of master criminal Frank Abagnale Jr., a man whose skill in disguise and fraud catapulted him to the FBI's 10 Most Wanted list at a very young age. Set in the 1960's, the film is a chase thriller with style as the FBI agent assigned to the case spends the duration of the movie chasing Abagnale through every conceivable location. The choice of music use for the film mirrored the choices of past films that have dealt with pop 1960's culture. In this case, that meant the fusion of several older generation songs with a similarly older style jazz. It had been many years since Williams had returned to his talents with the jazz genre, and even longer since he combined that sound with intrigue and more serious drama. His most recent jazzy score was the remake of Sabrina in 1995, but Catch Me If You Can takes a much darker avenue of introspection and sophistication.

 

Williams' painstaking attention to each and every note of this score shows in the intricacy in many of the vibraphone and sax performances. It is no wonder that Williams turned the scoring duties of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets over to associate William Ross; the amount of detail in some of the solo performances for Catch Me If You Can are remarkable to an extent that they occasionally blur the mind's ability to perceive them. The ensemble is small for the film, with a moderate orchestral presence that remains light on its feet while filling the gaps in between the popular jazz performances of the principle solo artists. The second track on the album, "The Float" exhibits an excellent sax solo that perfectly captures the light spirit of the score and film's beginning, with ominous dramatic undertones introduced sparingly to realize the criminal chase under way. The piano is also required to provide some snazzy accompaniment at breakneck speeds. The score as an entire package, however, is deceiving. It establishes an upbeat return to the days of high jazz and then sinks further into a miserable and introverted form as the film and score continues. The official "concert suite" for the film is the more restrained "Father's Theme," a piece that offers a more tender and dramatically engaging attitude from Williams 1970's work. By the end of the score, the seriousness of the cat and mouse game has produced a score that has plunged into the complicated and subtle-toned atmosphere of Presumed Innocent. Short interludes of the title theme --which loses all its catchy-ness by the end of the album-- are performed by singular woodwinds in between low key shifts of strings. Brass exists in an accompaniment roll at most, if at all. By the time the album reaches the "Broken Home" cue, it has been reduced to the solitude introduced by a slow solo harp and carried by lonely shadows of the solo sax and piano performances the graced the score's beginning.

 

The resulting overall effect of Williams' music for Catch Me If You Can is a fittingly depressing one. Do not be fooled by the seemingly frivolous direction that this score appears to be taking at the start. Even its somewhat redeeming finale cue, "Doctor, Lawyer, Lutheran," provides only a glimmer of hope in a temporarily increased pace of the score, allowing the music to then slowly fade into nothingness. When the lighter shades of urban rhythm shine through, the resulting generational style puts this score in the era of The Towering Inferno... an easily recognizable trip to Williams' past. This is a score unlike anything that newer fans of Williams will be able to immediately recognize. If you are a collector of Williams in only the past ten years, then it may take you a while to become accustomed to this sound. The intrigue of the title track and the subsequent "Float" cue --which contains the sax solo that Spielberg boasts about in his notes-- elevate those cues to the level of album highlights. After these two cues (unless you count the reprise of the title cue at the end of the album), the album is a somber and reflective listening experience, with great emotional detail taken for each cue. Williams succeeds in producing the needed dramatic effect, but the album could suffer from a lack of engagement with many listeners as a result. Catch Me If You Can is, by no means, an uplifting score or, for that matter, a very enjoyable one. If anything, however, Williams has used this opportunity to show that his diverse talents have not escaped him over the past decade of scoring primarily adventure films with massive ensembles. True Williams enthusiasts will likely find the album very interesting; it contains several pleasing songs from the era as well. It is difficult to determine if the mainstream will be attracted to this dated sound, though. A well-written, genre-constrained score.

[Guest Jerry]

More about Philip Glass and his work on The Hours soundtrack.

 

By Arthur Spiegelman

 

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - As movies go, "The Hours" is different: Three stories unfolding simultaneously in three different time periods featuring three different actresses and a unique score that forces its way into the drama as if it were a key player.

 

Director Stephen Daldry's adaptation of Michael Cunningham's Pulitzer prize-winning novel, which is based on Virginia Woolf's breakthrough novel "Mrs. Dalloway," has something setting it apart from other films as the season's most intense period of award-giving begins: a pulsating score by minimalist concert hall composer Philip Glass.

 

Performed by a piano and 50 violins, the score becomes as much of a character in the movie as stars Nicole Kidman (news), Julianne Moore (news) and Meryl Streep (news). And the story is that Glass got the job in classic, or as some would say, typical, Hollywood fashion.

 

Director Daldry filmed the movie with temporary music and he and the producers kept wanting a score that sounded more and more like Philip Glass. So they had people come in with Glass-like music until, finally, some one had the bright idea to call for the real Philip Glass.

 

This slightly miffed Glass because it meant that by the time he came into the editing room, the stars had left and it wasn't until the film's promotional tour that he got to meet them. "At the press junket, I followed Nicole Kidman to the podium and ... it's not so bad to have everyone so wide awake when you walk into a room," he said in a recent interview.

 

TYING THE BOW

Glass has written scores for more than a dozen previous films ranging from the avant-garde "Koyaanisqatsi" and the slasher flick "Candyman" to the Tibetan-flavored "Kundum," for which he won an Oscar nomination. He said he sees the job of writing music for movies as "tying the bow round the box, not baking the cake."

 

For "The Hours," with its floating from one story and time period to another, Glass's bow became something that held the whole cake together. He saw his job as uniting the three seemingly disparate stories.

 

"I used the same music to go between the three time periods and the effect was to bind the film. The music was a bridge .... I am so glad that people are getting it."

 

Or as director Daldry told Reuters recently: "This film seemed to reject music which was in any way merely emotional wallpaper. It needed a very different sort of music, a music that actually allowed a stream of consciousness to emerge, which was as if it was another character.

 

"The picture and the music worked in counterpoint to each other. It didn't just link the time periods it worked as a subconscious element. And of course Philip's music is so much about time and the relationships of the different time periods to one another."

 

Daldry said it was an easy collaboration. "The fantastic thing about Philip is that he is such a good collaborator, so we would score and then record, then score and record again, keep working at it. Not only was he brilliantly patient but he was brilliantly engaged in the whole process.

 

Said Glass, "I wanted the music to lift you away and I didn't want it to be gloomy and downcast at the end .... Even with all the suicide and death in the movie, I wanted people to feel that life was rich."

 

A RICH HERITAGE

The film is based on Cunningham's novel which blends the life of British writer Virginia Woolf and the writing of her breakthrough "stream of consciousness" novel "Mrs. Dalloway" in the 1920s with those of a reader on the brink of suicide in the 1950s and with a modern day Mrs. Dalloway, performing decades later the same tasks as the heroine of the novel.

 

If it sounds complicated, it is: Three stories essentially telling the life and death struggles of three women -- all within the confines of a single day. The film begins with Woolf's real suicide and then proceeds to weave the tale of her battle against depression and mental illness into two other deeply connected stories.

 

Glass's pulls the movie together with his characteristic hypnotic repetitive phrasings and does it so well that the experts think he is a shoe-in for an Oscar nomination, although he will have stiff competition for the statuette itself.

 

Novelist Cunningham thinks Woolf would have approved. In liner notes for the CD of the film score, Cunningham said, "I love Glass's music almost as much as I love Virginia Woolf ... When I saw the movie with the music added I thought automatically of how I could use the soundtrack ... to help me with my next book."

 

 

 

 

[Guest Jerry]

Filmscore.com:

 

 

Gods and Generals: (John Frizzell/Randy Edelman) With Michael Shaara's The Killer Angels translated onto screen in 1993's popularly successful Gettysburg, Jeff Shaara's prequel, Gods and Generals makes the leap to the big screen in 2003. Covering the two years of extensive warfare in the American Civil War between 1861 and 1863, Gods and Generals introduces the commanding officers central to both stories and leads them up to a climax which ends just prior to the battle of Gettysburg in 1863. The prior film was likewise produced under the heavy hand of Ted Turner, and the choice of Randy Edelman as the composer for the project was met with a wide range of responses, from those who praised the elegant themes of the score, to those who damned its electronic nature as inappropriate for the genre. For the prequel, much has changed; only Jeff Daniels reprises a role as Colonel Joshua Chamberlain in the film itself. Randy Edelman returns to provide some filler cues for the score, though his dramatic theme for Gettysburg makes no appearance in Gods and Generals. The mass majority of score material for the album is provided by John Frizzell, whose career up to 2003 has been noteworthy for most film music fans in the form of adequate, but not particularly outstanding action scores. Here, he is given the largest opportunity of his career thus far and he makes the most of it.

 

The marketing of the Sony Classical album focuses mostly on the songs performed by Mary Fahl and Bob Dylan, in addition to the violin performances by master fiddler and violinist Mark O'Connor. The more voluminous inspiration in Gods and Generals, though, is created by John Frizzell. The score occupies roughly 50 minutes on the album and is a powerful and thematically rich introduction to the 2003 year of film music. Unlike Edelman's Gettysburg, Frizzell walks no tightrope between budget and authenticity. The score is fully orchestral and choral, written for solo performances appropriate for the time and the people fighting the war, and saturated with dramatic theme. His music is a serious tribute to the war, with close attention to detail that led, ultimately, to the inclusion of several noteworthy solo performances. Mark O'Connor's violin performances are crisp and well-placed, and his talents also as person who can turn that violin into a fiddle came in handy when performing for the Confederates at times. The well recorded and mixed sound of the orchestra offers a wet sound that conveys enough reverberation to make the violin and orchestra sound distant enough to represent the 1860's. At the same time, however, the sound is rarely so diluted as to lose the integrity of individual performances. The only exception is the dark death procession heard in the "VMI Will Be Heard from Today" cue by Frizzell in which the chorus fiercely overpowers the orchestra.

 

A medium chorus is included in several tracks throughout the score, and functions much like the expected snare drum to represent wartime environments. The Irish influences on the score must be discussed as well. They aren't limited to the O'Connor's name in this case; Frizzell utilizes two pivotal score cues (comprising six minutes on album) to combine the violin with a tin whistle and uilleann pipes. As history buffs will recall, the number of Irish regiments from New York was considerable in number (and some of them didn't even speak English, much to the dismay of the Confederates and often their fellow Union fighters as well). Their heroicism in battle is addressed in the story and subsequently by Frizzell, whose use of those elements in his score is well placed within the framework of the rest of the material. The music flows effortlessly between the Irish influences to something like, per se, the fiddle representing Appalachia, and you'd never realize it while it is happening. The most impressive aspect of Frizzell's score is its strong consistency of high quality from beginning to end, which is something not heard in his larger commercial efforts to date. The score functions, with the exception of that "VMI Will Be Heard from Today" cue, as a lengthy, symphonic concert suite to the Civil War, the likes of which has not been recorded before. Even Randy Edelman's contribution, which is about ten minutes in length on the album, sheds that synthesized sound and provides superb piano performances in the place of obvious electronic keyboarding.

 

Fans of the score will also be pleased with the songs presented at the beginning and end of the album. The album opens with a haunting, traditional song co-written and performed by Mary Fahl, whose voice is also heard in the later 2003 score for The Guys. Her voice has a naturally evocative and personal sound, and when partnered with the melody of the song "Going Home" specifically, an Irish twist of the tongue can be heard. Likewise appropriate for the film and score is Bob Dylan's own ballad at the end of the project, for which he contributes his deep, echoing voice and keyboard talents. His lengthy "Cross the Green Mountain" is equally sensitized with the spirit of the Civil War, modern in its instrumentation, but true to the character of the era with its theme and mellow vocals. Overall, Gods and Generals is a vast improvement over Gettysburg, which should come as even better news to those of you who enjoyed the latter. Frizzell has captured the momentous scope of the war while also conveying the personal tragedy, and it is clearly the defining score of his career to date. With the songs, the album is without a fault, and even devoted historians of the Civil War will be pleasantly surprised by the overall package. If only it was released later in the year, this could easily be an awards contender.

 

 

[Guest Jerry]

Listening to it now. Agree with the above reviewer that the general tone of the soudntrack is a depressing one, especially the moody jazzy tunes. However, it has some light breezy ones which would dilute the sombre feel of the score. The opening track oredi sucks u into its world of mischief and lies andthe whole score really complements the 60s feel of the movie.

Overall, I would rate this to be one of John Williams' best soundtrack score in years (yes, even better than Harry Potter)! The more I listen to it, I more I feel the lonely soul in DeCaprio's character. The mischievous score for the chase is also very well done and left an impression due to its melodic cues.

Soundtrack lovers, this is another great purchase for u! Not forgetting this one won a nomination for Best Original Score for this year's Oscar. ;D

[Guest Jerry]

Review taken from http://www.filmtracks.com/titles/hours.html:

 

The Hours: (Philip Glass) The highly acclaimed translation of Michael Cunningham's novel to the big screen has been more successful than anyone could have predicted, with the superb acting performances in the film catapulting it to the forefront of popular and critical attention entering a generous awards season for the picture. The film's plot revolves around the novel Mrs. Dalloway, and how it affects the lives of author Virginia Woolf in the 1920's, housewife Laura Brown in the 1940's, and book editor Clarissa Vaughn in the present. With the original Woolf novel the only basic connection between the three women, the story expands upon the common emotional trials that all three face. The film, despite covering 80 years in settings between the three lead characters, follows a consist theme of production value. Thus, a score that might normally fashion three distinct musical sounds --one for each of the eras-- can instead maintain a less specific, but more consistent sound throughout the entire film. Michael Cunningham had always been familiar with the work of composer Philip Glass, even exclaiming that he has listened to Glass' works while writing for a long time. It is no surprise that Glass was employed quickly for this film.

 

The style of Glass' music fit the description of The Hours quite well. Glass is a well-known crossover between the classical and film music genres, evolving into a sort of new-age classical composer with minimalist tendencies. His film scores are known for their solid, though unassuming classical consistency. Not the sort for big themes or experimentation in the realm of modern instrumentation, Glass' work has resulted in one previous Academy award nomination (Kundun) and a significant following on album. For The Hours, Glass assembles an orchestra with an emphasis on five central performers: a pianist and string quartet. Perhaps the most interesting aspect of Glass' approach to the timelessness of the story is his choice not use the musical styles of any of the three time periods actually depicted in the film for his score. One could very easily have expected a score in tune with Elmer Bernstein's Far From Heaven (another contender for music awards in 2002) for The Hours, and that kind of more melodic, but equally simple score might have served well. Glass, however, reaches even further back to his classical roots for the score, and it succeeds more because of its consistency in motifs and quality rather than style.

 

The piano and quartet are very well performed, and Glass accomplishes a score of quiet and melancholy simplicity while never allowing the straight level of volume to become a detractor. Even critics of Glass, who state that his music is most often boring and underachieving, should take note of the remarkably maintained depth from the beginning to the end of this work. It may not be the most deserving score in the 2002 awards scene, but its contention cannot be questioned. Take note, though, about a handful of sidebars: Some of the best cues on the album are inspired by other works (by Glass or otherwise), including the powerful low-octave piano performance on track 6, and these borrowings are noted on the album packaging. Be aware that the piano performances in the film are different than those on the album; in the film, David Arch performs, and on album, Michael Riesman performs and produces. In sum, Glass's music may only develop simplistic motifs as themes, but the constant movement of those motifs succeeds in the place of a theme. No better an example of the high quality of this score can be heard than in track 2, which is so surprisingly complex in its subdued performances that it requires repeat listens to fully appreciate. On album, The Hours provides a solid and relaxing hour of harmonious and crisp classical performances without even so much as a single note that could wake up a person sleeping in the next room.

[Guest Jerry]

Comingsoon.net:

 

Rock Rage posted a listing of the tracks on the Matrix Reloaded 2 disc soundtrack:

 

Disc 1

01. Linkin Park - Session

02. Marilyn Manson - This Is the New S**t

03. Rob Zombie - Reload

04. Rob D - Furious Angels

05. Deftones - Lucky You

06. Team Sleep - Passportal

07. P.O.D. - Sleeping Awake

08. UnLoco - Bruises

09. Rage Against The Machine - Calm Like A Bomb

10. Oakenfold - Dread Rock

11. Fluke - Zion

12. Dave Matthews - When The World Ends

 

 

Disc 2

01. Don Davis - Main Title

02. Don Davis - Trinity Dream

03. Juno Reactor - Tea House

04. Rob D - Chateau

05. Juno Reactor - Mona Lisa Overdrive

06. Don Davis vs. Juno Reactor - Burly Brawl

07. Don Davis - Reloaded Suite

 

This CD hits May 6th. Thanks to 'Call Me Neo' for the alert!

 

[Guest Jerry]

Music Junction has been playing/promoting this whenever I drop by their shop. Very rousing orchestrations and music. Sound very much like "Legends Of the Fall"-type of soundtrack.

 

 

Track Listing:

1. Cape Elizabeth

2. The Fallen Leaves of Autumn

3. Ocean Mist

4. Half Moon Bay

5. The Edge of September

6. Pacific Wind

7. Menemsha Harbor

8. Light on the Moon

9. Sea Rose

10. Music of Hope

11. Twin Lights

12. White Mountains

13. Blue Hill Bay

14. Seascape

15. Cry of the Blue Whale

16. Water's Edge

17. Ocean Heights

18. Flowers in October

19. Amazing Grace

 

 

 

[Guest Jerry]

Filmtracks.com:

 

 

Far From Heaven: (Elmer Bernstein) When director Todd Haynes decided to return to the genre of 1950's melodrama in his tribute to the socially charged films of Douglas Sirk, his task of recreating the genre balanced delicately between the seriousness of a decent recreation and a potential laugher of a parody. His aim with Far From Heaven was to perfectly capture the spirit of those 1950's melodramas, complete with technically identical settings, costumes, photography, and characteristically identical values and behavior portrayed by the actors. At the same time, Haynes distinguished this 21st Century entry into the 1950's "issue dramas" by inserting issues into the authentic mix that would not have been allowed or tolerated in the 1950's. Primarily, those insertions involve homosexuality and race relations in an upscale suburban setting of 1957 Connecticut. In an attempt to address these issues in the natural setting, Haynes attempted to further avoid the possibility of producing a parody by hiring the esteemed 80-year old Elmer Bernstein to compose the appropriate score for the era. At the time, many melodrama scores offered simple, small ensemble themes and a low key reverence for the characters and dialogue on screen. They sometimes exhibited a dying flash of 1940's jazz in the slight swing of their themes, but typically offered a conservative accompaniment to what was, of course, a more conservative time.

 

Bernstein is the only well-established composer from that era who is still living and able to work in 2002. While his scores for the 1950's were more inclined towards jazzy hits, he also produced a few early scores along these melodramatic lines, making him the only viable candidate to score Far From Heaven if the director wanted that truly authentic feeling of atmosphere in which to incubate his storyline. The only other active composer who might have been able to successfully capture that spirit was Jerry Goldsmith, who came in at the latter half of that genre of scoring, and may have been able to produce something with similar emotions to A Patch of Blue with a more robust urban theme. Bernstein, with five decades of composing for major features and the classic To Kill a Mockingbird under his belt, however, was the perfect fit for Far From Heaven. Even if you cannot appreciate the smaller substance of this score in either the film or on album, you need to understand that this score was a winner the moment that Bernstein was hired for the project. It is ironic that he had had his work rejected from several recent mainstream films because his methods and sounds were outdated (according to the directors and producers of those films). In this case, being outdated is the best possible scenario, because the authenticity of the music that Bernstein has produced for Far From Heaven is both excellent and well-suited for the genre of the 1950's melodrama. The score is emotionally compelling on a personal scale, sparingly utilizing sections of the orchestra while highlighting the rich piano performances of Cynthia Millar. Bernstein notes that the importance of the piano is accentuated by the fact that such an instrument would be readily found in the exact kind of household that is portrayed in the film.

 

At the same time, if you have not listened to a handful of this genre of scores before, you may not be prepared for the sensible but simple melancholy of this small, string-woodwind-piano kind of work. The title theme is restrained in its full statements (notably in the first and final tracks) by an uncertainty and yearning experienced by the characters in the film. That may make the score frustrating for modern listeners, but that understated nostalgia is central to the score's effect. Yes, it would have been nice to have heard a few more readily noticeable swells of that grand Bernstein style of theme that many golden-age film score collectors remember well, but the film apparently did not allow for such development. It is a gentle character-driven score, with subdued romance and melodies that require your appreciation even if not your enjoyment. What certainly should also require your appreciation is the presentation of the music on album. The album presents a more than adequate 45 minutes of music and includes detailed liner notes from both the director and the composer. As an extra highlight, the album offers a full three-page collection of color photography from the studio recording sessions. The only glitch on the album is the absence of a "track 7" on the packaging for the album. Corrected track listings below account for the missing track "Psych" and rearrangement of tracks 5-7. Overall, this is a score that is gaining significant positive attention from mainstream film critics, and do not be surprised if you see this score among the Oscar contenders in March of 2003. The score for Far From Heaven is a remarkable journey to the past, and even if it doesn't appeal to the somewhat desensitized ears of modern film score listeners, it earns respect with its precise and emotionally encapsulating pastoralism. ****

 

Elmer Bernstein has composed many great scores and this shouldn't disappoint. can't wait to receive this from the mail.

 

 

 

 

 

[LiquidShaDow]

I'm not sure if they can be classified as such, but these are a few soundtracks that I did take note of...

 

Black Hawk Down

Brotherhood of the Wolf

Patroit Games

K-PAX

[Guest Jerry]

I'm not sure if they can be classified as such, but these are a few soundtracks that I did take note of...

 

Black Hawk Down

Brotherhood of the Wolf

Patroit Games

K-PAX

 

Yeah, Harry's Game by Clannad from Patriot Games.....nice stuff.

I vaguely remembered the score from K-Pax when I saw the movie. Very melodic yet mysterious and full of anticipation.

[SiriuslyCold]

[glow=red,2,18]Beyond the Thunder[/glow]

[glow=blue,1,10]Neal Schon[/glow]

Higher Octave, 1995

 

 

Most people know him (if at all) as the guitarist form Journey, but after this album it sounds like Journey is rather limiting his reach. Hardly surprising for someone whose first gig (at 19) was as Santana's guitarist.

 

Im a fan of Journey, but the first time i listened to Big Moon Neal blew me away.

 

More reviews at Amazon/CDNow.

[Guest Jerry]

 

Tried the sample tracks off Michael Hoppe's Solace....pretty good. I was mesmerised with that guitar track, Beloved. Think I will pick this up. ;D

 

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00008PXA0/ref=br_music_nn/104-8413984-4470331?v=glance#product-details

[Guest Jerry]

Check out Secret Garden's latest...

 

 

The track "You Raised Me Up" is already worth the price of the whole album!

 

Amazon's review:

A mature and at times moving work, Once in a Red Moon fortifies Secret Garden's stature as a marquee New Age act. The duo of Irish violinist Fionnuala Sherry and pianist-composer Rolf Lovland here refine their specialty of making classical/contemporary/Celtic mini-epics in small orchestral and choral settings. Moreover, each piece elicits reflection, celebration, or atonement with the divine. Red Moon's mood of melancholy is stronger than usual--"Invitation" and "Fairytale" are the disc's only propulsive tracks--though there's an undercurrent of lamentation and reverence. Highlights include the gospel-fueled, Josh Groban-like "You Raise Me Up," sung by Brian Kennedy (Riverdance) and fittingly conducted by Steven Mercurio (musical director for Andrea Bocelli). And a riveting, slow-building plea for peace, "Elegie," features the voices of Anuna and a forceful, concluding piano chord--a composite of 66 C chords submitted by fans worldwide in response to an online invitation from the group. --Terry Wood

 

Sample the tracks here...

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B000060O30/qid=1050834591/sr=1-3/ref=sr_1_3/104-8413984-4470331?v=glance&s=music

 

[Mackie1624705753]

On New Age, here're my personal favourites:

 

1.Kevin Kern

 

2. Chris Spheeris

 

3. Hilary Stagg

 

4. Suzanne Ciani

 

Just to name a few. ;)

[hotbird]

2. Chris Spheeris

Just to name a few. ;)

 

One of my favorite artistes too, have his entire collection, and I have 2 versions of Enchantment, the original pressing under the now defunct Music West company, and the re-pressed Essense records. Quality-wise, the Music West pressing is the audiophile one, just like Enya's first pressing of Watermark (the newer pressings sound very watered down).

 

It's not quite fair to say that the Enchantment album was his entire solo effort, as he had lot of help from his good friend Paul Voudouris, a fellow Greek born in Libya ;D

Both Chris and Paul started out together as a vocal duo group whose music was a blend of rock, folk and jazz (Paul did most of the singing).

Take a look of their old pics from their first 2 albums, do you know who the 2 hairy folks are, which is Chris and which is Paul?

 

Btw, lest some people are mistaken, Paul is already married with a baby girl while Chris still remains, I think, single ;D

Greeks are very warmth people, the bond between friends are as thick as blood, and they make very loyal friends. So you always see in the credits, always thanking their fellow brothers ;D

 

[hotbird]

3. Hilary Stagg

 

Only have one of Hilary Stagg's album, Feather Light, as I preferred a few other harpists over him such as Andrea Vollenweidner (who incidentally is listed in one of Stagg's CD as his primary musical inspiration), Roberto Perera, Micheal Deep and Vincenzo Zitello. Incidentally Hilary Stagg passed away suddenly in 1999 after a short illness at a rather young age of 42.

"Hilary Stagg was an electrician, when in his mid-twenties he attended an Andreas Vollenweider concert. He was enthralled and so inspired that he purchased a small harp. It was a delightful challenge for him to use his knowledge as an electrician in amplifying the instrument and his custom amplification was superb. He tried formal lessons but quickly decided he would learn to play the harp a different way. Hilary believed in and practiced lucid dreaming and developed a way of dancing with the Muse in his dreams, a way of exploring and composing music in his "sleep" that became the core of his compositions. As he experimented, Hilary developed a gentle, yet powerful, melodic style that gave new meaning to soothing and relaxing music".

[Transworld]

I'm not sure if they can be classified as such, but these are a few soundtracks that I did take note of...

 

Black Hawk Down

Brotherhood of the Wolf

Patroit Games

K-PAX

 

Hi Liquid.S.D, May i know where you bought your Black Hawk Down soundtrack? Me had been searching high & low for it. :(

[hotbird]

4. Suzanne Ciani

 

One of the earliest artists whose whole works I collected but stopped in recent years, when Rock Records licensed to release her albums in Asia (very bad quality recordings of symphonic Ciani). However, did buy her US pressed Pianissimo Vol 3 at Borders a year ago.

My favorite album of hers was Neverland. If you have the original now defunct Private Music label version, the recording on that is audiophile standard.

[Guest Jerry]

Check out Secret Garden's latest...

 

 

The track "You Raised Me Up" is already worth the price of the whole album!

 

Amazon's review:

A mature and at times moving work, Once in a Red Moon fortifies Secret Garden's stature as a marquee New Age act. The duo of Irish violinist Fionnuala Sherry and pianist-composer Rolf Lovland here refine their specialty of making classical/contemporary/Celtic mini-epics in small orchestral and choral settings. Moreover, each piece elicits reflection, celebration, or atonement with the divine. Red Moon's mood of melancholy is stronger than usual--"Invitation" and "Fairytale" are the disc's only propulsive tracks--though there's an undercurrent of lamentation and reverence. Highlights include the gospel-fueled, Josh Groban-like "You Raise Me Up," sung by Brian Kennedy (Riverdance) and fittingly conducted by Steven Mercurio (musical director for Andrea Bocelli). And a riveting, slow-building plea for peace, "Elegie," features the voices of Anuna and a forceful, concluding piano chord--a composite of 66 C chords submitted by fans worldwide in response to an online invitation from the group. --Terry Wood

 

Sample the tracks here...

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B000060O30/qid=1050834591/sr=1-3/ref=sr_1_3/104-8413984-4470331?v=glance&s=music

 

 

Just picked up this album and I have to say this album is absolutely gorgeous! One of their best and a must-buy for fans of Secret Garden and New Age music alike.

As mentioned, the song "You Raised Me Up" is gonna move u to tears and the last entry to the album, the ethereal "Elegie" is gonna enthrall u.

[Jose]

One of my favorite artistes too, have his entire collection, and I have 2 versions of Enchantment, the original pressing under the now defunct Music West company, and the re-pressed Essense records. Quality-wise, the Music West pressing is the audiophile one, just like Enya's first pressing of Watermark (the newer pressings sound very watered down).

 

I've loved this album since I got it few years back. However, I got the re-pressed Essense cd. Is there a big difference between the two pressings? Is the original pressing still available?

[Guest Jerry]

Finally got this today!

 

 

1. One Summer's Day

2. Road to Somewhere

3. Empty Restaurant

4. Nighttime Coming

5. Dragon Boy

6. Sootballs

7. Procession of the Spirits

8. Yubaba

9. Bathhouse Morning

10. Day of the River

11. It's Hard Work

12. Stink Spirit

13. Sen's Courage

14. Bottomless Pit

15. Kaonashi (No Face)

16. Sixth Station

17. Yubaba's Panic

18. House at Swamp Bottom

19. Reprise

20. Return

21. Always With Me

 

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Despite an enthusiastic cult following, the talents of master Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki have yet to gain the sort of mainstream acceptance regularly afforded American feature animation in the artist's own country. But Hollywood sponsorship of Princess Mononoke and this new Miyazaki anime masterpiece is an encouraging sign. To create the musical soundscape for his phantasmagorical adventure, the director has again tapped Mononoke composer and longtime collaborator Joe Hisaishi, and the results are another distinctive triumph. Effortlessly blending ancient Japanese modalities and percussion with Westernized influences (pastoral string and piano flourishes, snarling brass, and gentle woodwinds), the composer evokes the gentle lyricism of Sakamoto in one movement, the pulse-quickening action and suspense of Williams the next. The collection ends on the warm note of Youmi Kimura's gentle, neo-baroque song "Always with Me." While American feature animation scores have frequently been preoccupied with pop star career burnishing, Hisaishi has again reinvented and refined an instrumental language that powerfully evokes all the magic of Miyazaki's fantastic images. --Jerry McCulley