NOW PLAYING LI

It's probably 2 years since I last listened to it.

In my older years, I find myself returning to the tried and true "classics" less and less, or the big Hollywood blockbusters. I veer more towards lesser known/talked-about titles from the past, or from the present. But I know they're THERE, if I want to listen to them -- like meeting an old friend.

NP: OLIVIER, OLIVIER / EUROPA, EUROPA (Zbginiew Preisner)

Perfect for a Sunday morning. The earliest Preisner I have (in terms of his film music, anyway). Aching, spacey melancholy....nobody does it better.

John Williams - Minority Report

I consider this to be one of Williams' most underrated score. Herrmannesque, but what an atmosphere!

I think both are great.

NP: EVERYBODY'S GONE TO THE RAPTURE (Jessica Curry)

Superb videogame score, the best of 2015. Gorgeous, psalm-like choirs and Delerue-ian bittersweetness. Curry's LET US MELT from 2017 is great too, but not quite on this level. Unfortunately, Curry struggles with a serious degenerative disease, which adds a whole other layer to this music.

Due to the anniversary of his passing...

James Horner - The New World

Wrote a lot about it here and it's a personal favorite, though I consider Legends of the Fall to be his best.

In fact I wrote on the score twice, one is a guest review on the Polish site, where I focus on the musical depiction of love and in a music quarterly I've written for in recent years, where I dealt with the way Horner writes about nature. Same score, two different philosophical contexts, yes.

James Horner - The Rocketeer

The Intrada release without the songs and repeated original albums (the songs I heard once and they are nice and all, but I like to have my score experience a, well, score experience. Heat is a notable exception where the songs ARE the score).

Great fun, what else could be said?

Edward Shearmur - K-Pax

I wish this one got mentioned more often on assorted boards, really. A very pleasant, urban listen with a great orchestra/electronics marriage. Thor would probably know better which electronica genre this is close to.

Clemmensen finds the score depressing. I find it actually the contrary. There is something affirming to it. And I think, while the story is a mystery, the fact that Shearmur doesn't play the mystery very much (though there is a bit of delicate sense of wonder and awe) works to its benefit. I haven't seen the film for years, though.

Taxi Ride will definitely become a part of my very eclectic (and, even, not film music specific, ranging from classic rap to trip hop to Jan Garbarek to Jerry Goldsmith) "urban playlist".

I tend to interrupt a lot, but there are scores I can't really listen to single tracks from, but have to listen to the whole album altogether. I'd say, except Thin Red Line (though I have an inspirational playlist featuring only Light and Stone in My Heart, but that serves a purpose), it would definitely feature Snow Falling on Cedars, Interstellar and The New World. Says a lot about the preference, doesn't it?

James Horner - Enemy at the Gates

Probably will finish soon (I'm on Sacha's Risk now, but it's late), but I mention this because we probably all have favorite tracks that for everyone else would be weird. In my case that'd be The Tractor Factory.

To me, The Spiderwick Chronicles - the mixing is off, and I have a hard time hearing everything - like the dynamics aren't there, it's just kind of a bit muddled. I'm not sure if it's on purpose or not, but it makes for a difficult listen for me.

What do you think of THe New World then? I think that on the one hand, it could be a better recording, on the other hand there is a certain wetness to it that adds to the magic.

But Enemy at the Gates doesn't seem to have an idea what to do with the orchestra AND the choir, especially that the choir seems to be more reverberated than the orchestra.

There's also Windtalkers, where there the trumpets and snare are emphasized almost to a fault, though there is something very compelling about that harsh, nasty sound in what is a very depressing, relentless war film score. Ironically, the snare emphasis is something that Enemy at the Gates could do a bit more with, because there, it feels, Rhodes (and Horner himself, we have to remember that composers have their preferences and sometimes even work on the levels themselves) wasn't exactly sure how to handle the moments when the snares perform a steady crescendo in the more unbearable moments. It is quite rare for Horner to have the snare feature in these crescendi so prominently.

John Williams

Not Playing now but was last nights entertainment. More of a best of playlist as I don't have access to my scores ( why oh why didn't I download all my favourites before leaving the UK ), stuff from Star Wars, A.I., Jane Eyre, Indiana Jones etc...

P.S. Is Tom still about?

Thanks for the heads up on this. There's so much I need to listen to to get up to date with new releases!

F9 (Brian Tyler)

It goes on and on, this feels like Junkie XL and his Justice League. Anyway it's serviceable but at this length also incredibly forgetful. It also has little surprises and blends in other things he did. Lately Tyler hasn't done a lot that surprised me. It's from The Mummy that I got any real pleasure out of listening to Tyler.

Daniel Hart - The Green Knight

Quite original and very compelling in its combination of old English folk and Arvo Pärt. Quite a bit of Fratres to it, but it can be both oppressive and gorgeous.