Scorehaven

The Thirst For Adventure

2011-11-13T10:22:00.000-08:00

Yes, I am posting after over a year. Speaks volumes about my schedule, I guess! Hehe.

Presented in my comeback post is a series of spontaneous thoughts about John Williams’ wonderful, thematically rich score to Steven Spielberg’s latest film – an adaptation of Herge’s famous Tintin comic books, which I had the privilege to watch in exquisite 3D today. As an avid fan of the books, TV series, director and composer, there’s no way I could gonna miss on this one (many thanks to my wonderful parents for this, without whose support it wouldn’t have been possible). While the film itself is an excellent action/adventure flick expertly combining The Secret Of The Unicorn with the events of Crab With The Golden Claws while faithfully retaining the spirit of Herge’s classics at its heart, equally appreciable are the so-called “technical” aspects like the animation, cinematography, art direction, vocal performances… and the score.

NOTE: Spoilers ahead.

Collaborations between Williams and Spielberg are legendary, beginning with the critically acclaimed score to Jaws in 1975 and followed up with classics like the Indiana Jones series, Schindler’s List, Jurassic Park, Saving Private Ryan and the recent War Of The Worlds. Their latest collaboration would be Williams’ first score for a full fledged animated film, and as an enthusiast of that area, my interest was certainly built up even more. As someone who’s held Ray Parker’s dynamic main theme to the Ellipse animated series as a definitive theme for Tintin since childhood, I was certainly hoping that Williams would come up with something equally memorable and powerful for Spielberg’s film. The Adventures Of Tintin, which plays over the charmingly animated opening titles sequence, therefore certainly came as a mixed surprise. Far from a heroic or adventurous fanfare, we have a quirky, playful piece featuring woodwinds, harpsichord and tubular bells playing both themes for the titular character in a rather unconventional way that is a bit slow to grow, but immediately appreciable in its unique orchestral palette.

It is in union with the visuals that the significance of this decision displays its perfect aptness. Tintin’s theme is a catchy motif first introduced on clarinets and then bursting forth on brass in various points of action and adventure. The theme itself isn’t really developed much further, just like its character in this movie and the comics; he is essentially our guide and active narrator through the events, and that’s what the theme does – propel us forth through the adventure and boost its strength. The “B” portion of the theme (a signature of the maestro) also shows up separately during scenes of stealth or action, but neither of these is the driving them of the movie. That position is held by the ten-note theme representing the Unicorn, the majestic ship once commanded by Sir Francis Haddock, which held the treasure everybody is after in this film. It plays on suspenseful, mellow horns whenever it is referenced, whether in the form of the three miniature models holding the scrolls or when the ship itself is hinted at in some form.

Deliciously haunting through the first half, it gains its first full-on performance on the massive orchestra during a spectacular flashback sequence of Sir Francis and his crew engaging in battle against Red Rackham’s pirates in the stormy seas. I truly got chills when the theme raged into presence as the two ships crash into each other, the occupants of the enemy vessel leaping into the other in full onslaught. The theme is played in destructive mode in Red Rackham’s Curse And The Treasure as Sir Francis blows up the ship rather than let her fall into the slimy hands of the pirates. Perhaps the most well-developed theme is that representing the famous Captain Haddock, here in his introductory phases; the conflicted oboe tune represents his struggle with alcoholism and lack of focus and confidence. It receives performances of comic heroism during the events of the frentic Flight To Bagghar, and eventually reaches a sober zenith in the noble Captain’s Counsel as he bucks up the hopeless Tintin. When I first read of the book to be adapted, the sequence I was most looking forward to was undoubtedly the aforementioned sea battle, and here we also get two exquisite swashbuckling pirate themes from Williams – one representing the diabolical Red Rackham himself, and the other frequenting in swordfight scenes, before representing the “thirst of adventure” in general in The Adventure Continues.

The main villain of the film, Ivan Ivanovitch Sakharine (a fairly minor character in the original comic), is initially given a menacing, vaguely Mid-Eastern nine-note motif during the scenes of Tintin and Haddock’s escape from the Karaboudjan, which is eventually replaced by Red Rackham’s theme in the final confrontation as Sakharine is revealed to be the descendant of the sinister pirate. Then there’s Snowy’s Theme, a refreshingly light-spirited and fast paced tune on strings and flute which perfectly fits Tintin’s hyperactive and cute companion as he faithfully accompanies him in the adventures. The two bumbling detectives, Thomson and Thompson, are given an aptly lazy clarinet theme that accompanies their sloppy efforts to chase the pickpocket, whoops, I mean kleptomaniac Mr. Silk. This wealth of themes, no less than the fabulous treasure of the Unicorn, is an absolute delight as it unfolds through the events of the film and each of them aptly interacts with the others as the circumstances unfold.

Whether it is in suspenseful cues like Marlinspike Hall or the ones featuring tooth-and-claw action music like Sir Francis And The Unicorn, never does Williams miss a single hit on time – the latter track even featuring several orchestral hits in rapid sync with sword clashes as Red Rackham’s and Sir Francis’ (a variant of the former) themes furiously battle each other with their respective characters. Notable is the liberal use of energetic woodwinds in tracks like Flight To Bagghar and fast-paced action material like Pursuit Of The Falcon and Clash Of The Cranes, though Williams takes care to never let them overpower the onscreen visuals. Some portions where the music takes a more prominent position are the aforementioned pirate sequences and portions of Escape From The Karaboudjan, especially the terrifying dissonant crescendo as the treacherous first-mate Alan steers the ship to crush what he thinks is Tintin and Haddock’s boat. Comic cues like Introducing The Thompsons and Snowy’s Chase and Capturing Mr. Silk are a delight in their respective scenes. The summary and union of this wealth of themes in Return To Marlinspike Hall and Finale is truly wonderful as well. While the official album is missing some interesting cues (including the scenes of Tintin first meeting the captain and their hijacking of the Portuguese seaplane), it is relatively well presented.

Although Spielberg’s upcoming film War Horse seems like a stronger contender at the Oscars next year, inevitably in the score department as well (also delivered by Williams), I do hope the score for The Adventures Of Tintin gets due recognition eventually because while not really something groundbreaking, it’s a refreshing return to Williams’ earlier action/adventure scores that turned many of us into his fans, and is undoubtedly one of the finest and most entertaining scores of this year so far, while effectively enhancing the already great film it accompanies. And how can it not be even more special when you finally get a refreshing new drink of your favourite composer’s material after a drought of three long years? Top quality material as far as I am concerned; highly recommended.

Thoughts on video game music and Hitman 2: Silent Assassin

2010-09-05T05:41:00.000-07:00

Being a fan of video games, I’ll be among the first to stress how important music is in the game, as it is in films. From the catchy analog chip-processed tunes of Game Boy and Sega console games (I think the ant-lion boss sequence from Sonic The Hedgehog 2 of Game Gear featured some truly remarkable scoring) to Bobby Prince’s incredible MIDI scores to DOS games like Doom and Wolfenstein 3D, and now to full-on orchestral scores to highly advanced games by many well-known film composers like Howard Shore and Hans Zimmer, video game music has shown tremendous evolution, something which never fails to awe me. It’s now a distinct genre in itself with live concerts being performed, and official soundtrack albums being released so that the era of having to resort to crappy game rips to obtain the music is over.

It’s important to mention how many individual composers got their break through the video game music career. A great example would be Michael Giacchino (who won the Oscar this year for Up), whose Medal Of Honor scores are considered to be among the finest game scores ever, which helped him get his break into Hollywood film scoring. James Hannigan surpassed Nicholas Hooper’s Harry Potter film scores with his amazing, full-on orchestral scores to the fifth and sixth games, incorporating John Williams’ Hedwig’s theme brilliantly (sadly omitted from the digital soundtracks due to licensing issues). Martin O’ Donnell and Michael Salvatori produced some stunning material for Microsoft’s Halo games. There are so many examples to list, I could go on and on.

But firstly, someone who deserves special mention is composer Jesper Kyd. Most well known today for his award-winning scores to the Assassin’s Creed games, he is also famous for scoring the four Hitman games by Eidos Interactive. The games involve the player as a cloned assassin only named as Mr. 47, with a mysterious past and a connection with a dark Agency, carrying out various hits as stealthily as possible while evading guards and witnesses. The moral fibre of the games is usually cleverly maintained to some extent because the targets are usually high-profile criminals, mafia bosses, smugglers etc. One thing which fascinated me about these games is the many number of ways in which a mission can be accomplished, and having the choice of doing it both stealthily, or just dash in with guns blazing and massacre everyone in the level. Everything is accompanied by Jesper’s threatening, suspenseful music which is usually electronic/orchestral in nature.

The first game is a little too simplistic with some edgy controls, while the games 3 and 4 venture into seriously dark and bloody territory which I’m not really fond of. However, Hitman 2: Silent Assassin is one of my all-time favourite games and, in my opinion, the best of the series so far. Although not as sophisticated with the arsenal, maps and AI as the later games, it’s still a wonderful experience with enough thrills and tough missions that would require ample practice, and very good graphics. The violence is quite kept in control and the bridge between darkness and suitability for most people is well made. Most importantly, it possibly features the best story in the series so far with a very satisfying and powerful ending. The full synopsis of the story can be easily found online, but in this post I’ll mainly be dealing with the salient material and its connection to the music.

NOTE: Spoilers ahead.

The story of Hitman 2 begins with Agent 47 retreating to a church in Sicily to seek peace. During his time in the church, he works as a gardener for the priest, Father Vittorio. 47 views Father Vittorio as his best friend and mentor, attending regular confessions to admit his sins. The priest understands that 47 has killed many but believes the man is decent at heart. Now, it wouldn’t exactly be an action/stealth game with a storyline so simple, would it? Perhaps to signify this, Jesper Kyd’s Main Title theme, instead of the electronica-laden tracks of the other games, begins with a large Gregorian male choir doing a majestic chant, soon joined by full orchestra – staccato strings supporting and brass blaring to play what could easily be a piece for a medieval war film. As a fitting companion to the superior storyline, a lot of the soundtrack features similar grand orchestral pieces, while maintaining the tradition of the Hitman music by incorporating some electronica-driven ambient material too. Jesper Kyd states in an interview –

“After the electronic-driven score for Hitman: Codename 47, the orchestral Hitman 2: Silent Assassin score was a new direction for the sound of Hitman, although there are still a few purely electronic tracks in Hitman 2: Silent Assassin.”

Shortly after meeting the priest and the player learning the controls, 47 enters the church’s confession booth to admit his sins. Here a new three-note motif is introduced for 47, played by trumpet and a restrained flute, gradually incorporating more of the orchestra. The track, titled Waiting For Action, is followed by a full-fledged dramatic track based on the same motif titled Action Begins, as Father Vittorio is kidnapped by the Italian Mafia and 47 discovers the ransom note left by them. The track is simultaneously exciting and tragic – with strings playing emotional counter melodies as horns blare and snare rhythms drive the music forward. This is the same track which plays in the next level (Anathema) as 47 ventures into the Villa of the Don responsible for the abduction and kills him, but is unable to find Vittorio. I didn’t notice this track much in the other levels, so I guess this represents 47 taking revenge on Vittorio’s immediate kidnappers.

After reading the ransom note, 47 decides to contact his old Agency again and take their help in finding Vittorio. He knows this is a deal which works for both sides – he’ll have to go back to his dark ways from which he had been running so far. But his respect for his friend Vittorio and determination to find him at all costs, striking down every obstacle and leaving a trail of dead enemies in his wake, propels him to finally make this hard decision. The emotion behind this is what is captured in the following track – 47 Makes A Decision, quite possibly the best track of the soundtrack. Beginning with low strings on percussive beats, a French horn plays notes of both tragedy and vigour with determination as eventually the string section joins in – a part which never fails to give me the shivers. The track eventually rises to a grand heroic crescendo with full orchestra, literally shouting “Behold, the hero has returned!”. This portion is particularly fun when it plays alongside 47 causing great massacres in various levels. The usage of this track in the final scene and end credits as 47 leaves Father Vittorio and the Gontranno church behind to go back to his old ways, realizing that’s the life which was always meant for him, is another truly inspired decision.

47’s missions in this game take him to various countries around the globe, and most of them have their own suitable theme music to provide an authentic feel to the locations. The missions in Russia feature well-composed, catchy martial marches in the tracks 47 In St. Petersburg and Trouble In Russia, as 47 disguises himself as a Russian soldier to assassinate enemy military generals. A clever play on these motifs is done in the track The Setup, as 47 returns to St. Petersburg towards the end of the game, only to discover that the mission is a trap set up by the mastermind behind everything, Sergei Zavorotko.

It’s remarkable how Jesper Kyd brings a truly authentic feel to the levels’ musical scores even with these highly Westernized tracks – Japanese Mansion, with its banging ethnic percussion and flutes joined by a huge orchestra, was stuck in my head for weeks after completing the missions to infiltrate Hayamoto’s ninja-infested castle. Japanese Snow Castle, with the Westernized Eastern motifs on brass, brings back memories of the treacherous trek through the snowy valley surrounding the location, infested with highly alert guards and deadly snipers.

The action then moves onto Malaysia, where 47 is supposed to take down an enemy systems hacker named Charlie Sidjan. Curiously, the Malaysian missions do not have any specific theme music of their own, and most of the music is a mixture of the previously mentioned tracks or the ambient material. A new track named The Penthouse does appear during the final of the levels, playing during 47’s encounter with dangerous bikini-clad, revolver-wielding women in Charlie Sidjan’s penthouse. The track is a highly tense action track, featuring high strings screeching out notes of danger and dread as eerie blasts from the brass highlight it. The level itself is a fairly easy one, but the track reappears during another highly tense moment in the Setup level, as 47 sneaks up from behind to take down his evil clone, Mr. 17, in the embassy building. The terrifying opening of the track makes a perfect accompanying score in this spot.

The following missions in Nuristan feature appropriate Middle-Eastern influenced orchestral melodies in the track Desert Sun and Arabian Dance. The missions in India are underscored by the tracks Streets Of India and Mission In India. Being an Indian myself, I couldn’t help but notice that the music doesn’t really sound Indian, and feels much more similar to Mideastern material. There’s a tabla on high reverb with strings playing the aforementioned melody over it, but neither the rhythms nor the melody sound close to Indian music to me. I wish some more research had gone into Indian music for this one. Nevertheless, this isn’t a big complaint and the tracks work great both in the gameplay and as standalone music.

Moving past the thrilling Return To St. Petersburg mission, 47 discovers that he’s been betrayed and returns to Gontranno, only to find the place in a much more sinister situation than we remember. The lively animals are gone and underneath the dark and rainy sky, Sergei’s henchmen circle the church like jackals as Sergei himself holds Father Vittorio hostage in the confession booth. In the inevitable final battle that follows, the track End Boss provides an apt musical backdrop – a very un-melodic and wild track with eerie string ostinatos and dissonant brass bursts building the tension in the ugly situation. There’s no heroic resolve – as 47 finally disposes of each of the armed goons and takes down Sergei, the ambient music takes over, followed by a reprise of Waiting For Action as 47 talks to the injured Father Vittorio about leaving Gontranno. Taking the cross Father Vittorio gives him, 47 walks out of the church – now littered with the bodies of slain enemies. Stopping at the broken door, he stops and presents a dramatic monologue –

“Always knew I didn't belong in this world. I wasn't made for this. But I'll never forget- those who betrayed me, and those who never failed my trust. I'll be carrying nothing from Gontranno but this lesson: never trust anyone and rely on your instincts. Forget the past. I'll never find peace here. So, I'll seek justice for myself. I'll choose the truth I like.”

The second decision is made; he hangs the cross on one of the splinters of the door, he pulls out his good ol’ hardballers and walks out into the fog to seek his destiny. And, apt to the situation, 47 Makes A Decision plays for a final time as the credits roll over the still gently swinging cross.

The score to Hitman 2: Silent Assassin is one of my favourite modern video game scores and goes on to show how much the genre has evolved lately. The majestic orchestral cues work extremely well within the game and are also great as a standalone listening experience. I personally feel this is both the best game and the best music score of the series so far, and truly worth checking out. The soundtrack was originally released on iTunes after the game’s release, and later released by La-La Land Records as a 2 CD set along with the soundtrack of the first Hitman game. The soundtrack also features the electronic ambient tracks which play throughout suspenseful situations in the game. I really recommend this one to fans of scores and orchestral music alike.

'UP' with the Oscars!

2010-03-08T20:24:00.000-08:00

Find more videos like this on Soundtrack Fans

Well deserved award for a well deserved score to the most talented Mr. Giacchino!

ScoreShell

2010-02-18T03:26:00.000-08:00

The Wolfman (Danny Elfman)

I admit I’m not the biggest score of soundtracks for horror films, except some of the classics such as Jerry Goldsmith’s fantastic score to The Omen. I also haven’t yet heard Kilar’s score to Bram Stoker’s Dracula, which is widely considered one of the best horror scores of all time, and a big influence for the one I’m currently talking about. However, I am a big fan of Danny Elfman and his work on Tim Burton’s classic Sleepy Hollow. I don’t know whether I will be watching this new werewolf flick anytime soon or not, but I was definitely eager to hear what Danny would come up with a film so suited to his style of scoring. Like others, I was sorely disappointed when suddenly it was announced back in early November that due to the trouble-laden post production phase of the film’s cuts, Elfman’s score had been chosen to be replaced by a new one by electronica-based composer Paul Haslinger. Although I’m not familiar with Paul’s works, the description of this new score did not sound right to me at all. Thankfully, due to an unnatural turn of events, Elfman’s score was reinstated back in the film in January, and a score CD is due to be released on the 23rd this month by Varese Sarabande. It’s already out on iTunes, which is the version I’m talking about right now.

Elfman whips up a wonderfully dark, delicious and threatening score that is as creepy as Benicio Del Toro’s werewolf makeup in the film. The opening Wolf Suite (split into two tracks), consists of low, uneasily propulsive string ostinatos supported by dark piano chords, before the main “wolf” theme erupts – a supremely creepy cello theme that has “horror” written all over it. The music alternates between highs and lows through great performances by the orchestra, never letting go of that aura of horror and creepiness. There are softer, more solemn moments such as in The Funeral and The Healing Montage, as well as a wonderful string-based montage cue in The Traveling Montage. Danny delivers his classic adrenaline-fueled action music in tracks like Gypsy Massacre and Country Carnage. The album’s dramatic material begins its ascent from the First Transformation track, gradually rising to its climax in The Finale. The furious action music then calms down to reprise the sinister main theme one last time in Wolf Wild #2. The album presentation is excellent, delivering a coherent listening experience of 66 minutes in crisp, clear sound quality. I’m eager to get the physical CD once it’s released in stores here in India.

Percy Jackson & The Olympians – The Lightning Thief (Christophe Beck)

The only work of Beck I liked was his lovely emotional score for the TV series Buffy: The Vampire Slayer. His other works tended to be too contemporary and electronic/synth-based for my tastes. That aside, I wouldn’t have believed you if you told me this score to the new Christopher Columbus movie was by the same man who scored the Pink Panther movies. The score caught me totally by surprise here – a grand, sweepingly epic orchestral score that I’d expect someone like Edward Shearmur or Joel McNeely to write. The main theme is fairly simple and sparingly but aptly used. The highlight here is the lush, rich orchestration and sweeping action/adventure music, the kind I’m ever so partial to. Tracks like The Hydra, Fighting Luke and Mount Olympus are my favourites here, highlights in an album that offers around an hour of pure, magnificent, coherent orchestral goodness. Thumbs up to Mr. Beck for this fun-filled ride, and hope to hear this side of him more often.

And the Oscar 2010 nominees are...

2010-02-04T01:10:00.000-08:00

Before I get to the list, I'd like to state something I've been feeling for a while. I no longer care for these awards, especially the Oscars, as much as I used to a few years earlier. The nominations and winners have gotten increasingly ridiculous as the years passed, and the film score fan in me got increasingly sick of watching undeserving people walk away with the trophies while the true, worthy gems returned empty-handed. Awards seem to be given more on the basis of hype and "exotic" nature of a score rather than its true quality. But I am following the major awards because of the esteem and popularity they still hold among the masses. We must admit that Oscars are one of the very few events which honour film scores on such a grand scale and help them gain at least some media attention. For that reason, I want my favourite composers to win the award for their hard work, because I am their well wisher and I want them to gain recognition, get better projects and deliver more great music for us. They have already gained the highest respect I can hold for them in my heart with their stunning music, yet I can only be happier watching them gain even more prestigious recognition for their work. The title of "Oscar-winning" means a lot for producers even today and therefore I continue rooting for my favourites at the awards, even if it means risking disappointment in the end.

Now that my semi-rant is over, I'll shed some light on my views about the Oscar nominations for Best Original Score, announced two days ago. As I already mentioned in the corresponding review, I was disappointed with A.R Rahman's much hyped Slumdog Millionaire score winning the Best Original Score award last year. Not because it was a bad score, but because the other four nominees alongside it were simply too good for it to be chosen over them. Yet it happened, and two of my all time favourite composers - James Newton Howard and Thomas Newman, who I had been rooting for since years, were once again robbed of their well deserved award. This year, I'm having more hope because it seems like the winner will likely be my top favourite score of the year, for once. The nominations are -

Avatar (James Horner)
The Fantastic Mr. Fox (Alexandre Desplat)
The Hurt Locker (Marco Beltrami and Buck Sanders)
Sherlock Holmes (Hans Zimmer)
Up (Michael Giacchino)

I would specifically like to mention, first of all, that this is Hans Zimmer's first Oscar nomination after 10 years, the last being his score to Ridley Scott's Gladiator back in 2000. As we all know, the German maestro won the Oscar in 1994 for his stunning score to the hit Disney Renaissance classic The Lion King. And for Sherlock Holmes, he's come up with a most unique and innovative sound that has won him near-universal praise, even from his fiercest critics. Although I haven't had the time to review it yet, I'll definitely say that I would be most thrilled if Hans takes that well-deserved Golden man home once more.

I don't need to expand on my love for Michael Giacchino's Up anymore that I already did. Given how it's already swept nearly every existing film music award till now, I'm ready to bet a lot that it will be the winner here too, and a well-deserved one. James Horner's Avatar score, of course, was a shoo-in here too. Although fitting the film well (which I haven't seen yet, but heard from various reliable people) and a good listening experience on its own, I was rather disappointed with how Horner recycled material from his own previous scores and showcased all those techniques here (the choirs from Troy, ethnic instrumentation from Apocalypto and of course the (in)famous four-note "danger motif"), especially considering the vast amount of time he had to work on the project.

I was rather surprised that from all of Alexandre Desplat's fantastic output in 2009, Fantastic Mr. Fox was the one to be chosen, especially seeing that it consisted of very little score among a horde of songs and source cues by Georges Delerue (a practice of Wes Anderson). After all the Academy disqualified Randy Newman's score for The Princess And The Frog on these grounds this very year (he's been nominated for two songs from this film though). But I'm not complaining because Fantastic Mr. Fox definitely showed how versatile Desplat can get, and being one of the industry's fastest rising talents I can only support the well-deserved recognition he gets. I haven't heard The Hurt Locker score yet so I can't comment on it. I will try to check it out, though.

The winner will be announced on March 7. Congrats to the nominees (especially Hans Zimmer, Michael Giacchino and Alexandre Desplat), and best wishes for the award ceremony.

ScoreShell

2010-01-18T23:53:00.000-08:00

Pleasant surprise yesterday as it was announced the Golden Globe award for Best Original Score went to... guess what? Michael Giacchino for Up! I was expecting it to go to the tremendously hyped (but decent) score of Avatar by James Horner. And it was a great experience to see my favourite score and composer of 2009 get some well deserved recognition (and Michael's first Golden Globe as well). Here's a video of our man of the moment receiving his well deserved award as his wonderful score plays in the background -

I don't know whether everyone is happy with this decision (I certainly saw quite some statements of disappointment around), but I feel the voters at the Globes chose the correct nominee here. As good as several other scores this year were (A Single Man, Agora, Avatar, Sherlock Holmes, Baaria, etc.), none have touched me like Michael Giacchino's wonderfully bittersweet and yet joyful score to Up did. The development of themes throughout the score is remarkable and, in Pete Docter's own words, it's almost like Michael reached up and pulled down an already existing score which was created just for this movie. The music is the heart and soul of the (excellent) film and a most engaging standalone listen as well. I hope for this gem to repeat the same feat at the Oscars, the nominations of which shall be announced on the second of February.

On another note, FSM reports that Alexandre Desplat has been chosen for scoring the first part of Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows. A fine choice, I'd say. Desplat's New Moon is one of the best scores from last year and Golden Compass, Lust Caution and Largo Winch are all among my favourites. Although I was expecting James Newton Howard as my first composer of choice after John Williams, I am sure Alexandre will shine in scoring the beautiful emotional scenes in the film. Although the first part isn't seemingly too heavy on the action side, the Seven Potters aerial chase is one sequence I'm truly looking forward to - visually and musically - and I hope Desplat delivers a most bombastic action cue here. There's still hoping that John Williams is back for Part 2, although I wouldn't mind if Desplat stays onboard till the end.

Finally, Danny Elfman's Alice In Wonderland seems to be getting a CD release from Walt Disney Records on March 2. I don't know how many, if any, songs are on there, but I hope we get a decent 50-60 minutes of uninterrupted score on the CD with any songs pushed either to the very beginning or end (unlike Nightmare Before Christmas). Cheerio!

EDIT (5th Feb 2010) - The tracklist of Alice has been out, and it looks like the CD is all score and no songs. Unless any of those have children/Disney ensemble singing of course, but I doubt that. And Elfman's score to The Wolfman also comes out on February 23 from Varese Sarabande. Woot!

That was 2009...

2009-12-30T21:43:00.000-08:00

And the year comes to an end with a bang, with two highly anticipated scores being released and impressing me too - James Horner's Avatar and Hans Zimmer's Sherlock Holmes. I'll review these later, but I'd like to give a special mention to the scores I'm really looking forward to in 2010.

The Last Airbender (James Newton Howard) - James has always delivered excellent material for Shyamalan's films, and this might very well be the king of them all. The musical scope for the film is immense, and if the score is anything like what the trailer music was, this might end up being the most brilliant score ever by JNH. I wouldn't be exaggerating if I said this is my most anticipated score of next year.

How to Train Your Dragon (John Powell) - A real expert of animated scoring returns for this new DreamWorks animated feature. And I'm only too eager to see what the result will be like.

Alice In Wonderland (Danny Elfman) - Elfman is famous for his terrific scores to Tim Burton's films, and this seems like no exception. I'm expecting something along the lines of Nightmare Before Christmas or Edward Scissorhands here. Sadly, the soundtrack will likely be another MP3-only release by Walt Disney Records, but for now I'll just hope that there is a proper release at all.

Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows: Part 1 (composer yet to be announced) - I've already written how excited I am for the score for this film(s). My top choice is John Williams, followed by James Newton Howard and Danny Elfman.

Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (David Arnold) - I really like Harry Gregson-Williams' Narnia scores, but I'm very curious to see what Mr. Arnold could do here. Given his track record, we're probably in for a real treat.

The Tree of Life (Alexandre Desplat) - Terrence Malick and Alexandre Desplat? The musical scope is once again immense for this project.

Inception (Hans Zimmer) - Hans' scores for Nolan's Batman films were perhaps a little too atmospheric (at the director's request, nonetheless), but that approach could very well work great here if the trailers are to be believed.

Prince Of Persia (Harry Gregson-Williams) - If Harry does a Sinbad once again for this Bruckheimer feature, I'm sold. (not counting the very annoying MP3-only release possibility, of course)

Toy Story 3 (Randy Newman) - I adore both the previous Toy Story scores, and the trailers only left me too excited for this one. I hope this one at least gets a CD release for the sake of the inevitable pop songs by Randy.

Rapunzel (Alan Menken) - I sorely missed Alan for Disney's much publicized Princess And The Frog (although Randy Newman's effort was pretty nice), and am eagerly waiting his return to Disney.

Honourable mentions -

Shanghai (Klaus Badelt)
Salt (James Newton Howard)
The A-Team (Alan Silvestri)
Morning Glory (Michael Giacchino)
The Debt (Thomas Newman)
Flipped (Mark Shaiman)

ScoreShell

2009-12-01T00:37:00.000-08:00

Here’s my impressions on some of the scores I listened to in the past few months, in a “ScoreShell” –

District 9 (Clinton Shorter)

Peter Jackson’s new Hollywood alien-invasion film certainly hit some serious bucks at the BO. I haven’t seen the film yet but I was certainly interested in the soundtrack, so I checked and saw Clinton Shorter was assigned to score. He’s still a relatively unknown composer on the Hollywood front so I was curious to see what the music would be like. For the aforementioned reason I wasn’t sure whether a soundtrack album would be released at all (with the exception of MP3 download versions), and it was certainly great to see Sony Music release a CD-R version with 30 minutes of score material. Although I’m not a sucker for Mideastern sounding music, the combination of gritty electronic instruments and booming male vocals certainly seems to be the right choice for the film. The opening track is particularly good, and the whole album, although short, is a nice listening experience.

9 (Deborah Lurie and Danny Elfman)

I had not heard about this film, and checked out the CD when I read about its release. I heard some of Deborah Lurie’s material from the third Spider-Man film and liked it, and of course Danny Elfman is one of my all-time favourite composers. This thing was a pleasant surprise to me as the CD offers 45 minutes of bombastic action material intertwined with some nice, moving orchestral/choral cues. Despite the synth/electronic overload that could easily creep into a score for such a film, Deborah Lurie does a great job at keeping the liveliness of the music up with keeping synths for an underlying heavy cover and dominating the music with powerful orchestral bursts, complete with catchy motifs and intense percussive effects. While Danny Elfman’s themes aren’t as memorable as I’ve come to expect from him, the score still offers plenty of edge-of-the-seat moments to keep our interest. I particularly liked the suspenseful opening of Winged Beast, building up to a massive action cue, joined by a horde of such material in fellow tracks like Slaying The Beast, The Seamstress and The Purpose. And Release, with its rousing orchestra and choir is a perfect track for a non-fireworks filled finale.

Twilight: New Moon (Alexandre Desplat)

My interest in the popular teen-vampire romance saga is less than zero. Though I read the plot summaries at Wikepedia out of curiosity, I was turned off in less than a minute as I started getting what it’s all about. Of course, I was still excited for Alexandre Desplat’s score for the second installment in the series, New Moon. Carter Burwell’s score to the first film underwhelmed me – although it did have good moments in tracks like Bella’s Lullaby, the gritty electronics-based action music with wailing guitars was practically unlistenable on CD. It would probably work fairly well in the film, but I don’t think there isn’t a way around this kind of material for the film, without adding some dose of actual music. Alexandre Desplat gained my respect in the past with his heartwarmingly lovely scores to films like Lust, Caution, The Girl With A Pearl Earring and The Painted Veil. I also liked his rather differentially-reviewed score to Chris Weitz’ film The Golden Compass. Only last year he came up with a brilliant score for The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button, for which I still say he deserved the Oscar. Now that he was back with Chris Weitz for New Moon, I was certainly very excited for it.

And I think the score even surpassed my expectations. The main theme is as heartwrenching, longing and filled with pathos as you can imagine, the music playing out with piano and strings, gradually rising to a grand brass-driven segment which gave me goosebumps. Desplat uses his familiar techniques of rhythmic percussion, low bass lines and mild synth to keep up with the feel of the film. The beautiful streak continues in tracks like Edward Leaves and Marry Me, Bella. His familiar action-scoring techniques are seen in tracks like Blood Sample and Wolves V. Vampire, though this time I felt his slower tracks are much better than the action material. The Volturi have their own eerie theme, prominently present in the tracks named after them and To Volterra, another highlight of the album. And of course, the final track Full Moon presenting a grand orchestral rendition of the main theme is a real treat. If critics look at this score for what it is and how it serves its film, rather than the critical views for the film itself, I believe Desplat should be nominated for another Oscar for this beautiful score.

A Christmas Carol (Alan Silvestri)

Alan Silvestri has always delivered excellence for Robert Zemeckis’ films, with the Back To The Future scores being a real favourite of film score fans, Forrest Gump being a critically acclaimed score and The Polar Express regarded as one of the composer’s most beautiful scores. Needless to say, I got his score for Zemeckis’ new Disney 3D film, A Christmas Carol, as soon as it was released. Silvestri is another composer who rarely disappoints me, but I didn’t really warm up to his G.I Joe score in August. Therefore this beautiful score, with its lovely and playful renditions of Christmas carols and some truly beautiful choral material, was a treat to listen to. Like Polar Express, Alan uses his trademark orchestral and choral techniques to great effect to set the holiday mood. Scrooge’s initial greed is represented by low woodwinds, and as the three ghosts arrive the music also picks up energy, moving from some quite eerie-sounding choral tracks to classic Silvestri bombast in tracks like Carriage Chase and The Clock Tower (BTTF, anyone?). The climactic plot events in the massively epic choral track Who Was That Lying Dead? Truly gave me goosebumps, reminding me why Alan is one of my all time favourite composers. The classic “happy ending” Christmas-y finale is as fitting and enjoyable as you could expect. This is another score I will be proudly playing on Christmas. Unfortunately, this gem is another victim of the new MP3 download-only policy of Disney, which continues to earn my contempt. But for now I’ll just enjoy what we have of this thing, for if you’re a fan of Alan Silvestri, you cannot skip this score, regardless of the inferior format.

Baaria – Ennio Morricone

Once again, Ennio Morricone proves why he’s regarded as one of the best film music composers in history. We have his classic strings and wordless vocals in the opening tracks (marred slightly by the dialogue and SFX towards the end), beautiful and melodic orchestral tracks making up most of the album with quite a good dose of energy in places. While I previously found some of Ennio’s scores to be a somewhat difficult listening experience in the past, this one shows how musically effective he can be, while still providing an apt film score. And that, is what, in my opinion makes a superior film score, as evidenced here. The score plays mostly as a singularly coherent experience so I can’t recall the exact nature of every track, but it was a great listening experience and the finale was also nice. If chosen wisely, there’s another deserving Oscar candidate right here.

And of course, there are two highly anticipated scores releasing this month – James Horner’s highly publicized score for James Cameron’s Avatar, and Hans Zimmer’s score for Guy Ritchie’s new Robert Downey Jr. starrer, Sherlock Holmes – being released on December 15 and 22 respectively. I’m eager to listen and review these two as soon as I buy them.

Analysis: Slumdog Millionaire (A.R Rahman)

2009-09-09T00:41:00.000-07:00

Yeah, I indeed did not get the time to watch the film previously! I did check it out a couple of days back though, and really enjoyed it. Except for the unusual scenes of slum kids and local gangsters speaking perfect English, this film hardly feels like a product of Hollywood. The Indian spirit runs fresh and strong throughout and kept me hooked on till the end. Special credit should go to the performances of the kids and everyone in the cast, the acting was top notch and felt really natural. This is easily my second favourite movie of last year, following only The Dark Knight.

Now speaking about the score… I was initially somewhat skeptical of the music when I first listened to it on the CD. It isn’t really what I expected from Rahman for this kind of film, primarily consisting of a (quite good) blend of electronics, techno beats and synths with traditional Indian instruments and a few orchestral effects. Either way, after some listens I liked two tracks quite quickly – Mausam & Escape (a fast-paced action cue with some frantic high staccato string work and blend of sitar/electronics) and Latika’s theme (featuring a lovely wordless theme by vocalist Suzanne, supported by sitar and tanpura). I think that judging a score solely by what it is on CD is rather unfair, because the music is often more appreciated after discovering its effect in situ in the film, alongside the visuals.

So while watching the film I was keeping an ear out for the score too. I actually noticed the 16 minutes worth of score material on the soundtrack CD is probably pretty much all that was there, with minor variations and edits in places (confirmed after I listened to the Academy promo). The rest of the music largely consisted of the songs playing in the background (I don't consider those as *score*). O… Saya and Paper Planes were used in the opening sequence and a train montage sequence respectively as background music, and I also heard some of the source music from the original Who Wants To Be A Millionaire show. Most of the other scenes didn’t have any music. Not that I find it bad, as I previously had said, silence can often work as a great score itself in the film in certain situations. But I wonder how did this thing even come close to getting nominated for the Best Original Score award when previously Alan Menken’s lovely score to Enchanted was disqualified on the grounds of not having enough score, and that had about 35 minutes of score at least? Not that it bothers me, but it's certainly interesting how the judges sometimes cross their own rules (or conveniently change them at the eleventh hour) to allow their nominee of choice to win.

Either way, I liked how the score that was there worked in the film, for most of the part. Riots, with its layers of pounding and unsettling electronics provided a good underscore for the corresponding scene, though I’d have preferred something more fast-paced and tense.

I instantly liked the use of the opening guitar melody in Mausam & Escape, played when Jamal sees Latika at the train station. It provided a nice and appropriate enhancement of the emotions onscreen. The “Escape” part consisting of frentic sitar and electronics joined by high staccato strings plays in two parts of the film – when the kids are escaping from Maman’s cronies and when Javed’s men kidnap Latika at the train station. And both times it worked well to set the adrenaline pumping. The sheer energy and sense of terror and drama in this piece is remarkable, and for that reason this is undoubtedly my favourite cue from this album, and I rank it up there as one of the best action cues by Rahman.

Latika’s theme played beautifully especially in the final scene of the film (right before the Jai Ho sequence). It also plays when Salim purposely lets go of Latika’s hand when running from Maman, which beautifully highlights the sense of tragedy in Latika and Jamal, and when he and Jamal are searching for her in Mumbai. Suzanne's wordless vocals are sweet and heartwarming, and the gentle touch with sitar and tanpura is very precise and lovely. Initially I thought the piece felt a little incomplete, and some strings thrown in would’ve made it stronger. But in the movie I noticed the character of Latika isn't really developed a lot, and this theme with its haunting, distant and yet sweet quality fits her perfectly.

Liquid Dance is one cue I didn’t immediately notice in the film. It is a concoction of alaaps by Palakkad Sriram and Madhumita on a techno beat supported by synth strings (think of a slower cousin of Navras). Reminded me a bit of Rahman's theme music from Rangeela. Later on looking back I saw it was used in the scene where Jamal is following Salim to Javed’s house. I felt it was pretty much a filler, didn’t really do anything much for the visuals.

Millionaire is a fast-paced techno vehicle played when Latika is going for Jamal when he’s being asked the final question. Played along quite well alongside the visuals I think, nothing overtly special though. And yeah, I’d like to mention I really liked the use of O Saya and Jai Ho (I initially thought the choreography was poorly done, but later I found out it was initially done for the Aaj Ki Raat song instead, so I think in the light of this it still fits acceptably well) in the film, really fun songs and played out very well at the appropriate time. I’m at least very happy Rahman got the well deserved Best Original Song award. The rest of the songs didn't really stand out much for me (Ringa Ringa has a quite catchy tune/rhythm though).

Regarding the score , I certainly liked it a lot and whatever was there played really well on the screen, but I can’t help but still feel it is somewhat hyped. The soundtrack is VERY good, but it isn't the best in Rahman's career, who has produced even superior scores like Lagaan and Bose: The Forgotten Hero previously. I could’ve done with some better music at some points, and the fact there was too little of it doesn’t help it either (something I don't really care about, but allegedly the AMPAS does). I mean, I cannot think of it up there with the likes of Howard Shore’s Lord Of The Rings scores, or Dario Marianelli’s Atonement. Now granted the songs worked well along the visuals, but then that's why we have separate categories of Score and Song awards.

Don't get me wrong, I really liked this score, and Mausam & Escape and Latika's Theme have quickly found a place among my most played tracks. But should this be preferred over the amazing scores nominated alongside it? This is the highest award of honour a film score can get and should it just be handed over without the appropriate fierce competition? This is why I say that while it's a good score, I'd have liked to see the award go to the far superior scores of Defiance and Wall-E.

But I am happy to say isn’t a disappointment in the league of Gustavo Santaolalla’s Babel. The way I see it, this award is the Academy's acknowledgement of Rahman's immense contribution to the world of film music. I’m happy to see Rahman finally getting the recognition he deserves, for a fine score nonetheless, and hope to see him get bigger and better projects (and releases) as a result.

Music Rating - 4 out of 5

John Williams to return to score the final Harry Potter film(s)?

2009-07-16T00:19:00.000-07:00

In a recent interview with the Harry Potter films' producer, David Heyman, a fan asked whether John Williams, the legendary composer of the first three films' scores and who in 2007 had expressed interest in returning to score the final film in the popular franchise, Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows (which is now being split into 2 films filmed back to back, due to be released in late 2010 and summer 2011), would be allowed back onboard. In response, Heyman confirmed that they indeed talked with Williams about the film and if he could accomodate Part 2 in his schedule. Though it's rather unclear from the interview, it certainly seems that Willams is almost cleared for scoring Part 1. Today in a sneak peek from an upcoming FSM interview, composer Nicholas Hooper, who scored the fifth and sixth films of the franchise, said he won't score the final film due to the pressure and stress of the project, and hopes John Williams should be back to score the final installment of the series he started.

Although not officially confirmed yet, this is certainly a great news for fans of Williams and the series like me. The scores Williams composed for the first two films were, although not perfect, very emotional and powerful. Even casual listeners best associate the franchise with the lovely Hedwig's Theme composed by Williams, which has since become the signature tune for the movies and included in all subsequent scores even after Williams left. Williams left the franchise at the fourth film, The Goblet Of Fire, in preferance over Memoirs Of A Geisha. The film was scored instead by Patrick Doyle. Later, new director David Yates, who will also direct the final film(s), brought along friend Nicholas Hooper to score the fifth and sixth films. Let me give you a short summary of the scores we've had so far.

!!!!!!!!!! SPOILERS AHEAD !!!!!!!!!!!!

Williams' themes for the first three films have been very memorable for me. Although somewhat overscored and laden too much with Hedwig's theme, Harry Potter and The Sorcerer's Stone had lovely musical material that so excellently captured the childlike wonder of a magic world, greatly summed up in the cue Harry's Wondrous World. A brilliant theme for the majestic Hogwarts, upbeat orchestral glory for the Quidditch matches and sinister brass theme for the arch villain, Voldemort, were really enjoyable both in film and CD. The second film, Harry Potter and The Chamber Of Secrets, had a more fantasy/adventure nature and the score followed that. Dumbledore's pet phoenix Fawkes recieved one of the best themes ever by Williams, a serene, touching and noble melody that returns in heroic fashion as the bird turns up for Harry's rescue in the climax of the film. Harry's battle with the basilisk is scored with a rip-roaring fantasy choir and thundering orchestral music in one of the best action cues in the series (perhaps a little more than the poorly animated scene deserved), and the cunning theme for the Chamber itself popped up in various forms at the right places. The Voldemort theme returns in the spot-on moment too, actually chilling. The near-comical Lockhart theme and quirky Dobby theme are also remarkable. The finale scoring has to be one of the most grand ever.

As the series got darker, Williams went for more gothic and medieval style in the third film, Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban. I personally regard this as the best Potter score to this day. The first of the new themes I want to point out here is the one for Harry's family, in the track A Window To The Past. With a gorgeous start with Richard Harvey on recorder, the lovely orchestral piece powerfully highlights the sense of bereavement and love Harry has for his late parents gave their lives for him, and the extent to which this music captures it is remarkable. Never fails to send shivers down my spine. If John Williams indeed comes back for Deathly Hallows then I really hope he uses this theme again in the "Forest Again" scene near the climax.

Buckbeak's Flight is another lovely piece, starting with thundering timpani and moving into a gorgeous string-based melody that could rival the Flying theme from E.T. The darkness of the films literally creeps in with the arrival of the sinister Dementors, wraith-like foul soul-sucking creatures. Williams creates a terrifyingly creepy atmosphere with electronics, squiggly strings and dissonant brass, which are later accompanied by a sinister, equally dissonant choir in tracks like The Dementors Converge and Finale. Harry's patronus is accompanied by serene, almost church-like choir. Small but effective motifs for Sirius and Wormtail, a comical waltz for the Aunt Marge scene, the jazzy Knight Bus music, clarinets and staccato trumpet in Hagrid The Professor and Macbeth-inspired medieval song Double Trouble all make this score a diverse and very enjoyable listening experience. Quidditch, Third Year and The Werewolf Scene are really impressive action cues. Not to mention the clever ticking sound during the time turner sequence!

As mentioned above, at this point composer Patrick Doyle (known for his scores to Kenneth Branagh's Shakespeare adaptations) took over the scoring duties to Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire. The score tells you it's gonna be dark right from the first track, which I personally feel is the best Opening Credits music of the series so far. I can remember how the shrieking strings and bold brass leading to a darker, "serious" version of Hedwig's theme gave me chills while watching the film. Although the score and themes are effective and memorable, I have certain gripes with Doyle's score. First, Doyle's scoring is quite incoherent, unlike Williams. While most of Williams' music was perfectly enjoyable as a standalone music track and effectively composed piece of music, Doyle's music seems to have been scored almost shot-by-shot and very incidental, so you can't understand why the orchestra blares for one second, goes quiet, again rises, again goes quiet and so on. The layering of the music is not too good either. Secondly, Doyle went over the top in quite a lot of scenes which could have easily been scored more subtly (and this is coming from somebody who likes his scores loud and bold). He drastically overused cymbals and loud brass which I felt was totally unnecessary and in fact a distracting factor both in film and CD. Howard Shore's music for the Khazad Dum sequence in Lord Of The Rings is a perfect example to show that cymbals and brass can be effectively used for action scoring without going through the roof.

But nevertheless, the score is a honorable entry into the franchise. Doyle's new family theme, first appearing in Harry In Winter, is by far my favourite here. How it plays out in the climactic Priori Incantatem scene gave me shivers, as much as I'd have liked Williams' family theme here. The two classical adapted waltzes are great too, as is the Irish string music and percussive chanting in The Quidditch World Cup. The dark French horn motif for Voldemort is effective for the character, even though I feel the middle half of the Voldemort track suffers from the same incoherentness and blow-'er-up-ness as mentioned above, although its magnificent ending makes up for that. However quite a few good action cues can be found here such as The Dark Mark, Golden Egg and The Black Lake. The second one introduces the fantastic and powerful Triwizard theme, which returns in heartbreaking form in Death Of Cedric, one of the saddest moments of the entire series. Thumbs up to Doyle on this one. I particularly like how the score closes somberly with Another Year Ends and Hogwarts Hymn.

Nicholas Hooper took up the baton next for Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix. By far one of the darkest of the series, the film had more dark and disturbing themes/scenes than any of the previous films. And Nicholas delved the score to a similar situation, a little perhaps too dark. The opinion of fans about his scores have been rather mixed, and I think that's the situation with me too. I think I'll start with the positive. Hooper created some really lovely themes and pieces that we can be proud to call a part of the Potter music franchise. The theme for Professor Umbridge, one of the most hateable characters in the books and brilliantly portrayed by Imelda Staunton, could be barely more catchy and effective than Hooper made it with the high, annoying strings and staccato brass. The full-bodied orchestral "flying" music he wrote for scenes like the Flight of The Order of the Phoenix and the Thestral ride (in The Sirius Deception) are truly top notch and a real pleasure to hear on CD. The Dementor attack music is as close to Williams' sound as possible. The rebelliousness theme was boldly represented by a wild wailing electric guitar, a rather unusual but effective inclusion in the score. Voldemort is given a new dark theme here, mainly to represent his invasion of Harry's mind, and personally I prefer it over Doyle's theme. The jovial themes for Dumbledore's Army and the Ministry Of Magic were lovely too.

Now to the negative part... my main complaint with Nicholas' style is that while he shone in the louder moments of the score, the quieter moments were so minimalistic and drone-like that I barely noticed them at all either in the film or CD. This is sadly the case with a lot of cues where he could have done something better. My main gripe is with the Possession music in one of the most emotionally gripping scenes in the series (great acting by Daniel Radcliffe, I'd like to add). The music failed to push my emotional buttons at all, the slowly rising strings were supposed to be effective but personally I couldn't feel they elevated the scene's emotion in any way. In fact, there are some moments where he hit spectacularly wrong notes that didn't fit with the onscreen emotions at all. Sadly such moments are a little too abundant on the CD and kind of distract from the much better aforementioned tracks.

The score to the sixth film Harry Potter And The Half Blood Prince, which just opened today, was released yesterday. I am happy to say that Nick did a much better job in this score than the previous one. While I haven't seen the film yet, I've heard from a lot of people that the score works very well in situ. While quite a lot of it seems to remain background music and incidental, it is much better structured and coherent than Order Of The Phoenix. It is evident Nicholas was inspired by John Williams' themes as not only do we have the classic version of Hedwig's theme in Ginny, but the bold brass motif for Quidditch from the third score appears here in tracks like Ron's Victory and Of Love And War. Parts of the score are minimalistic but very sweet, with good use of classical guitar and piano in Harry And Hermione and When Ginny Kissed Harry. Hooper brings a more modern touch with loud drums and jig-esque music in tracks Wizard Wheezes and The Weasley Stomp, while for some unknown reason Umbridge's theme is partially reprised in Living Death.

A new, dark theme underscores the tragedy and tight situation of the now almost sympathetic Draco Malfoy in Malfoy's Mission, while Voldemort's sinister theme from the previous score has a cameo in the track Dumbledore's Foreboding. The Possession theme makes a more dissonant and choir-based appearance to good effect in The Drink Of Despair and Inferi In The Firestorm. The best point of the score is that the emotional material is greatly improved, in tracks like Farewell Aragog and Dumbledore's Farewell, the latter being surely one of the most powerfully touching tracks in the series. But my main grouse with the score is that the action music here is even blander than the previous score. The bridge attack music (Opening) has only constant percussion and trilling strings with supporting brass that might give an impression of a moderately suspenseful scene but definitely not the terrifying action scene it's meant for. A slightly sped-up version appears in Into The Rushes, hardly bringing along anything more interesting.

While the score might be serviceable enough for the film, it's not really a very engaging experience on CD. Nicholas Hooper did a much better effort than his previous work and I applaud him for that, but I cannot feel scoring in this vein would be anywhere suitable for Deathly Hallows. Anyone who has read the book can tell how action-filled and emotionally powerful the plot is, which only demands an as engaging and powerful score. When I first got the book (6:30 AM the very first day of release!) and started reading through it, a subconscious part of my mind began thinking what score would be required for such a dramatic book adaptation. This is why I really, really want maestro John Williams back for scoring the grand finale of the saga he started so beautifully. I cannot wait to hear how he scores the high octane action scenes and the so many emotionally powerful scenes throughout the book, and might even deliver something that will be remembered as one of his best works of all time.

So here's hoping for the Return Of The King for the finale! Fingers crossed!

Introduction to film music

2009-07-08T22:12:00.000-07:00

The passion for film scores seems to have been in my blood since the beginning. I tried, unsuccessfully, to acquaint myself to mainstream genres of music, but so far not a single one of those has touched me as instrumental scores do. Why? I think the reason will be better understood once you read this write-up. So before I get started, I’d like to say something about music in general.

Here is what dictionary.com defines “music” as –

–noun
1. an art of sound in time that expresses ideas and emotions in significant forms through the elements of rhythm, melody, harmony, and color.
2. the tones or sounds employed, occurring in single line (melody) or multiple lines (harmony), and sounded or to be sounded by one or more voices or instruments, or both.

Let’s look at this. The second definition is a more technical description of music, in quite scientific terms. The first one, however, is the most appropriate definition which an average person would associate with music. So hereby, we can define music as an art of sound in time that expresses ideas and emotions in significant forms through the elements of rhythm, melody, harmony, and color.

And now, the central point of my above discussion here – why do we listen to music? Why is music more or less an integral part of every person’s life? The answer, in my opinion, is surprisingly simple. Music is all about emotion. In other words, music is a tangible form of emotion. When we listen to proper music, it brings about feelings in us which evoke our emotions. It is a sort of communication, a beautiful way of communication. Music communicates directly with our soul and evokes our deepest emotions without us realizing what it’s doing. We drift away in this torrent of emotion and experience what this hobby/passion is all about – enjoyment!

Whether sad, happy, classic, action-oriented, dramatic, martial or simply lighthearted fun, all emotions can be expertly expressed by music. I don’t think anyone will disagree when I say that if you want to get across a message, getting music involved in the process almost always enhances it. Try reading a poem out to a group, and the second time singing it out after setting a tune to it. See how much difference it makes! Even plants have been scientifically known to grow better if exposed to gentle music alongside. This unique power makes music a powerful tool for use in several fields, a very important one being the instrumental score in film.

As we all know, a film is an art of both visuals and sound. The proper union of both sound and image is vital for a film to deliver a powerful impact. They’re incomplete without each other. They must complement each other in a way that they seem to be one and deliver a perfect emotional message to the audience. As I described above, music is a powerful tool to evoke emotions in us. What the music score does in the film is to enhance the emotional impact of the onscreen visuals and strengthen the impression on the audience. This unique relationship between sound and image never ceases to amaze me and is one of the many reasons why I have film scores as my passion. Here’s a brief summary about how film music gained its prominence.

The birth of music in film was rather inadvertent – when early films were played in the theater, the then contemporary movie projectors produced a loud and disturbing noise, distracting the audience from the film. In order to lessen the impact of this sound to some extent, musicians were hired to play music alongside the film, in a mood appropriate to the action onscreen – for example, slow and melancholy for a sad scene, jovial for a happier scene, fast paced for an action scene, eerie for a horror scene and so on. When it was found that the audience liked the effect, the tradition was encouraged and a music group ranging from a small ensemble to a full orchestra was employed to play alongside the music (this was before music began to be recorded on physical medium for films). Note that this was not necessarily music composed particularly for the film, it usually comprised of symphonies by classical composers. Eventually the power of music in the film was noticed to a point, especially in the era of silent movies, that they began to be regarded as an essential ingredient in the making of a film.

And very rightly so. An ideal score is one which leaves powerful impact on you when you’re watching the visuals and yet it does not distract you from the movie towards itself. It holds your attention hard enough for you to appreciate its significance and for you to vaguely but significantly remember it on its own away from the movie and still keep you engrossed in the film. You’re only subconsciously hearing this music, yet how you will miss it if it’s taken off the visuals! How do I begin to explain the beauty of this effect in the film? It’s done better by experience than by words.

Think of the racing strings and brass which build into the majestic Gondor theme during the Lighting Of The Beacons scene in Peter Jackson’s Return Of The King, setting up the adrenaline rush to the already visually stunning sequence. Think of Lebo M’s grand rising vocals (though it’s actually part of the Circle Of Life song, but arranged by Hans Zimmer and Mark Mancina) in the immortal opening scene of the rising sun and gathering animals over the vast African landscape in Disney’s classic The Lion King. Think of the terrifying, creepy, foreboding and building sense of danger developed by John Williams’ main theme even in the absence of the shark in Jaws, comprising only of two main notes. Think of The Imperial March which plays whenever Darth Vader appears onscreen, and which has become one of the most classic villain themes of all time. Think of the famous flying scene from E.T, scored so brilliantly by John Williams that Spielberg actually edited the scene to fit the music better.

How much of an impression this music makes on us, yet how it never overpowers the visuals. And still how we can even remember a significant theme from it later. Can’t you visualize Boromir’s sudden sinister lust for Frodo’s ring on hearing Howard Shore’s spectacular Ring theme? Can’t you see the majestic Mufasa’s ghost encouraging Simba in the grasslands on hearing Simba’s theme from Hans Zimmer’s masterpiece The Lion King? Can’t you almost feel the lions stalking an unaware prey hearing the suspenseful cues from Jerry Goldsmith’s The Ghost And The Darkness? Can you feel the terror and tragedy of the crew of the sinking Titanic on listening to James Horner’s score? Don’t you feel like putting up the hat and boots and revolver on hearing Ennio Morricone’s Western scores? Don’t you feel like putting on that superhero mask and cape on hearing Danny Elfman’s Batman Theme? Can you visualize the grand vista of the Prehistoric world hearing The Egg Travels from James Newton Howard’s Dinosaur? Do you get the “cool vibes” hearing John Barry’s classic Bond theme? Can you feel the T-Rex moving closer with the rising timpani beats in Jurassic Park? Do you feel like grabbing your wand and flying on a broom hearing John William’s Hedwig’s Theme? I’m sure you’ll agree with most of these if you love the art of cinema as much as me. And there are countless examples of such memorable scores in history. But let us move on.

It is important to note that a score doesn’t necessarily have to be a beautiful, properly structured, well composed piece of music. Even a non-traditional sound incorporated into the scene and heightening the emotional impact of the scene can be a perfect score. A great example is maestro Bernard Herrmann’s classic score to the famous shower murder scene in Psycho, which has been said to be even more terrifying than the actual scene itself. The piece consists simply of two violins playing fiendishly high notes side by side. This is actually a warm-up technique and not a proper method of playing the violin, and yet it is heralded as one of the best scored scenes in film history. A more recent example is from the hit 2008 film The Dark Knight, scored by Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard, where Zimmer developed a most disturbing theme for the villain of the film, The Joker (brilliantly portrayed by the late Heath Ledger). Included on the soundtrack album in the Why So Serious track, the actual theme consists of only two notes, whereas the arrival of the Joker is signified, in a very Jaws-ish way, by a distorted electric cello tenaciously sliding up. The deranged mind of the character is scored not by “music” but rather a rhythmic, chaotic array of sound effects comprising from synths to bomb SFX, creating more of a soundscape than a music cue. Zimmer himself said he made it hateable for people to understand the character better, which is probably (and ironically!) why it worked so well and received praise even from fierce critics of Zimmer.

Another very important but often overlooked point for film music is that it’s meant to score not just the action onscreen, but the *emotion* onscreen. There may be scenes very similar in action, but very different in emotion. Here’s an example – a fight between the protagonist and some drunken tramp on the street after a quarrel may not need any powerful music. This is because there isn’t any strong emotion involved, it’s just a random encounter – the two don’t have any personal vendetta. On the other hand, a climactic final fight between the protagonist and the film’s arch villain who killed his father needs just about the most dramatic music possible. I don’t need to explain how high the stream of emotions runs in such a scene and how effective the music must be to highlight it. Ironically, there is possibly no middle ground in such a situation – it’d need either the most balls-out action music or absolute silence – for silence can often be a very powerful score in itself. A very good example for apt emotional scoring would be the scene in Return Of The King where Faramir leads a troop of soldiers from Minas Tirith on a certainly suicidal mission to fight the immense troops of Orcs invading Osgiliath. Howard Shore scores this high paced action scene not with pounding action music but the soft ethereal vocals of Billy Boyd. What’s being highlighted is not the action but the tragic sense of purpose in these men as they know the inevitable and yet do it out of their sense of duty.

And I think I can go on endlessly giving such examples about the various aspects of film scores. But I’ll stop here and let you think about what I’ve tried to say above. This is exactly why I’ve always adored film scores. This is why I felt a power and solace in this instrumental music that I could never feel in most mainstream music. This is a sadly neglected yet most wonderful, charming, captivating and emotional genre of music and a most important form of art. The music brings about feelings in me like few can. This isn’t any other catchy jingle put on top of a heavy beat to sound foot-tapping and “kewl”. It’s a lovely art where YOU have to equally use your own heart and brain to understand what the purpose of the music is. What is this music trying to convey to me? What message is it intended to serve? What is its purpose in this scene? What is the emotion of the characters at this point? Or is it a clever red herring meant to masterfully divert from the plot before some shocking revelation takes place? And as I noted previously, these are the type of things that are better understood by personal experience rather than by reading others’. Though it does require patience and willpower to adapt to this genre of music if you’re used to mainstream music before, it is a most wonderful and enchanting world once you enter it and experience it yourself.

And now I'm ever glad to see that score music is getting more recognition than ever. Top composers like Hans Zimmer and John Williams are significantly popular even among the mainstream community. Most studios are putting in money both for hiring quality composers and for quality score releases. Even some TV shows are getting live orchestral scores composed for them. Special labels like Varese Sarabande, La-La Land Records, Intrada, Film Score Monthly and Milan have come up specialising in film scores and releasing several wonderful unheard scores from previous films. I only pray for this trend to continue and may we see wonderful releases for the several deserving unreleased masterpieces still in there.

Misconceptions about film scores

I cannot deny that film music is quite a niche genre. Though thanks to rising popularity of top composers like John Williams, Michael Giacchino and Hans Zimmer, the awareness of the beauty and power of film scores is slowly spreading among mainstream people too, but still the number of people who listen to film scores is very small compared to all the rock/pop/metal/electronic/techno fans out there. As a result, some of the larger more profit-oriented labels are either not releasing scores properly or making them available only in inferior quality download-only format. Therefore I encourage all fans of film scores to buy the mass produced album CDs whenever possible in order to keep this lovely genre alive for a long time in the future.

Because of the lack of awareness and recognition of scores among the larger part of the crowd, many misconceptions and untruths have popped up among people regarding scores. While that’s common with almost everything around, some of these are remarkably ignorant and even downright insulting/harming. With no offense to anyone, here are some of the larger issues I want to address with my personal views. My intention is not to disrespect anyone’s opinion, but offer my own in order to provide a wider point of view and also to help more unfamiliar people understand the topic better.

Misconception 1 – "Film score is nothing but background music meant to play alongside the movie only, and does not need to be released separately."

When these people find “random background music with no words” in between two “kewl” hip-hop tracks interrupting their fun, they whine about how useless it is and how that stuff should stay in-film and not released. Now, granted that with a few exceptions, the producing of an album like the aforementioned one (score tracks between some other genre) isn’t really a nice way to go. I always prefer scores being released on a separate disc or collectively placed at the end so everyone can enjoy their favourite music. But dissing the score as being unworthy of release or being useless is nothing short of a grievous insult to the music, the fans and the composer who took pains to produce it. It's true that some scores aren't strong enough as standalone music and therefore are better appreciated in the film itself rather than on CD. But you have that with every genre of music out there, not every new album is a good one. Trying to apply this as a universal rule to every film score out there is unacceptable for me.

First off, one of the most unique and remarkable facts about film score is that there are two sides of it – the technical aspect and the artistic aspect. This is something you cannot find in any other genre of music. This music hasn’t been made for people to hip and hop to in brain-dead mode at a party, but meant to draw, engulf and immerse you in the visuals of a film and bring you closer to the emotions the visuals are trying to convey. And taken away from the visuals, a great score is a fine piece of music you can enjoy and feel it push your emotional buttons. I enjoy scores the same way one might enjoy the classical symphonies of Beethoven and Mozart (no comparisons, simple examples). After watching the film you can understand the twists and turns in the music better to the action onscreen, and appreciate it even more. Remember these things cannot be understood just by reading a write-up, they’re better experienced. And also don’t forget there are thousands of people in the world, including youngsters, who like to listen to film scores. Just because you don’t like a genre doesn’t mean its crap. And like every other genre, film music has its own unique merits.

Misconception 2 – "The best score is one you don’t hear in the film."

So what they’re essentially telling me is, the director hires a composer on a significant part of the budget, hires a large orchestra and studio, spends weeks or even months recording the score, oversees mixing and editing with the visuals, only for the product not to be heard in the final film?! Jeez, that’s foolish of him. Or not.

The obvious thing is, if the director didn’t want you to hear something in the film, he wouldn’t have put it there in the first place. Or he’d have it buried it under heavy sounds and dialogues. The fact that it’s very much audible to a normal person indicates that he DID want you to hear it. If you’re in the theatre with your ears physically present there, you are naturally going to hear it. Now, whoever said that statement originally was making an important and valid statement, but evidently its meaning has been twisted by people and morphed into something else. I’ll explain more clearly now.

What the director wants is that he does NOT want you to LISTEN to the score. Mind you, I said LISTEN, not HEAR. Now, at first glance you might say it’s one and the same thing. But fact is, there’s a big difference between hearing and listening. I’ll explain it better with an example. Imagine two kids in a classroom with a teacher explaining something. The first kid is paying total attention to the teacher and taking in and understanding everything he’s saying. On the other hand, the second kid is super bored and wants nothing but for the class to end, thinking longingly of the video game at home. Now, pay attention here. Both the kids are in the same classroom and their ears are physically inside the room. But one is carefully listening to the teacher, understanding his words and taking in the meaning. And the other one has his mind wandering off to la-la land, so while the teacher’s words are going into his ears (as they’re physically present there), they’re little more than background noise to him, as he’s not paying them any attention. So, the first kid is listening to the teacher and second merely hearing the teacher. Isn’t it now clear how big the difference between plain hearing and actually listening to something?

The above example isn’t really good for the following explanation about the use of score in film, because that is more than background noise for the average filmgoer. So what the score is meant to do is to be prominent enough to support and enhance the emotions onscreen, but not be so overpowering that you are distracted from the movie and focused on the music (I admit, I’m someone who always keeps an ear out for the score and if I like it then my attention is quickly caught, but that isn’t really the music’s fault!). Instead of being like an ordinary tree or lamp post put in the background, it’s very much in the foreground and in your face, but you are so engrossed in the visuals itself, and the emotions of the characters – the emotions the score is now emphasizing – that you do not really *listen* to the score, but subconsciously you know it’s there and how powerful it is, and appreciate it for it. You heartily complement the music when doing a review of the film, and if you happen to come across it somewhere, you can recognize it. All this without being distracted from the film itself. THAT is the sign of a good score.

And that is a reason why I dislike it when people refer to something like Howard Shore’s Lord Of The Rings scores or John Williams’ Star Wars scores as “background score”, or “background music”. I think it is about time we do away with the word “background” when referring to a proper film score. Although I admit that the term isn't false technically, and originally this thing was indeed known as background music, scroll back and read what I wrote about the history of film score. That music was played for an initially different purpose, not as a form of art but as a filler. There weren’t themes, leitmotifs or careful musical development till the climax. And that’s exactly what a proper modern score has. Mind you, I said proper. If the score is just some little jingle or random array of musical arrangements thrown in the movie to act as a mundane accompaniment to the film, then I’d call it background music. When you love the art of film score as much as I do, you'll find the music means much more than background sound to you. For me, a proper film score may not be exactly in the foreground but it certainly isn’t yet another obscure entity crammed into the background. It is a prominent and carefully structured piece of musical work and work of art and it should be respected as such. It's almost like a character in itself. That’s why even Grammys now refer to this as “original score” instead of “background score”. And that’s why I dislike referring to amazing scores like the LoTR trilogy as “background music”. It should respected as a proper work of art and we have big events to do that, like the Ubeda Film Music Conference and Film Music Festival of Ghent. Yes, you read right. “Film Music Festival”. Not “Background Score Festival”!

Misconception 3 – "All a score needs to do is work well in the film, nothing more should be asked of it."

Technically speaking, this is true. After all, that’s what the music was created and meant for. To enhance a film’s emotions and emphasize them. And to be truthful, music that doesn’t serve the visuals well is not a good film score at all, even if it’s a good piece of music. As such, the composer cannot be fully praised his work. First and foremost, the score MUST serve the film well to be considered a good film *score*. Therefore passing off a score as bad by merely listening to it on CD without watching the film is extremely unjust. And if the score finds a life of its own, away from the visuals, that’s a big plus point for the composer and a bonus for the listener. Why I’m saying this is, I am NOT trying to negate the importance of the score in the film.

The reason I’m mentioning this issue is the recent trends in Hollywood awards, especially the Oscars, where some quite mediocre scores often bag the most prestigious award a film score can expect, while more deserving, superior and more powerful scores, product of the composer’s long weeks of hard work, go back empty handed. When I raise this issue to some other fans, I’m immediately besieged by a volley of defensive arguments as to why the winning score was outstanding, why it totally bested all its rivals (including the aforementioned “the best score is one you don’t hear in the film” argument), and why it was the SOLE deserver of this important award.

And what none of them wants to hear is that I never said the winner was a bad score.

And that’s the point. Remember I told you there are two sides of a score – the technical aspect and the artistic aspect. While the former is certainly more important to judge a score by, it’s important to note that when two scores are compared, then BOTH these aspects have to be compared. They may both be brilliant in their own films in situ (with the visuals), but it cannot be denied that the score with a better artistic value – a more structurally sound, well developed, thematically progressive and emotionally powerful musical score – is superior to the score which sounds good only in the film, and falls apart on separate listening. Try to understand what I’m saying here. This is after all a very, very prestigious award these composers are competing for. As such, ALL aspects of their product must be judged in order to see which is the better effort.

There are numerous scores I can think of which serve the film well, but listening to them as a piece of music is a pain in the back. There are scores which work well as a separate musical work but they are ugly and inappropriate for the film. Remember, a good score can make or break a movie, and therefore the latter is very much disqualified. Now come the scores which are a pleasure both on disc and on screen. Which one do you think deserves the award more? Like in highly competitive national exams, even a slight edge counts. In those exams, a single mark can give one student success and doom the one right behind him to failure. Such must be the competition between these scores too – as far as I’m concerned, the score which sounds better on CD has proved that it has the edge over its rival. Since they’ve reached so far through all the nominations, they’re both at the SAME technical level, since they BOTH serve their respective films well. Now the artistic value kicks in and gives the better score that extra “mark” that qualifies it for the award. They both are good and deserving scores in a tie at the technical level, so now this point acts as a tiebreaker.

So this is just a small taste of the wide, wonderful world of film scores. This blog will give you my views of some scores I liked (and some I didn’t), and I will also be doing occasional analysis and my views on news updates on here. I don't consider myself a formal reviewer - for that purpose I advise you to check out the websites listed on the right side - all of which are well known to be among the best film score websites out there. The objective of this blog is to simply express my own views about the scores and events. So go on and explore the articles, and any feedback/suggestions for improvement will be always welcome and greatly appreciated!

ScoreShell

2009-07-03T06:05:00.000-07:00

Public Enemies (Elliot Goldenthal)

Elliot Goldenthal is one of the composers whose scores I really need to get into. So far I've listened to the albums of Frida, Final Fantasy and Titus, and really liked all of them. This year, Elliot came back after a long time to score Michael Mann's highly awaited film, Public Enemies. Naturally, I have been eagerly looking forward to what Elliot had done here. The soundtrack album was released on June 30th, and I got to listen to it today.

Although the album runs 45 minutes long, there's only about 15 minutes of score onboard, and that too constantly interrupted by songs. Perhaps much more wasn't written, anyway. But anyway, whatever little is on here is quality material. Goldenthal makes brilliant use of Tom Newman-ish piano, strings and synth pads in Billy's Arrest to create a sad and touching atmosphere, adding more reverb to the piano in Love In The Dunes creates a subtly more pleasant effect. The strings dominate with supporting brass and get loud and powerful in tracks like Plane To Chicago and JD Dies, while remaining more subdued and sombre in Phone Call To Billie and Gold Coast Restaurant, parts of which remind me of Hans Zimmer's The Thin Red Line. Very pleasant to listen to, anyway, and I'm sure it'll work great onscreen too. If you're a fan of Goldenthal or similar scores, I recommend you to check this out.

Composing For Characters - Michael Giacchino scores "Up!"

2009-06-28T07:58:00.000-07:00

See for yourself why this is one of the most expertly emotionally AND intellectually composed scores of the year!

James Newton Howard's music in teaser trailer of "The Last Airbender"

2009-06-27T04:59:00.000-07:00

The teaser trailer for M. Night Shyamalan's upcoming film, The Last Airbender, was released a few days ago, featuring music by the director's composer of choice, James Newton Howard, who will also be scoring the film.

The film is an adaptation of a Nickelodeon anime titled Avatar: The Last Airbender. I am not familiar with the story but from what I read on the internet, it deals with the adventures of Aang, a ten year old successor to a long line of Avatars, who must put his childhood ways aside and stop the Fire Nation from enslaving the Water, Earth and Air nations. James Newton Howard, who delivered wonderful scores to Shyamalan's previous scores like The Village (my personal favourite), The Sixth Sense, Lady In The Water and last year's The Happening, is now back to score this one.

The opening ethnic woodwinds and strings immediately gave me a chill of foreboding - this is going to be something to reckon with! Scoring the action in the trailer, we have a martial cue with heavy usage of Taiko drums and ethnic percussion, even the woodwinds playing rapid, dissonant notes, reminding me of Goldsmith's Mulan and Tan Dun's Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Fans of the composer (like me) will rejoice at the appearance of his classic styled action music, as the music shifts to a powerful orchestral cue along the lines of Dinosaur and Atlantis with loud horns, strings and Goldenthal-esque brass trills. The brief theme with staccato choir and brass had me practically drooling in excitement!

It certainly seems this might well be remembered as one of the maestro's best scores. The tone of the movie suits his style and the current track in the trailer sounds very promising. Looking forward to more news/clips of the score and movie!

Review: Up! - Michael Giacchino

2009-06-22T07:52:00.000-07:00

The combination of composer Michael Giacchino and Disney/Pixar animation has already proved to be wonderful. Giacchino, an upcoming composer best known for his scores to the video game series Medal Of Honor and the TV show Lost, scored the hit Disney/Pixar animated movies The Incredibles and Ratatouille, in 2004 and 2007 respectively. Both the scores were hailed by film music critics as excellent, and both went on to win numerous awards and nominations, including two Annies and an Oscar nomination for Ratatouille. Therefore, when it was announced that Giacchino would score the latest Disney/Pixar animated directed by Pete Docter, Up!, fans of Giacchino and film scores likewise were excited to hear what would come out of this magical reunion. And, I am glad to say, Giacchino once again lives up to expectations and delivers a heartfelt, warm and fun score that is a pleasure both onscreen and on disc… or rather, on headphones, should I say, since sadly it has no CD release but a download-only one.

The movie is about 78 year old Carl Fredricksen, who remembers his promise to his late wife Ellie about going on an adventure to the wilds of South America. Determined to keep his word, he ties thousands of balloons to his house and lifts off to his journey, accompanied (inadvertently) by young wilderness explorer Russell. Giacchino has been known for his beautiful thematic material in his scores, which he has done here once again. Surprisingly, the theme in the first track Up With Titles is actually of the villain, Muntz. The piece uses swing-like xylophone, muted trumpet, solo violin, bass and low piano to set the mood for the film. It’s remarkable how this rather lazy-sounding theme is fleshed out into a full-blown villainous fanfare later in tracks like Seizing The Spirit Of Adventure, with a rather chilling effect.

We are introduced to the very catchy and lovely main theme, Ellie's Theme, first in We’re In The Club Now, played gently on piano. The story of Up! has its roots in emotion and this theme, which represents the relationship between Carl and Ellie, perfectly captures that. It is rendered in various forms in the next track, Married Life, first on muted trumpet and violin with backing strings in an almost waltz-like way, rather quietly on piano once again, and on strings and acoustic guitar in Carl Goes Up, where the strings and harp rise, marking the beginning of adventure. It could easily represent Carl’s journey through highs and lows in his life, and how he will literally experience these in his real journey for adventure in the film, and does an excellent job at it.

Swirling strings and blaring horns mark the dark aspect of the story in the first action cue of the score, 52 Chachki Pickup. We then have a short but beautiful string-based piece that makes me think of the vista of a beautiful landscape viewed from above, possibly in the film, in Paradise Found, which leads to a track similar in spirit but with a more rhythmic edge, Walkin’ The House, which has what I guess is the House theme. One thing I really like about Giacchino is his choice of track titles – in a running in-joke throughout his Disney scores, here the “dash” scene is titled Three Dog Dash – in the same style as in his aforementioned scores to The Incredibles and Ratatouille, as fans will surely notice. The track is a fast-paced brass feast with supporting strings, leading to Kevin Beak’n where we are introduced to the theme for Kevin the bird, an appropriately ethnic sounding cue with Congo drums, piccolo, low clarinet and staccato strings. The cue is briefly interrupted by an eerie sequence of low brass and trilling strings, which returns in a short while in The Explorer Motel. The percussion and timpani return in the rather threatening Canine Conundrum, giving way to The Nickel Tour, a lovely but short track with Muntz’s theme on French Horn. I guess this is a neat little red herring by Giacchino – perhaps Muntz has not been revealed as an antagonist yet, so you could never guess this is a villian’s theme!

Giacchino proves himself to be an all-rounder as we now move to Escape From Muntz Mountain, one of the most impressive action cues on the album; Ellie's theme is played on high trumpet amidst a storm of timpani, racing strings and blaring horns, twisting and turning appropriately to the action onscreen and yet surprisingly coherent musically and fun to listen to. Kevin’s theme returns in the next track, Giving Kevin The Bird, before continuing into a powerful action track with heavy percussion, where we hear the “other side” of Muntz’s theme for the first time – it’s now dark and sinister on horns, as Muntz’s true intentions become clear. A brief reprise of Ellie's theme on piano in Stuff We Did leads on to probably the best and most exhilarating track in the score. If the lighthearted, upbeat woodwinds in the opening of Memories Can Weigh You Down don’t give enough foreshadowing about what lies ahead, behold, for it is now that the orchestra gets the real workout. Rising higher and higher on strings and lovely horns, we hear Ellie's theme in its full orchestral glory for the first time, on strings and horns, backed by trumpets, virtually guaranteed to put a smile on your face. Notice how the two instruments now play almost side-by-side, complementing each other, rather than solo as before this. The souls of Carl and Ellie are now reunited.

The power set up continues in the upcoming action tracks, The Small Mailman Returns, He’s Got The Bird and Seizing The Spirit Of Adventure – the last of which is one roller coaster ride of an action track with Ellie's theme and Muntz’s theme in furious battle against each other, signifying the struggle between their representative characters themselves, which does not let go till the very end. Somber strings play the House theme in a more gentle way in It's Just A House, before horns victoriously and decisively state Ellie's theme, which returns rendered by piano in The Ellie Badge, marking a happy closure of this emotional journey. And finally, Up With Credits serves as a suite of all the previous themes we heard in the score, ending with a lovely string rendition of Ellie's theme. The song, The Spirit Of Adventure is based on Muntz's theme from the first track, and fun to listen to.

The only problem here is that the score has no proper release on CD. This tactic of depriving Giacchino's score of its CD quality just for a cheaper release by Disney Records is unacceptable, especially in the light of how he won them an Oscar nomination only two years ago. It is understandable for relatively unknown scores like Bedtime Stories, but for one as big and popular of Up!, it is not fair at all. I hope the success and demand for the score will eventually lead to it becoming available on CD in stores, perhaps as an Import version. Otherwise, I guess fans can get ready for those not-really-cheap Academy promo CDs again next year. But till then, let’s be glad there’s been a release at all, and enjoy what we have of this lovely score.

Once again, Michael Giacchino has proved why his reputation as one of the most bright, innovative and talented composers in the film industry is well deserved. The score for Up! is a really charming piece of work that not only enhances the emotions of the film a lot, as expressed by a lot of viewers, but is an extremely coherent, emotional and well structured musical composition in its own right. Tracks like Escape From Muntz Mountain and Memories Can Weigh You Down are guaranteed to stick in your mind and have high replay value, and I won’t be surprised if the majority of the audience leave the theatre humming Ellie's theme.

Maestro Giacchino, now is the time for you to get that long overdue Oscar!

Music Rating – 5 out of 5
Release Rating - 3 out of 5
Album Length - 4 out of 5

Giacchino's "Up" soundtrack is download-only...

2009-05-27T20:01:00.000-07:00

In yet another glaring piece of evidence about how small the community of film score lovers is, Disney Records has announced that the soundtrack score of the latest Pixar film "Up", scored by upcoming composer Michael Giacchino, will be a download-only release. On being asked about this issue, Disney executives responded that this is because the soundtrack is "all score and no songs". One more beautiful score falls victim to an inferior quality release, since Amazon and iTunes don't offer lossless downloads at this point. While I agree that we should be happy that it's getting a release at all and it's certainly better than nothing, it's very sad to see good scores being denied quality releases. And as Disney currently refuses to let any other label to release any of its animated scores, I think the only way of getting hold of a good lossless quality version of this score is to find the "For Your Consideration" Oscar Promo year. I would keep my fingers crossed for one of those "Cast And Crew" promos too!

But nevertheless, I'll get the MP3s of this score and will post my views of the music shortly on here, as soon as I get time.

Alan Silvestri's score to G.I. Joe: The Rise Of Cobra to be released by Varese Sarabande!

2009-05-07T02:06:00.000-07:00

From the credits in the trailer here, it looks like the highly anticipated score to Stephen Sommers' upcoming film G.I. Joe: The Rise Of Cobra, composed by acclaimed composer Alan Silvestri will be released by top film score label Varese Sarabande. A great news for all us Silvestri and film score fans, here's hoping this score will get a lengthy release for all of us to enjoy!

Jai Ho, Rahman!

2009-02-22T20:14:00.000-08:00

The Indian Maestro has just bagged both the Best Original Song (for "Jai Ho", shared with Gulzar) and Best Original Score awards at the Oscars! While I still wish James Newton Howard had gotten the score award for Defiance, ARR more than deserves it, too! Here's to hoping for a much more bright future of Rahman scores!

I'm also extremely happy with Slumdog Millionaire rocking the Oscars tonight!

Oscars 2009 - Best Original Score nominations

2009-01-22T19:20:00.000-08:00

The nominations for this year's Academy Awards, aka Oscars have been announced yesterday! The nominees in the Best Original Score category are -

*The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - Alexandre Desplat
*Defiance - James Newton Howard
*Milk - Danny Elfman
*Slumdog Millionaire - A.R. Rahman
*WALL-E - Thomas Newman

You can read the rest of the nominations here - http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/art … QD95S7OB82

I'm glad, really, that maestro Rahman got nominated for this most prestigious award! His songs Jai Ho and O Saya from Slumdog Millionaire have also been nominated in the Best Original Song category, competing only with Down To Earth from Wall-E.

While I'm rooting all-out for ARR in the Song category, as he more than deserves that one, I'm kinda in a dilemma over the Original Score one. While I'm rejoicing as an Indian and a big ARR fan, I'm quite confused as a film music fan. The score of Slumdog is nice, no doubt, but is it better than the others like JNH's Defiance and Newman's Wall-E? IMO, the honest answer would be no. I'd rather have liked to see ARR get nominated for one of his many wonderful orchestral scores, such as Lagaan or Warriors Of Earth And Heaven, rather than Slumdog which primarily consists of eletronics and techno beats combined with guitar and traditional Indian instruments.

To be honest, I'd rather like the score award to go to either James Newton Howard for his excellent suspenseful violin-based score to Defiance, or Thomas Newman for his quirky, yet emotional and fun score to Wall-E (many film music fans are also hoping for Desplat's Curious Case Of Benjamin Button, but personally that one hasn't grown on me much so far. But certainly it is a strong contender). But based on the recent Oscar Best Original Score winners, which I've been following for quite some time, I'm pretty sure Rahman is gonna bag the Score award, and also hopefully the Song one. But c'mon, I'm one proud Indian and ARR fan, so why worry? :D

Will be eagerly looking forward to the fateful night (or day here) on the 22nd of February, 2009!!

A.R. Rahman bags Golden Globe Best Original Score Award for "Slumdog Millionaire"!!

2009-01-11T19:46:00.000-08:00

Congrats to maestro A.R. Rahman for beating strong competitors like Hans Zimmer's Frost/Nixon and James Newton Howard's Defiance to win the Golden Globe Best Original Score award for Slumdog Millionaire! This makes me one very proud Indian and film music fan!! Here's to hoping for a good future of Rahman scores. I hope he gets many more Hollywood assignments and more of his scores get released for us all to enjoy on CD! It's been too long for him delivering great scores to Hindi films and getting neither proper recognition nor proper release for them. Go, maestro Rahman! You deserve it!!

Welcome to the new Scorehaven!

2009-01-10T19:31:00.000-08:00

In this brand new blog, you can read my analysis of latest film scores and my own thoughts about film scoring and composers. Coming first will be a personal opinion of film scores and the story of my journey into the film music world in a nutshell.

Enjoy, and please be sure to comment and tell me what you think of my posts!