Gabriel Yared - Troy (Rejected Score Preservation Project)



Okay, before starting out, I wanted to thank the whole FFShrine community for giving me an oppertunity to listen to all those many wonderful soundtracks I would've never heard otherwise. So here is a little gift from myself to this same community, as a sort of thank you.

Those who've read the title are propably wondering right now what the 'preservation project' stands for. You see, it's actually quite simple. Last vacation I finally found the 'lossless' version of Gabriel Yared's rejected score for the movie Troy, a story many of you would already be very familiar with. For those who are not familiar with the controversy behind the two Troy scores (the other one, which ended up in the film, by James Horner, being of (in my opinion) tremendously worse quality), read the link below (it's a very informative read):

"The Score of Troy - A Mystery Unveiled: by Gabriel Yared (http://www.thescreamonline.com/film/film4-3/yared.html)

So we now have two scores, the one that's in the film which can be found everywhere around the net, and the one by Yared, which gets more difficult to find in good quality by the day. That's what the preservation project in the title stands for, I want to spread this score around again for everyone to download, listen, enjoy, share and so forth so that this score will never ever vanish from the public eye. I want this score to be heard by many, in the absolute best quality available, because it deserves to be. This score is not just a good soundtrack, it's a symphony written to the words of the Illiad by Homer, and one of the best modern symphonies at that. It is a magnificent piece of work of a gigantic size and scope, it's soundscape so vast that I can't recall anything coming close to it. Yet, before I get carried away, I invite thee to stop right here, download it, listen, and experience it yourself.

Now I've put the 'lossless' in the title in between comma's (or how do you call these in English) because I believe it's not completely lossless. Some will be familiar with this sound quality of this score. This version is derived from the WavPack version that's extremely rare but floating out there in some places around the web. The problem with that one is that it was one big soundfile which I was unable to just split using conventional means. Thus I took the file to Adobe Audition and split the files myself, converted them to WAV and repacked them into this file. The problem is, even though it says WavPack in the original file, which should be lossless, it doesn't sound like it. While the quality is the absolute best I've heard (much better than that of the 320kbps version that's much less rare to find), I don't believe it's fully lossless. Alas, I think this is the best quality we will get, unless Warner releases the master tapes themselves and makes an official release, which I highly doubt will ever happen.

Why not FLAC? Yes, I know FLAC is smaller and should sound exactly the same as WAV but truth be told, it doesn't. Argue with me anything you want, I heard a difference between the two, with the FLAC being hissier and a lot less spacious. This could be because it wasn't unpacked the right way by the playback device (FLAC is compressed but uncompresses in real time while playing, hence it should be bit-for-bit the same as a WAV file, for those in the unknown about this), but nevertheless, there was a difference and I think this score should be heard in the absolute best quality available, I can't stress that enough.

Now, without further ado, here's the link:

https://mega.co.nz/#!vUFUHTDB!BCRBjDjBsS5Is18o1IX7CkxsTV8jOu8LDimgPIK 50ZU

Tracklist:

� 1. Approach of the Greeks (2:28)
� 2. Achilles' Destiny (5:38)
� 3. The Opening (3:54)
� 4. Achilles and Boagrius (3:45)
� 5. Sparta (1:56)
� 6. Helen and Paris (1:41)
� 7. D-Day Battle (4:51)
� 8. Thousand Ships (1000 Ships) (3:31)
� 9. Mourning Women (1:24)
� 10. Achilles and Briseis (5:26)
� 11. Battle of the Arrows (7:08)
� 12. Greek Funeral Pyres (2:14)
� 13. Hector, Hector! (3:35)
� 14. Achilles and Hector Fight (4:35)
� 15. Hector's Funeral (2:22)
� 16. The Sacking of Troy (7:44)
� 17. Achilles' Death and Finale (Achilles' Death) (8:41)
� 18. Closing Credits Chant (End Title Song) - performed by Tanja Tzarovska (4:36)

Total Time: 75:21

You may notice there's no album art in here. If there's anyone who has the correct album art, or wants to create one specifically for this release, feel free to do so. You have my thanks in advance. Also, if there are comments, suggestions, criticisms or discussions, feel free to contact me or add up in this post. I hope everyone will enjoy this, and again, thanks to everyone at FFShrine for all that wonderful music!

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Speechless? :D

Upload from Url and uncheck "Retrieve remote file and reference locally".

[QUOTE=Petros;2426694]Here are the covers of NolanFan's post (12-09-2012):

Thanks, but this score is the one with the different track order (this one begins with 'Approach Of The Greeks). I will post the track order soon. It might not be completely in film order, but this one makes for a better listening experience as a whole.

---------- Post added at 04:14 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:11 PM ----------

I will add the front cover though, I like that one a lot!

---------- Post added at 04:17 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:14 PM ----------

I can't seem to add the front cover, all I do is upload image, upload from computer, but it displays a red warning sign next to any image I upload...am I doing something wrong?

If that doesn't work, use an external image host. Like imgur (http://imgur.com/). Hope that helps :'D

Amazing score and very interesting article by Yared himself about the, sometimes, terrible consequences of preview screenings...

Thanks!

Thanks!

Have had this recording for years now- in Flac. Nothing new here.

This is on my holy grail list. I was able to get in contact with Gabriel Yared about the score and he, in no uncertain terms, made it sound this would never see the light of day. To me, this is one of the most amazing film scores I've ever heard. Although the "Mourning Women" is not a track I can listen to long, but Imagining it being used in the background it would be perfect.

As for the rest of the score, based on his style of writing, I imagine most of the missing music (and there is some) would be similar to what we've heard...orchestrated, performed differently... but similar.

If I recall the directors cut of the film uses some of Yared's score and if I recall, there is a piece of source music in it during the 'Sparta' sequence and there's some music directly after when the king travels to his brother I couldn't place (having no interest in the least to hear the 'score' that Horner wrote especially after his despotic rant against Yared's score while simultaneously lifting from it and using his research and performers).

Upload from Url and uncheck "Retrieve remote file and reference locally".

Thanks, will try!

---------- Post added at 07:33 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:32 PM ----------


Have had this recording for years now- in Flac. Nothing new here.

I know it's been going around, but the thing is that the lossless quality one is pretty hard to find nowadays, so I've decided to repost it in order to preserve this wonderful music! :)

---------- Post added at 07:36 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:33 PM ----------

This is indeed one of the holy grails of film music. Horner's score is good in my opinion, but not transcending in any way. This score does that, every step of the way. I too didn't like Horner's rant, even though I do like him as a composer, I don't quite understand his moronic reaction.

---------- Post added at 07:45 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:36 PM ----------

This worked, thanks!

thanks

does this different tracks/playtime with changed track order than 320 version? or higher quality only?

thank you for lossless :D

Here we go again.... after Warner. Bros. dumped Yared's score, he put it up on his web site- along with a glitch in one track. It was down loaded often. Warner made him take it down. Then some years ago it surfaced once more but this time from a CD source... assumed released somewhere in Europe. Doubtless the CD had belonged to Yared and just 'imagine' his surprise that it got out and about. ;-)

Arguments about this score versus Horner's garbage score and his garbage talk about Yared's inability to score a movie... have appeared here and other forums many times.

I don't see this as a restoration project. It is just the same version I offered here some time back. Though I deleted the wailing women. Nothing has been restored since there is nothing more to add.

It represents what Yared could be scoring today- big time epic soundtracks- instead of the sad, romantic, the guy dies at the end movies. He is a very frustrated composer- as stated in a documentary about the man- since not only does he resent the lack of time allowed to make music for movies but he is unhappy with the movies that were offered to him after he won the Academy Award for The English Patient... which is a beautiful score, but I think he topped that music for the sadly failed film POSSESSION. That music is exquisite.

I don't see this as a restoration project. It is just the same version I offered here some time back. Though I deleted the wailing women. Nothing has been restored since there is nothing more to add.

Phideas I see where you're coming from, but I do not mean to come over as that I have restored or expanded the score. Indeed, this is the same version, nothing more, nothing less. I just thought I'd share this with people in order for it to be shared some more, and then some, because I feel this score (in this lossless quality) is overlooked by many score collectors because of it's limited availability, something that shouldn't be happening in this digital age.

As such, credit where credit is due, you shared the score before, therefore a lot of thanks. I just hope more people would do this, in more places, in order for this score to stay alive and in public attention. It is, as stated before, a hidden gem among modern film scores, one that's easily overlooked, and thus deserves more listeners. That's what I hope to accomplish with this, hence the preservation in the title, just so more people discover it and it doesn't get lost in time.

It is great music.

Thanks a ton for this! I had audio captured the cues when Yared had them on his website, but those were pretty compressed and not the best in quality. I'm really looking forward to giving this version a listen.

Many thanks!

Did you check the song? I have a lossless version of the score, but the song was in MP3. I don't know of anybody who has a lossless version of the song.

I think this is as 'lossless' as it can get. The whole score still has some sort of a lossy quality to it, even though it says lossless. Maybe that or it's a placebo effect. It can also be because the score, even though it sounds truly great (the spacing and reverb is absolutely some of the best I've heard) was never completely finished and mastered. I don't know. This is though the best quality one can find on the net. The original source is the WavPack version, here converted to WAV because I heard a difference on my playback device. Propably different for other people.

Thank you!

Thank you very much! :)

Thanks!

So what's the deal... true Lossless or not

Listening to it right now, for the very first time. Powerful stuff. Thank you so very very much for sharing!!!

Edit: Ahem, pardon, excuse-moi.

Why you sneeze? lol

.

thanks for the share.

Thanks.

Thank you so much! The truly modern classic...

Thanks.

Gabriel Yared - Troy (Rejected Score Preservation Project)

Why not FLAC? Yes, I know FLAC is smaller and should sound exactly the same as WAV but truth be told, it doesn't. Argue with me anything you want, I heard a difference between the two, with the FLAC being hissier and a lot less spacious. This could be because it wasn't unpacked the right way by the playback device (FLAC is compressed but uncompresses in real time while playing, hence it should be bit-for-bit the same as a WAV file, for those in the unknown about this), but nevertheless, there was a difference and I think this score should be heard in the absolute best quality available, I can't stress that enough.

You heard a difference for the same reason people think homeopathy is an effective way to treat an illness. It's nothing more than placebo.

Be scientific about it. Get at least 15-20 examples of music, and rip each of those tracks into both WAV and FLAC. Then perform a blind test (and it has to be truly blind, otherwise the test will be biased), either by getting someone to play the examples for you, or play them in a random order without knowing which version you're listening to. Then record your results and match them against the randomly generated playlist. You will, if you've performed the experiment correctly, find that the results will be the same as if you had chosen your answer with a coin flip. That is, chance.

Of course the problem is with 'audiophillia' is people are so convinced they hear these minute differences, often having spent so much money on expensive audio equipment, getting wrapped up in the world of expensive cables and 'burning in' of headphones (which is all a load of crap) it's difficult to convince them otherwise. I know, I used to be one. Music really can be a religion...and not always in a good way.

You heard a difference for the same reason people think homeopathy is an effective way to treat an illness. It's nothing more than placebo.

Be scientific about it. Get at least 15-20 examples of music, and rip each of those tracks into both WAV and FLAC. Then perform a blind test (and it has to be truly blind, otherwise the test will be biased), either by getting someone to play the examples for you, or play them in a random order without knowing which version you're listening to. Then record your results and match them against the randomly generated playlist. You will, if you've performed the experiment correctly, find that the results will be the same as if you had chosen your answer with a coin flip. That is, chance.

Of course the problem is with 'audiophillia' is people are so convinced they hear these minute differences, often having spent so much money on expensive audio equipment, getting wrapped up in the world of expensive cables and 'burning in' of headphones (which is all a load of crap) it's difficult to convince them otherwise. I know, I used to be one. Music really can be a religion...and not always in a good way.

You are absolutely right. The only way the difference can be heard is when a playback device supports FLAC but is unable to uncompress to it's best quality. This can happen on A) a really, really slow computer, or B) a portable player which is filled to the absolute brim with music (say you have less than 10mb of free space). My player is a COWON iAudio 10, which gets hokey with FLAC files if there is less than 10MB of free space (it says so in the manual). So that was the problem. It doesn't have this problem with WAV, on the other hand, because it doesn't need to uncompress anything.

And in fact, audiophilia can be more of a burden than a blessing, indeed. I tend to listen to my ears these days, and not to something people tell me I should or should not hear.

Thanks for posting this. Terrific score!

Thanks trakkboi! :)

I am very impressed with your post trakkboi. I'd heard Gabriel Yared's rejected score before and I've even read the article you posted by Yared, but never before have I heard this music sound so lush. Brilliant job. And I am absolutely floored that these are .wav files. I guess since the format has been around so long I just automatically catalog it as something low quality. Well done!

Thank you very much for this beautiful score!!!

This is definitely the best version that I have come across, I will compare it with my "FLAC" copy and see if I hear any difference.

So thanks for providing this wav file. This score is so majestic that deserves another listen with clinical ear ;)

This is definitely the best version that I have come across, I will compare it with my "FLAC" copy and see if I hear any difference.

So thanks for providing this wav file. This score is so majestic that deserves another listen with clinical ear ;)

Glad you like it so much. It is indeed the best version of the internet, and I hope many people will share it, this score can never be forgotten even though Warner Brothers wants it to.

thank you

You're right this does need to be shared more!

Excellent that this is in .WAV format...sounds gorgeous!

Thank you so much for this share!!!

Incredible! Thank you so very much!!