The oscars is just a television show and a big star parade. After a week no one will remember who won what.
But i'm happy that Newman won it for the song. He's quite a character.

In my eyes, the only movie that was treated justly was "The King's Speech". A wonderful film and a great director that got their dues.

Amy Adams not getting Best Supporting Actress? Disgraceful.

I don't need to say anything regarding "Best" Score. Bah.

Lens: Is the rest of the soundtrack for The Last Story like those few tracks? It sounds like a new age/easy listening album. What happened to Uematsu's genre-defying experimentalism?

In my eyes, the only movie that was treated justly was "The King's Speech". A wonderful film and a great director that got their dues.

Amy Adams not getting Best Supporting Actress? Disgraceful.

I don't need to say anything regarding "Best" Score. Bah.

The words. You took them out of my mouth.

But seriously, I enjoy watching the oscars, but I was never truly (with a capital T) disappointed with the best score until today. Except in 2005. Two excellent John Williams scores being turned down in favor of Brokeback Mountain... was a source of musical frustration for months, to say the least. And that's coming from someone who loved Slumdog Millionaire's music! (And who also has very eclectic music tastes.)

So...who did you guys want to win for Best Score? I was for HTTYD

I was hoping for Dragon, for a couple of different reasons. I am...disappointed..with the winner. But, I am even more disappointed that they did not give just a bit more time to the scores in general. Often, we get a little taste of each nominee, then the award is given. But, not this time. We did get to hear each song though...:/

The King's Speech. It was a wonderful score, not just because it featured the piano so predominantly - an instrument that is barely used in media scores today, which is a crime in of itself! The music was emotional and stayed with you, and added so much personal power to the film. It may not be "memorable" in the humming friendly sense, but it had by far the best composition the entire year.

And in a manner unusual of myself, I actually liked Inception. Not to the extent that most people do, but I will actually return to listen to a couple of tracks from time to time (especially "Time"). Zimmer really should stay with electronica: that is his strong suit. He does not need to be anywhere close to an orchestra.

Of the nominees, How to Train Your Dragon (a euphemism if I've ever read one ;) ) -- perhaps not great art but certainly great fun to listen to.

Wishlist, I would have liked to have seen TRON Legacy receive a nomination. It does fall somewhat into the standard modern droning action score trap, but there are bursts of melody that are more playful and interesting to my ear than anything else in that vein has for a long time. I do suspect, however, that the arranger, Joseph Trapanese, deserves a lot of the credit for making the music work.

[Edited to remove pointless further Oscar bitchery that will neither make me feel better nor convince anyone to alter their opinion. A relevant film quote:

POTTER: (puts out a match with his fingertips) Ow! It damn well hurts!
LAWRENCE: Certainly it hurts.
POTTER: Well, what's the trick then?
LAWRENCE: The trick, William Potter, is not minding that it hurts. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYNElueJj_w#t=01m11s)] ;)

Belkis, Queen of Sheba
Dance of the Gnomes
Eiji Oue conducting the Minnesota Orchestra


MP3-V0
Multiupload.com - upload your files to multiple file hosting sites! (http://www.multiupload.com/XF18ZMTDO3)

The ballet score for ‘Belkis, Queen of Sheba’ is sometimes described as a forerunner to Hollywood’s big epic, biblical scores; apart from the obvious Rozsa connection, I also wonder if this was in Goldsmith’s mind when he came to compose his powerhouse ‘The Wind and the Lion’. ‘Dance of the Gnomes’, a similarly dark-toned, savage suite, makes a perfect coupling. Both feature fabulous playing - woodwind and percussion in particular.

[I should note that this disc also comes with a performance of Pines, but I opted to leave it out due to redundancy after Shadow's post of the superior Naxos recording]

Enjoy! :)


I just had to point out that I listened to this today and it is some of the most amazing classical music I have ever heard! Don't miss this one!!!

"The Social Network" deserved its win. The music was utterly perfect for the movie.

Here is a real classic.


Victor Young
For Whom The Bell Tolls


1. Prelude ~ Train Wreck
2. Travel To The Cave ~ The Gypsy
3. Pilar
4. Warning In The Night
5. Maria's Story
6. Maria
7. Massacre
8. The Earth Has Moved
9. The Bridge Has Blown
10. Roberto's Farewell
11. A Love Like This

Multiupload Link (http://www.multiupload.com/CDO6H4G2GD)

Oh by the way, how has your Respighi introduction been Tango?
Also I'm so glad I nabbed Cliffhanger when it was on sale. An action flick with a great theme that can get stuck in your head and you find humming days later, what happened to those? When did they disappear?

Zimmer got robbed last night

Here is a real classic.


Victor Young
For Whom The Bell Tolls



I have to admit that I am not familiar with victor young, but this seems terrific so far. Thanks, and your name change threw me off for a few seconds!!

Also, I'm a bit shocked that Tango wasn't already intimately familiar with Respighi!

I might be interested in the whole soundtrack to Last Story, but unfortunately the thread with the full score needs the link fixed...

"The Social Network" deserved its win. The music was utterly perfect for the movie.

That does not mean it was the best score this year. The Hurt Locker worked great with the film, but it did not deserve to win Best Score. And it didn't!

Lens: Is the rest of the soundtrack for The Last Story like those few tracks? It sounds like a new age/easy listening album. What happened to Uematsu's genre-defying experimentalism?
No, it's quite varied. There are a few tracks that would sound fabulous but for the crappy synth orchestra - some with a spanish influence. The action/suspense music is unbearable Remote Control wannabe crap. Yoshitaka Suzuki was the arranger - why he and Uematsu thought to go for Zimmerism in an rpg I don't know! Listening again, I think I ought to have included a few more of the balletic orchestral-style pieces that would be relevant to this thread, so here they are:

Multiupload.com - upload your files to multiple file hosting sites! (http://www.multiupload.com/VOV3E5PT97) (~20mb)

If you whittle it down to the highlights this is a decent soundtrack, but could've been so much more. You're right about the new age vibe and it doesn't work with the other material; the main attraction is Toberu mono; to my mind, a not-so-distant cousin to Terra's theme.

So yes, slot those in and you really do have the best of The Last Story ;)




Victor Young
For Whom The Bell Tolls
Ah, thank you! I don't know this one at all.


Also, I'm a bit shocked that Tango wasn't already intimately familiar with Respighi!
I think this requires shocked faces all round :shock: :shock: :shock: :shock: :shock: :shock: :shock: :shock: :shock: :shock: :shock: :shock:

Turns out Giacchino scoring Captain America was only a rumour, a good one nevertheless.The official Composer for the Movie is....

Alan Silvestri!

I know i�m the only person who likes G.I.Joe (and 25mins of Ateam) Johnston always has decent to great classical scores, and almost the entire movie plays during WW2, with Alan Menken writing a song for a parade i think.So don�t let me down with too many (if any) electronics. Predator plus Judge Dredd. Not more of G.I.Joe.Big orchestral action adventure score with themes and motives aplenty.Still no hope for good music in Thor.The film comes out in 2 months and still no word of who the composer is.

Thor has been Patrick Doyle for a long time.

Amazing cd

ERDENSTERN - "INTO THE"

LINK (http://www.megaupload.com/?d=SY7PEPJF)

Before I get into the gist of talking about the music, I should do a little bit of explaining. Erdenstern is a small group of four musicians who essentially create "roleplaying game music". I don't mean videogames - I mean "roll"playing games. Dungeons and Dragons. Pathfinder; White Wolf. Yeah, the games with a game master and a group of players all pretending to be somebody else. Roleplaying Games.

Ever since 2005, they have on a yearly basis been releasing an "Into The" album devoted to a certain color theme. With their first, Green, they did music that could relate to a foresty, almost Germanic fairy tale setting. Into the Red deals with war and high adventure in that time.

This isn't the typical upload: it doesn't deal with specific characters or narratives. Instead, it deals much more generally with music for a scenario. Despite the fact that it is synth (this is indie, after all!), they put in a ton of real world instruments to cross the boundaries. In the very last minutes of every track there is usually a fantastic singer singing a good song to close the album.

Erdenstern is not the next big orchestral scene. But they are still quite good. I have bought most of their albums, and have yet to be disappointed. I was somewhat dismayed with the Zimmer-ish approach of their Sci-Fi album, Into the Grey, but even that is not too bad and is fairly good with it's best tracks. One thing they are great at is personifying natural elements into aspects of horror. I mean "The Leviathan" with Into the Blue and "Blizzard" with Into the White.

It's a big download - almost a GB. But it's almost 9 hours of music, so it makes sense. Enjoy!

To Buy:Erdenstern's Official Store (http://erdenstern.de/shop/), iTunes (http://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/erdenstern/id264853199), AmazonMP3 (http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_c_1_10?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-music&field-keywords=erdenstern&sprefix=erdenstern)

Alan Silvestri is a perfect fit for Captain America. I hope it takes after GIJOE, which was an absolutely fun action score.

Alan Silvestri is a perfect fit for Captain America. I hope it takes after GIJOE, which was an absolutely fun action score.

He is. No one does action movies like Silvestri can.

Alan Silvestri is a perfect fit for Captain America. I hope it takes after GIJOE, which was an absolutely fun action score.

minus the electronics and with a little more enthusiasm. compare flying a tank from ateam with any actioncue in gijoe (even just about close enough) and you will hear the difference.

Dave Brubeck's "Hope" 11-01-04
It's Dave Brubeck's birthday so I'm posting a couple of his shows to show his wide diversity. We all know his jazz side, but this classical composition is another side of Dave.

DAVE BRUBECK
Mass “To Hope” Live
Live at “Salzburger Jazzherbst”
Grosses Festspielhaus
Salzburg, Austria
11-01-2004
Ex FM stereo.

Dave Brubeck performing his 1980 composition, To Hope! A Celebration, at the Salzburg festival. Composed at the request of Ed Murray, then editor of the Catholic Weekly, Our Sunday Visitor, To Hope! was possibly Brubeck’s first Christian work.

But Brubeck is no stranger to long compositional pieces, marrying jazz to other forms of music. He had already written the critically acclaimed The Gates Of Justice in 1969. Brubeck has a long history of involvement in social and political side projects.

Said music fan Steve Seim on Amazon.com: “To Hope!” is Dave Brubeck’s attempt at composing a mass, or Christian liturgy. The result is mixed. Unlike Vince Guaraldi’s masterpiece Grace Cathedral Concert, this is not a jazz piano mass. Instead, it is largely a contemporary-classical work, focused on vocals and traditional arrangements. It does, however, include several jazz passages, including one that swings almost like a ’50s surf-rock record. Not everyone will like this recording, but every fan of jazz or contemporary sacred music should listen to it.”

That sums it up accurately. This is not a blend of musical styles but rather classical music sitting next to Brubeck’s stinging piano-led jazz. As one form ends, the other begins. The two styles never weave into each other. The best example of Brubeck’s inspired writing here is the track Alleluia. It is an almost nine-minute uplifting choral piece that segues into a contemporary jazz workout that swings.


Track 01. Processional> Lord, Have Mercy - 5:34 (7.6MB)
Track 02. The Desert And The Parched Land > The Peace Of Jerusalem - 8:57 (12.3MB)
Track 03. Alleluia - 8:48 (12.1MB)
Track 04. Father All Powerful > Holy, Holy, Holy - 6:00 (8.2MB)
Track 05. While He Was At Supper - 3:32 (4.8MB)
Track 06. When We Eat His Bread > Though Him, With Him > Great Amen - 6:37 (9.0MB)
Track 07. Our Father - 3:08 (4.3MB)
Track 08. Lamb Of God - 1:50 (2.5MB)
Track 09. All My Hope - 10:37 (14.9MB)
Track 10. Gloria - 2:49 (3.8MB)

TT: 57:58m

Jazz Quintet
Dave Brubeck (p)
Bobby Militello (as)
Michael Moore (b)
Randy Jones (dr)

plus Salzburger Bach-Chor
Webern-Kammerchor
Mozarteum-Orchester
with Russell Gloyd (cond)
and
Andrineh Simonian (soprano)
Jeremy Pick (tenor)
Kevin Deas (baritone)

MEGAUPLOAD - The leading online storage and file delivery service (http://www.megaupload.com/?d=IE1B759T)

I have to admit that I am not familiar with victor young, but this seems terrific so far. Thanks, and your name change threw me off for a few seconds!!

Also, I'm a bit shocked that Tango wasn't already intimately familiar with Respighi!

Check out the score for Scaramouche released by Film Score Monthly. It's a nice rousing adventure score.

EDIT: For Whom the Bell Tolls is nice but i am a bit ultra sensative to tape noise.

EDIT: Well The Adjustment Bureau was a huge disappointment. Largely synth-driven action/atmosphere score with some accoustic guitar, piano, and ethnic drumming. Also be sure to skip the remix on track 15!!

I must boo Silvestri He is just like Horner to me. Powell would've been the best choice, imo.

Why is being like Horner necessarily a bad thing. Not that I haven't noticed all the things that he did that made some people hate him, but he also wrote Krull, Braveheart and The Flying Horseman. I would say he is capable of writing greatness but only if he is interested enough in the project he is scoring music for. That aside, how are Silvestri and Horner similar ? Silvestri wrote some great music in his past, just like Horner sometimes does, that's the only similarity I see.

@ TazerMonkey and arthierr

The majority of his work is orchestral. It uses small ensembles which are sometimes backed -and not crushed- by syth. Emotionally speaking, his music is dominated by different shades of melancholy. This creates an heavy but inspiring sound, glimmering with a subtle hope. At least, this is how I would describe it.

He is also, sadly, one of the only orchestal film composers in Canada. I never met him personally, but a close friend of mine interviewed him about a year ago. A very shy and passionate man, apparently.


NORMAND CORBEIL Compilation

I have complete soundtracks from Emotional Arithmetic and Elles �taient Cinq buried somewhere, but for now, here are some tracks found on Corbeil's official website. This compilation features unreleased music from movies he worked on in the last years:

- The Pentagon Papers
- Human Trafficking
- High Cost Of Living
- Grande Ourse-La Cl� des possibles (The Master Key)
- Emotional Arithmetic
- Elles �taient cinq (The Five Of Us)
- Cheech
- A Different Loyalty

Linky link (http://www.megaupload.com/?d=HPE2ABUJ)

Unfortunately, it seems I can't download this because megaupload doesn't work where I am- is there any chance you'd be able to reupload this to somewhere else (such as mediafire?). Speaking of Normand Corbeil, one thing I didn't realise was that he did the score to Screamers in 1995- which is really underappreciated in my opinion. It wasn't anything extremely spectacular- but was very eerie, lush and had a great title theme, even if it was B-movie style. A shame it hasn't had a proper release.

I've been in an unusually chipper mood lately, so I guess it's time to give back to the site I so often silently mooch from. Having recently happily stumbled into a ridiculously lush treasure trove of rare anime and drama soundtracks almost impossible to scour anywhere else, I've got tons to share from many top-tier composers new and old. Hope you enjoy.

First up, here's some of the ever-rare and woefully underappreciated Yuugo Kanno, who's quickly becoming my second-favorite Kanno. :p (Speaking of which, not only has the (hopefully) final Macross Frontier album been announced, and be sure to cross your fingers for some new orchestral tunes this time, there's news of a sequel series to Aquarion in the works, and I'd personally be driven-to-a-bell-tower-with-a-rifle-and-scores-of-ammo-supplies-and-demands remiss if Yoko wasn't involved in the project. More news to come soon following the Frontier film's release.)



Engine OST
By Yuugo Kanno



MEGAUPLOAD - The leading online storage and file delivery service (http://www.megaupload.com/?d=BRJXB5UK)


Sapuri OST
By Yuugo Kanno



MEGAUPLOAD - The leading online storage and file delivery service (http://www.megaupload.com/?d=QGS83ST9)


brb with some Senju.

Yoshihisa Hirano - Break Blade Chapter 4
Orchestral/Choral

Wavpak ~ 360kbps
Download (http://www.multiupload.com/EZ2MR8JEW0)
MP3 VBR v-0
Download (http://www.multiupload.com/8QPMNCLY7D)

Strawberry on the Shortcake
by Akira Senju




MEGAUPLOAD - The leading online storage and file delivery service (http://www.megaupload.com/?d=LUUWBZHA)

---------- Post added at 11:57 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:51 PM ----------


Gokusen
by Michiru Oshima





MEGAUPLOAD - The leading online storage and file delivery service (http://www.megaupload.com/?d=X4IQE200)

Unfortunately, it seems I can't download this because megaupload doesn't work where I am- is there any chance you'd be able to reupload this to somewhere else (such as mediafire?). Speaking of Normand Corbeil, one thing I didn't realise was that he did the score to Screamers in 1995- which is really underappreciated in my opinion. It wasn't anything extremely spectacular- but was very eerie, lush and had a great title theme, even if it was B-movie style. A shame it hasn't had a proper release.

There you go!

Link (http://www.mediafire.com/?3nabjbdgzjm6r3t)

Jodan ja Nai
by Naoki Sato




MEGAUPLOAD - The leading online storage and file delivery service (http://www.megaupload.com/?d=48YTMLX9)

There's some silly electronica and hip-hop beats here and there, but it's mostly Sato's signature string and orchestra melodies on display.



Kou Kou Kyoushi 2003
by Akira Senju

http://www.ost-center.fr/contenu/jaquettes/drama/kou_kou_kyoushi_2003_high_school_teacher_2003_ost. jpg


MEGAUPLOAD - The leading online storage and file delivery service (http://www.megaupload.com/?d=W8CVC360)

Thank you NaotaM for sharing. I'm listening Gokusen right now and is a lively score.

Now here's my turn to share something that is worth being in the orchestral thread.
Enjoy :o





Thread 86680

Sorry for the few days absence, mates. Been awfully busy lately. Got about 4572 things to do right now.

Anyhow, thanks a lot for the recent contributions, which are quite diverse in nature and new to me. I'll certainly also have some nice things to post this week-end. :)

Also, a question: are there some recent orchestral scores that deserve to be discussed (not posted!) in this thread? Because of my very tight agenda, I may have missed some good stuff. Please let me know if you spot something worthy, or at least interesting enough to be discussed.

NaotaM: Thank you SO MUCH for the bumper pack! I'm on Strawberry On The Shortcake right now... ABBA, orchestrated by Akira Senju. Utterly amazing. Thanks again. (And for the Yugo Kanno... I've had a poxy day and this has cheered me right up.) :)

---------- Post added at 09:20 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:19 PM ----------

Sirusjr: Break Blade 4... Would it be gay if I said I wanted to kiss you for this? Thank you! :D

Hana Yori Dango Seasons 1 and 2
by Kousuke Yamashita




S1: MEGAUPLOAD - The leading online storage and file delivery service (http://www.megaupload.com/?d=W97XATDK)

S2: MEGAUPLOAD - The leading online storage and file delivery service (http://www.megaupload.com/?d=XJNAX1HM)




Tatta Hitotsu no Koi
by Yoshihiro Ike




Tatta Hitotsu no Koi OST.rar (http://www.mediafire.com/?0agimzakzxh)

Dear God, how much more are you going to share ? Thank you. I especially enjoy the Main Theme for Hana Yori Dango, Yamashita at his best. Sadly it is only in 128kbps. Do you have a better version by any chance ?

Dear God, how much more are you going to share ? Thank you. I especially enjoy the Main Theme for Hana Yori Dango, Yamashita at his best. Sadly it is only in 128kbps. Do you have a better version by any chance ?

Afraid not, at least at the moment. As for how much more I have to share...hehe. >:3 I have not yet begun to make it rain, and it's a good thing it's mp3's too, cause raining cd's would hurt. And be a bitch to clean. But I'll try to keep the posts to short bursts so the thread won't get too clogged all at once. Speaking of which.



Akai Ito
by Yuugo Kanno




MEGAUPLOAD - The leading online storage and file delivery service (http://www.megaupload.com/?d=MLHMZAAA)


EDIT: Whoops. Seems Capeta's already been posted before in Sirius's Sahashi thread. Instead, why not have some Nanase at perhaps the most epic I've heard him since Noein. It's almost sorta overwhelming in it's brash power.


Tactical Roar
by Hikaru Nanase




MEGAUPLOAD - The leading online storage and file delivery service (http://www.megaupload.com/?d=U813EYTL)

Good lord. The amount of stuff that has been uploaded here is nothing short of cyclopian. I won't be back until Sunday, due on part of going to a con. I can only imagine, should you guys be continuing the same hectic pace, how much there will be when I get back.

Sirusjr: Break Blade 4... Would it be gay if I said I wanted to kiss you for this? Thank you! :D
Maybe a little bit but nothing wrong with that ;)

TANKS

Dear God, how much more are you going to share ? Thank you. I especially enjoy the Main Theme for Hana Yori Dango, Yamashita at his best. Sadly it is only in 128kbps. Do you have a better version by any chance ?

Here's a good lame VBR version:


Kousuke Yamashita
Hana Yori Dango Saison 1 OST
http://www.m3gaupl0ad.com/?d=0N6P11VI
Credits to the original provider


Also immensely recommended is Hana Yori Dango Final OST (movie), which has some terrific tracks, especially "Returns Main Theme for Final", a 6+ minutes track of pure magnificience, utterly inspired and fabulously well done, certainly one of my favorite pieces composed by Yamashita - and there are many!


Kousuke Yamashita
Hana Yori Dango Final OST (320kbps)
http://www.m3gaupl0ad.com/?d=0N6P11VI
Credits to Arashian Files (sableheart)

WTF link is not work! Athieer is suck...!

Please Download Hanz Simmer Lion Fish

You better not touch the lion fish spines =-O

Hi everybody (followed by the requisite �Hi Dr. Nick!�),

Apart from the odd score uploaded to the main boards, I�m something of a first time poster round these parts. Before I launch into an overlong waffly post, I�d just like to say a great big thank you to everyone on here whos been kind enough to give so generously of their time and their music over the years. I�m a absolute divil for not posting so much as a �thank you� after I�ve downloaded stuff!

This thread in particular has been a god-send. Its opened my ears to a wealth of music I�d never have been privy to otherwise. I find the postings of Japanese/anime music to be especially enlightening, since (apart from the more mainstream titles) I normally wouldn�t have the first clue of what to look out for, where good orchestra music is concerned. (Its mad how I seem to be leaning more towards eastern output for western sounding scores!)

Apart from the postings, I love spending time just reading through all the chats, thoughts and vigorous debates that go on, always keen to reply, but a bit wary to dip my toe in!

Ach, I was minutes from finishing the upload of a score I was dying to post (Jeff Danna's "Gospel of John") when I realised its Varese and therefore not allowed, am I correct?

I'll have a root round and find something else instead, but I'm posting this hello now anyways :)

you could send it through PM's

Wow, because of this thread, I've been enlighten to a lot of music that might have easily slip pass by me. So a huge thanks to all the contributors!

Ok here's Julius Caesar by the great Miklos Rozsa.
The music was conducted by Bruce Broughton, and I think it's very faithfull of the characteristic sound associated to Rozsa. The score is more quieter and subdued in tone compared to other historical epics composed by Miklos Rozsa, so if you're looking for something as bold like Quo Vadis for example, you won't find it here. Even then, there is place for the typical Roman marches like in 'Caesar's Procession' and 'Caesar and his Train', and a brief but great action track in 'Battle at Philippi'.





Julius Caesar

Music composed by Miklos Rozsa
Conducted by Bruce Broughton

21 Tracks @ VBR - V0 (Extreme)
http://rapidshare.com/files/450939726/Julius_Caesar.zip

More Yuugo time!



Attention Please!
by Yuugo Kanno and Kaela Kimura




MEGAUPLOAD - The leading online storage and file delivery service (http://www.megaupload.com/?d=5BW5C3U0)


Just a quick forewarning; this album is about half pop rock and half orchestral. I'm not sure if this was a true co-composition or if, much like the female Kanno, Yuugo composed it all and Kimura(contributor on other rock-heavy OST's such as Detroit Metal City) just lent his considerable talents with his chosen instrument at his direction or what, but just be prepared for your ears to get quaked down to the drum as often as they float to the melodies.

Rest assured, though, the lovely Main Theme and its many iterations are worth the free admission alone. In an interesting little Kannoinkidink(coining that phrase now), it borrows liberally from Genesis of Aquarion(the older of the two), spinning a soulful ballad of reincarnation and love surviving through the ages into a rousing, seven-minute-long march fanfare. Gorgeous stuff.



Bambino!
by Yuugo Kanno




MEGAUPLOAD - The leading online storage and file delivery service (http://www.megaupload.com/?d=EK1ZXEGC)

I'm fairly sure this is out of print (is it ok if its not?)






PORTRAIT OF A LADY
Wojciech Kilar


1. Prologue / My Life Before Me (04:08)
2. The Portrait Of A Lady (05:49)
3. Flowers Of Firenze (04:00)
4. Twilight Cellos (03:05)
5. A Certain Light (06:48)
6. Cypresses (02:06)
7. Impromptu In G Flat, D899 No.3 (06:47)
composed by Franz Schubert / piano solo by Jean-Yves Thibaudet
8. Impromptu In A Flat, D899 No.4 (07:05)
composed by Franz Schubert / piano solo by Jean-Yves Thibaudet
9. String Quartet In D Minor, D810 "Death And The Maiden" II (08:22)
composed by Franz Schubert / performed by Brindisi Quartet
10. Epilogue / The Portrait Of A Lady (05:12)
11. Phantasms Of Love (04:00)
12. The Kiss (02:05)
13. Love Remains (03:06)
14. End Credits (05:05)

Linky: Multiupload.com - upload your files to multiple file hosting sites! (http://www.multiupload.com/K0A3H8V88V)

First preview of the score for Skyward Sword: YouTube - Legend of Zelda Skyward Sword - GDC'11 trailer (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=daoOSfetFiI&feature=related)

Full_Circle, you can post what you want unless it's from one of the banned labels and/or if the CD is a fairly recent edition.

klnerfan: God, I hope that's not representative of the final score... Themeless synthy crap. :(

It sounds like typical Zelda to me.

anyone know what this song is the airist or anything

YouTube - Anyone knows the name of this instrumental? Thanks in advance. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5gvkQMCusg)

Music Preview (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=POHKwYcPBxk)
1.Pasodobles
2.Espa�oler�as
3.Marchas Y Pasacalles De Zarzuela
4.Pasodobles Populares
5.Habaneras Y Canciones
6.Pasodobles
DOWNLOAD (http://sharebee.com/603d0f7f)

Not from any film but a really nice collection of real spanish music, instead of the poor imitations many people are used to hearing. If you guys like it I'll upload the rest of the albums in the series :)!

Kondo is usually better than that, besides its Trailer music, usually trailer music is themeless or has one theme, "The music played in the E3 trailer is actually generic music they've used in other Zelda preview trailers. If I'm not mistaken it was used in previous Zelda trailers for Twilight Princess and others. "

There you go!

Link (http://www.mediafire.com/?3nabjbdgzjm6r3t)

Thanks!

No matter how you feel about it, ZREO just met their goal of 18,000, carry on caring or not caring whichever you like

Instead, why not have some Nanase at perhaps the most epic I've heard him since Noein. It's almost sorta overwhelming in it's brash power...
Good of you to share this (the title rung a bell because it came up in a conversation I had with an acquaintance a while back); it's an interesting listen so far.

No matter how you feel about it, ZREO just met their goal of 18,000, carry on caring or not caring whichever you like

FireGS of ZREO here. Just thought I'd pop in and say hello to everyone here. =)

Yep, we met our goal.

Yep, people like "tangotreats" clearly have never worked in the industry, and have clearly never worked on a project of this scale before, and clearly spouts about things he knows nothing about. By all means, take his word on things *rollseyes*

* This is NOT the new album (Soukyuu no Fafner: Dead Aggressor: Heaven and Earth) , but music to the prequel.





MEGAUPLOAD - The leading online storage and file delivery service (http://www.megaupload.com/?d=121EE86M)

Credits to the original ripper.

Yep, people like "tangotreats" clearly have never worked in the industry, and have clearly never worked on a project of this scale before, and clearly spouts about things he knows nothing about. By all means, take his word on things *rollseyes*

If you truly are someone working on ZREO, congratulations! It is a very ambitious project, that surely involves a lot of passion.

But, by all means, can you elaborate? From my point of view, their analysis (For individuals who are not involved in the project) seemed pretty accurate.

And please, do not direct me to any detailed description of the project or an interview. I'd be interested in your answer.

No matter how you feel about it, ZREO just met their goal of 18,000, carry on caring or not caring whichever you like

Whoopdy-shit. Scores of fanboys will gladly throw their (parents') hard-earned money at overhyped fan-projects that frankly don't deserve the funds, judging by their many previous efforts. Well just color me shocked.


FireGS of ZREO here. Just thought I'd pop in and say hello to everyone here.

Yep, we met our goal.

Yep, people like "tangotreats" clearly have never worked in the industry, and have clearly never worked on a project of this scale before, and clearly spouts about things he knows nothing about. By all means, take his word on things *rollseyes*

LOLUMAD, huh? On the off chance you, o suspicious newcomer with one post to your name, really are with ZREO, confirming that you guys are that special brand of pathetic who Google yourselves in the desperate hope that someone, somewhere is talking about you, you should be aware that many posters here, including tangotreats, streichorchester, mverta and others are all accomplished, professional composers with years of experience and insight behind their opinions, no matter how mean they may sound mocking/analyzing incoherent, podcast-quality interviews or debating the logistics behind lazy, amateur "orchestrations." They know what they're talking about, they know that you certainly don't, and your strolling in solely to brag and spout passive-aggressive butthurt bs isn't helping your image as professionals there, bro. Again, on the 0.001% chance you aren't in fact a troll, and at this point, the word of either is just about equal. :rolleyes:

But hey, perhaps Twilight Symphony will turn out a rousing success worth all the money and hype, you'll have finally, FINALLY proven yourselves as musicians rather than just overeager fans with fancy synthesizers and everyone'll be pleasantly suprised and satisfied. And hey, whether that happens or not, more power to ya for taking on such a project in the first place. But for now, some people here, myself included, are less than squealing with glee at the anticipation for, based on what is yet available, what we feel to be more unneccesary, unremarkable, note-for-note synth transcriptions of music that frankly sounded fine without it.

And part of "working in the industry" is learning how to accept differing opinions and harsh critique from fans, consumers and peers(and over the INTERNET!? Shock of shocks!!!) and deal with them like big, grown-up boys. Does "Well, what do you know?" sound very grown-up to you? :)

---------- Post added at 05:21 AM ---------- Previous post was at 04:49 AM ----------

But as long as I'm up...



Project Blue Chikyuu SOS
by Michiru Oshima





MEGAUPLOAD - The leading online storage and file delivery service (http://www.megaupload.com/?d=K86UL0OX)



Super Atragon - Metal Pulse Music Edition
by Masamichi Amano





MEGAUPLOAD - The leading online storage and file delivery service (http://www.megaupload.com/?d=O0FE04NX)

[IMG]

Music Preview (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=POHKwYcPBxk)
1.Pasodobles
2.Espa�oler�as
3.Marchas Y Pasacalles De Zarzuela
4.Pasodobles Populares
5.Habaneras Y Canciones
6.Pasodobles
DOWNLOAD (http://depositfiles.com/en/files/aayj6f7zs)

Not from any film but a really nice collection of real spanish music, instead of the poor imitations many people are used to hearing. If you guys like it I'll upload the rest of the albums in the series :)!

The Deposit File doesn't work though! It says Invalid Params.
Yes, please! Would love more of these!

The music in that trailer is almost certainly *not* representative of the final score. The game itself has only recently passed the 50% mark in development :/ Even early Mario Galaxy trailers featured synth, so no reason to panic yet.

This makes me realise now I'll have to ignore our beloved thread around the time of release 1) because I want to play through the game without knowing the music inside-out and back-to-front and 2) because you'll all try to poison me against it ;)

*fanboy sweats*

I will soon upload a score from a western composer I do not really like, to be honest. He had one or two scores that were listenable for me but barely interesting enough. But recently he composed a score for a game that is not bad at all. In fact, I really like it and it took me by surprise. It is worth a listen, even though some might still find it lacking in substance compared to other composers we know in this thread.

Whoopdy-shit. Scores of fanboys will gladly throw their (parents') hard-earned money at overhyped fan-projects that frankly don't deserve the funds, judging by their many previous efforts. Well just color me shocked.

LOLUMAD, huh? On the off chance you, o suspicious newcomer with one post to your name, really are with ZREO, confirming that you guys are that special brand of pathetic who Google yourselves in the desperate hope that someone, somewhere is talking about you, you should be aware that many posters here, including tangotreats, streichorchester, mverta and others are all accomplished, professional composers with years of experience and insight behind their opinions, no matter how mean they may sound mocking/analyzing incoherent, podcast-quality interviews or debating the logistics behind lazy, amateur "orchestrations." They know what they're talking about, they know that you certainly don't, and your strolling in solely to brag and spout passive-aggressive butthurt bs isn't helping your image as professionals there, bro. Again, on the 0.001% chance you aren't in fact a troll, and at this point, the word of either is just about equal. :rolleyes:

But hey, perhaps Twilight Symphony will turn out a rousing success worth all the money and hype, you'll have finally, FINALLY proven yourselves as musicians rather than just overeager fans with fancy synthesizers and everyone'll be pleasantly suprised and satisfied. And hey, whether that happens or not, more power to ya for taking on such a project in the first place. But for now, some people here, myself included, are less than squealing with glee at the anticipation for, based on what is yet available, what we feel to be more unneccesary, unremarkable, note-for-note synth transcriptions of music that frankly sounded fine without it.

And part of "working in the industry" is learning how to accept differing opinions and harsh critique from fans, consumers and peers(and over the INTERNET!? Shock of shocks!!!) and deal with them like big, grown-up boys. Does "Well, what do you know?" sound very grown-up to you? :)

LULNOTRLY.

I'd love to show you, tangotreats, streichorchester, and mverta some parts of TPS that no one else has heard, so if you can, get on AIM, and IM me at ZREOFireGS. Then you can form opinions.

FireGS: Welcome to the forum, and the thread specifically; despite your first post being a general insult directed towards anybody who hasn't been taken in by the ZREO hype.

I have not been involved in a project of this magnitude, it is true; I have, however, composed and orchestrated music for film, and I have experience in orchestral contracting. I am recording an album - which I orchestrated myself - with the Amadeus Orchestra next year. I do not speak about things I do not know. My perception is that your team is largely illiterate in a musical sense, and is absolutely inexperienced as far as understanding how to go about recording a live-instrument project on a low budget. As I have already indicated, your initial estimate of $18,000 to record a choir was ludicrous, and the thought of involving high-profile engineering staff lacks common sense. You are wasting money and you could spend that money in other ways and come up with a better quality product at the end. Since you don't appear to want to discuss anything - only gloat that your fundraising was a success and blindly attack perfect strangers simply because they view your project with understandable trepidation, I can surmise that you are not actually interested in producing the best possible product you can. I think your attitude speaks for itself and further highlights your lack of artistic integrity and ability.

All anger and indignation aside, I wish you the very best success for your project and hope that it works out; and I hope that you will prove me (and the other folk who are less than confident) completely wrong and, as NaotaM said, prove yourselves genuine musicians who deserve the hype that has been bestowed upon you. I also hope that you will be more receptive to constructive criticism that could genuinely help your project - rather than taking it all personally and getting mad at your critics.

Also as NaotaM said (I'm really going to have to stop agreeing with this chap so frequently... it's becoming a habit of late) working on big projects involving not-insignificant sums of money will open you up to criticism; and a team with genuine ability, confidence, and integrity would respond professionally.

The projects I've worked on have been smaller than yours (probably because I have been writing original music, not preparing arrangements of popular video game scores) and I have never had a budget as high as yours; but the principles are the same. If I don't have a lot of money for a project, I'll economise and make the most of what I have. If I had $18,000 I would *not* use it to hire a Hollywood choir and work with an Abbey Road Engineer! I would not have that luxury and my first duty would be to the music. I would take that money to the Czech Republic, or Bulgaria, or Moravia, and record the whole project with live musicians and a local engineer. It wouldn't have the Hollywood hype factor, it wouldn't have big superstar names on the front cover... but it would be a better quality product.

Can you please get ahold of me on AIM, MSN, Gtalk, or some kind of IM system? I'd love to talk outside the forum.

LULNOTRLY.

I'd love to show you, tangotreats, streichorchester, and mverta some parts of TPS that no one else has heard, so if you can, get on AIM, and IM me at ZREOFireGS. Then you can form opinions.

Not even slightly interested, sorry. Don't get me wrong, any other day I'd gladly give my private IM adresses, none of which I give out or even list on my profile, to anyone who claims to be an authority member of a significant project whose site isn't even up and functioning properly at the moment, especially one who has done such a convincing job of proving yourself as you have, what with your three posts consisting not so much of "I understand your opinions, but here's my carefully constructed, well-thought-out rebuttle adressing your points and proving my insight as a musician" so much as "please give me your private information."

But for some reason, I think I'll pass. Now, should anyone else decide to take you on your word and you're on the up-and-up, perhaps they could share your files with us(in private notes, if you'd prefer) and then I'll gladly offer my thoughts. But honestly, I see no point in it. As has been noted, you seem less interested in discussion and more with sneering and somehow proving us wrong with how your work has progressed, and frankly, if you're that hard up for validation, just put up or shut up. Complete the symphony, put out the finished project and then we can all decide for ourselves based on the real deal. It's understandable if you're frustrated that people are seemingly basing their opinions off rough, unfinished impressions of the music, but you only make one first impression, and more to the point, they're impressions you put out there, to share, to get people excited, to advertise. Don't get pissy at your audience when your advertising has failed.

Whos mad? >_>

Whos mad? >_>

Riiiiiight. So I guess this gem;


Yep, people like "tangotreats" clearly have never worked in the industry, and have clearly never worked on a project of this scale before, and clearly spouts about things he knows nothing about. By all means, take his word on things *rollseyes*

...was just your idea of humble disagreement, then? :/

Mhm ^_^

I agree with NaotaM on that point. Maybe we don't even need to hear more of the Twilight Symphony right now. Maybe you can explain your side of the story and the choices taken by your team, instead. Tangotreats has pointed out very valid points. I work in the film industry, and even if I am indirectly involved with music in most projects, (And therefore, far from being an expert) I don't understand why 18000$ are spent only in a choir.

Posts consisting of 3 letters+a smilie are not really defending ZREO's artistical and production values.
_________

On an unrelated note, here's a great performance of a very famous spanish composition :


Concierto de Aranjuez, By Joaquin Rodrigo
(Featuring Narciso Yepes)



Link (http://www.megaupload.com/?d=L2CG8I4V)

EDIT : Also note that the tracks are in the wrong order. The Allegro con spirito goes first, not last.

TPS has 2.5 hours of music. In what world could 18,000 pay for all of that with orchestra and choir?

Prague gave me a quote for a choir:
30 people, 4 hour session - $8,387.

Our session:
25 people, 9 hour session - $9,018

Sooo.....

Can you please get ahold of me on AIM, MSN, Gtalk, or some kind of IM system? I'd love to talk outside the forum.

Why?

Since you publicly intervened in this thread to (sort of) defend yourself, just go to the end of initiative, and answer publicly to the accusations and criticisms made against you.

Frankly, although I'm glad you chose to express yourself in this place, I'm more than disappointed by the way you did it: your post has no counter-argument whatsoever; it's in no way precise, articulate, or pertinent; you don't defend yourself fiercely and brilliantly, but just vainly try to unsettle your adversary with poor and unfounded criticisms (did you have a special offer on the word "clearly", BTW?). I'm sorry to say that if you registered only to post that, it was really not worth it, because such intervention is simply irrelevant in this thread, and people will only take you even less seriously after that. *rolleyes too*

Now, I don't tell you this to be a jerk (I'd have used other words for that!), but to encourage you to try and post a much more detailed, persuasive and articulate reply in order to convince your opponent and everybody else that your project is much more valuable and competently handled than what some critics might have said. This is the way we discuss in this thread, contrary to other places in this forum, where a simple "f**k you" will do.

And of course, welcome to the thread!

Honestly, I dont feel the need to defend myself.

Honestly, I dont feel the need to defend myself.

Says the idiot who joins a random forum to sneer at strangers for criticizing their project, offering to show us the grievous error of our ways by aquiring our private information and wowing us with your newly-minted, gloriously-improved "arrangements" and desperately attempt to converse outside the forum in private for suspect reasons and now you're going for the limp-dicked cop-outs? Yep, you're clearly a self-assured individual with nothing to prove and no crippling desire for validation from random forumites whatsoever.

You're trolling has failed so hard there's not even any need to expound on such things as we're not saying choirs aren't expensive, we're saying that ZREO look like floundering amatuers with no clue what they're doing to spend so much money they didn't even have on choir sessions alone, indicating a lack of musical integrity and a simple desire to win oohs and ahhs with big names attached to the project. You've not only answered the million dollar question of your lack of identity but utterly quashed any desire, of mine at least, to even give TS or any ZREO project in the future a first glance even if you are true blue, just to spite you. Because first impressions are everything. Also because whereas people like artheirr are nice, civil gents who calmly encourage discussion, I'm the local forum dick and that's just what I do when the niceties of peers gets fuck-all results for hours. Now either post something of substance and fail less hard or get the fuck out.


Now getting back to worthwhile contributions to this great thread.



The Weathering Continent
by Michiru Oshima




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OST2: MEGAUPLOAD - The leading online storage and file delivery service (http://www.megaupload.com/?d=VHK3QT2F)



Brother
by Joe Hisaishi




MEGAUPLOAD - The leading online storage and file delivery service (http://www.megaupload.com/?d=43A3UUCE)

(did you have a special offer on the word "clearly", BTW?).


... I'm the local forum dick and that's just what I do...

Clearly. =)

Look, it's not that you feel the need to defend yourself, you HAVE to defend yourself if you still want to be taken seriously, especially if your first post in this thread is of such aggressive attitude. I don't know where you learned basic communication skills but you certainly lack any of it if you do not apologize for your rude behavior and give us reasons why you acted the way you did. I understand that this project is big and maybe it is your desperate attempt to gain recognition in the industry, but if this is the way you want to represent yourself and your project, you will neither gain recognition nor earn praise for whatever you want to achieve.

...you certainly lack any of it if you do not apologize for your rude behavior....

This can go both ways, my friend.

WTF?

WTF?

I'm simply saying that you all have done nothing but bash the project and myself without actually hearing from me. I mean, look at all the unfounded claims and biases and name calling before I entered the thread. Why should I apologize for anything when you all have clearly been disrespectful behind my back, figuring I'd never read any of this?

Dude, really ?

Thread 72846

Again, I see no reason to apologize to those criticizing me with such childish name-calling, unfounded claims, and off-base remarks. I'm sorry, I dont.

Honestly, I dont feel the need to defend myself.

Then don't. In case you have not noticed, this thread is a place to share, and above all, discuss music. Disguised ads, brief undevelopped arguments and subtle insults are not part of that. And you do not need to defend yourself. We want The Twilight Symphony, and its validity as an homage and an artistic creation, to be justified. We seek to be informed, not to have the supposed greatness of a fan project forced down our throats.

Yes, you are going to have an 18000$ choir. But why demanding 18000$ from fans to spend it on this particular choir?

In fact, let's take money aside for a moment. It's an important factor, but it does not take priority on artistic vision. Why using a full-sized choir instead of more live instruments? A small orchestra and a small choir, when well orchestrated, can reach the "epic" sound that your team wants to create. Would it not sound more "alive" to give an equal role to instrumental and vocal prowess, instead of leaving the orchestral part to synth that will inevitably sound fake? Koji Kondo's compositions for The Legend Of Zelda, after all, are primarily synth. How more syth, an handful of live instruments and a choir are going to be an improvement that is worth all the trouble?

And the choir itself... How will it be used? Will it only sing "Oooohs" and "Aaaaahs", or actual lyrics written by a lyricist?

"Zelda Reorchestrated - Renewing the music of the Legend of Zelda with new arrangements and true orchestral sound!"

That is a quote taken from your twitter page. How is synth drowned in a huge choir going to be a "true orchestral sound"? Isn't an orchestra composed of musicians (Human ones, to be precise) playing instruments?

And finally, will you start posting about music, and less about the way we debate with you? I, for one, can claim that I did not bash the project. I'm merely disappointed in the direction it seems to be taking, and want to know why.

I just want to say that I've been talking to FireGS on AIM for a while now, and even though he has yet to apologise for his unceremonious, judgemental entrance to the thread... I'm still glad I had the opportunity to talk to him. The first surprise was that the project incorporates 2.5 hours of music. I still believe it would be possible - just - to record that much music with fully live musicians for the sort of money they're talking about - but it does put it all into perspective somewhat.

My understanding is that there will be two nine-hour sessions with 25 choristers, with triple overdubbing, to make a final choir size of 75. That still seems like overkill; let's assume a round number - 50% of the music features the choir, so 1 hr, 15 minutes of final recording required. You do not need eighteen hours of recording time for this - certainly not with a Hollywood choir. And I don't believe you need to overdub so much - a 25 man choir recorded straight would sound *excellent* but a virtual 75 man choir is going to sound muddy and unfocussed. The recording engineer seems to belong to the school of "turn all the dials up to MAXXXXXXX EPIIIIIIIIIIC!" and from that perspective, paying so much money for humans is pointless because you're going to electronically process away the humanity to the extent where it is only marginally better than using an entirely fake choir. Use a 75 man choir (recorded properly in a concert hall acoustic) if you're recording Mahler's 8th symphony, by all means... but in this context it smacks of "more people and more epic = better" - and I'm afraid any musician of integrity would say that the success or failure of the music comes from the quality of the composition and arrangement.

The ZREO team have a preference for the modern recording style - ie, loud and unrealistic - and if that's the sound they're after they'll definitely get it with their upcoming choir session (which I understand is going ahead).

I have heard sound samples (featuring a fake choir) and if they are representative of the other choir pieces, re-recording them with that size choir is overkill, and therefore I stand by my original statements that (even taking into consideration the length of the project) $18,000 for the choir recording is absurd. That money would clearly be better spent elsewhere in the project. If they were spending their own money then obviously they should be free to make whatever outlandish decisions that wish... but if they are spending money that was graciously donated to them, with the unspoken understanding that the money would be deployed wisely, then I would definitely question that.

The orchestral parts... some of the arrangements are very good - I admit far better than I expected - and there is a measure of composition going on; they are not simple orchestrations - they are interpretations. The synthesiser (or, as FireGS would prefer me to say out of respect for the use of correct terminology, sampler) is utterly atrocious with a few exceptions - brass and strings are about as far away from orchestral as you can get - I don't know where the "we're getting a lot of realism" is coming from, because to my ears they do not sound at all realistic. At least, not in a symphonic context - they sound realistic if your idea of a symphony orchestra is something Alan Meyerson recorded for Pirates of the Carribean on his broken mixing console, with all levels, as ever, turned up as high as they will go.

The synthesised tracks are sprinkled with live performances which, to my ears, sadly have opposite the impact that they were intended to. Rather than sweeten a synthesised performance to sound more realistic, the live instruments merely highlight the inadequacy of the synthesiser. It is somehow more distracting than if the whole thing had been synthesised. The quality of the music is good in places, and performed by a live orchestra would sound very good... but in its current guise it sounds like, to be blunt, poor quality synthesiser tracks, haphazardly and randomly overdubbed with one, two, or three musicians. The overall impression remains, sadly, amateurish.

A lot has been said about who they're working with, who their agents are, and how much the project is costing - but strangely none of these have any bearing whatsoever on the quality of the finished product. With respect, if Ramin Djawadi can have an agent, any jackass can have an agent. Before you ask, I don't have an agent - I don't want one, I don't need one, and right now my workload and the scope of the projects I'm working on don't warrant it. My point is, saying "I have an agent" as proof of quality is like saying "I have a Porsche" as proof of penis size.

All this said, I'm left with the impression of a massive, massive project (costing a lot of money) that is being undertaken by a group of people who, undoubtedly, have some talent, but are in way over their heads. Streichorchester's very own Final Fantasy Philharmonic Suite has demonstrated - seven years ago - that if the strength of composition and musicianship is high enough, the lack of an orchestra or a choir or anything else doesn't really matter. As I have said many times before, epic doesn't come from volume, or from having massive orchestras or choirs, or from having hours and hours of music... It comes from good composition and thoughtful application of the musicians you have at your disposal.

But the two works are different in scope; the Philharmonic Suite was a concise, coherent symphony based on themes from Final Fantasy, but the ZREO project is a hyper-modern, contemporary-style, ultra-collaborative collection of pieces that will make their impression with loudness, more loudness, and EVEN MORE LOUDNESS - and that will appeal to a LOT of people. There is some genuine quality music hiding underneath the distorted recording quality and the unnecessarily high gain, but I fear it will remain unheard and unnoticed by the majority of people for the reasons already specified.

I regret my name-calling (and I did start it, I'll admit that, with unnecessary embarassments like "spotty otaku" and "Barely able to string a sentence together, unable or unwilling to use any kind of musical terminology, and have no direction or talent. Absolute utter garbage.") but I'm afraid I do not regret any of the meat of what I have said - for my conversation with FireGS (and seeing his ongoing attitude to other posters as I write this) combined with the samples I've heard, lead me to believe I was dead on accurate in my pronouncements. As I said, a lot of talk about technology, and agents, and big names... but a strange lack of talk about music; therefore, I suggest that this project is a big, expensive exercise in playing with sythesisers and in spending other people's money on schmoozing expensive recording engineers, presumably with a view to networking opportunities in the industry.

Sorry, FireGS - you didn't deserve the name calling, but I believe ultimately, the project deserves the criticisms that were levelled against it.

I have nothing more I can add to this.

I don't see why you people waste time responding to this dude. He's just going to quote your post and reply with a single sentence that doesn't address anything you said.

I'm honestly not sure if this guy is even the real deal. What kind of busy and successful person would waste time invading a niche topic on a niche forum to defend his big $18K project that's adored by lots of people? Something just isn't adding up here.

EDIT:

Of course, just as I post this Tango writes up one of his monster essay posts. ^_^;

I'm simply saying that you all have done nothing but bash the project and myself without actually hearing from me. I mean, look at all the unfounded claims and biases and name calling before I entered the thread. Why should I apologize for anything when you all have clearly been disrespectful behind my back, figuring I'd never read any of this?

Unfounded claims? Based on what, the personal insight and experience of people who know more about music than your very-public interviews and articles suggest? Biases? Ya mean our opinions based on nothing less than the music itself, that you put out there to learn people's opinions? Name-calling? Fucker, you come in here just to get all pissy and gloating and dismissive because we, the audience you advertise to, aren't crooning along with the gospel, whinging about our "bias" when we've had literally nothing to go on but what you give us(and I'm still convinced you have nothing to do with ZREO and are just a butthurt fanboy, which is truly sad considering I'm never going to give it the time of day now, so congrats there, sport), we still, after all that, give you countless oppurtunities to give your side of the story, some of us either actual fans of your work or admit to finding the project interesting after all their criticisms and get nothing but incessant single-sentence idiocy, and you're going to pull this "I don't see why I have to say sorry" BS?

EDIT: Thanks to tangotreats for the clarifying post, both for providing the information FireGS was so stupidly reluctant to provide in public for whatever reason, and to further drive home this will be nothing to get excited about, deserves all it's criticism and in fact brings to mind a few more to posit later.

Yes, you are going to have an 18000$ choir. But why demanding 18000$ from fans to spend it on this particular choir?

First, because we as a team have spent all of our money on the best sample libraries commercially available, and we're flat broke. Thats why we need money from the only source we have - our fanbase.

Why THIS choir? Well, because we're getting THIS choir through friends of our Agency, The Max Steiner Agency. John is giving us quite a break on his engineering fee, as well as the studio fee. The vocal director, Tim, is also giving us a smashing deal on his services. As I posted earlier, the Prague choir (which none of the team could afford to go and actually BE at the scoring session) would have given us both lesser quality in performance, less amount of time to work with the choir, and for almost the same money. For about $2-3,000 difference, we can get 6 more hours out of our choir than Prague. Not to mention, most of the team will be at the session to help guide the process.


In fact, let's take money aside for a moment. It's an important factor, but it does not take priority on artistic vision. Why using a full-sized choir instead of more live instruments? A small orchestra and a small choir, when well orchestrated, can reach the "epic" sound that your team wants to create. Would it not sound more "alive" to give an equal role to instrumental and vocal prowess, instead of leaving the orchestral part to synth that will inevitably sound fake? Koji Kondo's compositions for The Legend Of Zelda, after all, are primarily synth. How more syth, an handful of live instruments and a choir are going to be an improvement that is worth all the trouble?

As tangotreats mentioned, TPS is 2.5 hours of music. We simply could not afford to have it all performed. Get some quotes together and PROVE to me that it can be done for less than $18,000 INCLUDING CHOIR, otherwise the conjecture about "oh I still think it could be done" should just stop. We've done the research. As tangotreats also pointed out - and for being such musical professionals, Im surprised - can you all stop referring to virtual sampled instruments as "synths"? They are not synthesized sounds, they're actually the best sampled instruments money can buy at this time. I'd really like to see you all come up with better sounds outside live recordings.


And the choir itself... How will it be used? Will it only sing "Oooohs" and "Aaaaahs", or actual lyrics written by a lyricist?

The #1 main reason we need a live choir is that many arrangements feature 100% exposed, lyric-singing vocals parts that no sample library in the world could pull off. Yes, a lot of the music is "ooh" and "ahh", but a LOT of it has both Latin and Italian, and effects.


And finally, will you start posting about music, and less about the way we debate with you? I, for one, can claim that I did not bash the project. I'm merely disappointed in the direction it seems to be taking, and want to know why.

Sure. I will answer posts like this.

Of course, just as I post this Tango writes up one of his monster essay posts.

Sorry. ;)

I thought it was necessary this time.

The orchestral parts... some of the arrangements are very good - I admit far better than I expected - and there is a measure of composition going on; they are not simple orchestrations - they are interpretations. The synthesiser (or, as FireGS would prefer me to say out of respect for the use of correct terminology, sampler) is utterly atrocious with a few exceptions - brass and strings are about as far away from orchestral as you can get - I don't know where the "we're getting a lot of realism" is coming from, because to my ears they do not sound at all realistic. At least, not in a symphonic context - they sound realistic if your idea of a symphony orchestra is something Alan Meyerson recorded for Pirates of the Carribean on his broken mixing console, with all levels, as ever, turned up as high as they will go.

Thank you re: the arrangements, but the samples you call atrocious are again, the best libraries commercially available. Dunno what more I can do there.


But the two works are different in scope; the Philharmonic Suite was a concise, coherent symphony based on themes from Final Fantasy, but the ZREO project is a hyper-modern, contemporary-style, ultra-collaborative collection of pieces that will make their impression with loudness, more loudness, and EVEN MORE LOUDNESS - and that will appeal to a LOT of people. There is some genuine quality music hiding underneath the distorted recording quality and the unnecessarily high gain, but I fear it will remain unheard and unnoticed by the majority of people for the reasons already specified.

You're right - our project is nothing like Jeremy's Final Fantasy Suite. Final Fantasy has gotten every type of musical treatment there is to have - Zelda has not. This is, like it or not, what Zelda fans want. This is what were presenting. The songs I sent you... werent loud, really. The one was, but thats the nature of that song. The rest werent. Dont know why you're saying they were. =\

With regards to the triple tracking - we're not going to do that for EVERY piece, that would be nuts. Some songs may require it, many wont, most likely.

Well, thank you for answering my post, FireGS. It's also a pleasure to know that the choir will be more more than an onomatopoeia machine. However, I said :


let's take money aside for a moment. It's an important factor, but it does not take priority on artistic vision.

The ideas I was throwing out in this paragraph did not involve money. I meant that if you had the possibility (And the budget) to work with more human beings and less samples on the project, what would the team do?

It is sad that samples (even the best) must be used, because in my opinion, no imitation of an instrument available today is capable to match a musician's performance.

Honestly, I dont feel the need to defend myself.

Looks like you finally did!

About the name-calling, I'm really, really sorry. This thread isn't used at all to some of the words that have been recently used about you and your project. But you have to understand that 1) people who used such words solely take the entire responsibility for using them, and 2) in a certain way, you did provocate such reactions among the more "jumpy" members, by being rather disrespectful in your first post, and not willing (or being able) to argue in favor of your project for a long time.


Also, MANY, MANY THANKS for the amazing amount of albums posted lately. Massive kudos to everybody, notably NaotaM, who seem to have hold his posting urges for a very long time and just suddenly released them 2 days ago! Please dude, don't shoot all your bullets at once, keep some for later!



I'm fairly sure this is out of print (is it ok if its not?)

Thanks a lot for another Kilar, this one was unknown to me. As Sanico said, only recent and banned albums aren't to be posted here, so your post is totally in order!



Not from any film but a really nice collection of real spanish music, instead of the poor imitations many people are used to hearing. If you guys like it I'll upload the rest of the albums in the series :)!

I love that, it sounds like a sort of cheerful Zorro musical. Thanks a lot, and other albums of this kind would be very welcome indeed. :)



* This is NOT the new album (Soukyuu no Fafner: Dead Aggressor: Heaven and Earth) , but music to the prequel.

Wow, thank you but I'm a little lost with the Fafner series. I only own the 2 OSTs of the anime, how is this one different? And does anyone has the Fafner movie OST (unless it's this one)?

Thanks so much Arthierr for the Hana Yori Dango music in good bitrate and jo for posting the Fafner music. I'm not really sure where to start with all NaotaM's posts just because there are so many posts and I don't really have the patience to download and listen to every single one. Maybe some other members of this thread can pots some suggestions about the ones that stand out.

It looks like both of the Hana Yori links are the same so they both give you the Final ost.

Well, thank you for answering my post, FireGS. It's also a pleasure to know that the choir will be more more than an onomatopoeia machine. However, I said :

The ideas I was throwing out in this paragraph did not involve money. I meant that if you had the possibility (And the budget) to work with more human beings and less samples on the project, what would the team do?

It is sad that samples (even the best) must be used, because in my opinion, no imitation of an instrument available today is capable to match a musician's performance.

NO ARGUMENT HERE! Trust me, if we HAD the ability to do that, we would. We barely got the money for the choir, let alone what we'd need to record all of it. Not to mention the amount of time its a) already taken us to get this far, and b) how much longer itd take us to prepare these sequenced songs as playable score would take another year or more, and we just don't have that time.

Samples are nothing close to live players, no question - but its all we can afford.

Thanks so much Arthierr for the Hana Yori Dango music in good bitrate and jo for posting the Fafner music. I'm not really sure where to start with all NaotaM's posts just because there are so many posts and I don't really have the patience to download and listen to every single one. Maybe some other members of this thread can pots some suggestions about the ones that stand out.

Well, you'll obviously enjoy both seasons of HYD, and so far, I'd personally reccomend Bambino and Super Atragon, just as the cream of this very rich crop. Amano and Yuugo Kanno both are incredibly hard to come by, so try some of those first. You're right though, it'd be nice to hear some detailed impressions others have of what they've managed to get to so far,myself included(though times have too hectic lately to clog the thread with my epic reviews), so after maybe one more tommorow(spoiler alert; it's Hirano.) I'll give the dump a temporary rest. I'm just glad everyone's enjoying it all and am happy to give back.

FireGS, I think all the negativity comes from many people here who are huge fans of orchestral music and are sad to see such a project done with samples. As great as they do sound, samples rarely provide the emotion that we have come to expect from orchestral music of the sort this thread is devoted to. I am interested to listen to your final product on Zelda music even if it does use samples but I think it is important to have comments from Tangotreats to keep it all in perspective so that the expectations are reasonable.

NaotaM - I am a bit hesitant to grab the more unknown releases simply because even from the wonderful composers like Oshima not all soundtracks are created equal. So when I get my Oshima bar set at a certain level, sometimes listening to less known early works can be a disappointment. I would also be more likely to grab stuff if there was one or two at a time. While it's great that you want to give back, I think posting any more than 4 osts in one week is overkill.

It'd be silly to compare what we're doing with a live orchestra. If we could have done it, we would. And whos to say we dont already have another project in the works where we may? ;)

I am a bit hesitant to grab the more unknown releases simply because even from the wonderful composers like Oshima not all soundtracks are created equal. So when I get my Oshima bar set at a certain level, sometimes listening to less known early works can be a disappointment. I would also be more likely to grab stuff if there was one or two at a time. While it's great that you want to give back, I think posting any more than 4 osts in one week is overkill.

You have a point, but the albums will always be there, so just grab whichever you choose at however pace you wish, I guess.


It'd be silly to compare what we're doing with a live orchestra. If we could have done it, we would. And whos to say we dont already have another project in the works where we may?

Except when emulating a live orchestra is the entire point of your project. It's not even about the use of samples, really. The question is the quality of said samples, and if they're being used to worthwhile effect.

It's not even about the use of samples, really. The question is the quality of said samples, and if they're being used to worthwhile effect.

Thats always a matter of opinion. =)

Thank you re: the arrangements, but the samples you call atrocious are again, the best libraries commercially available. Dunno what more I can do there.

As I believe I already suggested earlier, an expensive sample library is nothing if it is not applied in an inherently orchestral manner. It's like thinking that if you buy a Lamborghini, you can win a race - the car is your tool, but with great tools come the need for great skills necessary to operate them to their fullest potential. Even if you have a fast car, but you're not a very good driver... you'll still lose the race and you'll be passed by better drivers in slower cars.

This illustrates the problem I have with ZREO's apparent modus operandi; the solution to every problem is not more money or expensive sample libraries or famous engineers. It's about intelligent composition, thoughtful orchestration, and it's about manipulating your sample library in the mindset of a composer, thinking about how real instruments sound, how their timbre is affected by the acoustic of the concert hall, etc, etc.


This is, like it or not, what Zelda fans want.

I beg to differ; I'm a Zelda fan, and this is not what I want. I want - and the music of Zelda so plainly cries out for - a full symphonic suite - written and conceived as a symphony with the standard of composition, thematic integration, and orchestration the term implies.

"Do you hear that, you morons?! This is why we're gettin' killed in the market place! Instead of listening to what people want, you're telling 'em what they want!" - Herb Powell (The Simpsons, S02E15 Oh Brother, Where Are Thou)


The songs I sent you... werent loud, really. The one was, but thats the nature of that song. The rest werent. Dont know why you're saying they were.

I have nothing against loud music; I have a problem with music (or rather, musicians) who equate loudness with impact. I also have a problem with orchestral music that is mixed and mastered the way you'd mix and master the latest pop tune. An orchestra is a great instrument capable of incredible dynamic range and expressiveness. Even a sampled orchestra, if "driven" with competent composition.

I worry about your reference to "songs" and referring to rendering "sequenced songs as playable scores" - it suggests you are sound designers and not composers.

It seems this Fafner prequel music is written by Tsuneyoshi Saito but also not with the Warsaw National Philharmonic. There is some nice music here that is separate from the stuff on the first two soundtracks but also not up to the same quality. You should also note that the one posted is in Lossless.

I worry about your reference to "songs" and referring to rendering "sequenced songs as playable scores" - it suggests you are sound designers and not composers.

Myself, I am the lead audio engineer. I'm not a composer and have never claimed to be. =)

Thats always a matter of opinion. =)

True, but that's what you asked of us; our opinions. And for that matter, there's the issue of what I meant by "worthwhile effect", whether you're just rewriting the music with (Arguably) higher-grade samples of all the same notes. That's barely even "arrangement." And I love arrange albums, love em...when they take the existing tunes and take them in bold new directions over just using "better" synths. (See; Rogue Galaxy Premium Arrange or the Castlevania Tributes) I'm not even sure if tangotreats' comprehensive clarifiation even makes that big of a difference. All you seem to have told us is precisely what we already surmised from our own previous experience with released promo material; overemphasis on BIG AND LOUD, spotty mismatch of live and samples, etc.(which in turn sorta shoots down your accusation of unfair bias when, having been so "educated", the conclusions are still the same.) In effect, I'm not still convinced what the point of TS even is, or for that matter why you're even here. You say comparing to real orchestra is unfair when that's exactly what you're striving to achieve, why you're paying so much for live orchestra.


If we could have done it, we would.

If you can't do it, then why bother? Why not make better use of that money, like with, say, doing something original for a change? Or making more economical use of live instrumentation? Maybe dial back the amount of music from 40(I seriously don't even remember 40 tracks from TP) to something actually manageable? Is striving for all that cash and bending over backwards to the point of electronically blasting the shit out of what little choir and instruments you can actually afford ultimately worth it when it comes out as the total opposite of what you advertise? Save up that money(money you don't have to beg for) and use it to responsibly fund smaller projects you can feasibly pull off, then tackle the super-ambitious mega-projects.

In the end, though, I do have to thank you for FINALLY presenting some actual discussion and clarification(after someone else had to do it for you first :/ ) and providing us of just a little bit of insight into the process.

Thats always a matter of opinion.

Sorry, you're saying it is a matter of debate that quality of composition and arrangement is more important than using the most expensive sample library?

That says a lot; my work here is done. This project is a nonsense.

I agree with NaotaM that an album using a small ensemble if recorded right could be a wonderful arrangement of Zelda music as opposed to something you are doing that is huge choir and sampled orchestra. What people in Hollywood and the big professionals need to realize is bigger does not always equal better. Just because you have a huge orchestra does not mean it is necessary or even worthwhile until you have proper orchestrations to bring out the color of the instrumentation.

Just found it...
Not my rip, not my upload...
Enjoy..!

=)





[KC][110223]Soukyuu no Fafner HEAVEN and EARTH - Original Soundtrack.rar (http://www.mediafire.com/?ddidzjh646umeng)

Thank you for Fafner ! I love it.

Sadly, it appears the Fafner movie soundtrack is also not performed by a full orchestra. At least both the prequel and movie scores have some individual performers on the soundtracks.

...What people in Hollywood and the big professionals need to realize is bigger does not always equal better. Just because you have a huge orchestra does not mean it is necessary or even worthwhile until you have proper orchestrations to bring out the color of the instrumentation.

You know, this kind of attitude extends into education as well- which is disappointing, as you'd expect academics trying to keep standards up. I entered a music degree at University and found that "composition" involved learning how to input tracks into a sequencer, mixing, and programming synths. When I pointed out that this wasn't really composition so to speak, the response was "yes- but people like Hans Zimmer work like this!!!11". Not that I'm bashing it- useful skills, but I'm not quite sure on labelling that composition.

Thanks for all the recent uploads.

Orchestral / Bombastic / Adventurus / Majestic


Composed by Brian Tyler

Conducted by Allan Wilson

Performed by the Slovak National Symphony Orchestra


Download Part A (http://www.mediafire.com/file/x8hlzcaikcccd3a/LEGO%20Universe%20A.7z)
MP3 / 320kpbs / 26 Tracks

Download Part B (http://www.mediafire.com/file/dekiaefou5n32bw/LEGO%20Universe%20B.7z)
MP3 / 320kbps / 24 Tracks


Yes, this is Brian Tyler. The same guy who composed Battle LA, a score that was quite unlistenable for me, it felt like a disjointed mess but this ... now this is something else entirely.
I really enjoyed LEGO Universe. It's almost as if the Hollywood of today is determined to produce music for the lowest common denomenator with a passion to eradicate every spark of talent. All of his scores for Hollywood have either dissapointed me (in some cases because it could have been so much more) or even offended me because of the obvious case of plagiarism.
But when he composed music for a project outside of Hollywood, it's like he transforms. I will admit that some parts of his score still sound like typical Tyler, for better or worse, but the rest is just wonderful. I would have never believed that a track like "Nimbus Plaza" was composed by Tyler if I had heared it elsewhere. But miracles happen in the music industry (I guess I have to thank the game industry for that) and now I have found a Tyler score I really like (and now love after a second listen), I hope he gets another project like this in the future.

Preview: YouTube - The Music from Lego Universe - Brian Tyler (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xz9XDynOdgM) ("Nimbus Plaza" starts at 1:36)

Rumor has it on FSM boards that this will get an official release so use this as a sampler and buy it when it comes out if you enjoy it.

EDIT: We also get to hear Brian Tyler's interpretation of Hawaii 5-0!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bfOJRd8dsoc
Hope this gets released as well.

I see ZREO (I will from now on, refer to them as "ZERO" - better representative of their talent, musical acumen, and also the sum of money you should be donating to them) has put up yet another self-congratulatory blog post in which they boast about their expensive studio, expensive engineer, expensive choir, expensive sample library, etc... and they are now trying to get EVEN MORE THAN $18,000 for more choir! They have 18 hours of choir sessions already - and they want more - for 30 minutes of music. And they say I'm the guy who has no idea what he's talking about! For the record - the projects I've worked on, I've had to raise the money myself, finance them out of my own pocket, or literally beg for pennies. I don't have the benefit of being able to appeal to the whole world and say "Give me heaps of cash and I'll give you motherf**kin' EPIC!" nor is the popularity of my projects dictated by riding on the back of an insanely popular video game franchise. ZERO think they're popular because they're great; when in fact they're popular because they're remaking Zelda music. With a flashy website and a lot of over-hyped juvenile rhetoric, any imbecile could do it.

It is about making the most of your money, putting in the hours and the hard slog, to get the best possible product. Nah, bugger that - let's throw arseloads of money at it instead.

As usual, the blog post contains nothing of any artistic substance; instead, it takes the now-established route of gloating about the production values (and with more name-dropping than you can shake a stick at) and extolling people to donate yet more money senselessly since it will enable them to "make more awesomesauce for you to enjoy!"

Apparently an orchestra and choir in Eastern Europe, with over a hundred years of prestige in the performance of classical music (and an engineer who has produced hundreds of well-respected classical albums,) would not reach the same artistic pinnacle as a jobbing LA freelance choir who spend their days singing "ah ah ah ah ooh ooh ooh ooh" for the latest trashy Hollywood score, engineered by some guy who worked on Glee - and would hence presumably be less able to produce "awesomesauce" in the required quantities.

Well, I'm glad there are some intelligent, thoughtful, experienced, coherent, musical people on that project... or they'd just be flushing twenty grand right down the shitter! Thank God they're in control and not a moron like me - who clearly hasn't worked in the industry, clearly doesn't know what he's talking about, and **CLEARLY** just enjoys spouting off about things which are so endowed with "awesomesauce" as to be beyond his comprehension! Phew, catastrophe averted, eh, folks? ;)

Oh my god, forget all the recent film score releases, Lego Universe is marvelous! He revives the triumphant orchestral sound of the 80s exploding with life and energy! Even more exciting, the music is not driven by any of the typical ostinatos we have been complaining about forever. If you want to hear something great, listen to Lego Universe and buy 2 copies when it is released.

You know, this kind of attitude extends into education as well- which is disappointing, as you'd expect academics trying to keep standards up. I entered a music degree at University and found that "composition" involved learning how to input tracks into a sequencer, mixing, and programming synths. When I pointed out that this wasn't really composition so to speak, the response was "yes- but people like Hans Zimmer work like this!!!11". Not that I'm bashing it- useful skills, but I'm not quite sure on labelling that composition.

Your composition professor said that to you? What university do you go to?

Lego Universe is marvelous!

Indeed it's fun score. It reminds me at times of Opoona. Playful, light, colorful music. Really like it. Hard to believe that it's from Brian Tyler. But there is actually like an hour of pure orchestra here. For me it's just enough. Waiting for official release.

Also new Powell is out. Awesome score it is. But I'm Powell's fan, so I'm biased;).

Zreo - god, I'm glad that I don't care for Zelda music at all xD. But wanna say, that you could have more money for REAL orchestra if U wouldn't spent probably thousands of dollars on samples, that U probably can't even use to it's max. This is first time I see people, who are more intrested in choir than actual orchestra... buy symphonic choirs, use wordbuilder and screw live recording - live choir on dead orchestra, it just doesn't sound right. And also there is lots of little orchestras, school orchestras, student orchestras, that would perform your music for "smile". Yeah, but it wouldn't be as perfect as million dolar samples;P.

Brian Tyler is a very talented guy who doesn't get enough credit. I loved his take on Rambo.

I just cannot wrap my head around this Lego score; just does not compute. I hear themes, and colourful, even playful orchestrations... Mountain Top Transition - Brian Tyler?! Just how badly have we misjudged this chap? It's bizzare to hear this sort of music coming from that guy - but I suppose it's no surprise that most composers have a great deal more to offer than Hollywood normally allows them to exhibit... I now have an image of Tyler sitting at home, scoring AvP or whatever, with a big poster on the wall opposite his desk reminding him "NO melodies. NO woodwinds. NO counterpoint. NO romantic harmonies. NO modulation." holding his head in his hands, desperately wishing he could let the world hear those melodies and shamelessly old-fashioned orchestrations he has in his head... but instead he takes a large gulp of whisky to dull the pain, and sketches out yet another synth-drenched six minute ostinato...

What a shame that about the only place you'll find such forthright music today is in a tongue-in-cheek context like this?

Dear Hollywood; this sort of music works in serious live action cinema too... What is the most popular film score of all time? Star Wars? What did Star Wars have? C'mon chaps, piece it together.

---------- Post added at 09:43 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:42 PM ----------

I just cannot wrap my head around this Lego score; just does not compute. I hear themes, and colourful, even playful orchestrations... Mountain Top Transition - Brian Tyler?! Just how badly have we misjudged this chap? It's bizzare to hear this sort of music coming from that guy - but I suppose it's no surprise that most composers have a great deal more to offer than Hollywood normally allows them to exhibit... I now have an image of Tyler sitting at home, scoring AvP or whatever, with a big poster on the wall opposite his desk reminding him "NO melodies. NO woodwinds. NO counterpoint. NO romantic harmonies. NO modulation." holding his head in his hands, desperately wishing he could let the world hear those melodies and shamelessly old-fashioned orchestrations he has in his head... but instead he takes a large gulp of whisky to dull the pain, and sketches out yet another synth-drenched six minute ostinato...

What a shame that about the only place you'll find such forthright music today is in a tongue-in-cheek context like this?

Dear Hollywood; this sort of music works in serious live action cinema too... What is the most popular film score of all time? Star Wars? What did Star Wars have? C'mon chaps, piece it together.

I believe that the game industry has become some sort of save haven for people who still value the quality of "old-fashioned" orchestral music. When the majority of people demand "orchestral" music for a game project, they really mean this word in the traditional sence. The quality AND quantity of excellent music for this medium is astounding and considering how much freedom a composer for a game has, compared to the next Hollywood Blockbuster, we can certainly expect more music like Lego Universe in the future. Even projects like Video Games Live, Play!, Distant Worlds, A Night in Fantasia etc. bring a new generation in contact with orchestral music and are able to lable it as something "cool". Scores like Outcast, Afrika, Lair and Lego Universe are maybe small indications of the future for this growing and expanding medium.

Thanks for Lego Universe klnerfan =)

Sorry to interrupt everybody, but I was hoping some of you may be interested in joining in some fun! The FFShrine has it's very own version of American Idol called Final Fantasy Shrine Idol! We're looking for contestants and judges! :) Check it out and spread the word! :) Thread 86846

The Deposit File doesn't work though! It says Invalid Params.
Yes, please! Would love more of these!

Sorry about that, the link works now :). Here's another one:




Music Preview (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0FEO-onJNlA)
1. La Torre Del Oro "Preludio"
2. Luisa Fernanda "Las sombrillas"
3. La Revoltosa "Preludio"
4. Las Leandras "Los Nardos"
5. El Barberillo De Lavapi�s "Preludio"
DOWNLOAD (http://www.megaupload.com/?d=MKSZB3ZI)

This thread continues to prove itself an interesting resource. Quite aside from the stimulating discussion, there are those bits of tuneage I probably would not have happened across otherwise. Recent cases in point: the music from Lego Universe and The Weathering Continent. Again, I tip my hat to you gentlebeings for your contributions musical and otherwise.

Guys, for all of you from Europe, especially those who are not far from Poland, I've got kinda awesome info. On may 19th in Cracow there is going to be, well, nice event... Joe Hisaishi's concerto with Hisaishi himself on piano and as conductor:D. And day after that FF Distant Worlds with Hamauzu as special guest! All because of annual (it's fourth edition) Cracow Film Music Festival. Here you can check the official site, but programme or "trailer" is still not translated into english. Don't know why. Tickets available in 2 weeks (from 21 march).

Festiwal Muzyki Filmowej (http://www.fmf.fm/Default.aspx)

Could you please re-up Hana Yori Dango Final OST
The link doesn't work
Thanks

---------- Post added at 03:33 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:32 PM ----------


Here's a good lame VBR version:


Kousuke Yamashita
Hana Yori Dango Saison 1 OST
http://www.m3gaupl0ad.com/?d=0N6P11VI
Credits to the original provider


Also immensely recommended is Hana Yori Dango Final OST (movie), which has some terrific tracks, especially "Returns Main Theme for Final", a 6+ minutes track of pure magnificience, utterly inspired and fabulously well done, certainly one of my favorite pieces composed by Yamashita - and there are many!


Kousuke Yamashita
Hana Yori Dango Final OST (320kbps)
http://www.m3gaupl0ad.com/?d=0N6P11VI
Credits to Arashian Files (sableheart)



Could you re-up Hana Yori Dango Final OST
The link doesn't work
Thanks

M"3"gaupl"0"d = Megaupload, seriously, is it that hard to see ?

Regarding above comment: M"3"gaupl"0"d = Megaupload, seriously, is it that hard to see ?
If you are someone who has joined Megaupload and have automatic downloading enabled, then clicking your link will take you nowhere. Your spelling only works if the link is highlighted, copied & pasted as the URL, and then edited. That can be done, of course, but it's the slow way for some people. There must be a reason why links are intentionally mis-spelled, as this is not the only case I've seen, and I'd be interested in knowing the logic. I truly would like to know!
Thank you!

I replied because this is not the first time this had been discussed here. arthierr already explained why he did not post the whole link: That sometimes his upload links get deleted for unknown reasons when he posts them, so he altered them in a obvious way. I use an automatic downloader myself but usually you have the option to rename the link and this takes five seconds at most. But I apologize if my post seemed rather rude, I was just wondering if some people simply can't see the problem.

Thanks & sorry
I don't see this.

No problem, mate

EDIT: I will probably buy 2 copies of Lego Universe, Tyler needs to leave Hollywood behind. Do it like Hannigan and work in the game industry ! We will buy every new soundtrack if it's as good as Lego. LEGO Universe shows what great talent you really are, a talent that must be suffering when scoring Battle LA.

Great music here, y'all! Enjoying myself immensly here.
Say, breaking my silence here for a question, if I may?
Does anyone know the song that's played at the beginning of this trailer:
YouTube - Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time Trailer (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rzhw_jxWJoU)
The second theme is from Conan The Barbarian, but me and my friends can't recall the opening melody.

Preview: YouTube - The Music from Lego Universe - Brian Tyler (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xz9XDynOdgM) ("Nimbus Plaza" starts at 1:36)

WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT?
The music from this tiny trailer is composed by the same guy from Battle LA???????
What happened? Probably God returned back his soul just in time for this score xD
Downloading right now!!

Thanks also to NaotaM for Brother and to everybody for the interesting argumentations about ZREO project (I don't really give a shit about Zelda but it's always enlightening to see profesionals points of view about composing/arrenging/recording, even if they're not what you like to listen to)

For the benefit of the people of this thread, two amazing orchestral scores were released today by Intrada. I suspect quick sell-outs!!
Intrada Releases Wrongfully Accused (Bill Conti) and Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines (Ron Goodwin)
Seriously check out the samples of both and buy them before they go!

NHK Taiga drama Gō ~Hime-tachi no Sengoku~ (江〜姫たちの戦国〜) ost

composed by Ryō Yoshimata



mp3 190mb (320k)

NHK (http://www.mediafire.com/?069kvo00h0znmg0)

not my rip, thx for the original uploader.

Ok, Lego Universe did something that none of the recent (nor not so recent) scores made me to do. I hum themes! Especially that totally awkward banjo one. Crazy thing. Fantastic score. Really waiting for official release. And on the other hand... we needed a Lego game (don't get me wrong, I love those games) to understand that Tyler is composer with great potential and talent... Where this world is heading?

Sirus, old friend, I think you've significantly undersold the new Fafner score! It's not the Warsaw Philharmonic, but it is a nice Japanese ensemble; full compliment of strings, one flute, one oboe, two trumpets, two trombones, two horns. I think it creates a really nice effect. Saito's style really seems to suit this paired down, bare essentials orchestra - I always felt he seemed slightly over-stretched in the original Fafner, but here it's all just right. A much more intimate score. It's a worry that a 2011 movie can't afford a full symphony orchestra, but a 2004 TV series can... but I'm still glad that somebody said "OK, we don't have much money... but let's still make an effort."

Thanks for posting! :)

I just wanted to keep people's expectations reasonable so that nobody was expecting that we were getting the Warsaw National Philharmonic simply because it was a new Fafner score. I actually have been having a hard time getting into the two later scores although I don't know if it has to do with the ensembles performing on it or the music itself.

Percy Grainger - In a Nutshell
City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra with Simon Rattle Conducting


Mediafire (http://www.mediafire.com/?4lshggbeboba145)


I was introducing Lens to Grainger, and he looked around to find this which has become one of my absolute favorite listening experiences of the last five years at least! I kept waiting for him to post this, but I am just bursting at the seams with the urge to share PERCY GRAINGER!

I was lucky enough to have an Australian band teacher in middle school that introduced me to Percy Grainger, and I have loved his music since. He takes the simplest pastoral melodies and with a genius that is just so tasty, picks them apart and expands them in a way that never ceases to entertain. If you've never heard Grainger before, you're in for a real treat!!

This set contains the "In a Nutshell" suite, an arrangement of a Ravel and a Debussy piece, Lincolnshire Posy, and "The Warriors - Music for an Imaginary Ballet". Lincolnshire Posy, which is what led Lens to this album, is very traditional wind band repertoire but receives a somewhat lackluster performance here. My favorites of the album are The Warriors --which seems to be a sublime mix of Stravinsky and Ives that leaves me gasping for air-- , The Nutshell Suite, and La Vallee Des Cloches.

Forgive my barren, lackluster review, but please listen to this gem!!

I don't quite understand the bashing of Brian Tyler. Haven't you guys spotted a talent, which this composer undoubtfully always had? When I first heard his early compositions with movies like Timeline and Frailty, I said to myself "wow this guy is going to be a great composer one day, if he gets a proper chance". The problem with him (as with many other composers) is that he gets to score horror and/or B-thrillers, and he is constrained what kind of score the studio wants (brooding atonal score in horrors, or zimmer-esque sound in thrillers). But even in his horror scores, you can hear the development of themes, they always has some great haunting melody (as opposed to that untalened horror composers as Klimek, Heil, etc.) Tyler finally got a chance to let go the restrains of movie studios and composed a score that he wanted - Lego Universe - adventurous, melodic, action extravaganza with full orchestra and choir. Mark my words, this guy is going to be one of the greatest composers in the next decades.

Tyler never really registered for me before Lego Universe, mostly because of what we have already stated. Yes there may have been a heart beating hidden some where in earlier works, but if its been masked to the point of where you have to actively look for it the music certainly won't grab me. Hopefully now that his talent has finally been showcased we will hear similar from him in the future. It always pains me to see a great composer get overruled(not as much as it pains them I'm sure). Sometimes it happens so frequently the person doesn't try and fight for it much anymore. In the end its a job. When the bosses say they want a certain thing that is against your best judgement, you end up just sucking it up and doing it their way anyway. The part that is so painful about it is when you know that if it was done your way the outcome would be so much richer and more complex. I'm not talking about the complexity of the music either, of the entire project as a whole. Heartbreaking examples I can think of are a couple of James Newton Howard scores. When you hear James Newton Howard & Brad Dechter's beautiful and haunting original idea for the main title (here (http://www.mediafire.com/?vg2qr06rc015hgh)) of "The Village" and then what M. Night had them change it to (here (http://www.mediafire.com/?vuud3vtasg8xu1u)) its just tragic.

YOU NEED TO CHECK THIS!

Thread 87139

Fantastic music, just splendid. So noble, so beautiful and what a performance (at least for me, it just sounds so... heartful). Ah, fuck Hollywood, long live VGM!

Here are samples:

Amazon.com: Victoria 2 (Original Game Soundtrack): Andreas Waldetoft: MP3 Downloads (http://www.amazon.com/Victoria-2-Original-Game-Soundtrack/dp/B0041I6MGS)

Just going to drop this here... http://uploadmirrors.com/download/FYVTDP9O/Before_And_After.mp3

That was the battle of endor III, presumably from the RCA 2 CD edition, but now with a much better sound compared to that release.

Something great is coming...

Something great is coming...

"Something's coming, I don't know what it is,
But it is
Gonna be great!"

[couldn't resist]

EDIT: Would I be correct in presuming something comparable to this "most heinous" release? (Thread 82271)

Perhaps poor sound quality of many of the Star Wars releases would explain why I never fully got into them as much as some other scores. If Tango is able to do something to remedy that so much the better!

Percy Grainger - In a Nutshell
City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra with Simon Rattle Conducting

Thanks for posting this Jakob. Practically every track is a treat for orchestration heads; the arrangement of Ravel's "La vall�e des cloches" is worth the admission alone!

As an adjunct, here's a juicier recording of

Lincolnshire Posy with the North Texas Wind Symphony
Multiupload.com - upload your files to multiple file hosting sites! (http://www.multiupload.com/3LO8J0V9TN)

My heart goes out to the nation of Japan during this tragic period, and its people, including all our favorite composers from the country, will be in my prayers and thoughts.

Joe Hisaichi and Miyamoto are alive and well (outside of Japan). I don't know about Sahashi, Oshima, Senju and all the others but I pray that they are safe.

My thoughts and condolences go out to the people of Japan.

Joe Hisaichi and Miyamoto are alive and well (outside of Japan). I don't know about Sahashi, Oshima, Senju and all the others but I pray that they are safe.

Yeah I pray for the composers specifically, especially Hitoshi Sakimoto and Kotaro Nakagawa and my favorite Jpop singer Angela Aki and the Jrock band Versailles. I am also praying for the people of Japan generally, those who died, those who survived, and those who are providing aid to the survivors.

Joe Hisaichi and Miyamoto are alive and well (outside of Japan).

Where are they at the moment, exactly? The last I heard of Hisaishi was that he was at Sendai airport, but I don't know about that source.

Also, if you haven't seen this already, you guys might find this useful:

https://spreadsheets.google.com/lv?authkey=CMuhlv8M&hl=en&key=tb1NuX_VLWlneqTKA7zcJsg&authkey=CMuhlv8M&hl=en&f=true&gid=2


Your composition professor said that to you? What university do you go to?

Lancaster University in the UK. Luckily, I should be out of here and into somewhere that's a composition specialist department soon.

You can check Hisaichi's Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/hisaishijoe#!/hisaishijoe?sk=wall&filter=2) page for more info , Miyamoto is in the US (rumored to be in Texas at Retro Studios)

Perhaps I am being idiotic, but who is Miyamoto?

Perhaps I am being idiotic, but who is Miyamoto?

Tango, we know you know shit about games. But there is no way you have no idea who Shigeru Miyamoto is.

No way.

The Mario guy. Yes, I know who he is - I just didn't realise he was sufficiently important to be recognised by his surname alone. ;)

The Mario guy. Yes, I know who he is - I just didn't realise he was sufficiently important to be recognised by his surname alone. ;)

He is. You be trolling.

In all seriousness... there are only a few people who have sufficiently unique surnames (or are just that popular) to make the first-name dropping worthwhile. Miyamoto is like Smith in Japan; there are hundreds of thousands of them. I only asked because I was unsure as to which of the many gentlemen named Miyamoto were all right. No trolling or deliberate stupidity intended.

On an even more serious note... Dear God, what an absolutely horrific disaster... watching images of entire towns being washed away by tidal waves of tsunami... I have a dear friend in Kanagawa Prefecture, which is as far as I know unaffected (at least when comapred to the utter devastation in places like Sendai and Miyagi Prefecture)... but it still brings life into perspective. My warmest, sincerest wishes of good will and sympathy to all the good people of Japan - whether they're abroad or at home... A strong people and a great country... they will recover.

My thread for download "Passion of the Christ Oratorio Concert version": http://forums.ffshrine.org/f92/passion-christ-oratorio-concert-vatican-web-recording-87235/#post1650693

[QUOTE=tangotreats;1650165]

In all seriousness... there are only a few people who have sufficiently unique surnames (or are just that popular) to make the first-name dropping worthwhile. Miyamoto is like Smith in Japan; there are hundreds of thousands of them. I only asked because I was unsure as to which of the many gentlemen named Miyamoto were all right. No trolling or deliberate stupidity intended.


im GAY but girl you hot :)

Uh, thanks - but I'm a guy. That is Boxxy, not me. You need to brush up on your memes.

Uh, thanks - but I'm a guy. That is Boxxy, not me. You need to brush up on your memes.



am i gay or str8 lol nozzzzzzzzzzzzzzz LOL

^Today's awkward moment is brought to you by [internet] Androgyny, the bane of post-bender mornings everywhere. :)

On topic, would anyone be interested in hearing the New York Philharmonic's concert of Sweeney Todd? It has the orchestral might of the film version (and probably then some) without the luckluster singing. Also includes Neil Patrick Harris. I was going to upload this last week, but haven't felt up to it unless there's actual interest. If there is, I can probably get it up tomorrow evening.

On topic, would anyone be interested in hearing the New York Philharmonic's concert of Sweeney Todd? It has the orchestral might of the film version (and probably then some) without the luckluster singing. Also includes Neil Patrick Harris. I was going to upload this last week, but haven't felt up to it unless there's actual interest. If there is, I can probably get it up tomorrow evening.

I would absolutely love to hear that. I always appreciate a good bit of Sondheim. I agree that the film version's vocalists weren't quite up to par.

I would absolutely love to hear that. I always appreciate a good bit of Sondheim. I agree that the film version's vocalists weren't quite up to par.

Ditto. VEry interested.

HEROES OF MIGHT AND MAGIC V COMPLETE OST
ROB KING & PAUL ROMERO



MU.com (http://www.megaupload.com/?d=WW34BV56)

So, yesterday brought me an interesting surprise. I was doing a listen-over for some of my old soundtracks, and I was listening to a gamerip of Heroes of Might and Magic V. Inspired by this, I decided to do a search on VGMDB.net to see what else King and Romero have done besides the HoMaM series. It turned out that Ubi had put put a 3 cd release of the original game and it's two expansions.

I instantly went to the interwebs, searching for any sort of MP3 release. It didn't take long. And so, I quickly decided to upload it for you guys for your enjoyment. And trust me when I say it is for your enjoyment. This is a fantastic series of music. It is completely snyth, but it is proof that the best music comes not from the tools but from the talent that arises behind it.

STEPHEN SONDHEIM
Sweeney Todd: Live at the New York Philharmonic
George Hearn, Patti LuPone, Heidi Grant Murphy
Neil Patrick Harris, Audra Macdonald
The New York Philharmonic conducted by Andrew Litton
Production directed by Lonny Price

LAME -v0 MP3 | 37 Tracks | 203 MB



Yes, this is the delightful Broadway musical about wrongful imprisonment, cannibalistic murder, and revenge. This concert version of Sweeney Todd was performed in May 2000 in honor of Sondheim's 70th birthday. The recording isn't as well-known as the original cast nor the film soundtrack, which is a shame. While the performances don't eclipse the original (though they far outstrip the film's underpowered vocals -- apologies to Ms. Bonham-Carter), this album is a worthy companion as the more full-blooded orchestral might wielded here gives the arrangements the weight they properly deserve.

LINK (Thread 87323)

I prefer the vocals from the film version of "Sweeney Todd". The original version with Angela Lansbury was cool and everything, but the "underpowered" performances lend the material a more personal and poignant quality than if they were belted out full-blast. Nevertheless, cool upload.

I prefer the vocals from the film version of "Sweeney Todd". The original version with Angela Lansbury was cool and everything, but the "underpowered" performances lend the material a more personal and poignant quality than if they were belted out full-blast. Nevertheless, cool upload.

I have to agree. For some reason I have a hard time enjoying vibrato in any performance and I think the film version has more of a song quality to it.

The original version with Angela Lansbury was cool and everything

I confess that when I hear her voice in the original, I can't help but think of Mrs. Potts from "Beauty and the Beast." Is it odd that I consider this a positive? Nothing is more absurd than an amoral, homicidal teapot.


the "underpowered" performances lend the material a more personal and poignant quality than if they were belted out full-blast.

I actually agree with this (and my original comment isn't meant as a dismissal of the film, which was one of my favorites of that year); the film version works wonderfully on a dramatic level, but I prefer this concert version and the original when I want to experience the music.


For some reason I have a hard time enjoying vibrato in any performance and I think the film version has more of a song quality to it.

That's true. Sweeney Todd is that weird animal that flirts between musical theater and opera, and I think they made a conscious effort in this recording to lean on the side of opera. I also used to dislike vibrato et al., but since I discovered Wagner I seem to have developed a taste for it; I even like Bernstein's "operatic" recording of West Side Story, swapped accents aside -- although, in that case, I would argue that the film version is definitive.

HEROES OF MIGHT AND MAGIC V COMPLETE OST
ROB KING & PAUL ROMERO
.

Thanks a bunch for this. Being a long fan of the Heroes of Might and Magic series (I've played every game since the first at release) , I was very very disappointed when I played Heroes IV. I assumed V was going to be terrible as well and didn't play it until just a few days ago. I liked it much more than I thought I would, and found the music to be good. Thanks for this share, and let's hope Heroes VI is good as well!

I confess that when I hear her voice in the original, I can't help but think of Mrs. Potts from "Beauty and the Beast." Is it odd that I consider this a positive? Nothing is more absurd than an amoral, homicidal teapot.

Murder, she wrote!

Let's hope Japan's troubles will be over soon. According to Alexa Ffshrine.org Site Info (http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/ffshrine.org) japanese people are the 2nd largest population in FFS, so if some of you can see this, I wish you'll be ok soon. There are certainly many admirers of your culture in this thread.


Also, thanks a lot for the recent posts. There's quite some unknown material to me, I'll have fun discovering them progressively!




HEROES OF MIGHT AND MAGIC V COMPLETE OST
ROB KING & PAUL ROMERO

2 Thumbs up! Big fan of this series since Heroes 2, which is probably one of the greatest and most addictive games I played. I spent almost one year playing with it at least 4 hours a day! It seems crazy now, but the fun was astounding and irresistible.

Apart from the extremely ludic gameplay and the terrifically fascinating fantasy universe, the aspect that immediately stroke you was indeed the music. It was nearly a shock the first time you listened to these superb town themes, some 5 minute pieces that almost sounded like tone poems, some even performed by *actual* opera singers! Pure class.

Fun fact: the music of Heroes 2 was so good that I decided to try and upload it for everybody. It was actually my very first upload!

Apart from the extremely ludic gameplay and the terrifically fascinating fantasy universe, the aspect that immediately stroke you was indeed the music. It was nearly a shock the first time you listened to these superb town themes, some 5 minute pieces that almost sounded like tone poems, some even performed by *actual* opera singers! Pure class.

Of those Town Themes, the one that took the cake was the one for Haven. That is just an absolutely fantastic piece, and is my most favorite one from the entire 3 cd release. Considering how much I tent to favor "action" pieces, that's saying a lot in my book.

Oo, HoMaM V! going to check this one out for sure. Thanks!

Since a good friend of mine recently sent me a Ron Goodwin score, this is the opportunity to post some of the scores of this great composer, sometimes curiously under-rated. Let's start with this *GREAT* compilation. The performance of the BBC Philharmonic is actually very good, and accurately renders the beauty of the original music. Highly recommended.



The Film Music of Ron Goodwin

(CHANDOS)(FLAC)
Rumon Gamba
BBC Philharmonic Orchestra
Credits to tri2061990

Thread 86446



Tracklist
01. 633 Squadron: Main Theme 3:06
02. Frenzy: The London Theme 2:20
03. Lancelot and Guinevere: Main Theme 4:18
04. Deadly Strangers: Main Theme 3:02
05. Battle of Britain Suite I 3:41
06. Battle of Britain Suite II 0:56
07. Battle of Britain Suite III 1:59
08. Battle of Britain Suite IV 1:05
09. Battle of Britain Suite V 0:57
10. Battle of Britain Suite VI 3:18
11. Whirlpool: Main Theme 2:39
12. The Trap: Main Theme / 'The London Marathon Theme' 3:21
13. On Human Bondage: Main Theme 3:36
14. Monte Carlo or Bust: Suite 6:51
15. 633 Squadron: Love Theme 2:08
16. Submarine X-1: Main Theme 5:33
17. Miss Marple Theme 3:33
18. Operation Crossbow: Main Theme 2:44
19. Clash of Loyalties: Suite 6:13
20. Beauty and the Beast: Belle's Love Theme 2:23
21. Force 10 from Navarone: Main Theme 3:15
22. Where Eagles Dare: Main Theme 3:08
23. Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines: Selection 6:18

I wanted to point out the wonderful new release by Film Score Monthly of Robinson Crusoe on Mars. Because FSM releases aren't allowed to be posted, this is simply a reminder to check out the fantastic samples and see how awesome it is. This is a perfect example of a great sound from small ensemble.

I saw Sweeney Todd Live here in San Diego-great musical and welcome this performance of the score-I like the orginal the best and the movie was quite weak-I was blown away by the Broadway versions and the local "minimal" arranged one-tremendous work-

Even if the film version is still my favorite (For the same reasons as Spaceworlder), this concert version of Sweeney Todd is, in my opinion, a very appreciated addition to the thread, TazerMonkey. Thank you!

And as much as my words are worth, I hope Japan will soon be able to get past their present ordeals. Fortunately, they are a strong people, supported by a powerful economy. They will hopefully recover faster than Ha�ti currently is.

Guys, if you are interested I just posted my first album. You can find it here http://forums.ffshrine.org/f92/bob-bear-amazing-end-world-orchestral-like-87360/#post1652575 , but I warn you, it's not my standard orchestral thing. It's... different. Yet still orchestral. Kind of. So to all who will be brave enough - tell me what you think bout it. Thanks in advance.

Everyone, check out this lovely piece from the anime Nichijou YouTube - Nichijou anime trailer 2 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Wrn1rdZIYs).
Despite all their suffering the Japanese are still kicking and this piece could easily fit into a Ghibli movie. Maybe because it is composed by Yuji Nomi. There is even a brief moment of Hisaichi in it.
I'm now eagerly awaiting the OST after Japan has recovered and I will check out the show to be absolutly sure the music is as amazing as in the preview.

TOTAL WAR - SHOGUN 2
Jeff van Dyck



MU.com (http://www.megaupload.com/?d=LJVIDQWW)

What's this? Doublehex uploads TWO sets of music in less than a 5 month period? IT IZ APOCALYPTICO!!!!!1!

Poor excuse for a meme aside, this is the gamerip of the game that was posted just yesterday. I didn't do much besides arrange it, number it, and create a cover. Overall, I'd say this is a good score. It falls back on Dyck's "tribal" style of composition. It doesn't have much of a sense of the romantic sensationalism as was used by Beddow in Napoleon. It feels more like a score for a war: short, brutal, and uncompromising. The compositions used for the empire management are much more tame, but even then you get a somewhat macabre undertone through it all.

e: A thought just occurred to me. The last time I did a "Japanese score by a Westerner" was Knut Avenstroup Haugen's Age of Conan - Rise of the Godslayer. It's interesting to compare and contrast these two scores, despite their "similar" origins. When Haugen did Godslayer, despite the fact that it used western instruments (with a few eastern ones, such as the customary taiko drum), it felt very Asian in it's tone and rhythym. Here, van Dyck used mostly Japanese instruments. However, it feels very Western. It would not feel out of place in a Hollywood film or an HBO series.

I think the reason is that, to me, a Japanese score that is emulated after Japanese music and not Western tends to be very note lite. Each note is carefully chosen, and like a stone dropped into a pond, it echoes. Almost like a sand garden, I suppose. Here, it is very note heavy. There is alot of stuff going on, and a bunch of musical layers for your ears to take in.

TOTAL WAR - SHOGUN 2
Jeff van Dyck

Thanks for contributing, but dude, this is not orchestral. It's traditional japanese music, and even then, I'd say it's mostly cliched, stereotypical traditional japanese music, the sort of music westerners would expect japanese music to sound like, without actually being so. That said, it's certainly very effective in-game, and successfully renders a nice japanese ambience, but if one wants true, authentic traditional japanese music, I'd recommend to go straight to the sources, instead of listening to a western composer who tries to imitate the original thing - the same way I'd recommend to eat real sushis made by a japanese chef instead of frozen sushis made by a british company.



Sorry about that, the link works now :). Here's another one:




Beautiful stuff, thanks a lot. :) Do you happen to have La Danza De Los Corcelos: Luis Cobos Con The Royal Philharmonic? I'd love to listen to this one, I've heard some really nice samples of it.

(sorry for quoting with the cover pic, but there was no title to quote)



NHK Taiga drama Gō ~Hime-tachi no Sengoku~ (江〜姫たちの戦国〜) ost

composed by Ryō Yoshimata

Oh, the first track is a pure beauty, this is quite promising, since these Taiga dramas usually feature some very nice epic and romantic music. Thanks a lot for posting this one here, big fan of such scores. :)




Orchestral / Bombastic / Adventurus / Majestic


Composed by Brian Tyler

Conducted by Allan Wilson

Performed by the Slovak National Symphony Orchestra

Just started listening, and... Nooooooo, this is a joke. Hahahaha, good one, mate! You actually posted Kousuke Yamashita's next score, and you facetiously labeled it as "Composed by Brian Tyler", right?

............. No? Oh, boy...

Seriously, I never doubted that Tyler was a very skilled composer, truly capable of great things in the field of orchestral music. I know he's been fairly criticized here and there for his zimmery tendencies, but it was clear to me that his more mediocre works are mainly the responsability of musically incompetent directors and producers. As Lhurgoyf said, there's a glimpse of excellence in almost every score he made, even if it's outwardly masked by the typical RC-like "quality". His score for AvP, for instance, really featured some very intense, effective and well-done orchestral action music, that clearly showed that the guy isn't just a baby-Zimmer, as he sometimes appears to be.

Lego is another definite proof, after Jablonsky's Steamboy for instance, that when some of the RC-related composers have the opportunity to do something different, something which is - sadly - not mainstream modern Hollywood scoring, they actually have the potential, and in fact the capacity, to create great things. (That said, I'm pretty sure that some of these guys are just bad composers)

The question is WHY? Why are those musical choices made? Why did Alan Silvestri get fired off the set of Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl? Because he happened to "commit" some splendid, sweeping orchestral music, in the great tradition of golden-age sea-faring, swashbuckling scoring. This was apparently such a fault, such a crime, that his presence was no longer required on the production of this movie. Get lost, Alan, you and your fancy "orchestral" rubbish.

I really don't know why, but there's in Hollywood's modern scoring almost a kind of "fear" of TRUE orchestral music, you know, the one which is the exact OPPOSITE of this:

"NO melodies. NO woodwinds. NO counterpoint. NO romantic harmonies. NO modulation."
There's a fear of intelligence, of complexity, of excellence, and musical dumbing-down is conversely encouraged. Everything seems to be reduced to the lowest acceptability point. Mediocrity appears to be actively sought, and seems to be an actual clause in the composer's contract. Tyler is only one of the many composers taken, swept away by this distressing trend, and these chaps can't do much to fight, even if they wanted to. Can you imagine a young, coureagous, spirited, dedicated composer who would try to impose his own ideas of a grandiose, complex and purely orchestral symphonic score? If the PotC producers did THAT to an old renowned veteran such as Silvestri, you can imagine what they could do to a rookie...

Thanks for contributing, but dude, this is not orchestral. It's traditional japanese music, and even then, I'd say it's mostly cliched, stereotypical traditional japanese music, the sort of music westerners would expect japanese music to sound like, without actually being so. That said, it's certainly very effective in-game, and successfully renders a nice japanese ambience, but if one wants true, authentic traditional japanese music, I'd recommend to go straight to the sources, instead of listening to a western composer who tries to imitate the original thing - the same way I'd recommend to eat real sushis made by a japanese chef instead of frozen sushis made by a british company.

I accept this challange!

Shogun 2 is no less orchestral than any other score that emulates the Japanese music identity. In terms of overall texture, it bears little difference from Naoki Sato's Sword of the Stranger, a score that you yourself uploaded if I recall.

Orchestral is not a measure of quality, nor is it of number. Historically speaking, the first "orchestra" emerged in Ancient Egypt in the form of small groups of players that performed for festivals. Early on in this thread, tangotreats even stated that an orchestra can be as small as five people or as much as 100 players. Number does not matter.

Just because van Dyck emulated a Japanese style of composition (successfully or as a failure will be left up to individual discretion) does not mean Shogun 2 is not "orchestral". If this is not orchestral, than I dare say anything by Ligeti or Penderecky is not orchestral because it does not follow in the hard nosed tradition of Western classical music! Which is, of course, an absurd conclusion.

*cough*

Frankly, I asked myself a few times if I should give a developed answer to this. I even started doing a detailed definition of what I call orchestral music. But I quickly realized that your reply simply show a flagrant lack of comprehension of what it's actually about in this thread. No disrespect, but it seems you didn't really get the concept of "symphony orchestra", and by extension, the concept of "orchestral music". Trying to assimilate (fake) traditional japanese music to orchestral music is just nonsense. Should I then try to define it *now*, after 2,5 years of existence of this thread? Probably not. It wouldn't make a lot of sense. People frequenting this thread (mostly) already know what is orchestral and what isn't. No need to try to break down open doors.

Now, I don't tell you this to be a douchebag. I'm glad that you contribute to this thread, and I actually enjoyed some of your uploads, notably the recent HoMM score. But I greatly recommend you to better know something before posting and discussing in a thread devoted to it. If I go to a specialized thread about, say Harley-Davidson, I won't post something about Honda, nor will I try to argue if someone points out that I'm quite off-topic. Instead, I'll try to be sufficiently prepared, informed and in the "mood" of this place before posting anything, in order to be simply relevant.


In terms of overall texture, it bears little difference from Naoki Sato's Sword of the Stranger, a score that you yourself uploaded if I recall.
It was actually a request, otherwise, I wouldn't have posted it here, even though it's a fine score, but not adapted to this thread. What I did post was only one track of this score, in one of my early compilations, because its power, massiveness and ferocity sounded interesting to be pointed at, even though it's not 100% orchestral.


tangotreats even stated that an orchestra can be as small as five people
He probably didn't smoke only tobacco when he said that. ;) 5 people is a band, or a small ensemble, but in no way a genuine, substantial symphony orchestra, i.e. what it's really about in this thread.

Beautiful stuff, thanks a lot. :) Do you happen to have La Danza De Los Corceles: Luis Cobos Con The Royal Philharmonic? I'd love to listen to this one, I've heard some really nice samples of it.

Ask and ye shall receive ;):





1 - Alazanes blancos (radio version)
2 - El mito del beso
3 - Recuerdos de la alhambra
4 - La Calesera
5 - Luisa Fernanada
6 - Danza ceremonial del fuego
7 - El tambor de granaderos
8 - Vuelve a Jerez
9 - Capricho Espa�ol
10 - Carmen
11 - La alegria de la huerta
12 - Sinfonia a caballo
13 - Goyescas
14 - Alazanes blancos (album version)

DOWNLOAD (http://www.megaupload.com/?d=3C2IEN7Z)

I'm curious as to what your favorite tracks are :). Here is a sample from another one of his albums: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O1_8Er5XPEA

Friendly reminder: Youtube Symphony Orchestra 2011 is currently live at YouTube - symphony's Channel (http://www.youtube.com/symphony?feature=ticker). Check it out, it's much better than last year's from what i've heard so far.

Sanico-thanks for the Julius Caesar-good score-I here so many Miklos Rozsa themes here yet it stands on its own-never heard it before-

Everyone here should check out the recent score to Jane Eyre by Dario Marianelli. An amazing intimate emotional score of primarily strings and piano.
Great review of this CD here:
http://moviemusicuk.us/2011/03/17/jane-eyre-dario-marianelli/

Everyone here should check out the recent score to Jane Eyre by Dario Marianelli. An amazing intimate emotional score of primarily strings and piano.
Great review of this CD here:
JANE EYRE – Dario Marianelli � MOVIE MUSIC UK (http://moviemusicuk.us/2011/03/17/jane-eyre-dario-marianelli/)
I was quite prepared to love this score. In my estimation Marianelli’s work up to this point has been pleasingly competent but lacking inspiration. Contrary to the raves elsewhere, for me this fits entirely into the established pattern. I can’t emphasise how much I’ve tried to like it, but I find myself bored - primarily by the limited harmonic language, but also by the orchestrations and thematic content. I expected more of a period sensibility; the piano pieces are monotone and simplistic, and I’m completely sick of the clich� of warbling female vocals as an attempt to be haunting.

A very static, grey 40 minutes. The less said about its antecedents the better ;)

Ask and ye shall receive ;):




Thank you very much!


I'm curious as to what your favorite tracks are :).

Sure, I'll have the time to listen to it (and other albums grabbed from here) this weekend. I'll tell you then. :)



Friendly reminder: Youtube Symphony Orchestra 2011 is currently live at YouTube - symphony's Channel (http://www.youtube.com/symphony?feature=ticker). Check it out, it's much better than last year's from what i've heard so far.

I quickly listened to some parts of this video for the moment, and it sounds GREAT. I'll also check it this weekend.

Thanks for the heads-up about this one, I really could have missed it!


Also, I'll have another very beautiful piece by Ron Goodwin to post - a seafaring related one. ;)

HEROES OF MIGHT AND MAGIC V COMPLETE OST
ROB KING & PAUL ROMERO



MU.com (http://www.megaupload.com/?d=WW34BV56)




can you reupload it as i can't use megaupload,please?

for those who care: Zelda Reorchestrated � Blog Archive � Listen to 10 SIZZLING MINUTES from Twilight Symphony! (http://www.zreomusic.com/2011/03/19/its-your-lucky-day)

*gives a quick listen and deduces that the word "Epic" has officially lost all meaning.*


Well, speaking as a huge Zelda fan, arrangement fan(whether straight up, high-class orchestral blowouts or the new style of arrangements lately where a star-studded cast of game-music pros ranging from Shimomura to Takada to Mitsuda and even Hamauzu these days are brought in to arrange a game's tracks in whatever manner and genre they damn well please) AND OCRemix fan...meh, still don't care. ZREO at least have one thing right; even how it sounds now, Twilight Symphony still barely approaches classification as a "remix" or a "rearrangement." That's what's so dissapointing; for all this apperant time, effort, love and money(that they had to beg for, mind you) being poured into the project, it's still just more of the same from them. A few added notes here and there, sure, some superficial bells and whistles, but by large it's more or less identical to the original pieces, which I for one greatly prefer. I love the self-fulfilling irony in how Toru Minegishi and Asuka Ohta were clearly keenly aware of their limitations with Twilight Princess and, instead of blowing out tacky orchestral fanfares that would make all too clear their weak sound quality, made the best of what they had, opting for organic or ambient elements, styles and samples to turn in an unusually low-key but, in many respects, no less impressive score and worthy addition to the pantheon of Zelda scores.

I can understand the desire for a more full-bodied rendition of these tracks. I'd love that myself. (Holy shit, can you imagine Voltenen or Hamauzu writing a gorgeous TP suite for the new LEGENDS? *SQUEEEES) But ZREO's tired, overrated approach is not the way to do it; (debatebly) higher-quality samples and slight embellishments aside, these "sizzling" new pieces sound absolutely identical to the source material, and what little they add doesn't justify the hype or the price of the whole affair. The folks over at OCremix turn out vastly more interesting and diverse arrangements in their sleep(however amatuerish they may sound, sample-wise), and out of their own pockets to boot, which is often not a whole hell of a lot. "Arrangement" and "orchestration" are not what ZREO do and I'm convinced by any shadow of a doubt that both concepts are entirely alien to them and their raving fans. What ZREO do is remastering, nothing more. It's like saying the music of FFVI Advance was vastly improved over the music of FFVI.

It's no Symphonic LEGENDS is basically the gist of what I'm saying. To be more precise, it's totally vanilla, overrated rubbish. That, and FireGS was sort of a moronic, condescending prick who clearly had no idea what he was taking about and just wasted the time of everyone here for the better part of a day during his brief butthurt visit, so I wouldn't sit down to hear their finished product or anything else of theirs' in the future if they paid me $24,000. So, I may be guilty of some slight possible bias. :p

Up to twenty five grand now. Absolutely beyond belief. I agree wholeheartedly with all of the above, with one exception:

Hamauzu has never impressed me, and his skills with an orchestra are utterly non-existent. There are two reason why Yoshihisa Hirano is hired to orchestrate his music when there is a sizeable ensemble involved; a) even before the arrangement, Hirano adds so much in terms of harmony, development, melody, that he deserves co-composer credit, and b) he is one hell of an orchestrator - I would argue one of the finest in history, up there with Stravinsky and Rimsky-Korsakov - and his intensive efforts go a long way to hiding Hamauzu's shortcomings. One only needs to compare the orchestral pieces in Final Fantasy 13 to the rest of the score to see clearly where the real skill is coming from. Another good comparison is Feast Of Betrayal - orchestrated by Toshiyuki Oomori for some reason, not Hirano. It's quite amazing how trite and unimaginative that arrangement is. If that's what Hamauzu sounds like with a crappy orchestrator, I'd have to think what he'd come up with exclusively under his own steam. A string quartet, perhaps?

So, back to ZREO. Lowest common denominator crap. Expensive crap. The blind are leading the blind in this one; ZREO don't know what they're doing, and their fans don't know that they don't know what they're doing - and so respond with fanatical joy not because of the quality of the music or the standards of musicianship, but because it's Zelda, it's has been rubber stamped "Epic Awesomesauce", it's costing an arseload of money, and it's being produced by some tosser who works on Glee.

I'm sure I could be famous and rich too if I threw together a shitty arrangement of, I dunno, Mario or something - then I could claim in front of condescending jackasses like FireGS that I work on "big boy" projects too and therefore have something on my CV other than ability and experience (neither of which are important compared to LOADSAMONEY and the guy who worked on GLEE).

I have nothing more to say. Anything else would be repetition.

Well, I expected it would be at least mindless fun but this mechanical, synthetical and fake crap is nowhere near enjoyable. I liked Zero when it was just enjoyable fan arrangments and nothing more. I don't understand why some people over there think that "everyone" with a few music programs and some knowledge of samples can become a famous musician. If that were the case, I would be scoring all the music in Hollywood right now. What Zero has done is not a fan tribute, with their "skills" they can consider themselves lucky if even a trailer music company will hire them. If you want a good example of fan arrangements and actual respect for the music that inspired the fan work, listen to Metroid Metal. Granted, it's not orchestral and not for everybody, but at least it is actual "music" and feels like a real fan contribution to a beloved franchise.

I listened to it and for me it was pretty unexpected. I don't want to make posts to insult people, I really don't. But to give my honest reaction, I never even considered that anyone would arrange quite these sounds. I suppose I expected something of this quality, but it feels even worse. Well, there is a disclaimer saying this isn't representative of the finished thing. I'm not hopeful that the short length of the segments limits the appreciation of them or if it's actually a blessing because longer would be more painful. Really, I think their regular arrangement work was better in general. I guess it's tough enough to make original music, but then to take other people's pieces as your basis and try to add something creative, I can see how that could strain your abilities. But does their original work fit in? No. It does not sound like Zelda (but I don't think Twilight Princess sounds much like Zelda either... or much like good). The most Zelda of it, the straightforward takes on the big themes, barely even sound like Zelda. And that part with the Italian voices, I thought maybe something else on my computer started playing because it was so out of place.


I didn't want to make a negative post without something positive to make it worthwhile, so I put together about the only thing I could contribute to this thread. I am not the most learn�d in the way of orchestral music, but I know my ears love Hayato Matsuo and a few of his things have been posted in this thread before. I suppose I have other full soundtracks of his I could post, but anyone could find those like I did. So I've compiled most of the odd pieces he's written or arranged on different albums as my offering.

Hayato Matsuo Orchestral Collection
2:13:27 - 202.88 MB (http://www.multiupload.com/3JXAW1WCXJ)

I don't have the stuff he arranged for Kouhei Tanaka's anime soundtracks, but I think all his other miscellaneous orchestral works are here, arranged in chronological order.

1. Populous "Ending Theme" - Game Music Concert ~ The Best Selection
2. Otogirisou "Lingering Morning Mist" - Game Music Concert 2 ~ The Best Selection
3. Otogirisou "Beyond the Sadness" - Game Music Concert 2 ~ The Best Selection
4. Kamaitachi no Yoru "Two People Return Alive" - Game Music Concert 4 ~ Live Best Collection
5. Main Theme (Orchestra Version) (Remix) - Magic Knight Rayearth Volume 3
6. Yuujou Soshite Kibou e [To Friendship and Hope] (Orchestra Version) - Magic Knight Rayearth Volume 3
7. Musical Selection - Battle (Orchestra Version) (Remix) - Magic Knight Rayearth Volume 3
8. Yuzurenai Negai [Unyielding Wish] (Orchestra Version) (Remix) - Magic Knight Rayearth Volume 3
9. Soyokaze no Sonatina [Sonatina of the Breeze] - Magic Knight Rayearth image song
10. RUN - Magic Knight Rayearth image song
11. Setsunakute [Because I'm Lonely] - Magic Knight Rayearth Original Song Book
12. Mokona no Yume [Mokona's Dream] - Magic Knight Rayearth Original Song Book
13. Sayonara no Hanataba [Goodbye Bouquet] - Magic Knight Rayearth Original Song Book 2
14. Mugen no LABYRINTH [Endless Labyrinth] - Magic Knight Rayearth Original Song Book 2
15. Ai, Oboeteimasu ka - Macross Generation Legend of Eternal Songs
16. Courage - Macross Generation Legend of Eternal Songs
17. NiGHTS - NiGHTS Into Dreams...
18. Ecce Valde Generous Ale (Behold the Precious Wings) - Azel: Panzer Dragoon RPG
19. Sona Mi Areru Ec Sancitu - Azel: Panzer Dragoon RPG
20. Anu Orta Veniya - Panzer Dragoon Orta
21. Opening Movie (Theme of FINAL FANTASY XII) - Final Fantasy XII
22. Ending Movie - Final Fantasy XII
23. Radical Dreamers Symphony - A Night in Fantasia 2009

I hope you'll excuse the more... you know, Japanese... vocals. I understand if you delete the vocal version of "Ai, Oboeteimasu ka". :laugh: I included the instrumental versions where they're available, but there's no avoiding the "puu puu" sounds on "Mokona no Yume" (Mokona is, of course, a cute, fuzzy creature). But in this set you'll find music composed by Kentaro Haneda, Koichi Sugiyama, and Matsuo's own wife, Chiyoko Mitsumata, amongst others, as well as several of his own. Those who listened to Symphony Ideon when it was posted in this thread awhile back might recognize a piece of melody in "Mugen no LABYRINTH"; it's the same as a major song from Ideon, "In the Cosmos With You", and just as lovely here, though brighter. I just discovered a few hours ago that Sugiyama also worked that melody into one of his early game soundtracks too, Jesus: The Fearful Bio Monster, so evidently he's pretty happy with it as well. Matsuo wrote the whole score to Magic Knight Rayearth, but it's all synth aside from the pieces here. I used the remixed versions from volume 3 because apparently they felt a need to revise the originals, so presumably these are the intended definitive, even if they do have an unnatural sounding reverb at the end. I feel insecure saying in this thread that the main theme is brilliant and his adaptation of "Yuzurenai Negai" is excellent (it's worth checking out the original song (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BFV9HK455Rw) to compare to his arrangement of it), but I feel very secure in saying "Sonatina of the Breeze" is incredible, and it's his own composition and arrangement. "RUN" is like a one of his battle themes turned into a song, and successfully I think. It's very cool to me to hear how he took the Panzer Dragoon songs and kept that series' distinctive sound while also adding clearly his signature. He's not too intrusive on Hitoshi Sakimoto's Final Fantasy XII pieces, but he wrote the section of more dissonant action starting at about 3 and a half minutes into the first track. And finally it ends with his inspired interpretation of "Radical Dreamers", which, as Mr. Yuri pointed out in Sirusjr's A Night In Fantasia '09 thread, is unfortunately hurt somewhat by a bad recording job, but it's still a glorious piece.

I don't know how well all this flows together or how enjoyable the vocal tracks will be to people, but I love Matsuo's sound and orchestration. Also, you'll probably want to use ReplayGain if you listen to this. If anyone is a fan and can live with synth, you should check out my Dragon Force II soundtrack thread (Thread 87591). None of the tracks on the CD were looped, so I fixed that and made much higher quality MP3s than were previously available.


So Tango, you say you don't like Hamauzu? I myself was never sold on him, even though all the reviews said how brilliant and clever and creative a composer he is. I can see the creativity, but most of the time it didn't come out as something that actually sounded all that good (like "Decisive Battle" from FFX, which is fine but I'm done with by minute 4 out of 6), until Final Fantasy XIII. I love that soundtrack and I remember seeing some high praise from you for what you'd heard of it before the CDs came out.

As I say, the only time when I can really appreciate Hamauzu is when Yoshihisa Hirano is his orchestrator; the two seem to be a good match, but the overall impression I get from the music is that Hirano's abilities and musical sensibilities - not Hamauzu's - are to the forefront. The orchestral pieces in FF13 may as well be written completely by Hirano; we will never know to what extent that actually were... but as far as I'm concerned the whole lot of it is just dripping with his orchestral style and even his thematic development techniques.

Somebody listening to, say, Nascent, and thinking "Wow, HAMAUZU IS A GOD!" is doing Hirano a great, great disservice. Compare it to *any* Hirano score - even Chu-Bra or Beyblade, for God's sake - and look me in the eye and tell me you don't think he wrote at least 95% of it. Look past the orchestration to the character of the piece, the melodic style, the harmonic language, the construction, the form... Hirano through and through. There is nothing in there that makes me think of Hamauzu, apart from occasionally Debussy-esque harmonies which he is known for in his solo work... but then Hirano also has more than a passing resemblance to Debussy - and he does impressionistic sophistication a thousand times better in his sleep than Hamauzu does in his most earnest efforts.

The Hamauzu solo cues... some of them are pretty nice; I do like them very much... but there's a big, big gulf between "pretty nice" and the godly powers of awesomeness which are frequently attributed to him. His music never outright offends me (which puts him immediately above such industry glitterati as Yuki Kajiura, Kenji Kawai, Kotaro Nakagawa, etc) but nor does it massively inspire me.

Thank you so much for the Hayato Matsuo collection... I'm not particularly familiar with his work (to my great shame) and utterly welcome this compilation. :D

If anyone is unfamiliar with his work, I think his magnum opus is Hellsing (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZFZjegvE6OA). When every bit of music from every OVA is released we will hear how grand his score really is. The amount of sweeping, bombastic and wonderful music that is not yet released is criminal, like YouTube - Hellsing OVA 6 Trailer (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GsswCeFGyWw).

I dug "Chocobo's Dungeon" and absolutely loved some of the battle tracks from "SaGa Frontier II". Hamauzu's strength lies in channeling offbeat synth sounds and maybe pairing them with a piano or something, which is probably why his symphonic stuff isn't gobsmacking. He's certainly not Yoko Shimomura or Nobuo Uematsu, but nevertheless he can be one of the more distinct voices in game composition. I've been struck by some of the FF13 battle themes, especially the "normal" battle music and the final boss music, but I don't have the patience to sit through four-disc soundtracks these days. I miss the days when RPGs would just use a few catchy tunes across multiple towns and dungeons.

I have to wholeheartedly disagree with most of the Hamauzu bashing; the man is my third favorite composer now, and though I don't recall him actually doing much in the realm of full-scale orchestral blowouts as Hirano is more accustomed(and I will not debate Hirano's fingerprints are all over the XIII themes he orchestrated for...but then the same is true for his takes on Resident Evil compositions), he's without a doubt one of the most distinctive talents in game music out there. No one, not one composer, in his field does impressionism or gorgeous electro/piano melodies like he seems to in his sleep, and he almost saved FFX's OST from Uematsu's forced, cliched coffee-fueled throwaway pieces single-handedly if not for Nakano's lovely Summoned Beast Battle.

And frankly, after Hamauzu's arrangements of Aquatic Ambience for LEGENDS and Translucent Moonless Night from Akumajou Dracula Tribute, without Hirano's help or touch, I kinda have to call flagrant insanity on the stance he's a crappy orchestral writer. To each his own, but yeah, you crazy. :p


Speaking of Hirano, I've always sort of rested on the opposite side of the coin, and I don't even hate his music. Au contraire, I adore what Hirano does and while he's not high on my list of favorite composers;even speaking strictly anime composers, I'd put him at around number 18th, mind you I listen to a lot of different people so his placement isn't meant as a negative; he's great at what he does and like Hamauzu, he's one of the only ones out there who even attempt his territory.

That said, I've never been quite as sold on him as my peers, frankly. For all the wonderous qualities you can attribute to Hirano's particular voice, "sophisticated" is not one of them. By a longshot. Yoshihisa Hirano is basically what you'd get if Kohei Tanaka grew up in the Baroque period. He certainly can write peaceful, impresionistic melodies when he sets his mind to it, but given that his lighter stuff is both not at all what fans ever remember of him when they think "Hirano" and that they're honestly kinda samey and not particularly original(put an elegant Hirano piano or string piece next to an actual classical number and I wouldn't know the difference, and I've tried), I suspect his heart lies elsewhere.

Namely, sweeping, thunderous showpieces of orchestral spectacle, choral dissonance and almost Gothic ferocity and resonance. That's what makes Hirano Hirano to my ears, and no one alive in his field does it quite like he does, but sometimes I suspect that's the only reason he wins such accolades. Kinda like how some people just can't unlink Yoko Kanno from John Williams in their subconciouss, or how Lady Gaga, for all her unavoidable Gaganess, is basically just another Madonna/Ferge/Gwen Stefani replicant when you get down to the musical nitty-gritty. In terms of structure and even just overall sound, even Hirano at his most distinctive rarely sounds at all far-removed from similar classical or even more recent music in his same niche. I can't listen to Death Note, imho one of his best, without drawing a line to O Fortuna or Dies Irae or any of their many, many influencees. This isn't an accusation of plagiarism or a discount of Hirano's abilities, I can clearly hear Hirano's voice in even his most generic works, but I just can't listen to one without thinking of the other; that I've heard this type of sound many, many times before, sometimes better(curiously, Hirano's FFXIII orchestrations are some of his most memorable and lavish in recent memory, so I am curious as to the M/Y ratio there) and can't quite emphasize with statements like "He's the Japanese Goldsmith." He stands out by virtue of style alone, so if Hirano was put in a class of his closer peers, would he really sound like that much? I do sorta think so, yes, but only just a little.

But in the spirit of not bogging things down with too much ranting and not enough posting, have a looksee at what I found. :)


Real Drive ~ RD Sennou Chousashitsu~
by Yoshihisa Hirano and Hideki Taniuchi




MEGAUPLOAD - The leading online storage and file delivery service (http://www.megaupload.com/?d=RYI6ME3J)


Yeah, apperantly these two were brought together again, and recently, for the first time since Death Note. SQUEEEE. Fun times to be had.

Oh, and for any Taniuchi haters in attendance, they've segregated the two onto their own CD this time, so sticking to your preferences is a snap. Hope you enjoy.

The orchestral pieces in FF13 may as well be written completely by Hirano; we will never know to what extent that actually were... but as far as I'm concerned the whole lot of it is just dripping with his orchestral style and even his thematic development techniques.

Actually, we can have some idea of what Hamauzu and Hirano are responsible at least on "Nascent Requiem". On the FFXIII OST PLUS album there's a prototype of that track that Hamauzu made. For better or worse for your opinion of Hamauzu, I uploaded it (http://www.mediafire.com/?3z2qgwv92j11asm) for you to grab and compare.

I've heard that prototype track. It's an interesting arrangement, but it strikes me more as dungeon music than battle music. Hirano really brought out the potential of that melody.

Huh, I initially passed on the OST PLUS as to my understanding it was all weird, cutting-room-floor stuff like tracks with the vocals stripped out and such that was more of a curiosity than a novel addition to the score, but I'm actually enjoying that track quite a bit. Hirano definitely pours tons of oomph into the sound, but that's an orchestrator's duty after all, and I really think he and Hamauzu make an amazing team. Prototype that it is, if would no doubt sound much more polished and less-synthy if they opted to use this version, but it's still attractive just on the power of Hamauzu's music alone, and considering how much Nascent really is essentialy a blown-up version of FFX's Decisive Battle, it's safe to assume Hamauzu wrote the lion's share of the score and Hirano more than orchestrated it, arranged it with his own style and trademark power. The few tracks here and there that were arranged by Nakano also have his tradmarks pulsing through them, and I must say I really like this approach to composer synergy for core albums themselves and not just for special, set-aside arrange albums. More collaborations like this would be peachy with me.

Hayato Matsuo Orchestral Collection

Thanks a lot for this. I immensely enjoyed some of Matsuo's works, notably the Shenmue orchestral album and the orchestral pieces of Magic Knight Rayearth - a pure moment of orchestral magic. I enjoyed the latter so much that I even intended to post an orchestral compilation in this thread, which is now not needed thanks to your great initiative. Given the spectacular pieces this guy can create, I'm very curious to hear a lot more from him, so your post is utterly welcome and appreciated!



I put together about the only thing I could contribute to this thread.

Are you sure? ;)

Long before concerts such as Play!, Press Start, Symphonic Legends or Symphonic Fantasies were invented, probably before they were even an embryo of idea in the mind of their authors, Japan, once again, had the great idea to launch a series of concerts from 1991 to 1996, based upon video game music: the Orchestral Game Concerts. Many skilled music professionals, who were or have since become famous, were involved, including people such as Koichi Sugiyama, Yoko Kanno, Kōhei Tanaka, or even a certain rookie named Toshihiko Sahashi!

If you are, like me, an amateur of VG (a little) and of orchestral music (a lot), the OGC is probably for you the promise of long hours of musical happiness, especially if you actually played some of the games which music is featured. What joy, what enchantment indeed, to listen to these tunes that moved, scared or fascinated you so much, performed by a full-fledged symphony orchestra, and arranged in such a sweeping way that they can at last express their true potential, their real magnitude.

My personal favorite piece of the five albums released is probably "Albert Odyssey 2 - Together, In the Glory of the Legend" in OGC 4. This piece is simply a marvel, a pure moment of orchestral glory, of symphonic majesty, that would humble down many Hollywood epic movie scores. The arranger (who's also the actual game music composer: Naoki Kodaka), chose to transpose his music in the form of a well-crafted suite that sounds like it's coming straight from a golden age epic movie, such as Lawrence of Arabia for instance. The coda of this piece is a true moment of orchestral bravura that will leave you breathless!

This little intoduction had for object to point out that the OGC have been posted in lossless format, i.e. in full audio glory, which they greatly deserve. Massive thanks to nothingtosay and tri2061990 for their very appreciable efforts.



Orchestral Game Concerts
(Lossless)

http://forums.ffshrine.org/f72/lossless-video-game-soundtrack-thread-links-first-64743/460.html#post1627581
Or
Thread 86048

Game Music Concert ~ The Best Selection
http://www.mediafire.com/imgbnc.php/ea15e2cdc55dc683b68d49d1445c5af3aabcfcb70141e52aad 6cadf4835c339a6g.jpg

Game Music Concert 2 ~ The Best Selection
http://www.mediafire.com/imgbnc.php/2d40f3b90f7810a393f9734a09c67c82d9226850315afd2d3c f3e514479909f56g.jpg (http://www.mediafire.com/imgbnc.php/2d40f3b90f7810a393f9734a09c67c82d9226850315afd2d3c f3e514479909f56g.jpg)

Game Music Concert 3
http://www.mediafire.com/imgbnc.php/64d3d78a40c8a432593843c35b547fa9ada691527b4fa495ae 3690d20dcc549d6g.jpg

Game Music Concert 4 ~ Live Best Collection
http://www.mediafire.com/imgbnc.php/2e8c88c823a0279b2672473a166595346a852a7c9e7682f0af 9497f6b28e5cf76g.jpg

Game Music Concert 5 ~ Live Best Collection
http://www.mediafire.com/imgbnc.php/f3ecc7143b62dab48c6a89b990f2074c97e043a9e48ef2b7b7 052ff6130de2fb6g.jpg

The few tracks here and there that were arranged by Nakano also have his tradmarks pulsing through them, and I must say I really like this approach to composer synergy for core albums themselves and not just for special, set-aside arrange albums. More collaborations like this would be peachy with me.

Quick funny note: Hamauzu said that he knew he wanted Nakano to have a part on the soundtrack and so when he was writing the pieces for him he found himself composing in Nakano's style!


Despite me being the one who meticulously tagged all those Game Music Concert tracks and spent a lot of time uploading them, I don't know if I've even listened to one all the way through except the first. :laugh:

Actually, we can have some idea of what Hamauzu and Hirano are responsible at least on "Nascent Requiem". On the FFXIII OST PLUS album there's a prototype of that track that Hamauzu made. For better or worse for your opinion of Hamauzu, I uploaded it (http://www.mediafire.com/?3z2qgwv92j11asm) for you to grab and compare.

HAHA! Thanks so much, I had no idea that existed!

What a mess! Here is proof; Hamauzu cannot orchestrate, and at least half of the cue was entirely composed by Hirano and even in the sections that Hamauzu wrote, he still ended up providing all the counterpoint melodies, the harmonies, and the structural foundation. About the only section that survived pretty much as Hamauzu wrote is the repeating piano motifs at 0:38 and 1:20 - though Hirano reharmonised those too. The original cue is repetitive, directionless, and almost themeless (1:41 to 2:28 is just amateurish - completely random piano pounding and all) but under Hirano it gains an extra two minutes and becomes an exciting mini piano concerto. The difference between "average" and "genius," distilled into sound. Utterly fascinating.

NaotaM: Thanks for Real Drive, although (in common with a handful of your posts) with the greatest respect, it was posted and thoroughly deconstructed over a year ago. ;)

I don't quite understand your stance on Hirano; as far as I'm concerned, he is probably the finest living composer full stop. I know he's been cajouled into following the temp-track just a little closely on more than one occasion (most notably Death Note, as you mentioned) but that's almost a rite of passage as far as composers are concerned... Everybody helps themselves to Carmina Burana at least once in their career - it's like a massive 100 year "theme and variations" and whereas some composers (Sahashi, Kanno) come up with a simple knockoff, Hirano deconstructed it into its constituent elements and completely rebuilt it from the ground up as his piece.

I also don't understand the "Tanaka in the baroque period" - Hirano is many things, and baroque is probably only 10% of his overall makeup. His harmonic language is bang up to date - his grip on the "organised chaos" of atonality is absolutely unmatched by any other living composer... He's what you'd get if Bach, Mozart, Schoenberg, Chopin, and Rimsky Korsakov had been born as one person... and anyway, my girlfriend has just turned up so goodbye. ;)

Well, to be fair, it doesn't sound like he put as much time or effort into the prototype as his works on the final soundtrack. He probably knew he was going to have it performed by an orchestra and that Hirano would be handling it. You might even take the viewpoint that he admirably intentionally gave Hirano plenty of room to expand with his own musicality. :p Also the two may well have worked more closely together than Hamauzu simply handing off his score, he is still the producer after all. But I know, you're saying it sure sounds like Hirano. I can't say much because I haven't heard his own compositions. I'm interested in starting, however, and the way I obsessive-compulsively like to do that is by going to the earliest soundtrack I can get and proceeding in chronological order from there so I can trace the composer's growth and changes.

Eh, in any case, I guess at the risk of making my orchestral ignorance plain, "Nascent Reqieum" doesn't do a hell of a lot for me anyway. Yes, creative orchestration, I can hear that, complex and intricate, but it doesn't really make me feel anything. I place Sakimoto and Hamauzu's normal boss battle themes from their respective Final Fantasy games on about the same level of excellence (that is, "Boss Battle" and "Saber's Edge"), but I pretty easily prefer "The Battle for Freedom" to "Nascent Requiem", even with Sakimoto's being all synth. It helps that his final battle is kind of the culmination of all those variations on the game's themes, building over four hours up to that - a real climax. It might not be the most intense final battle and part of me thinks it could use a little extra something, but those times when I do get to listen to the Final Fantasy XII soundtrack from start to finish, it always satisfies. I feel like FFXIII's culmination is kind of at the "Fabula Nova Crystallis"-"Miracles" part, and while the ending theme is certainly lovely, I always end up finishing it and feeling like there needs to be something more to really close that big, beautiful soundtrack. "Nascent Requiem" is something that comes inbetween those points that I'm told is great, and I've tried to hear it, but I just don't.


EDIT: Haha, and while searching through the thread for Hirano stuff, I happened upon you, Tango, saying in reference to Symphonic Legends, "Masashi Hamauzu's Donkey Kong was rather lovely - it's fascinating to see that the guy can actually arrange himself after two successive Final Fantasy scores orchestrated by Yoshihisa Hirano." And this gives a segue into something I forgot in the Matsuo collection although many of you may already have this, Variation on a World Map Theme (http://www.mediafire.com/?li7rn54bzg7q8v1) from Pikmin. I think he did a fine job expanding upon the original (which is not on YouTube it seems, so I uploaded here (http://www.mediafire.com/?pdc1mea5zykfgyv) for comparison's sake) and adding his style. This was kind of a dream come true for me because I was listening to Star Fox 64 and thought Hajime Wakai's music sounded kind of like Matsuo and I had a big yell of excitement when I read he was going to be doing the Pikmin arrangement for Symphonic Legends, and about Hamauzu doing "Aquatic Ambiance" for that matter.

Yeah, I really liked how "The Battle for Freedom" integrated both the resistance and imperial themes. A shame the synth instruments on the FF12 album somehow sound worse than on the PS2.

Hayato Matsuo Orchestral Collection
2:13:27 - 202.88 MB (http://www.multiupload.com/3JXAW1WCXJ)



Thanks a bunch! I will check out dragon force as well!

I have a hard time finding myself deeply connected to most of Yoshihisa Hirano's works although I certainly recognize his talents. At a minimum, I love Bantorra but I rarely spend a lot of time listening to the other major scores. Certainly his works on FFXIII orchestral pieces were lovely but I have never gotten into Death Note despite everyone's heavy praises (I blame the terrible terrible mastering that makes it almost unlistenable to me). I also of course resent heavily any suggestion by Tango (although I know this is just a point where we disagree) that Yuki Kajiura and Kotaro Nakagawa are significantly lesser [although I will concede that speaking purely from the perspective of quality of orchestral complexity of music certainly they are not as high quality]. I of course am highly biased because I have always loved certain parts of both composers' works. I'm not even going to waste my time listening to ZERO.

As to Masashi Hamauzu, I think he is another composer who is great when you approach his works from a different perspective. Certainly he is not going to provide anything on the level of other more adept orchestrators on his own [one of his best works before FFXIII, Unlimited Saga, was only good because he had the help of a quality arranger]. However, I think he has a unique style that is quite charming and can be enjoyable if you listen to his early work on Saga Frontier and then Dirge of Cerberus and Unlimited Saga. I've tried to listen to many of Hamauzu's earlier works a few times recently and have to admit that I didn't really make it through to the end without getting tired of the music so certainly there is some basis for criticism.

Thanks for Real Drive, although (in common with a handful of your posts) with the greatest respect, it was posted and thoroughly deconstructed over a year ago.


*immediately following the zillionth repost and intellectual disection of the Orchestral Game Concert series in this thread alone.* High-Larious!

Look, it's kinda annoying to go through the trouble of finding and posting something new, and then catch some passive-agressive nitpicking over how it's been posted before because my initial search of the title to make sure apperently missed something. Hey, it's not like any newcomers who've joined since over a year ago might enjoy the chance to be exposed to and enjoy it without digging out a pith hat and spelunking the hundreds upon hundreds of pages here. I don't mean to be defensive, but come on, guys. A simple "thank you" will suffice.


What a mess! Here is proof; Hamauzu cannot orchestrate, and at least half of the cue was entirely composed by Hirano and even in the sections that Hamauzu wrote, he still ended up providing all the counterpoint melodies, the harmonies, and the structural foundation.

Kinda amusing how you reach "shitty orchestrator" from a clearly, unabashedly unfinished prototype track likely written to provide Hirano a template for the orchestration that wasn't even included on the official album. But I'm even more amused by the fact that I enjoy this prototype considerably more for some reason. For reasons I'll get into in a bit, parts of it are kinda meh and not particularly strong, but it actually benefits in its own ways precisely because it's clearly not going for orchestration. The lack of bombast and leading piano give the track a more playful, melodically-pleasing sound, and I love how Hamauzu on a synth keyboard plays Nascar laps around whoever's playing piano for Hirano's take. I'm really sorta impressed with how much I like this unpolished, skeletal rendition of a track I wasn't especially fond of.

I must admit I never terribly enjoyed Nascent Requiem. The more Hamauzian bits and pieces such as the aforementioned piano motifs and the concluding two minutes are lovely and Hirano's skill with an orchestra are beyond question, but the overall piece as a whole is just sorta loud and formless(surprising to me given its structural similarities to Decisive Battle, a track I greatly prefer), and upon learning of this older version Hamauzu wrote on his own, I have to place some blame on Hirano. The core theme itself was already flawed in places, but I think it could have had a greater effect if it stuck to Hamauzu's original, more buoyant approach. The duo make wonderful music together when Hirano writes more to Hamauzu's gentler, more emotive hand; Nautilus and Ending Credits were fucking gorgeous and practically ooze equal amounts of both composer's styles like a delectable jelly donut of impressionistic granduer, and pained metaphors aside, I can't wonder what could've been if Hirano wasn't in Death Note mode with this one. Can't blame an accomplished artist for taking things in his own direction, but in his trademark over-the-stratosphere cacophony, he just builds and builds and builds until anything resembling a coherent theme is torn to shreds and everything in-between the more memorable interludes is just so much noise to my ears. It's a shame, but they both redeem themselves in spades with just the final three pieces afterward, but eh.

As for our clashing stances concerning the two, well...


(Holy shit, can you imagine Voltenen or Hamauzu writing a gorgeous TP suite for the new LEGENDS? *SQUEEEES)


I don't quite understand your stance on Hirano; as far as I'm concerned, he is probably the finest living composer full stop.

Considering we've both worn our fanboyism on our sleeves, I guess it may be better to simply let our preferences split as they will. :)


As to Masashi Hamauzu, I think he is another composer who is great when you approach his works from a different perspective. Certainly he is not going to provide anything on the level of other more adept orchestrators on his own [one of his best works before FFXIII, Unlimited Saga, was only good because he had the help of a quality arranger].


"Masashi Hamauzu's Donkey Kong was rather lovely - it's fascinating to see that the guy can actually arrange himself after two successive Final Fantasy scores orchestrated by Yoshihisa Hirano."

I do however resent this idea that Hamauzu is "only good" when other people arrange for him. The orchestration really brings out the potential in his music, sure, but 1.) the guy has written for live orchestra as many times as the average man has fingers on one hand and he's proven he's amazing at it, so the whole terrible orchestrator accusation towards a man who almost always writes for piano, strings and synth soundscapes is unfair and silly, not to mention 2.) it's kinda funny how no one takes potshots at Uematsu because the orchestral granduer of his arranged music is owed entirely to Hamaguchi's(and countless others')skills.

Is there anyone who has the COMPLETE score to Walt Disney's Sleeping Beauty? I have the CD & some of my favorite cues are missing. :(

Help would be much appreciated. ^_^

In the interest of starting at what appears to be the beginning of Hirano's career, I'm trying to get the Beyblade soundtracks, but the only ones I can find are in pretty poor quality and the tracks are all out of order. Can anyone help me out with a better set?

Despite me being the one who meticulously tagged all those Game Music Concert tracks and spent a lot of time uploading them, I don't know if I've even listened to one all the way through except the first. :laugh:

Oh, that's quite a pity. There's some terrific material in those, not only for symphonic lovers, but for music lovers in general. Make sure to check them out when you have time, you really could have some good surprises.



*immediately following the zillionth repost and intellectual disection of the Orchestral Game Concert series in this thread alone.* High-Larious!

Look, it's kinda annoying to go through the trouble of finding and posting something new, and then catch some passive-agressive nitpicking over how it's been posted before because my initial search of the title to make sure apperently missed something. Hey, it's not like any newcomers who've joined since over a year ago might enjoy the chance to be exposed to and enjoy it without digging out a pith hat and spelunking the hundreds upon hundreds of pages here. I don't mean to be defensive, but come on, guys. A simple "thank you" will suffice.

I don't believe Tango's remark was that malicious. We often like to do some light humor in here, we just make sure in that case to add a little winking smiley to be clearly understood (like in my "tobacco smoking" joke in the previous page).

That said, I'd like to clearly state that your posts are highly appreciated, because this thread isn't primarily about "the last thing", but is rather based on inspiration (post something because you feel like it) or structured around discussion (post something according to the on-going discussions), whether it's 100 years old or just from this morning. In this regard, your RD post is utterly relevant since it occurs in the middle of an active Hirano discussion.

A very important aspect is that I do consider this thread as a showcase of various orchestral music, that 's why I sometimes repost older, already discussed stuff, to make sure that what I consider worthwhile clearly, visibly appears in this place, so that people interested in orchestral music browsing this thread can gain access to interesting yet obscure albums lost among the millions other ones in the anime or VG sections. And anyway, as you said, some people certainly have missed it before, whether they're newcomers or older members such as... me! (Yes, I did forget to grab this one)



for those who care: Zelda Reorchestrated � Blog Archive � Listen to 10 SIZZLING MINUTES from Twilight Symphony! (http://www.zreomusic.com/2011/03/19/its-your-lucky-day)

Actually, I find it rather pleasing, and this piece isn't that bad... if you tell me it's an OC remix or a free fan project. But seriously, I really can't see where THAT MUCH money went, here. I already listened to many pieces of this caliber, or even much better, in the past, but they were made by talented amateur composers, who did it for the fun and the love of art, without charging anyone.

The serious doubts I had about this project seem to be confirmed...

Is there anyone who has the COMPLETE score to Walt Disney's Sleeping Beauty? I have the CD & some of my favorite cues are missing. :(

Help would be much appreciated. ^_^

I don't, but I *do* have both the restored soundtrack (19 tracks) and the blu-ray, so rips are possible. I wasn't aware there was anything missing from the former - could you be specific about which pieces you're looking for?

Thanks, a very beautiful score

I don't believe Tango's remark was that malicious. We often like to do some light humor in here, we just make sure in that case to add a little winking smiley to be clearly understood (like in my "tobacco smoking" joke in the previous page).


Oh, I know Tango didn't mean anything by it, but I'm not gonna lie it's just a tad irritating and a little discouraging when someone like me, who rarely gets the oppurtunity to hunt down anything new and worthwhile to post to this wonderful thread I really do enjoy participating in and being a part of, despite past differences and scuffles, gets the whole "Yeah, I appreciate it, buuuuut..." for the third or so time now.

But it doesn't take away from my enjoyment to post these things and I appreciate someone's getting something out of them. <3

@arthierr and @nothingtosay:

Thanks for the FLAC versions of the OGCs; I've only heard them in low quality so I'm looking forward to rediscovering them again. For my money, OGC 4 has the only version of the FF6 opera worth listening to, outside of the original. They take the arrangement of the Aria from "Grand Finale" and expand it to include a full symphonic orchestra (instead of the chamber ensemble used in the version on "Finale"), and the whole piece is just lush and sublime. I was so disappointed when I heard the version on "Distant Worlds" where they jarringly turned it into a pop ballad. Many of the other arrangements are also quite excellent, with "Kirby Super Star" from OGC 5 and the "Mother" tracks being other personal standouts.

Also, this isn't my upload, but I thought it deserves some attention:


JERRY GOLDSMITH
THE RUSSIA HOUSE
featuring Branford Marsalis (sax) and Michael Lang (piano)

MP3 320kbps | 122 MB



This score is evidence of just what a musical chameleon Jerry Goldsmith was -- dark and jazzy orchestral music, about as far removed from the typical bombast and adventure that at least I myself generally ascribe to the man. Very much in the vein of a modern "Chinatown."


Credit goes to the original uploader: Original Thread Here (Thread 80524)

Thanks TazerMonkey, certainly one of my favorite Goldsmith scores and it definetly deserves more attention.

I've been listening to a lot of Myaskovsky lately (listened to all 27 symphonies, twice!) and this is by far his most amazing moment, similar to something James Newton Howard would write (if he were born in 19th century Russia and wrote 23 symphonies prior): YouTube - Myaskovsky: Symphony #24 in F Minor, Op. 63 - II Molto sostenuto (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K0F_X3rYSUg)

Powerful stuff.

So... this will be of marginal interest to handful of you die-hards...

On May 2nd, I'm recording a re-tooled version of a piece I wrote in 2007 called "The Race" with a large (84 +/-) group of marquee players at Sony Pictures, with Shawn Murphy at the console. One of my many goals with the session is to finally have a true A/B comparison between my virtual orchestra and the real deal on challenging material; just to put that non-argument to bed once and for all. The piece is, well, what I do, which these days is back-handedly called, "vintage," because actual training and craft is pretty much antiquated. But this crowd will probably dig it.

I'm hoping to have cameras around, getting the play-by-play, the booth action, the room action, all that good stuff. I mention this early (at all, actually) because you guys might have an interesting request or suggestion or two, regarding what you might like to see from such a session, irrespective of whether you like the material or not. A rough virtual mock-up can be heard here (http://www.mikeverta.com/Posts/The_Race_2011.mp3), incidentally, though I'll really be trying to do a letter-perfect version of it for the A/B comparison. It'll hurt more when the best effort possible still blows.

Anyway, if you have thoughts, fire away. Meantime, continued thanks for bringing some great music to light in the thread.


_Mike

That's great news Mr. Verta. I am very excited to hear any of your work performed by a live orchestra.

Oh, I know Tango didn't mean anything by it, but I'm not gonna lie it's just a tad irritating and a little discouraging when someone like me, who rarely gets the oppurtunity to hunt down anything new and worthwhile to post to this wonderful thread I really do enjoy participating in and being a part of, despite past differences and scuffles, gets the whole "Yeah, I appreciate it, buuuuut..." for the third or so time now.

But it doesn't take away from my enjoyment to post these things and I appreciate someone's getting something out of them. <3

I am not going to start another argument, even though clearly that's what you're trying to do. I will say that I always appreciate your posts, particularly your mega Oshima and Yugo Kanno dumps of recent weeks, and I don't think I have ever responded with a lack of gratitude to your efforts.

I have never given you or anybody the "Yeah, I appreciate it, buuuuut..." response - not in any serious way, anyway. I like to think, as Arthierr observed, that most people in the thread will not react with undue sensitivity to something that is clearly meant as an inoffensive, friendly ribbing.

I had intended my comment to sound grateful (which it did) but at the same time point out wryly that you'd made a repost. That's not a bad thing, and nobody expects you to troll through 600 pages of the thread on the offchance that perhaps somebody has posted XYZ before... It was a simple statement of fact; it was a repost, and it is a score that has been discussed in depth already. Why do you take this as a personal insult? I just found it rather funny that you'd posted one of your usual long (factually suspicious, and deliberately contrary - but that makes them all the more fun to read) reviews for the score and proudly presented it like it was new... but in fact it was old news. It made me chuckle. You know - not in a "stupid NaotaM, dumb shit asshole posting some crap we've already heard, f*** off and die!" sort of way - just in a simple "hehe" sort of way.

I liked to think we'd buried our old differences and have been getting along awfully well lately - hell, you've even been receptive to the odd Akira Senju jibe - but now you have taken an extreme reaction to something I have said with no malicious intention - and I notice that you have started to slide in crafty personal insults and suchlike as well. I do not welcome this - not anywhere, but certainly not in this thread which has been remarkably civil and amiable in its three year history.

Peace, folks - to you all. :)

So... this will be of marginal interest to handful of you die-hards...

On May 2nd, I'm recording a re-tooled version of a piece I wrote in 2007 called "The Race" with a large (84 +/-) group of marquee players at Sony Pictures, with Shawn Murphy at the console. One of my many goals with the session is to finally have a true A/B comparison between my virtual orchestra and the real deal on challenging material; just to put that non-argument to bed once and for all. The piece is, well, what I do, which these days is back-handedly called, "vintage," because actual training and craft is pretty much antiquated. But this crowd will probably dig it.


_Mike


Definitely! I listened to most everything I could find on your facebook page and website, and the ride was one that I remember enjoying quite a bit. I'll be looking for this. Thanks for the news!

I liked to think we'd buried our old differences and have been getting along awfully well lately - hell, you've even been receptive to the odd Akira Senju jibe - but now you have taken an extreme reaction to something I have said with no malicious intention - and I notice that you have started to slide in crafty personal insults and suchlike as well.

Talk about extreme reactions. I don't get where you're apperently seeing these veiled insults or deliberate contrast in my recent posts(because an opposing opinion of yours must of course be on purpose, as your view are perfect and incontrivertible...? Sure, dude), especially since you yourself point out that some of my posts have turned out to be reposts and people have pointed it out. If it was anyone else-arthieer, klnerfan, mverta-anyone, I'd have reacted the same, which I tried to make sound like "Hey guys, could you please cut it out with this. Thanks.", not as a raving overreaction as you try to paint it. I get no one ever means to seem ungrateful, but I just find it kind of annoying going on three times in a row, especially when other people repost things and not one soul utters a word. Ever given someone a birthday or Christmas gift and they wryly informed you "Yeah, thanks soooo much, but I already have something just like it.". You get they mean well, and vice versa, but tell me with a straight face you wouldn't feel a pang of annoyance.

Yes, I have done the gift scenario. I felt like a bit of a prat, but I didn't direct any malice to the receiver of the gift; it wasn't their fault. If they'd said "You jerk, I already had one of those!" then I'd feel affronted... but since they merely said "Thanks! You picked a great gift... I'm sorry but I already bought it for myself last week! I really appreciate the thought though!" I wasn't offended. Rather than get needlessly pissed off, get angry at somebody who didn't deserve it, and deliberately incite a senseless row right in the middle of somebody else's birthday party, I thought to myself, "Well, it was still a good gift!"

Wunderbar, glad to hear it. I've been in the situation myself and can thankfully say both that I reacted the same and that unlike here, I've never in real life encountered the scenario of being told I got something they already had recieved years ago four times in a row, the fourth person admitting they were deliberately trying to poke fun at me, and replace "get needlessly pissed off, get angry at somebody who didn't deserve it, and deliberately incite a senseless row right in the middle of somebody else's birthday party" with "express that it's starting to get old real quick and I'd prefer that they could just sppreciate the thought and maybe let the rest of the guests enjoy the gift, too." After all, it's not the item itself, but the thought and camraderie of the event. :)

On May 2nd, I'm recording a re-tooled version of a piece I wrote in 2007 called "The Race" with a large (84 +/-) group of marquee players at Sony Pictures, with Shawn Murphy at the console. One of my many goals with the session is to finally have a true A/B comparison between my virtual orchestra and the real deal on challenging material; just to put that non-argument to bed once and for all. The piece is, well, what I do, which these days is back-handedly called, "vintage," because actual training and craft is pretty much antiquated. But this crowd will probably dig it.

Interesting project indeed.

I hope you'll post the video of the result in this thread. Some people, including me, are quite interested in the subject of such comparison. The virtual mock-up already sounds pretty nice (actually, slightly better than Ultraman to my ears), but I bet the live version will be of course way superior, especially given the composition of your staff, which isn't exactly what one would call a bunch of amateurs - BTW, I hope you won't charge 25,000 bucks or so to your fans to make this possible, like another recently discussed project!

I already heard a few virtual mock-up / live performance comparisons, for instance in the expanded Cutthroat Island album. It's not quite revolutionary to state, in this case, that an old sampler from 1995 isn't really on par with the LSO and choirs! But technology has progressed, and it's likely than the difference between your mock-up and what you'll get from the guys at Sony Pictures will be indeed significant and impossible to mix-up, yet much more narrow than in Debney's score.

Maybe, in 15 years or so, the difference will be so thin than even some trained ears will need a little time to distinguish the real from the fake, and un-trained ears just won't notice anything. But for the moment, *nothing* can seriously replace our good old symphony orchestra, and the living, breathing, feeling, loving human beings it's made off, who give the music the additional modulation, emotionality, consistency and sincerity no computer can appoach, even guided by a talented, skilled composer like you.

That said, initiatives such as yours certainly will help engineers and musicians to develop and perfect the existing technology, in order to reach this hypothetical point of nearly total similarity between virtual and real. The consequences, if they do succeed, could be considerable on the evolution of film music and orchestral music in general. Mmh... Dunno if it's good or bad news, eventually!

For a "rough" mock-up, I thought the piece sounded great. It's wonderful to hear such lively, original work with a genuine sense of adventure. Very much looking forward to hearing your piece performed live, Mr. Verta.


The piece is, well, what I do, which these days is back-handedly called, "vintage," because actual training and craft is pretty much antiquated.

Better vintage than vapid. Here's to hoping that the age of the omnipresent ultra-mega-budget cynical-cash-in blockbusters is shortly coming to its deserved end. Entertainment has always been about money, but it used to have a soul once in a while too, damn it. There's an awful lot of knowledge to be gleaned from the past -- little things like plot, character development, sincerity, and of course true musicianship. Today's four-quadrant myopics discard such hindsight at their own peril.

/end film-school grad rant/

Maybe, in 15 years or so, the difference will be so thin than even some trained ears will need a little time to distinguish the real from the fake, and un-trained ears just won't notice anything. But for the moment, *nothing* can seriously replace our good old symphony orchestra, and the living, breathing, feeling, loving human beings it's made off, who give the music the additional modulation, emotionality, consistance and sincerity no computer can appoach, even guided by a talented, skilled composer like you.


Just to bring up something sorta related I've been thinking about lately, I personally hope it'll never be completely impossible to tell the difference between real orchestra and synth. There are tons of obvious advantages of being finally able to match realistic sound quality without having to spend a modicum of the money, sure, and it'll have all kinds of positive effects in video game music especially...but then I think of the only truly interesting thing about ZREO; namely how they neatly provide an example of the existance of an "Uncanny Valley" in music, insofar as the concept can be applied to the medium.

I had always wondered why I so vastly preferred the original MIDI compositions to ZREO's improved sample libraries and how they managed to sound somehow worse than the ancient sound quality when it dawned on me; it was precisely because they were trying to be so "realistic" in their samples. Their idea of "reorchestrating" the music to sound like new is to pay out the nose for the most realistic sounding samples available and simply transpose them note-for-note. No modulation. Apperantly no competant hand at the mixing station. Instead of using the strengths of malleable synthesized instrumentation to its advantages, they push the obviously synthy samples to sound like real to the point where the result sounds flat, shrill and cheesy, plainly highlighting the importance of that special spark of humanity present in actual orchestras in the first place. It doesn't really come up when the technology just isn't up to par so of course it doesn't sound real, and you don't really expect it to. Hell, I think synth music has it's own special charm and always sort of balked at all the bitching aimed at MIDI and the N64 sound board especially. But as sound technology advances in the name of erasing the ear's ability to pinpoint real instruments from fake, it paradoxically rips the veil off the illusion, making it all too clear what it sounds like when there are real people pouring their souls into the performance, and when the show is run by soulless, Disneyland animatronics.

Kinda raises an interesting question; would you rather have something dissapointingly outdated but still musically competant(for example, Uematsu's entire ouvre, but more specifically, The Last Story) or something that's technologically sound but distinctly "off" somehow in its hollow application of said technology? And naturally, given Sturgeon's Law and the Youtube Effect, one wonders the kind of adverse effect would arise if literally anyone could turn out crap that's superficially identical to live recordings.

Having listened to litterally hundreds of midis of classical or movie music in the past, I can tell that modulation is absolutely essential - particularly in the case of orchestral music. This is even a good way to tell who's an amateur and who's an expert: if the piece sounds flat and mechanical, it's ought to be an amateur, and if it's fluid and twirling, you're certainly dealing with a pro.

Personally, I sometimes believe that when you use samples, as neat as they could be, you shouldn't necessarily try to be realistic at all cost, but instead you should just try to use them in such a way that your music just happens to sound good, even if it doesn't sound 100% real. Leave the realism to live players and just try to use your equipment to its best, in order to extract from it beautiful, pleasant sounds - that's wisdom. This is a bit what Hitoshi Sakimoto said in an interview:


HS: Well, there are 10 to 20 sound sources that you can typically buy -- orchestra-style sound sources and various other sound sources -- and lately, the quality of these sound sources has become quite good, to the point where they sound pretty real. A while ago, they weren't that good, though, so what I always tried to do was never actually simulate an orchestra. Instead, there are some great sounds that come out when you play the sound sources through the sequencer -- it doesn't sound real, but it has a unique flavor. So what I've always tried to do was try to take advantage of that sound, rather than try to simulate an orchestra or something else.



Tazer - thanks for this utterly classy score, excellent choice!



I've been listening to a lot of Myaskovsky lately (listened to all 27 symphonies, twice!) and this is by far his most amazing moment, similar to something James Newton Howard would write (if he were born in 19th century Russia and wrote 23 symphonies prior): YouTube - Myaskovsky: Symphony #24 in F Minor, Op. 63 - II Molto sostenuto (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K0F_X3rYSUg)

Powerful stuff.

Indeed. And very beautiful too. I wonder if there's more you could post. How about posting your favorite symphony here? It would be very appreciated. :)

I second Arthierr's request for a couple of Myaskovsky symphonies here. I searched around and just found one torrent of all 27 symphonies and I really don't want to push through 16 discs of a composer I've never heard of. I already had poor results diving into similar collections of more well known composers. One or two discs worth of symphonies on here in HQ mp3 would be very welcomed.

Exciting stuff, Mike!

I'm a little worried about what you're trying to prove though... If this is an exercise in "the fake orchestra is all right but compare it to the real thing and the shortcomings become glaringly apparent" (ie, designed to support the continued use of live musicians in projects where the money men may be tempted to go down the "good enough is good enough" route... then I'm all for it.

If it's an exercise in "Wow, the fake orchestra is incredible - look how far modern technology has come!" then I'd be a little hesitant for the reasons Arthierr touched upon... If you make it too good, people will be hauling out your comparison every five minutes for the next twenty years, using it to justify music budget cuts, and putting composers who don't have your dual-expertise at synthesis at a disadvantage. "This guy can make it sound like this on his computer. Why can't you? You're fired."

If I were you, I'd be relieved when you make the comparison and find that the electronic rendering is still atrocious; it makes an instant, verifiable statement about that indefinable something that you gain from having life musicians.

Consider yourself very, very fortunate that you write the sort of music that makes use of that extra dimension... living, human music requires living, human performers. Dead, fake music will do just fine with an electronic rendition. (IE, pretty much everything being written in Hollywood today.)

I predict that your electronic version will fool the untrained ear on an aesthetic level, but not an emotional one. If I played your mock-up for my mother (or indeed your final polished version) she wouldn't spot anything amiss; she'd just say "this sounds like film music" - but I bet that it would impact on her mind in a different way. As far as she's concerned, Jaws sounds like film music, and Pirates Of The Caribbean sounds like film music too. But there's only one that she recognises if she hears it away from the film. She's defined them in exactly the same genre, but nonetheless they both have very different impacts on her emotionally. And so will your real vs fake comparison... which I suspect may be just the outcome you're looking for.

I follow synthesiser technology advances with ambivalence; I love to hear what technology can do... but every movement towards ultimate realism knocks another nail into the coffin of human musicians performing music. I think it's gone too far already - as evidenced by the increasing proliferation of fully synthesised orchestral scores. It's cheap, it's quick, it does the job, 99% of people can't tell the difference, and every year the technology gets even better. Where the hell does one go from there? :/

But Tango they are still using live musicians in all sorts of modern scores, just covering them up with synth trash. I doubt they will ever fully replace the musicians but hopefully they will soon realize what is burried under there. I read somewhere that the Red Riding Hood score has a number of skilled performers on it but you wouldn't notice if you listened to the score. See below excerpt from a review of the score that you can read in full HERE (http://moviemusicuk.us/2011/03/22/red-riding-hood-brian-reitzell-and-alex-heffes/)

"For the majority of the score, Heffes’ orchestral textures are completely buried underneath multiple layers of Reitzell’s intrusive, grating, grinding synth effects, obscuring any nuance or subtlety they might offer in favor of ear-shattering noise and processed samples. The CD liner notes list 104 members of the Hollywood Studio Symphony Orchestra as having performed on this score, including virtuoso cellists Tina Guo and Steve Erdody, and legendary horn player Jim Thatcher – although why they bothered employing them is beyond my understanding. 90% of the time you can’t hear what they’re doing through all the scraping metallic noise, and on the few occasions that they do take the lead they’re not doing much more than playing simple chords and interspersed with skittery horror writing. The cues in which the orchestra does rise to the fore, such as “The Reveal”, are by far the most impressive tracks on the album, and it makes you wonder just how much better this score would have been had Heffes tackled it alone."

namely how they neatly provide an example of the existance of an "Uncanny Valley" in music, insofar as the concept can be applied to the medium.

I think "Uncanny Valley" isn't the best way of putting it because when I read that I get the impression the sample libraries would sound so real they would come off as being fake. Instead, the sample libraries just sound fake and not real at all (except for the percussion, pizzicato/staccato strings, brassy stabs, but that's just 2% of what an orchestra does best.) I would kill for an Uncanny Valley in samples, especially when it comes to a realistic sounding violin section.


I had always wondered why I so vastly preferred the original MIDI compositions to ZREO's improved sample libraries and how they managed to sound somehow worse than the ancient sound quality when it dawned on me; it was precisely because they were trying to be so "realistic" in their samples.

Yes, I understand exactly what you mean here. I'm afraid to convert many of my own MIDI compositions to recordings using Kontakt and samples because they might sound like crap, even though I insist they are brilliant compositions. Similarly, I'm always nervous hearing my music performed live for the first time. If it sucks, who do you blame?


Indeed. And very beautiful too. I wonder if there's more you could post. How about posting your favorite symphony here? It would be very appreciated.

I can't because I'm still working on it...

Oh! You meant a real symphony. In that case I'll see about posting Kabalevsky's Symphonies 1-4 as they're what I'm listening to the most right now. Need some time to rip the CDs.


I second Arthierr's request for a couple of Myaskovsky symphonies here. I searched around and just found one torrent of all 27 symphonies and I really don't want to push through 16 discs of a composer I've never heard of. I already had poor results diving into similar collections of more well known composers. One or two discs worth of symphonies on here in HQ mp3 would be very welcomed.

Diving in is the best way to find new things. Don't be afraid of "27 Symphonies" because some of them are really short, but also don't be afraid to hit the "next" button if you find yourself getting bored quickly.

That said, I think Myaskovsky's Symphonies Nos. 5 and 24 are his best right now, but I need to listen to them all some more to refine my opinion of his oeuvre. I don't expect anyone else to do that unless they REALLY enjoy listening to Russian classical music.


If you make it too good, people will be hauling out your comparison every five minutes for the next twenty years, using it to justify music budget cuts, and putting composers who don't have your dual-expertise at synthesis at a disadvantage.

You're about 10 years too late there, Mr. Treats. :(


"scraping metallic noise"

So it's like a concerto for "scaping metallic noise"?

If it's an exercise in "Wow, the fake orchestra is incredible - look how far modern technology has come!" then I'd be a little hesitant for the reasons Arthierr touched upon... If you make it too good, people will be hauling out your comparison every five minutes for the next twenty years, using it to justify music budget cuts, and putting composers who don't have your dual-expertise at synthesis at a disadvantage.

Don't waste another second worrying about this. No matter how much time I spend on the mock-up, it will fall embarrassingly short of the live version. Promise.

When comparing live and virtual, there are two important caveats to consider: 1) The nature of the material and 2) The musicianship of the performers.

With simple material, the contrasts become less obvious. There is no practical difference between a violin whole note played and recorded, and one previously recorded and played back via a sampler. But that's why I chose material which forces the virtual palette instantly into territory of nuance and subtlety it cannot attain. There is no hiding from material like this, and the very same qualities which expose virtual flaws are often the same ones which make live music shine the brightest.

And secondly, my orchestra is staffed with a truly all-star roster. The assembled orchestra is arguably the finest in the world when it comes to performing music in the film score idiom. And with Shawn Murphy at the console, in the best room in town, it truly represents an "A-Call" showing. Though most people don't have an absolute sense for what's real and what's not, I truly believe they have an absolute sense for emotional impact. And in the end, I believe a deaf person will be able to hear the difference, and everyone will be able to feel the difference.

I firmly believe the future of live music is safe, for a number of reasons which I actually outlined in a podcast not long ago: The Future of Virtual Music (http://www.mikeverta.com/Posts/The_Future_of_Virtual_Music.mp3)*

In any case, more to come...


_Mike





*If you'd like to hear more of my podcasts, they're linked in the first post of this thread. (http://www.vi-control.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=15017)

For those who love the big orchestral sound!!! Rich orchestral sonorities FTW! Elephantine and resonant orchestrations!!!
If you have a high-end audio system, you can easily scare the neighbors!! Don't hesitate to turn on the volume and play it loud!!!




http://www.classicstoday.com/images/sp_art/p9s10.gif
Orchestrations by Sir Henry Wood (1869 - 1944)
London Philharmonic Orchestra, Nicholas Braithwaite, conductor
Lyrita Recorded Edition, England


Orchestrations by Sir Henry Wood SRCD216 [RB]: Classical CD Reviews - August 2007 MusicWeb-International (http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2007/Aug07/Henry_Wood_SRCD216.htm)
Orchestrations by Sir Henry Wood SRCD216 [JS]: Classical CD Reviews - September 2007 MusicWeb-International (http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2007/Sept07/Wood_SRCD216.htm)
Classics Today.com - Your Online Guide to Classical Music (http://www.classicstoday.com/review.asp?ReviewNum=11282)

anonym.to - free dereferer service (http://anonym.to/?http://www.lyrita.co.uk/cgi-bin/lyrita_build.pl?filename=SRCD0216.txt)



Grab it here (http://anonym.to/?http://www.megaupload.com/?d=DIFH05ID)


Orchestrations by Sir Henry Wood
J.S. BACH Toccata and Fugue in D minor (BWV 565) [9:53]
CHOPIN Marche fun�bre (from Piano Sonata No.2 in B flat minor) [10:26]
SCHARWENKA Polish Dance (Op.3 No.1) [4:10]
GRANADOS Spanish Dance (No.5 Andaluza) [5:15]
GRIEG Funeral March [7:47]
DEBUSSY La Cath�drale engloutie (Preludes, Book 1 No.10) [6:46]
RACHMANINOV Prelude in C sharp minor Op.3 No.2 [3:46]
MOUSSORGSKY Pictures at an Exhibition [30:29]









Orchestral score for Rachmaninoff-Wood
http://hdl.handle.net/1802/13059


J.S Bach, orch. Sir Henry Wood : Toccata & Fugue in D Minor BWV 565
YouTube - Bach Toccata and Fugue BWV 565 in D Minor (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B0qFvjY6LLk)

Dvorak, orch. Sir Henry Wood : Humoresque in G flat
YouTube - BBC Proms 2010: Dvorak - Humoresque in G flat (orchestrated by Henry Wood) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WSmQ5jkCT7w&nofeather=True)

Henry Purcell, orch. Sir Henry Wood : New Suite
YouTube - Henry Purcell: New Suite, arr Henry Wood (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-fl5Hzdjp0&nofeather=True)


Mussorgsky / Sir Henry Wood : Pictures at an Exhibition
YouTube - BBC Proms 2010: Mussorgsky - Pictures at an Exhibition (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0aCvdH8Rjs&nofeather=True)


Great Gate of Kiev (Sir Henry Wood)
YouTube - Mussorgsky (arr. Sir Henry Wood, 1915) - The Heroes&#39; Gate at Kiev from Pictures at an Exhibition (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8XHHdPE1QG4&nofeather=True)

Orchestrations by Sir Henry Wood (1869 - 1944)
London Philharmonic Orchestra, Nicholas Braithwaite, conductor
Lyrita Recorded Edition, England

Ahhh, thank you! I don't know any of these.

Edit: And WOW! I can see this Pictures at an Exhibition becoming my favourite, ahead of Stokowski's. Of course, the different orchestrations all have commonalities - there are, perhaps, only so many ways to interpret the inherent colour of the original - but this might be the most vividly pictorial of all. Brilliantly wide-ranging recording too.

I firmly believe the future of live music is safe, for a number of reasons which I actually outlined in a podcast not long ago: The Future of Virtual Music (http://www.mikeverta.com/Posts/The_Future_of_Virtual_Music.mp3)*

In any case, more to come...

*If you'd like to hear more of my podcasts, they're linked in the first post of this thread. (http://www.vi-control.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=15017)

I see your point there. It's interesting to hear about the evolution of special effects in the movie industry coming from a experienced professional of this sector. the tumultuous relationship between art and technology is fascinating, and the fact that the genuine artists are firmly back in the business, thanks to the democratisation of access to the new tools, is good news.

However, while I find your ideas on the subject interesting, I personally believe that the parallel with film music is more arguable, since what's happening in film music has IMO a somewhat different explanation, and obeys to a rather different logic than what happens in special effects. I believe that the crisis in film music is not so much a) a matter of technology, of old or new tools, of better sampler, etc., or b) a matter of talent, of actual craft, skill, knowledge (even though there *IS* a lack of such things among some of your colleagues), but instead, it is mainly a matter of executive decisions. The core, the true origin of the problem comes from the executives in Hollywood: producers, directors, etc., who regularly happen to make musically disappointing or downright catastrophic choices for their movies.

Following your reasoning, the easy access to nearly perfect virtual orchestras to everybody should rehabilitate the "true" artists, the genuinely creative, talented and competent guys, and should bring back to the fore a new generation of composers rivaling, even surpassing the "greats" from the past. Then another era of great orchestral music shall shine again and give birth to numerous symphonic masterpieces. Well, I'm not so sure. The talented guys are already there, but either rarely sollicited for important projects, or when they are, they're usually asked to leave their craft and talent at home, in order to produce simple, mediocre, barely listenable music. Brian Tyler is a good example of this tendency, as recently seen in this thread.

Let's imagine that next year, a company will release a revolutionary virtual orchestra, one so good, so perfect, that nobody, even veteran orchestrators, can tell if its sound is real or fake. Let's imagine this tool is so light and easy to use that anybody can have it in his laptop and be able to create music within a week or so. Will this change anything to film music, to the decisions made in Hollywood, to the artistic choices, and to the composers appointments? Certainly not. Executives will as usual have mock-ups sent to them, they'll listen to a piece by a guy who sounds like Rosza orchestrated by Nicholas Dodd, and they'll say: "Oh, not that old, corny orchestral junk AGAIN. This guy knows nothing about modern film music." *hits del*, and then they'll listen to another piece sounding like Tyler Bates meets Daft Punk meets a car factory and say: "Wow, that's hip, that'll please to our main demographic. Call me that dude!"

While technology improvement is important, it's mostly useless if executive choices and mentalities don't follow, in film music or in any other field. I greatly suspect that a major reason why these dreadful choices are made are test screenings. Remember why Gabriel Yared got fired from Troy despite the stunning material he managed to create? Because a bunch of probably uneducated, artistically barren people expressed some reservations about it, calling it "too brassy and bold" after a test screening. And what if the same happened to recent orchestral scores? What if a bunch of brainless youngster critized orchestral music during such tests: "Too many notes, too many instruments, brain will explode, me want simple boom-boom. And pie. Now!!!!" Sirusjr posted just above an excellent review blatantly showing this kind of phenomenon: Red Riding Hood, a movie that cries out loud for an elfmanesque lush, extravagant, fairy-like symphonic score, eventually happens to get some industrial trash (even tough it features a large orchestra, with a few prestigious players), just to attract and please to the usual demographic of this kind of movie.

Some Hollywood executives really do think that orchestral music is outdated, corny, "vintage", as you called it, that it's not attractive to their audience, unadapted to the tastes of the masses of young movie consumers. Some certainly believe it's meant to disappear, or at least to be so much "enhanced" with electronics that it eventually lose all its essence, as perfectly shown in Red Riding Hood. In fact, The plain rehabilitation of symphonic music will only be possible if THESE people, the deciders, manage to understand that orchestral music can be, and in fact IS an actual, substantial asset for their movies. They have to realize that the large majority of the scores they're producing now will be soon forgotten, neglected, while scores like Star Wars, Indiana jones, ET, Conan, Star trek (to name a few in the 80's only), even though they're 30 years old, are seen today as masterpieces and frequently listened by many people through the world, and will be for numerous years.

There's a reason for this, many reasons in fact (I'll detail them another time), but bottom line is, you have to convince the decision makers to obtain change, not to expect it spontaneously from the evolution of technology, in film music at least. Someone has to tell these people, to provide serious arguments that will persuade them that grand symphonic music is real benefit for their movies. How about handling this task, Mike?

I've been listening to a lot of Myaskovsky lately (listened to all 27 symphonies, twice!) and this is by far his most amazing moment, similar to something James Newton Howard would write (if he were born in 19th century Russia and wrote 23 symphonies prior): YouTube - Myaskovsky: Symphony #24 in F Minor, Op. 63 - II Molto sostenuto (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K0F_X3rYSUg)

Powerful stuff.

I really loved that #24 part. Hope to hear it with better Q soon XD

I agree completely with everything you said Arthierr. That is exactly what I was thinking when I listened to his podcast. We either have people with talent told to create tripe or people with no talent praised for their generic work because it sounds epic. There will be no chance for those skilled with an orchestra to stand out because the producers in Hollywood are perfectly happy with scores like Battle LA, The Eagle, The Lincoln Lawyer, Iron Clad, Your Highness.

The only time we will see change is when the mass wants change. I predict that this trend will continue for another 5-10 years, and then audiences will grow tried of the generic crap. You will see an upheaval of sales for the great orchestral music (Star Wars, Star Trek, Lord of the Rings, etc.) and then the executives will take notice.

Until then, just get comfortable with European and Japanese cinema, Videogames and Anime.

The only time we will see change is when the mass wants change. I predict that this trend will continue for another 5-10 years, and then audiences will grow tried of the generic crap. You will see an upheaval of sales for the great orchestral music (Star Wars, Star Trek, Lord of the Rings, etc.) and then the executives will take notice.

Until then, just get comfortable with European and Japanese cinema, Videogames and Anime.

keep your eyes and ears on moviescoremedia and chris bacon.classis orchestral scores for each of the movies he scored.can�t wait for source code, which has been described as mixture between goldsmith and schifrin.has anyone heard it? its here for download though i refuse to download new releases.

I haven't listened to Source Code yet - mostly because I never heard of the guy before, and I had the assumption that it would be synth orchestra.

The only time we will see change is when the mass wants change. I predict that this trend will continue for another 5-10 years, and then audiences will grow tried of the generic crap. You will see an upheaval of sales for the great orchestral music (Star Wars, Star Trek, Lord of the Rings, etc.) and then the executives will take notice.

All this discussion remember me of the 70s (from the thing that I've read, of course!): orchestral score where no longer famous until everything change with the commercial success of Star Wars on cinemas and music market. So maybe something similar might happen now: the executive decissions will not change smoothly but driven by a previous great success. And honestly, I don't believe this could happen now with the crisis in music market. I don't see that "mass" changing for orchestral music. We'd need something with the market of Avatar 2 with the greatest score of last 25 years!!!

And honestly, in my best dreams, that music isn't even close to what JH did in Willow. But maybe I'm too pessimist and Giacchino is writing it for Super 8, Brian Tyler is getting freedom for his next project, Hisaishi goes to write for Hollywood... or some other kind of miracle! xD