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Top 20 Reviews for May
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The Kite Runner by Alberto Iglesias
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In light of his previous score for Pedro Almodovar's "Volver" in 2006, Alberto Iglesias' music for The Kite Runner marks a change from the sensual Spanish vibes of Flamenco dance music to traditional Afghan styles. The story is a very personal one but set amidst a series of tumultuous political changes in Afghanistan, from the fall of the country's monarchy and the Soviet invasion, to the dominance of the Taliban. For capturing the unique perspective of this story in such a beautiful way, the composer's score received nominations for many awards, including a Golden Globe, a BAFTA and an Oscar. More...
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Brick Lane by Jocelyn Pook
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Jocelyn Pook is an experienced viola player with a varied background as a performer. She has composed extensively for the theatre and concert hall, with her first major film score being "Eyes Wide Shut" for the late Stanley Kubrick in 1999. Her latest film score Brick Lane depicts a Bangladeshi woman who moved to an arranged marriage in London. With the film's emphasis on how people adapt to circumstances in different cultures, and filled with flashbacks to life in Bangladesh, Pook's authentic Eastern music is at the heart of this story and mixes seemlessly with elements of Western style underscore. More...
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Ratatouille by Michael Giacchino
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On paper, Ratatouille is a distinctly strange proposition even for an animated movie: a rat working in a kitchen who turns out to have talents as a gourmet chef! Yet the movie was by the same team who created "The Incredibles", and "Ratatouille" turned out to be equally entertaining and fun for all the family, winning many awards while composer Michael Giacchino rightfully received an oscar nomination for his contribution to the experience. The music is upbeat, wild, dizzy, spectacular and original, one of the best scores of 2007, and should be on the music lover's list. More...
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The Golden Compass by Alexandre Desplat
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Alexandre Desplat has made quite a name for himself in recent years, receiving much critical acclaim and winning a number of awards. He has certainly demonstrated his skills at incorporating ethnic influences in his scores such as "The Painted Veil" and "Syriana", but for the most part his films have been character-driven or even eccentric which seems to suit his style very well indeed. However with The Golden Compass we get to hear the composer take on a big budget mainstream film adaptation of a fantasy children's novel, and Desplat crafts some suitably full orchestral tracks and action accompaniment, while still retaining elements of his more intimate style for the characterisation. More...
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The Blob (and other Creepy Sounds) - Ralph Carmichael and others
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Many people have a fondness for early Monster and Sci-Fi movies and soundtracks and "Monstrous Movie Music" caters directly for that market. Often they must resort to re-creating soundtracks when the music is no longer available. However original recordings of The Blob were carefully preserved, and have been remastered for this latest release. Written by Jazz and Film composer Ralph Carmichael, the score is full of suspense with suitably scary moments and a love theme for Steve McQueen and his girlfriend. When the film was released the Main Title was replaced with a light hearted but catchy theme song by Burt Bacharach. Both these tracks are presented on this superb album - it is great to rediscover gems like this. More...
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Airwolf Themes - Sylvester Levay, Udi Harpaz and Mark J Cairns
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Do you remember "Airwolf" the TV series from the 80s with its super-sophisticated helicopter and exciting theme tune. The theme tune was written by Sylvester Levay who with Udi Harpaz wrote most of the series' incidental music. This music could have fallen into obscurity if it wasn't for fan Mark J Cairns who recreated their music in a double album. This was a limitied edition release and its cult rarity value meant that at one time the album was trading on eBay for many times its original value. The music has now been presented as a special online release and all the tracks can be downloaded in mp3 format. Check out our review of this rather special release, and relive the infectious electonic sounds of the 1980s. More...
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Zirkus by Cary Chow - playing works by Robert Schumann
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The publicity photos of Cary Chow with his dark t-shirt and tatoos may deviate from the traditional image of a concert pianist's bow tie and tails, but there is no mistaking the technical and interpretative skills evident in his latest album called Zirkus. This is the German word for Circus and the album consists of two major works ("Carnaval" and "Kreisleriana") from the significant piano solo output of composer Robert Schumann, who poured intensely personal messages into his creative output. Chow effortlessly flits between the many sides of the composer's nature, from the playfulness of "Carnaval" to the more intense virtuoso facets of "Kreisleriana". If you want to delve into Schumann's fascinating world, this album is an excellent place to start. More...
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Blade Runner 25th Anniversary - by Vangelis
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It is now 25 years since "Blade Runner" first hit our screens, and the movie and its music have had a remarkable impact on subsequent films and soundtracks. To mark the anniversary, director Ridley Scott has released his definitive version of the film called "The Final Cut", and composer Vangelis has released a 3 CD celebration of the music. CD1 of this Trilogy is the original soundtrack release, CD2 contains previously unreleased music from the film including some tracks which weren't used in the movie, and CD3 is all new material by Vangelis inspired by the music and mood of the Blade Runner score. Further details and a short interview with Vangelis can be found on our review page. More...
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Beowulf - by Alan Silvestri
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The film composer Alan Silvestri has long been associated with director Robert Zemeckis, having scored many of his films from the "Back to the Future" trilogy, "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?" and "Forrest Gump" through to the more recent "Polar Express". Their latest film Beowulf uses the same Performance Capture process as "Polar Express" which essential turns a live action movie into a kind of computer animation with added special effects. Much of the music is definitely very "Macho" with loud drums and brass, with limited synth effects helping to establish the ancient mythical setting. However these moments and their associated main theme don't dominate the movie, and are well balanced by the mysterious seduction tracks and a couple of songs sung by Robin Wright-Penn in the movie. More...
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Silence, Night & Dreams - Zbigniew Preisner
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A unique concert called Silence, Night & Dreams will be held in London's Barbican Centre on December 2nd. This features the UK Premiere of the latest composition by Polish composer Zbigniew Preisner. This is a large scale work for orchestra, chorus and soloists, and the composer will conduct the London Symphony Orchestra with the Crouch End Festival Chorus and soloists led by special guest Teresa Salgueiro. The programme also includes music from "The Double Life of Veronique" and the "Three Colours" trilogy, films which the composer scored for the late Polish director Krzysztof Kieslowski. More...
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Browns in Blue - The 5 Browns
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Browns in Blue is the 3rd album from The 5 Browns. If you haven't come across them before, the 5 Browns are a group of 5 brothers and sisters who are all exceptionally talented pianists. Their previous albums have concentrated on Classical Music but "Browns in Blue" also includes a number of Jazz tracks. While some tracks feature the full 5 piano treatment, the album as a whole has a range of textures and combinations with each member of the family having at least 1 solo track. There are guest slots for Gil Shaham on violin, Chris Botti on trumpet, and even the instantly recogniseable voice of Dean Martin on the final Bonus Track. More...
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Atonement - by Dario Marianelli
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In some ways the music to Atonement is a return to the world of "Pride and Prejudice" for composer Dario Marianelli, with its piano theme taking central place and performed once again by French pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet. On closer inspection however, this is a very different soundtrack with greater emotional depth and a central duet between Thibaudet's Piano and the Cello of Caroline Dale. There are other solo moments for Clarinet, Oboe and even Harmonica but the score has some unusual tricks up its sleeve. In places it carefully blends underscore with some period choral music, but most unusual of all it features an old-fashioned typewriter as a musical instrument! More...
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The Simpsons Movie - by Hans Zimmer
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With his soundtrack to The Simpsons Movie, composer Hans Zimmer had a lot to live up to. The Simpsons TV series has always maintained a high reputation for its music, from its delightful theme tune by Danny Elfman to Alf Clausen's wonderful in-show music which over the years has brought us some cunning pastiches of just about every genre imaginable. There have also been numerous albums of collected songs from the series. So all these ingredients have been very carefully laid down as part of the Simpsons musical tradition and with his cinematic score, Zimmer has stuck very closely to this tradition while demonstrating his versatility. More...
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The Sea Hawk and Deception - by Erich Wolfgang Korngold
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In the early days of the film industry Hollywood didn't have sufficient home-grown talent and sought to attract composers from Europe. The supreme example of this is Erich Wolfgang Korngold who had grown from a child prodigy to become a very successful classical composer in Vienna, before being tempted by work in Hollywood. This substantial release restores and recaptures two of the scores he created there in their entirety. "The Sea Hawk" and "Deception" are very different film scores but between them they demonstrate some of the very best film music ever created. This double album is the culmination of an enormous project and has been put together with great care and attention. More...
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Notes on a Scandal - by Philip Glass
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Alongside "The Illusionist", Notes on a Scandal was the second film soundtrack created by Philip Glass last year, and this one was to receive an Oscar nomination (the composer's third after "Kundun" and "The Hours"). Very much like "The Hours", "Notes on a Scandal" is an intense character-driven film whose music suggests the mental state of the main characters. In the CD's sleeve-notes, Glass tells us that he approached the score from the point of view of Barbara (the older teacher, played by Judi Dench). While the obvious scandal of the story concerns a younger teacher played by Cate Blanchett, the score begins and ends with the manipulative character of Barbara. More...
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Next - by Mark Isham
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The novels and short stories of Philip K. Dick have inspired a number of movies, including Blade Runner, Total Recall and Minority Report to name just a few. The movie Next is also based on a Philip K. Dick story, and like many of the author's stories takes a seemingly normal person and catapults him into extraordinary cicumstances in a science fiction setting. In this case Nicolas Cage plays a man with psychic powers who is able to see two minutes into the future. Composer Mark Isham paints the ordinary man with a simple piano melody accompanied by atmospheric strings, and contrasts this troubled peace with some rhythmic hard-hitting action sequences. More...
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Doom - by Clint Mansell
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Hollywood has a long tradition of adapting existing books and plays, but now extends this trend by creating remakes of existing films, television shows, comic books and now video games. These are often considered safe from a money-making perspective, but many fail when it comes to real artistic merit. Within the more recent category of video game adaptations, we have movie versions of "Lara Croft", "Resident Evil", "Final Fantasy", the fighting games "Mortal Kombat" and "Street Fighter" and even Super Mario Bros. The movie version of Doom is another example of that trend, but composer Clint Mansell surprises us with a worthwhile soundtrack. He opts for a heavily ambient piece of work, in which even the action-orientated music is rich in sound. This is the type of music that he would later perfect in masterful soundtracks such as "The Fountain". More...
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The Illusionist - by Philip Glass
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Philip Glass has an unusual style which has had a significant influence on film composers, though the composer himself has not scored that many films. His involvement in traditional movies has grown in recent years firstly with "The Hours" and then in the past year with both "Notes on a Scandal" and The Illusionist. The latter film takes the composer away from dark, intense dramas and allows him to expand musically into new directions. The contrast is such that a number of tracks seem unlike the composer's normal style. Yet it quickly becomes apparent that his unique style and genius has merely been shaped and adapted for the subject matter, and the relevance of that style to film music is equally obvious. More...
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The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes - by Miklós Rózsa
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This year celebrates the centenary of the birth of composer Miklos Rozsa and among other commemorative items there is a new release of a suberb collector's album of The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes. The film score also gives an insight into the private life of the composer, because at the request of director Billy Wilder it uses some of the haunting melodies from Rozsa's Violin Concerto. The album is a wonderful package with a comprehensive booklet about the film and music and their creation, and it also features a full 20 minutes of music written for the film but not used in the finished cut, which gives yet another insight into the creative process. More...
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Blood Diamond - by James Newton Howard
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Blood Diamond is one of those soundtracks that could easily pass for a world music record, though one of epic proportions. This is because of its purity and romanticism, the latter trait being a fault in the picture but a welcome breath of fresh air for the score composition. Blood Diamond is beautiful, even magnificent. James Newton Howard has been scoring films from the mid-eighties and has scooped up 6 Oscars, has won more than 30 awards, and has been nominated for "best music" a total of 19 times, but it will be hard for him to surpass the sensation of warmth and passion captured in Blood Diamond. More...
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The Fountain - by Clint Mansell
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The history of electronica-infused soundtracks is far from being illustrious, maybe because many of them are tired clones, awkwardly edited into uninspired movies. However, you are pretty much guaranteed a masterpiece when composer Clint Mansell scores a film, especially one directed by the inspired Darren Aronofsky. The soundtrack to The Fountain has managed to stir-up more interest than the film (and that's saying something!), and has been nominated for Best Score at the Broadcast Film Critics Association in addition to the U.S Golden Globes, and has won the Chicago Film Critics Association as well as the Online Film Critics Society. More...
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Miklós Rózsa - remembering the composer
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This year marks the centenary of the birth of the film composer Miklós Rózsa, and a unique book about the composer has been published to mark the occasion. Author Jeffrey Dane knew Rozsa well, having met the him on several occasions and corresponded with the composer over a period of more than 20 years. This wealth of private correspondence and Dane's various meetings with the composer serve as the core of the book and provides a unique insight into the man and his thoughts about music and how it should be approached. The book is called "A Composer's Notes: Remembering Miklós Rózsa", and we are pleased to present extracts and illustrations from the book as a sample of its fascinating content. More...
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Casino Royale by David Arnold
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With Casino Royale composer David Arnold largely ditches the techno used increasingly on his previous Bond releases, and instead invites in fresh material and new ideas. Dark, confident, mysterious, and adventurous, the score is a welcome entry in the Bond series, coming close to the atmosphere and charm of the good old-fashioned compositions by John Barry. Though it would be hard to beat classics such as "Goldfinger", Arnold has nevertheless managed to release the best Bond film score since the late 80’s. Casino Royale was among the scores nominated at the recent BAFTA awards, though it lost out to Gustavo Santaolalla's "Babel". More...
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Miss Potter by Nigel Westlake
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The movie Miss Potter has now opened in cinemas across the UK and tells the story of Beatrix Potter, the children's author and illustrator. This movie features a warm and magical soundtrack by Australian composer Nigel Westlake with additional music by Rachel Portman, plus a song sung by Katie Melua (to lyrics adapted by Mike Batt). Nigel Westlake spoke to mfiles about his music for the film, and the resulting in-depth interview is a fascinating account of how all these musical elements came together in the film's soundtrack. More...
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George Martin - Live and Let Die
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George Martin is intimately associated with the Beatles, and his "Love" Album is hotly tipped to be one of the best selling of the Christmas Season. As well as his creative input in steering the Fab Four (and other artists) towards stardom he has also composed the soundtracks for a number of films. Here we take a look at his sole contribution to the Bond franchise Live and Let Die. Even here he was able to call upon his friendship with Paul McCartney to create the title song, but his incidental music is a great contribution to the Bond canon with its fusion of styles from jazz and rock to caribbean and african rhythms. More...
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Basil Poledouris: The Hunt for Red October
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With the death of Basil Poledouris earlier this month, we take a look at his memorable soundtrack to The Hunt for Red October. The composer started work on the music for John McTiernan's film following his very traditional-sounding score for "Quigley Down Under", the very same year (1990). These works clearly illustrate the composer's mastery of the heroic and dramatic, with his trademark energy and operatic grandeur. Basil Poledouris’ best example of this style is his score for Paul Verhoeven’s "Starship Troopers" (1997). Poledouris won the BMI award for best music, and immortalized McTiernan’s film thanks to his powerful themes and lush orchestration. More...
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Jerry Goldsmith - Total Recall
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Total Recall is 1990’s bulldozer soundtrack for the equally hard-hitting action movie by Paul Verhoeven. Not only did this soundtrack go unnoticed by the mainstream musical press, it also suffered when its material was squeezed into a 10-track album-friendly release. Total Recall did however receive academic acclaim, as well as being nominated for a Saturn award for “best music” in 1991. The score was re-released in 2000 under Varčse Sarabande Records (Deluxe edition), re-introducing the entire soundtrack with 17 new tracks added to the existing 10. Jerry Goldsmith would later score Verhoeven’s "Basic Instinct" movie, with some very distinctive references to his work on Total Recall, suggesting that these two artists share a unique vision and are part of many great director-musician collaborations (Spielberg-Williams, Hitchcock-Herrmann, etc.). More...
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Jaws by John Williams
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It would be great to be able to time-travel back to the year 1975, and witness the expression on Steven Spielberg’s face when John Williams calmly proposed his two-note theme as the main title for Jaws. Obviously, when the music finally came together, this simple instrumental medley would prove as effective as any orchestral suite. Despite being an extremely technical composer, John Williams can handle simplicity just as well, and has therefore managed to give birth to a haunting theme that would become an instant classic, scooping up a BAFTA award, a Golden Globe, as well as winning the 1975 Oscar for best composer. More...
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Philip Glass - The "Qatsi" Trilogy
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The three films by Godfrey Reggio known as the "Qatsi" trilogy are remarkable for their visual impact, with some images being indelibly edged into the minds of viewers. They are equally remarkable for the unique music written by composer Philip Glass. The film-making techniques and compositional style retain a strong identity throughout the series despite the fact that it was 20 years between the first and last films. While there are some common ideas also among the films, they nevertheless each have their own focus and individuality. The first film is Koyaanisqatsi which contrasts the natural and urban landscapes of North America. Powaqqatsi looks at the rapid pace of development in many third world countries. Naqoyqatsi looks at modern technology and its real and potential impact on the future development of mankind. The music throughout has some common ideas, but adapts perfectly to the subject matter and directorial techniques of the three films.
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