What is the general opinion about "The Irregular at Magic High School", both anime and score among you guys? I heard this wonderful vocal song (Vespertine Bloom) in Vinphonic's Taku Iwasaki playlist and was totally captivated by its optimism and romanticism. Had this one on repeat for a while now - it totally brightens my days. Guess I should give the show and the two soundtrack volumes a shot soon - though from what I gathered while I was reading about the series, the show's general themes and concepts have not much in common with the mood and feel of this particular song.

So I just wanted to say a big "thank you!" to Vinphonic for the brilliant Oshima suggestions (I was able to track down a good number of them. Just finished listening to Hana Yori Dango, can't wait to jump into others!), another big "thank you!" to nextday for his share of suggestions as well as point me to Vinphonic's amazing Iwasaki playlist (this one was a huge surprise - didn't think I was in for something of this caliber) and also one final big "thank you!" to Sirusjr for those terrific "Loveliness, Elegance, and Nobility" playlists. So many good stuff in there a whole bunch of names I hadn't heard of before. Haven't had this much fun listening to film music for quite some time! Thanks guys!

Very glad you appreciate those. I created them because so many anime scores have great cues but they also have stuff that is a totally different mood. So by pulling out the more beautiful parts of different scores I am able to have a nice long relaxing playlist. I will also re-upload Volumes 4 and 5 soon so that you can enjoy those as well. They are from film scores as opposed to anime and also available in Lossless. I will make a note here when I have posted those.

EDIT: New links posted for the MP3 versions of each of Volumes 4 and 5. With any luck I may get Volume 6 finished soon. I have to see if what I had in my list can be added to and still makes for a good listening experience.

ドク "Doc" (1996) [FLCF-3672]
Composed and arranged by YUJI NOMI

MP3 (https://mega.nz/#!4Y1VTLIB!oZVza1dOX5ZZ0rVCc97h4nNYYRU8ZFvx_gy63FoSehk)| ALAC (https://mega.nz/#!EIlVmApK!SyjzCWUIEWXBd48Jyykh5Ic2U2-g3hSzhio5Dk_z-ec)

I came across this and thought it worthy of a share. The main theme is gorgeous and serene. Yuji Nomi isn't well known outside of his Studio Ghibli works, but I will be looking for more from him after hearing his work on this soundtrack.

For the first time ever, Tango can't make a joke about how long Blizzard's complete soundtracks are.


STARCRAFT II: LEGACY OF THE VOID
320 VBR V -0 MP3 | 1"17'17 | BOMBASTIC ORCHESTRA, CHORAL, EPIC


Jason Hayes and Neal Acree - Unity (Intro) (3:08)
Jason Hayes and Mike Patti - The Legacy of the Void (Main Menu) (3:46)
Jason Hayes and Mike Patti - Whispers of Oblivion (1:31)
Jason Hayes and Neal Acree - Reclamation (2:29)
Jason Hayes and Mike Patti - "Valor Is My Shield" (3:03)
Jason Hayes and Neal Acree - "For Aiur" (3:09)
Jason Hayes, Mike Patti and Glenn Stafford - "Justice Is My Sword" (3:13)
Jason Hayes and Mike Patti - The Spear of Adun (1:48)
Jason Hayes and Mike Patti - The Preserver (1:53)
Jason Hayes and Mike Patti - "Honor Guides Me" (4:00)
Jason Hayes and Mike Patti - Sever the Khala (1:55)
Jason Hayes and Mike Patti - The Khalai and the Nerazim (2:55)
Jason Hayes and Mike Patti - Shakuras Descending (2:24)
Jason Hayes and Neal Acree - The Heart of the Nerazim (2:23)
Jason Hayes, Mike Patti and Glenn Stafford - The Attack on Korhal (1:40)
Jason Hayes and Mike Patti - Holding Up the Sky (3:06)
Jason Hayes and Neal Acree - The Fate of All Warriors (3:01)
Jason Hayes and Mike Patti - Amon's Reach (3:28)
Jason Hayes, Mike Patti and Glenn Stafford - The Firstborn (3:45)
Jason Hayes and Neal Acree - Unlikely Allies (2:46)
Jason Hayes and Neal Acree - Entombed (1:56)
Jason Hayes and Mike Patti - The Golden Armada (2:24)
Jason Hayes and Mike Patti - Khala's End (3:08)
Jason Hayes and Neal Acree - Legacy (3:18)
Jason Hayes and Mike Patti - Into the Void (1:46)
Jason Hayes and Mike Patti - An End (1:08)
Jason Hayes and Mike Patti - The Keystone (2:16)
Jason Hayes and Neal Acree - Cycle's End (2:05)
Jason Hayes and Neal Acree - Homecoming (1:38)
Jason Hayes and Mike Patti - My Life for Aiur (2:15)


https://mega.nz/#!vI4WDZyD!J4yavNxKnzdP02Ac02sWxj_bqefJ4_8BXK9Axq_n2U0

For the first time ever, Tango can't make a joke about how long Blizzard's complete soundtracks are.

LOL. They sure axed the running time of this one. I was expecting them to go completely nuts with this last installment but contraction wasn't the word I had in mind. Nice to see they stepped up their game with respect to quality of writing though - even if they still seem to be obsessed with remote control productions anthems and trailer music libraries. Jason Hayes is back in action and firing on all cylinders! His musical voice was surely missed this past 10 years.

Doublehex, out of curiosity, where do you get the composer credits for the cues? I know Void's iTunes album was properly tagged and since there is very little that didn't make it to that album it was probably not that hard, but Liberty and Swarm were huge and I don't suppose the OGG files from the game's data files had any metadata attached? (I recall back when World of WarCraft games were using MP3 files in their data files, they were fully tagged)

There are some solid modern orchestral cues on there. A couple of tracks are strangely quiet but otherwise it is solid.

Did Ko Otani ever make a soundtrack for game or anime under the same style as SotC? I may just not be finding it, but I still to this day want more music like that. Not all his music is even orchestral.

I would try vgmdb's database.
He did the Soultaker OST, not *that* similar but you may like it too. It is easy to find in torrent form ;)

PS. please PM me if you ever find a lossless rip of it

I'm looking for the following cues in lossless for my next Loveliness, Elegance, and Nobility volume. If I can get these in lossless everything will be able to be in lossless. If you have them please let me know here so that I don't have to have multiple people searching for the same once you find it and then PM me a link. I am putting the finishing touches on Volume 6 right now so this would help move it along.

Kon Tiki - Track 05 - Johan Soderqvist
Shiro Sagisu - Neon Genesis Evangelion II Track 19 - When I find Peace of Mind
Fernando Velazquez - The Impossible - Track 1
Alexandre Desplat - Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium - Track 36

EDIT: Already got them. Many thanks.

I'm looking for the following cues in lossless for my next Loveliness, Elegance, and Nobility volume. If I can get these in lossless everything will be able to be in lossless. If you have them please let me know here so that I don't have to have multiple people searching for the same once you find it and then PM me a link. I am putting the finishing touches on Volume 6 right now so this would help move it along.

Kon Tiki - Track 05 - Johan Soderqvist
Shiro Sagisu - Neon Genesis Evangelion II Track 19 - When I find Peace of Mind
Fernando Velazquez - The Impossible - Track 1
Alexandre Desplat - Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium - Track 36
I can get all those for you shortly. Will PM. (edit: sent)

Great thanks. I got one set here and another set elsewhere so I should have everything now.

See Sunstrider, your question got me to finally finish Volume 6 of Loveliness, Elegance, and Nobility. I had a start going but never got around to finishing it but now I figured no time like the present and BOOM here it is. Yes I know it has been a year and a half if not slightly longer since I put up the last volume but we can always use more relaxing music. I expect most people will find at least a few cues in here that they were not familiar with. If not, it makes for a solid highlights from various scores represented here. Yes I know the War Horse track is really long but that is just the style of John Williams and it happens to be the most fitting track from that album for inclusion. I debated putting it at the end again but I decided to end on a more triumphant note with Rise of the Guardians.

And thanks again to nextday for being so awesome and getting me the last few cues in FLAC that I was missing so fast.


Loveliness, Elegance, and Nobility Volume 6
38 Tracks|2 hours 5 minutes

MP3 V0 - 217MB
Download (http://www.mirrorcreator.com/files/WH7MMZAK/LENV6.rar_links)

FLAC - 633MB
Download Part 1 (http://www.mirrorcreator.com/files/5OPV6846/LENV6_FL.part1.rar_links)
Download Part 2 (http://www.mirrorcreator.com/files/0NHWQLVN/LENV6_FL.part2.rar_links)

Tracklist

1 Joe Hisaishi - (Tenshi Meisatsu), Track 27, Tenshi Meisatsu
2 Joe Hisaishi - (Saka no Ue no Kumo OST 2) Track 3 Time of Miracles
3 Joe Hisaishi - (Saka no Ue no Kumo OST 1) Track 12 Stand Alone Orchestral
4 Alan Silvestri - (The Croods) - Track 21, Cave Painting Theme
5 Max Steiner - (Those Calloways), Track 15, Angel
6 James Newton Howard - (Dave), Track -08 She Hates Me
7 Naoki Sato - (Priceless), Track 01, Priceless
8 Toshiyuki Watanabe - (Space Brothers), Track 12 Shimatta Atta Omoi
9 Toshiyuki Watanabe - (Space Brothers) Track 02 Yume no Hikitsugi
10 Jan AP Kaczmarek - (Finding Neverland) Track 01 Where Is Mr. Barrie
11 Nic Raine - (Wir Wolten Aufs Meer), Track 01, No Man's Land
12 Johan Soderqvist - (Kon Tiki) - On Course
13 Patrick Doyle - (Killing Me Softly), Track 31, End Titles
14 Jane Antonia Cornish - (Fireflies in the Garden) Track 01,
15 Jane Antonia Cornish - (Fireflies in the Garden) Track 02, Remembering Lisa
16 Alfred Newman - (A Certain Smile) Track 01, Main Title
17 John Williams - (War Horse), Track 16 The Homecoming
18 Patrick Doyle - (Man to Man) - Track 01, Suite
19 Shiro Sagisu - (Evangelion OST 2) Track 19 When I Find Peace of Mind
20 Steve Wood - (Everest) - Track 02 The Himalayas
21 Fernando Vel�zquez -(The Impossible) - track 01 main title.
22 Nobuo Uematsu - (Blue Dragon) Main Theme
23 Nobuo Uematsu - (Lost Odyssey) main Theme
24 Bruce Smeaton - (Iceman) - Track 02 Main Title
25 Pascal Gaigne - (Castillos De Carton) - Track 01 - Castillos de Carton
26 Panu Aalito - (The Tale of a Forest) - Track 04 A Midsummer Treasure
27 Panu Aalito - (The Tale of a Forest) - Track 11 - Home
28 Alexandre Desplat (Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium) Track 36 Finale
29 Yugo Kanno - (Gunshi Kanbee Vol 1) Track 10
30 Yugo Kanno - (Gunshi Kanbee Vol 1) Track 25
31 Jan AP Kaczmarek - (War and Peace) - The Rostrovs Return to Moscow
32 Pascal Gaigne - (Los Manos de mi Madre) Track 02
33 John Williams - (The Book Thief) - Track 06
34 Dario Marianelli - (Jane Eyre) - Track 11
35 Bear McCreary - (Da Vinci's Demons) Track 09
36 Johann Johannson - (The Theory of Everything) - 15
37 Bruce Broughton - (Homeward Bound) - Track 19 or 28
38 Alexandre Desplat - (Rise of the Guardians) - Track 27 Oath of the Guardians

Michiru Oshima - Garasu no Usagi (2005)

MP3 (https://mega.nz/#!8dFkmKYR!ALMlJGTvtMQggykmoUuOIAYGzQPnQNelr9jsVD_m4AE) | ALAC (https://mega.nz/#!tR03AK4A!YHB6eCEeIdjL6LO_3NiHn53gWUpSsIKKFurANMB1B0o)

See Sunstrider, your question got me to finally finish Volume 6 of Loveliness, Elegance, and Nobility.

0_______0

Good work!



Michiru Oshima - Garasu no Usagi (2005)


Thank You!

Thanks for the new Volume Sirusjr :)

Can anyone suggest beautiful cues for piano and orchestra, or even piano solo, by Yugo Kanno that have the same or similar feel and mood as "Chiffon" and "Sayaka" from Kanno's "Birdy the Mighty", as heard from Sirusjr's third compilation?

Yes, yes, YES! Girls und Panzer der Film ist wunderbar :D This is Hamaguchi's best score since Ah! My Goddess. Now I'm pretty excited for the concert suites performed by the Tokyo Philharmonic in february.
All these orchestral concerts for anime projects recently and almost every show this season gets an official soundtrack, what is going on?! Next season/year is already beyond promising if only for the sheer amount of talent assembled (Oshima, Sato, Yamashita, Fujisawa, Murai(?), Shiina, Hamaguchi, Kouda in full traditional Hollywood mode and a surprisingly melodic Tatsuya all in one season with over a dozen projects without a composer credited yet... perhaps even Hirano might show up :D).
Next year we'll also see the return of more motion picture scoring art with Bahamut S2, Kameoka's possible big return with the Kantai series, more orchestral band power with a second season and movie of Euphonium and perhaps even Sahashi will be scoring the new Full Metal Panic. Oh and to top it off, this little baby is finally complete. The world is pretty grim these days but today life is good.




Hiroshi Takaki
Go! Princess Precure
Studio Orchestra



Download (https://mega.nz/#!uxBj1R5Y!RwSpdqf2K5RXyeHtMPEFygnTKN48s8ag7vr7gvQc3Ag)
MP3 / 320kbps / 88 Tracks / 138min


So here's the new annual score of this long-running franchise and oh boy, precure never sounded better. Takaki goes beyond the call of duty and delievers a score full of lyricism, romanticism and some kickass orchestral action. His precure style is so addicting: Modern elements like dub-drums and electronics mixed with traditional orchestral writing and retro vocals from cheesy 60s TV series and classic SciFi & Fantasy. It all works so damn well that I do not mind the absence of a truely mature and serious classical score (at least for the movie), but let's be serious, precure doesn't need one. Nonetheless, Takaki sneaks in some really bombastic orchestral action, classical waltzes, violin duets, heartwarming melodies and epic moments of fantasy and scifi. I rearranged the three albums for a more satisfying listening experience. The TV score now clocks around 90 minutes and fits on a single cd, the movie score recieved a few alternate takes from the TV albums for better flow. I've also included two songs as a bonus that I think belong to the score. They are backed by an orchestra and almost venture into Disney/Broadway territory. If Takaki stays onboard for Mahou Girls I wouldn't be surprised if he takes after Oshima and fights for a symphony orchestra.


Download [REMASTERED Edition] (https://mega.nz/#!mphkHTKS!RKJ4rIUBaVghpEXj5aL0LZAQ35rjlBGYyF9si53aHSM)
Recorded in Abbey Road Studios, Studio One


After countless weeks of tweaking and trying, I think I've finally developed a decent enough simulation of the "Abbey Road Studio One sound". From now on when I can spare some time I will try this one on other japanese scores, so far Kantai and Bahamut show very promising results. Now don't expect miracles, an orchestra recorded in SOUND INN will never sound like it has been recorded in Abbey Road, but I think I succeeded in at least conjuring the "room sound" of this legendary studio. The final result is from a mixture of EQing, Virtual Orchestral Space convolution reverb, mic placements, tape simultation and various other little magic tools. Feel free to judge it by yourself, criticism always helps.

Enjoy this marvelous firecracker
credit for the rip goes to LeatherHead and wild_redace

There's also Takayuki Hattori's taiga drama in January and Naoki Sato's taiga fantasy drama in the March. Two taiga scores in one year. 2016 shows promise.

And Sahashi scoring the new FMP series? Now wouldn't that be something to look forward to.

Thanks for the new Precure, Vinphonic!

...and almost every show this season gets an official soundtrack.
Haha, you say this and now Rokka no Yuusha is unexpectedly getting a non-enclosure CD soundtrack release due on February 6.

Much appreciated once again your compilation Vinphonic. Will check this one out.

Hi guys, it's been some time after my last comment on this , been pretty busy all of the sudden in these last few months, so no time for any commentary in this never ending ride of high quality contributions, but alas, I've found some time to share some thoughts with you on what's been up lately here:

First, once again, brilliant, just brilliant contribution Vinphonic of this ongoing series, gave it at least 3 times on listening it over and over. It has everything a mahō shōjo series should have, a bombastic eclectic transformation sequence, elegant funny charming pieces, heavy 90's rock 'n' roll based tracks for those fierce battle sequences, and a very playful orchestra that seems to make it's presence on every track. Even the tracks with dubstep rhythm beats like "Dream to be violations" & "Fight with a fierce enemy" are well merged with the orchestrations , so that the electronic elements don't interfere or downgrade the quality in that manner. My favorite track has to be the slow waltzy yet majestic "Princess Palace", the harmony progression just tickles my chord bones, it's the type of progression that I usually love to hear every now and then! This and AKB0048 has to be my most favorites from mister Takaki, great job!

If I'd had anything to compare this with the very first Pretty Cure OST from Naoki Sato, it would be that this package presents a bit more variety in terms of styles. Don't get me wrong though, Sato's pieces on the first PC series were quite nice, but I feel as if there were a bit too much of those "drum" tracks where he'd normally combined with his orchestrations, which sounded great. Perhaps other time I can go into more detail about that, but for now, I'm loving from what I've heard of GPP! Thank you once again!

Macross Delta PV: Huh, I can see why some are making the comparison of the music with Hamazu, the music libaries sounds like something he would be using usually, the progression as well. Closest thing I can found would be something like this (http://picosong.com/bcdg/). I hope that Kanno makes it in the end, I'm really angsty to hear what could finally be her return to a full symphonic score, after years of recording on small ensambles and arranging openings, I think it's about time to go with the big guns. Then again I could be wrong, after all, Aquarion Logos didn't got a soundtrack from her, we'll know soon enough.

Star Wars VII PV: Way to f*ck up a classic with the "epic trailer music" bullcrap treatment that every movie is getting nowdays, the most laughable thing about this, is that they even try to sugarcoat it with "Leia's Theme" playing with all the obnoxious soundscapes in-between. Simply mind-numbingly dull.

Wish I could talk alot more from what was discussed here, but time is quite rough for me at the moment, so I'll leave it for now on here. Apologies again with my horrible english and lack of a better selection of vocabulary for this rather more insightful section of the shrine :p

The new series of Teletubbies has re-recorded its theme tune with a 90-piece symphony orchestra.

Japan, beat THAT!

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH


Well to be fair, Teletubbies is about as weirdly japanese the British ever got (and I swear some inspiration for the design of Katamari was influenced by it).

Heart Cocktail Vol.5-6 - Shigeaki Saegusa (1991)
Miyazawa Kenji Sono Ai Original Soundtrack (1996)
KENJI - Takashi Kako (1988)

MANY THANKS AMISH FOR THE VINTAGE MUSIC

So, a "Valkyria: Azure Revolution" seem to be heading over to PS4 in Winter 2016 in Japan. Wonder if Hitoshi Sakimoto is returning for this one. Been a while since he made some righteous noise.

It feels weird to hear my country described as "the west" by a man also from the west. ;)

Haha, oh what poor choice of words :D
But in geographical terms, from my perspective, you are indeed in the west :p


On another topic, I've also uploaded a remastered version of Princess Precure, this time undertaking the difficult task of simulating Abbey Road.

So, a "Valkyria: Azure Revolution" seem to be heading over to PS4 in Winter 2016 in Japan. Wonder if Hitoshi Sakimoto is returning for this one. Been a while since he made some righteous noise.

That would be fantastic. I am not even going anywhere close to another one of those games after how ridiculously difficult the first game is but hopefully he can get a full orchestra this time (and bring in a talented arranger to flesh it out).

Suite for Orchestra & Chamber Ensemble "HEIDI"
- Takeo Watanabe and Toru Fuyuki -

MP3 v0 (https://mega.nz/#!QcUQRZaD!89JvITw4QSIy52h9T1AZU4uvqCV7GByQNAvpkaPFAqQ)

This suite is a religious listening experience. Take a sip or two of Moscato, close your eyes and let this music carry you away.

@17love: Thanks for that lovely suite. I translated the tracklist and added the album at VGMdb (http://vgmdb.net/album/55769).


So, a "Valkyria: Azure Revolution" seem to be heading over to PS4 in Winter 2016 in Japan. Wonder if Hitoshi Sakimoto is returning for this one. Been a while since he made some righteous noise.
Someone on VGMdb speculates that Mitsuda is involved because the vocals in the teaser video sound like Sarah Alainn. She made a Facebook post last week about working on a "big project" with Mitsuda.

Sakimoto and Mitsuda might be an interesting combination! I mean Mitsuda could be involved only for the vocals just like he did with Xenoblade Chronicles.

17love, Thank you for Oshima and Heidi. I will listen to it tomorrow in the coziest way I know ;)



Keiji Inai
The Sinfonia of London

FAMILIA MYTH
Is it wrong to hope to Meet a Girl in a Dungeon?

Remastered Edition




Download (https://mega.nz/#!2pJ3XRIY!TWe1WHMr5lTpKJEO5gahhWyxcZiajMfBcxhm4OpqQJM)
Recorded in Abbey Road, Studio One


If only...
But to move away from fantasy, I did a complete remastering of the two cds. It's also the first real test for my new "London Filter". I also rearranged the two albums and edited many tracks, for example "Battle with the Minotaur" because it just bugged me on album the way it's arranged. In general it's more like a proper film score now and I hope I succeeded in at least simultating a better recording environment. I'm also intrigued by how hollywoodesque it all sounds, far more so than what you usualy hear in a japanese score.

Here's a little preview (http://picosong.com/bLjQ).

Enjoy

did i miss it or did we never talk about Jean-Philippe Vanbeselaeres amazing music work Masters of Lights The Last Crusade?I know people really enjoyed Cinema Symphony and while this one is less complex its a LOT of fun.A huge Poledeurisstyle History epic pseudoscore with michael kamen influences here and there and crazy genreshifts.some tracks sound like jrpg music, the finale starts with something straight out of an 80s sportsfilm score and theres more.very diverse and entertaining.

Suite for Orchestra & Chamber Ensemble "HEIDI"
- Takeo Watanabe and Toru Fuyuki -


Thank you for the share. Great listen! The music is about the only part of those old Nippon Animation's World Masterpiece Theater series that has stood the test of time. That is in my opinions, of course. They often had good scripts too, albeit too heavy on melodrama for much of their running time. Would be fun to see remakes of these, if one(s) is ever made.

I did a complete remastering of the two cds. It's also the first real test for my new "London Filter". I also rearranged the two albums and edited many tracks, for example "Battle with the Minotaur" because it just bugged me on album the way it's arranged. In general it's more like a proper film score now and I hope I succeeded in at least simultating a better recording environment. I'm also intrigued by how hollywoodesque it all sounds, far more so than what you usualy hear in a japanese score.

Very interesting. Hestia Familia now sounds like from an old top movie soundtrack recording. Congratulations!

On the other hand, something isn't quite right with Monsterphilia. Maybe it's a corner case where the "London Filter" doesn't automatically give great results? Or maybe it doesn't require as much processing. I tried improving the original with only multiband compression and added reverb to give it more room. But I was aiming more for a concert hall space and not a recording studio. What else needs to be done with it?


LINK (https://mega.nz/#F!vZ9n2TxS!kFI4eB5TRFLyVSTBLLZzVw)

Ah you're right ... I guess that means there's no way around working on each track individually to avoid such problems. Here's a revised version (https://mega.nz/#!Xkoh0TYT!FxYrcSpVfB7LouMxGW_WBNH8zBqpLm7VM98aJBHfXiA) where I worked on Monsterphilia directly, as a bonus I've included a "Warsaw" and "Moscow" version for comparison.

But thank you for the much needed feedback, you just can't go the easy way it seems.
In regards to your question: Perhaps tape simulation and a saturation tool for a more "warm" sound? I used a "warm" preset on the OGCs and it worked really well. I usually don't use compression at all on orchestral stuff but EQing is at least 60% of the trick for me. For a more realistic space simulation you need the specifications of the room sound you're after, then use either an algorythmic reverb or a virtual space tool like MIR or VSS 2.0 in combination with a convolution reverb. The rest is ear training.

Thanks, nextday! I've taken a serious interest in Toru Fuyuki since I looked at his other vgmdb.net entries. Something about his style of arranging resonates with me. I can hear his experience with Tokusatsu programs overlap into his more classical-sounding scores, and it works really well for me.

Well, since Toru Fuyuki is on the menu, how about a repost of two symphonies based on his phenomenally famous "Ultra Seven" score from 1967, in glorious contemporary recordings made at a live concert with the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra?


TORU FUYUKI conducts ULTRA SEVEN
The Tokyo Symphony Orchestra

https://mega.nz/#!U5IxVa5D!ojFf6DGp-4b2SgUW2gzj-GXZNari0f2fGlj3zgUVfVc
Rip made in 2012 - FLAC Level 8. Tagged in English. Full booklet scans (from 2010) included.



BONUS: A twelve minute suite of cues I produced in August 2010 from Ultraseven's original 1967 recording.
https://mega.nz/#!c0gnlahT!E0MjWeyL-0lEEJVpCM6Vx-G-ni0SKDzA77w8zBNHr3Q

(Another in my series of "CDs I Bought In Tokyo" - this time from a shop called Mandarake in Shibuya. A completely insane, but truly amazing store that you really should visit if you have any interest at all in anime/manga and are in the neighbourhood...)

Everybody knows who Ultraman is. Most people have a fond recollection of Ultra Seven - to this day the most popular and well known of the Ultra series, it made its TV debut in 1967. Toru Fuyuki contributed a remarkable score; he took a potentially silly looking series and scored it straight as an arrow, as a powerful sci-fi epic. His orchestra in 1967 was respectable, but time has not been kind to the original recording. How fortuitous then, that Toru Fuyuki was commissioned to write two symphonies based on themes from Ultra Seven! Both the symphonies on this disc have been previously released in concert recordings (and are virtually impossible to find today) but this is the first time they've appeared together. These were recorded in March 2009 in concert at Tokyo Opera City.

Fuyuki's scores were always bigger than the ensembles that performed them. In making these self-contained symphonic re-imaginations of his original themes, we can finally appreciate how forward thinking his music was - and how unabashedly grand and heroic he made that silly man running around in a red lycra suit.

Ultra Cosmo Symphony (no relation to Ultraman Cosmos, which was also scored by Fuyuki in 2001) was written in 1979, and is cast in four movements. Ultra Seven Symphony was written in 1993, and is cast in five movements. There are also three bonus tracks that will probably offend the more purist sensibilities in this thread, but will absolutely delight Ultraman fans; Song Of The Ultra Guard, a Wandaba Medley (the Japanese certainly like their onomatopoeia - this one describes one of Fuyuki's trademark choral techniques), and the phenomenally famous Song Of Ultraseven.

It amazes and delights me that Japanese audiences are beating each other up for tickets to these concerts, and that Fuyuki (still sprightly, healthy, and as his Ultraman Cosmos score of 2001 proves, at the top of his game - and long may this continue) is so respected, and held in such esteem. But most of all, it's just this wonderful music - old fashioned, thematic, larger than life, science fiction epic... like they just don't make any more. Where would be be without the Japanese, and whatever system that country has in place that allows grand symphonic music to live and flourish? They do not to confine it to history as a nostalgic relic of times gone by - they propogate it, giving "ways in" to the new generations.

I believe it was your earlier link I partook of, tango, and I couldn't agree more with your enthusiasm for the album. "Song of Ultra Seven" is a long standing favourite I play as loudly as I can.

Sinsuke Kazuto
The Adelaide Symphony Orchestra
conducted by Patrick Thomas

Ultraman GREAT
Film Score Edit



Download (https://mega.nz/#!i9xXCRpZ!Xt7ka13G58KbuBFrJjG7d6Ql-H1tSIN0yoso-P9ZT40)
FLAC / Level 8 / 13 Tracks / 60min

01. Main Title ~ Ultraman: Towards the Future
02. Prelude
03. Cityscape Sun and Moon
04. Jean Echo
05. Romance
06. Appearance of the Galactic Hero
07. The Wriggling For Cataclysm
08. The War Of Deities
09. Great Friendship
10. Birth of a Legend
11. Road to the Final Battle
12. The Sword Of Wisdom
13. End Title ~ Ultraman the Great





Ultraman? Adelaide Symphony Orchestra? LOLWUT???

In the late eighties, keen to break into the foreign market they had almost made an impression on with Ultraseven, Tsuburaya Productions teamed up with the South Australian Film Corporation to produce Ultraman Great - the first and last English language Ultraman series to date. Made in Australia, with an Australian cast and production team, the series was plagued with difficulties - Tsuburaya were not impressed with the attitude taken to their franchise by the Australian team and on hearing about planned production shortcuts they sent a Japanese team to Australia to work for free purely to maintain a certain level of quality. By all accounts, the show was cheap and nasty.

When budget cuts are looming, usually the very first aspects of production to get chopped is the music... but not in this case, strangely enough! Sinsuke Kazato recorded a purely symphonic, one hour score with the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra that plays on CD more like a symphony than a film score. He crafted his score as a musically coherent concert work which would then be chopped up and edited in to the TV show as necessary. Yoko Kanno takes a very similar approach in her orchestral scores; writing self-contained mini-symphonic-poem showpieces and leaving the complicated stuff to the editors. So, what we get is nine movements of straight-up old fashioned superhero scoring. The main theme is an absolute corker - musically it's more Superman than Ultraman, and I mean that as a compliment; a lovely march with strident brass and soaring strings right up there with the best. And that's just the beginning! What more can I say? This is a stunner. I know I'm saying that an awful lot lately. But it is. It's a brilliant Ultraman score. But more than that, it's an Ultraman symphony - and it deserves that title ten times more than the Kaoru Wada / Takayuki Hattori album of that title!

The Adelaide Symphony Orchestra play with enthusiasm and accomplishment. The recording is quite splendid - dynamic, genuine, and realistic.

This disc started off very rare - then went through a period of regular availability on Animex 1200, and now I believe it's rare again. So, enjoy. :D


Everything ripped from CD and edited in FLAC.

anyone have this?

GIRLS und PANZER der FILM OST

Main theme from the movie Clover by Kousuke Yamashita: http://picosong.com/bjSZ/

I can't share the full score, which is mostly short 1 minute cues, because it's not my rip.


Edit: And here's an edited version by me that gives it a proper ending. Enjoy: https://mega.nz/#!kFtSkJrY!Hb6lcSIFQKUxk7CfeVnVYrxPPNldZMbDPzjFRF4wzH4

Main theme from the movie Clover by Kousuke Yamashita: http://picosong.com/bjSZ/

I can't share the full score, which is mostly short 1 minute cues, because it's not my rip.


Edit: And here's an edited version by me that gives it a proper ending. Enjoy: https://mega.nz/#!kFtSkJrY!Hb6lcSIFQKUxk7CfeVnVYrxPPNldZMbDPzjFRF4wzH4

Thank You! It is always a pleasure to listen to Yamashita.

AHEM HOLY COW HOW DID MODERN TIMES ALLOW THE CREED SCORE TO BE SO AMAZING???!!!!
also first 15 secs of force awakens dont give me the prequel but an indy vibe which is great.

Many thanks for both Familia Myth and Heidi. Both are beautiful in their own way. The LSO sounds absolutely stunning in the first one. And wow another Ultraman score available as well. Lovely!
EDIT: Yeah I had that Ultraman score already but it is indeed lovely and this got me to revisit it. Including Tango's original cover would make it obvious to some who are more visual. I remember cover art more than names of scores often.

Is Familia Myth the anime as bad as it looks? I noticed some parts of it on Netflix recently but I was scared away by the title.

THE DOCTOR: Thread 197075

TOMOKO NO BAAI: Thread 197074

Hamaguchi's score for the Girls und Panzer movie is fantastic. Bigger and better than the TV score. Makes me wish he would take on more series like this, instead of the slice-of-life dramas that he usually does.

Really hyped for the TSO concert CD now.

Might I ask where you gentlemen are listening to it, please? All I can find are 30 second samples...

Might I ask where you gentlemen are listening to it, please? All I can find are 30 second samples...
Here you go: https://mega.nz/#!1ZEgEAqB!UGRKDcLnxXfhM0Ti2e8S6aBpV3a7eV09zADdaJPC7L8

Shiro Hamaguchi
GIRLS und PANZER der FILM [Spezialausgabe]
The Panzercraft Marching Corps



Download (+Scans) (https://mega.nz/#!C0JzBaoa!O-LbsPF8Tghg0OPzLElFtq83KfgSoOhk5YshOCRMQdc)
CD-Rip / FLAC / Level 8 / 38 Tracks / 90 min

Many heavy guns are being fired as the year comes to a close and sure enough, GuP der FILM is one of those. "GIRLS und PANZER" is one of those quirky japanese ideas that you should laugh off after a quick first glance but is surprisingly endearing and crafted by passionate hands that made this project appear on the big screen and in the concert hall. What a delightful return of military bravado with a revitalization of old dusty tunes to a furious aural spectale. The only fault you can find in this score is that most is simply an upgrade of the TV score and not a true return to Ah! My Goddess level of excellence but then again, a powered-up TV score is all I was asking for. Hamaguchi's main theme does not need to hide behind Elmer Bernstein but you could make the argument that it misses some punch from similar pastiche efforts like Chicken Run. Nonetheless it's all in good fun and the many variations are a jolly ride. The new marches and war drama challenge Kantai in parts and especially the new marches take the spotlight, the unbelievably joyful "Yuki no Shingun", the absolutly GLORIOUS arrangement of the Panzerlied and the fantastic United Academy medley. For this "special edition" I added and carefully adjusted some tracks from the TV score to match the movie and rearranged the album. The marches should not be simply listened to standalone but instead woven into a musical narrative, they are more film arrangements than concert suites anyway. I've ripped everything from CD and I've also included scans of the case and booklet with an interview of Hamaguchi. This version now clocks on 90 minutes and fits on a single cd. I've also remastered and edited the TV score to match the movie because upon revisiting it, it sounds far too thin to be as powerful and bold as intended. Here you go:


GIRLS und PANZER [Remastered]
Studio Orchestra



Download (https://mega.nz/#!ygQyEIrC!tzaNANivyvuPJlUtQq1PLIwPpIyuuXMD4ijF69h1dok)
CD-Rip / FLAC / Level 8 / 36 Tracks / 75 min


Enjoy to your hearts content



I've finally got my new internet up and running so everything from this point on will be in FLAC when possible
An update to my OGCs Remaster will be up soon
Here it is! (Thread 192768)

Tango, Katamari Symphony is now available in FLAC. I did not forget ;)

I don't know how fond people are of seeing a Video game Score in this Thread, but I think it's not the first one and people really like a good Orchestra score. SO here, I just ripped this from my Copy.


Anno 2205 Original Game Soundtrack
vgmdb (http://vgmdb.net/album/53614)
FLAC | CUE | LOG | OWN RIP



If you know the other ANNO games after 1503, than you know the Quality of the Soundtrack. Although less songs than in previous Years. The Stlye is similar to 2070 as it's even further in the Futue. But with the soundtrack still Produced by Dynamedion, it's quite good.

MEGA (https://mega.nz/#!vhoBTDzS!pihpSF-vtme3vmouEOGAofIxwVI8bwZIFV3Co9rA7x8)

Wordpass: A2205O

having anyone eminence symphony orchestra cd other than for night in fantasia 2009?

I've got a couple of them... honestly, they're not worth having.

2004's ANIF (an all-Hisaishi concert) is not bad, but it's nothing that Hisaishi himself hasn't already recorded - with infinitely finer ensembles - on easy-to-obtain CDs. It's also only 40 minutes long.

2005's ANIF (a DVD release) has some of the most atrocious orchestral playing ever committed to disc and in One Winged Angel, supplements it with a choir so bad you almost think they're joking. Also, only half of the orchestra showed up for some reason.

2009's ANIF is, of course, spoiled by an incompetent recording engineer, and again features stuff that you can get elsewhere in better performances.

Romeo x Juliet - a studio recording of Hitoshi Sakimoto's television anime score - is pretty well recorded, but the ensemble remains terrible.

The Vanishment of Haruhi Suzumiya is a nice score and perhaps the best they've ever sounded; still a thousand miles away from sounding like a professional ensemble with any business being in a recording studio... but an adequate performance.

Echoes of War is mostly terrible music but some of Natsumi Kameoka's orchestrations are very nice - she is doing a lot of heavy lifting there, to be sure. The interview video is very interesting. Go Shiina comes across as an absolute fuckwit with a mental age of seven, talking mainly about stuffing his face ("I enjoyed it so much, besides, I had a lot of snacks", and ") and very little about music. Ko Otani is a genius and a nutcase in equal measure. William Motzing (RIP) was a fascinating man who, sadly, was already in the advanced stages of SDS syndrome at the time of recording and was obviously in discomfort during the interviews.

TLDR; forget about ANIF, go for Romeo x Juliet, Echoes of War, and Haruhi. :)

Oh my God, Ni no Kuni II... the last 50 seconds of the trailer make me more happy than all Force Awakens trailers and score samples I've heared put together.

So THAT'S what Joe Hisaishi has been up to... Just listen to it, bloody hell... the guy is still getting better.

Goodness gracious, gorgeous stuff here all around for the second installment of Ni No Kuni, Hisaishi is at it again!

Also I kinda like the arrangement for the second trailer of the FF VII remake, even if we've heard this kinda of stuff many times already on previous game concerts (and even superior on that manner). Still, part of me wish this could get a full orchestral score which I mostly doubt for now. Personally, I'm still waiting for that VI remake with the score in hands of a competent arranger.

Goodness gracious, gorgeous stuff here all around for the second installment of Ni No Kuni, Hisashi is at it again!

Also I kinda like the arrangement for the second trailer of the FF VII remake, even if we've heard this kinda of stuff many times already on previous game concerts (and even superior on that manner). Still, part of me wish this could get a full orchestral score which I mostly doubt for now. Personally, I'm still waiting for that VI remake with the score in hands of a competent arranger.

Well the trailer does feature the Shiro Hamaguchi orchestration of Bombing Mission ;). It would be a complete dream come true if he handled the arrangement duties for the remake. But Square wouldn't do something so logical as to hire him.

BLOODBORNE: THE OLD HUNTERS
320 CBR MP3 | 1"48'06 | ORCHESTRAL HORROR, EPIC, CHORAL


Ryan Amon - Omen (2:06)
Ryan Amon - The Night Unfurls (2:05)
Ryan Amon - Hunter's Dream (3:34)
Tsukasa Saitoh - Cleric Beast (3:03)
Ryan Amon - The Hunter (3:24)
Tsukasa Saitoh - Blood-Starved Beast (4:40)
Tsukasa Saitoh - Laurence, the First Vicar (4:57)
Nobuyoshi Suzuki - Ludwig, the Holy Blade (4:08)
Nobuyoshi Suzuki - Living Failures (3:54)
Yuka Kitamura - Lady Maria of the Astral Clocktower (4:46)
Tsukasa Saitoh - Orphan of Kos (4:21)
Michael Wandmacher - The Witch of Hemwick (3:41)
Yuka Kitamura - Watchers (3:12)
Ryan Amon - Hail the Nightmare (2:56)
Yuka Kitamura - Rom, the Vacuous Spider (3:32)
Ryan Amon - Moonlit Melody (3:29)
Cris Velasco - Terror (3:50)
Michael Wandmacher - Of the Pthumerian Line (3:44)
Ryan Amon - Queen of the Vilebloods (3:51)
Tsukasa Saitoh - Darkbeast (4:55)
Nobuyoshi Suzuki - The One Reborn (3:33)
Ryan Amon - Soothing Hymn (2:03)
Ryan Amon - Celestial Emissary (2:55)
Yuka Kitamura - Ebrietas, Daughter of the Cosmos (3:57)
Cris Velasco - Amygdala (3:29)
Michael Wandmacher - Micolash, Nightmare Host (3:42)
Ryan Amon - Lullaby for Mergo (3:49)
Tsukasa Saitoh - The First Hunter (5:10)
Ryan Amon - Moon Presence (2:44)
Ryan Amon - Bloodborne (2:36)


https://mega.nz/#!7BxE2TwD!TEaAQVRLF7PFuOK73boqhMjUZEqbAeaI2R8t8ITaQr0

This is a combination of the two soundtracks combined into chronological order. Interestingly, despite this not using any of the extended music from the gamerip, as I did for the Dark Souls games, Bloodborne is almost two hours in length.

Well the trailer does feature the Shiro Hamaguchi orchestration of Bombing Mission ;). It would be a complete dream come true if he handled the arrangement duties for the remake. But Square wouldn't do something so logical as to hire him.

I can't believe that just slipped under my nose, of course! They totally used Hamaguchi's orchestrations from that "MORE FRIENDS" concert of 2006. Guess I just really didn't listen that much to Bombing Mission to begin with :P

As for him being the current actual orchestrator for the remake? Yeah, very much doubt so. My guess goes that the remake will rely on 85% of modern sample libraries and the rest on orchestrations for the cinematics and biggie boss fights.

OPERETTA TANUKIGOTEN (Princess Raccoon): Thread 197487



DAKARA KOUYA: Thread 197488

I agree with Tango. Don't bother with the Night in Fantasia discs. Just horrible sound quality. But in other news, I have been quite taken by the delightful themes at the end of Roque Banos' score to In the Heart of the Sea. At first I thought it was just another modern action score because it does sound like it could be from any of the big composers. But then it ends with two of the most delightful haunting cues I have heard from a recent film score. The last two tracks, The Story is Told and The White Whale Chant are just gorgeous and tug at my emotions every time. The vocalist on The White Whale Chant is angelic and she hits the high notes with perfection.

I have also been quite pleased with La La Land's recent release of the full score to Dimitri Tiomkin's Giant. Sound is largely superb with only minor a mounts of hiss. Once I remove some of the lesser "source cues" it makes for a great listen. I never thought I would see the day.

Then we have Kritzerland's newly released Victor Young Volume 2, that I am looking forward to receiving as part of my Indiegogo contribution as well as Intrada's recent releases of Something Wicked (Delerue) and the big 2 disc film noir set. Typical of these labels to hold the good stuff for the end of the year.

EDIT: WOW! Ni No Kuni 2 - That is how you score a trailer! I hope the sequel is a little more balanced difficulty wise. There were some annoying spikes in difficulty in the first game.

Creed's score is damn good. Not a sprawling symphonic concert work, but a damn fine and distinctive work for a Rocky reboot movie. Hark, dearest me, are those...OBOES I hear??

Creed itself was similarly awesome.

I've just listened to GATE and holy hell that would sound freaking amazing with a Hollywood session orchestra (from the 80s)! If "The Tokyo Philharmonic Chorus" is legit then how the hell could they not affort one bloody trumpet?! Thankfully the music is so strong that I can ignore it and it's also another candidate for a 100% "Hollywood" score for a japanese anime. Also props to Fujisawa for the proper use of "epic" percussion and choir with the one thing that so many modern Hollywood scores and trailers fail at... structure.

Speaking of Hollywood, this winter there's plenty of reasons to turn your eye to the US, if only for Star Wars and Hateful Eight.


@Sirusjr: Thanks for the reminder about Tiomkin's Giant. As usual my wallet is crying this time of the year.



Oh and some interesting quotes from the trailer of the Var�se 1985 album, particulary by Christopher Lennertz and pay close attention to every word

"...that's what film music CAN BE!" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BgAB_DvUVFY)

Creed's score is damn good. Not a sprawling symphonic concert work, but a damn fine and distinctive work for a Rocky reboot movie. Hark, dearest me, are those...OBOES I hear??

Creed itself was similarly awesome.

Sure there are a few decent moments of orchestral work but I can't listen to it more than once through because of the horrible decision to include dialog on the soundtrack and even worse the ridiculous synth that dominates most of it.

Eh I thought it was fine, but I've never minded synth in my life and lots of scores do that with dialogue.

Eh I thought it was fine, but I've never minded synth in my life and lots of scores do that with dialogue.

Lots of scores? Maybe in the 80s. These days adding snippets of dialog is almost never done, for good reason.

Now that you mention it, I can't think of a lot of stuff that has it nowadays. I also don't listen to p much any film score. I just didn't think of it as too distracting, but I can see it being that way.

ドク "Doc" (1996) [FLCF-3672]
Composed and arranged by YUJI NOMI

MP3 (https://mega.nz/#!4Y1VTLIB!oZVza1dOX5ZZ0rVCc97h4nNYYRU8ZFvx_gy63FoSehk)| ALAC (https://mega.nz/#!EIlVmApK!SyjzCWUIEWXBd48Jyykh5Ic2U2-g3hSzhio5Dk_z-ec)

I came across this and thought it worthy of a share. The main theme is gorgeous and serene. Yuji Nomi isn't well known outside of his Studio Ghibli works, but I will be looking for more from him after hearing his work on this soundtrack.

thanks. it's nice

Hiromi Mizutani traveled to Hungary this past summer to record an album with soprano singer Remi. It was his first overseas recording.

P�ter Pejtsik conducted the Budapest Scoring Orchestra for 6 of the 14 songs: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GiEXv9mpNCk

Natsumi Kameoka
Members of the London Philharmonic Orchestra

Marvelous Fleet Girls
Recorded in Abbey Road Studio One



Download (https://mega.nz/#!egZHBJia!he4P0Non-BIVV5wC7KUnVI_hHUY9j0f3_7dDoXShCDA)
FLAC / Level 8 / 46 Tracks / 90min


So this is it, folks, all the past "tests" and tweaks have buld up to this. So far my greatest remastering task for a soundtrack album. However, no matter what I did one flaw of this recording just can't be erased. It's especially frustrating because I really love it but I have to go back to mixing & mastering 101: An orchestra is already a perfect mix if all musicians are recorded in the same room, play together and the sections are balanced properly. So what has this to do with Kantai? Well... whose idea was it to use a gigantic brass section consisting of six!!! trumpets, seven!!! Horns and six!!! trombones in combination with not only a far too small woodwind section but also an abysmally small string section. For this ensemble you need at least six additonal woodwind players and additional 30 string players minimum to make it sound right (as far as I know Daisuke Kadowaki Strings only has 12-14 players!). If I had to score Kantai with a budget for 50 players I would try to get a reasonably balanced orchestra that looks like this:

Strings:
1st Violins (7)
2nd Violins (6)
Violas (5)
Cellos (5)
Basses (3)

Woodwinds:
Flute/Piccolo Flute (2)
Oboe/English Horn (2)
Clarinets (2)
Basson/Contrabasson (1)
Aux Wind (Flute/Piccolo Flute, Alto-Flute, Pan, Shakuhachi etc.) (1)

Brass:
Trumpets (2)
Trombones (2)
Horns (3)
Tuba (1)
Euphonium (1)

Perc:
Piano (1)
Timpani (1)
Drum Kit (1)
Mallets (1)

Accoustic Guitar/Ethnic Instruments (1)
Electric Guitar/Bass (1)

Harp (1)

Synth would be:
Choir
Organ
Aux Woods & Metals
Additional Strings, Winds & Brass
Electronics


That would sound far better than what you actually hear on the album even without any effort on my part but just look at Inazuma Eleven, same bombastic brass but 50 string players to match it. It's a shame because Kameoka's Kantai is certainly deserving of a larger ensemble. It's music so bombastic and bold it screams for the LSO to rock you out of your seat. The score itself is one of the highlights of 2015. It's patriotic military bravado in a battle for the planet and Kameoka's promising big debut as a composer. It's the kind of score that makes you enthusiastic about the future ahead, whether it is Kameoka's next project or the whole anime industry in general. My favorite has to be "Victory against all odds", a truely epic cinematic piece that begins with the sinister Abyssal theme in a win or lose all context and then from 0:30 to 0:55 through an unexpected (but really well done) shift as the Heroes turn the tide into a final glorious reprise of the "Sea" theme, it feels like it was scored to picture. For the remaster I carefully worked on every single track, applied my revised "London Filter" with slightly more verb, a different tape and saturation preset than I normally use but I have been very careful to make it all so it improves the orignal master. I'm proud of the final result.



Please enjoy

It may not be the place to ask for this but I thought I'd give it a try anyway, as I've seen things posted here that aren't available elsewhere:

Does anyone here have a copy of Neal Acree's score for the Chinese MMO game, Revelation Online?

So far it is only available from a handful of promo copies the composer has been handing out, but I'm under the impression that just about everyone who knows the composer has had a chance to listen to this (and review it too!)

For those interested but not familiar with this particular title, the composer has posted a couple of tracks on this SoundCloud page. They are absolutely gorgeous!

Oh and some interesting quotes from the trailer of the Var�se 1985 album, particulary by Christopher Lennertz and pay close attention to every word

"...that's what film music CAN BE!" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BgAB_DvUVFY)

I skipped over this the first time. I didn't realize that this release was actually a fully new recording with all these suites. Hopefully I can actually enjoy the main themes from Brazil now without all those ridiculous songs.

---------- Post added at 12:29 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:45 AM ----------

By the way, I love your remasters Vinphonic but sometimes with these Japanese scores I have a hard time recognizing whether what you post is something I have heard or not because of your new covers. For example, I would not have guessed without seriously looking into it that this latest one is actually the same as Kantai Collection. Perhaps you can include the original Japanese name or even better an image of the original cover when you post these so that it is clear. Certain scores it is more obvious, like with names like Girls and Panzer but many of us do not watch the anime related to these.

I didn't connect with Kantai's music at all. Kameoka's technique is nice and the music is bucolic and pleasant and that's literally it. I can never make it far past the first disc(of the soundtrack) because none of it is all that noteworthy. Maybe she'll make a better showing of her next score.

Wow I don't know if I had even noticed the stings before but now I do barely hear them on certain parts under the horns. You are right, they certainly can't hold up to the large amount of brass.

In case anyone missed it (which I hardly doubt but anyway), here's a preview of the score for Force Awakens: A "Star Wars" Scoring Session with John Williams (http://www.cbsnews.com/news/60-minutes-the-new-force-behind-star-wars/)

Also an "appropriate" response to all the trailers: "The Force Awakens" trailer/tv spots music parody (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yDKUpulU--Q)

Ha, yeah, I saw that parody video last week. So true.

Oh man, I think I might need to recover my breathing for a moment there, because sweet mercy, that was spot on!

Lurker emerging from the darkness alert...

I hate to be the one to go all apocalyptico on an allready perfectly sealed wound in this thread, but i cannot help but talk about my experience with Xenoblade chronicles X...yes, i'm going there. Back into fathomless depths of the Sawano quagmire.

So, as it is i am a relentless gamer, just as i am a relentless reader, consumer of films and a veritable charybdysian inhaler of music (just made that shit up).

So while i am NOT a fan of Sawano, I am a fan of the xeno series and my aspiration was never to not enjoy the next chapter in the franchise...so i am sort not able to refrain from hearing that unspeakable atrocity of a score...umm, noise...

while i am exhaustively enjoying my trek into the bioluminescent unknown of the planet Mira, i am not enjoying the perpetual hemorrhaging from my ears. i feel like i'm being raped, and i am not a fan.

and i managed to fall into the very abstract and incoherent dialogue of the "sawano is a mad genius composer" soup...my futile attemps at staying my hand failed hard and i couldn't help myself. there was this forum and everybody was praising sawano's unattuned ears of, and i had to say something. At first i introduced myself by stating that whatever i was about to write was only a series of highly subjective italics communicating my own feelings on the subject and the "composer", allthough in my mind i knew i was resplendently empirical and objective, but i tried to steer away from luring all the insane sawano minions my way, stupid me, i should have known it was a recipe for devil conjuring.

anyway, i went on to say that i thought it was strange that, out of all the incredible composers working in the anime industry today, powerhouses like for instance Oshima, Yamashita, Kano and Hirano, just to name a few, that they ended up settling for someone as..umm, how should i put this, it's all been said before with both creativity and intelligence in abundance, hmmm, somebody as altogether inept as Sawano. at which point i was firked with prosaic attemps at insulting my insight with phrases like "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA you must not know anything about "instrumentation", sawano is a mad genius, and that he is extremely talented when it comes to "mixing" "sounds" together..." at which point i tried to convey that "extreme talent" is a compliment far too grand for a composer such as sawano and that lofty but uninspired words such as that should be instead channeled towards the true greats in the industry. i know, i'm a fool for trying, it was the wrong kind of crowd i knew that right away, but i was sleep deprived and manic and i thought that if i could at least, in the end inspire a couple of them to give some other composers a good listen, their souls would be penetrated with sublime harmony in perfect metric form and their souls restored and thus ending their fruitless rampage. I also tried to convey that being able to "mix" "sounds" together is not interesting from an intelligent or musical vantage point, but rather melody and theme...

anyway, i don't really know why i am writing this here, like anybody cares right? and i might inspire an army of sawano monsters to eat my vulnerable flesh here too...please don't, i don't taste very good.
after a lot of words from me, all written from a place of love really, i felt like i wanted the best for the alien avatars in that particular forum. i didn't pity them in any way, i'm not a snob, i just wanted to play the part of the benevolent psychopomp, lovingly guiding them towards the right path and ultimately towards a greater understanding and appreciation of really beautiful music. in the end i had to defend myself, it became apparent to me that my way of writing was lost on them and i had to explain that i am in fact a musician. i do play the piano and i am a composer. i am in the process of composing for a ballet and i have been approached by a couple of folks who want me to compose for commercials here in norway, because obviously my statement which read "i do know about music, it has been my life for as long as i have been self-aware", that just didn't cut it and i wasn't impressing anyone, so i had to provide the firkin.

anyway, it all ended up in a series of abstract and childish personal attacks, that i was somehow bitter and confused because nobody "likes what i produce". i'm not bitter in the least...i know, whatever. i just left...god, i'm sorry for this people, i'm in a manic episode right now and i'm just pouring it shamelessly out here...hmmmm, not sure if i will even press the "post reply" button.

anyway you guys. i may be a lurker, but that's just because i'm so incredibly sensitive, even just recieving benevolent replies from people online can put me in a manic state. that's why i never do this, but i truly enjoy this thread. i have been a reader and lover of this particular gem of a music lover community for years and years...i may be completely silent but i am here, reading, taking it all in, actually talking with you guys in my head...

sorry again.

---------- Post added at 06:44 AM ---------- Previous post was at 06:43 AM ----------


In case anyone missed it (which I hardly doubt but anyway), here's a preview of the score for Force Awakens: A "Star Wars" Scoring Session with John Williams (http://www.cbsnews.com/news/60-minutes-the-new-force-behind-star-wars/)

Also an "appropriate" response to all the trailers: "The Force Awakens" trailer/tv spots music parody (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yDKUpulU--Q)


thank you for that sir. Williams seems as keen and as sprightly as ever!!! i simply cannot wait...i actually can't believe it came to this. all my dreams have almost come true

and here i was, dreading some Giacchino nightmare, when all along, god (williams) was looking out for us. if i smile any wider now my skull will slip through the impossibly wide aperture of flesh which used to be my mouth.......

Here's to hoping Williams can score the other two movies in the new trilogy.

Giacchino is not bad to me, but Star Wars without Williams is just NOT star wars.

Here's to hoping Williams can score the other two movies in the new trilogy.

Giacchino is not bad to me, but Star Wars without Williams is just NOT star wars.

In retrospect "Giacchino nightmare" was a little harsh. I only mean that it would have been a nightmare to have any other composer other than Williams. :D

Though ANYTHING new by Williams is welcome beyond measure, he could have composed a 2 minute fantasia to a scene about a door opening and closing on a loop for all i care, but yes, god yes, it's going to be good! Maby 2 hours of gloriousness!!!

*dead*

Lurker emerging from the darkness alert...

I hate to be the one to go all apocalyptico on an allready perfectly sealed wound in this thread, but i cannot help but talk about my experience with Xenoblade chronicles X...yes, i'm going there. Back into fathomless depths of the Sawano quagmire.



In this thread in particular Sawano is typically not favored very much so there is no need to worry. I myself can see many of the complaints with his take on the Xenoblade franchise as well even though I tend to like most of his work. This score is HORRIBLY implemented into the game. Even during not so serious scenes the music will be blasting in the background for no reason basically ruining the tone. I can see how incredibly obnoxious that would be. Even though I think people saying they had to mute the game completely are over exaggerating it's still a very valid complaint. And even someone like me can admit that the hub world music is straight up garbage.

Truth be told though I think the score isn't too bad when your listening to it on it's own. But Sawano fanboys are some of the most UNREASONABLE fanboys on the internet. Even if you just say that the music is a bad mix with the game they will attack, downvote, insult your tastes in music etc. like a bunch of simpletons. It's kind of sad really. He's one of those composers that has such a huge following from a newer generation so folks haven't wised up to the fact that they'll eventually get tired of Sawano just like they got tired of Hans Zimmer. While there are certainly a good number of ZImmer fanboys out there I'd say there are also a good number that have grown used to his usual gimmicky compositions since he's the joke of a lot of parodies with his "Inception Horns".

I think the biggest problem with the Xenoblade X score is that it's not a game score..........it's an anime score. To my knowledge Sawano hasn't scored a game THIS big ever in his career. He's basically stuck to dramas and anime. Anime was the FIRST thing I thought about when I listened to this. It would mix pretty well with his Aldnoah Zero score. Sawano's scores tend to match what's happening in whatever show he's scoring for perfectly. Making those big/over the top moments shine as hard as possible. It's easy to forget his "build up" into the "drop" formula that he does for pretty much every song when it fits so well. That's personally what I usually like about him. Not to many composers are as consistent about that kind of stuff as he is.


Here's to hoping Williams can score the other two movies in the new trilogy.

Giacchino is not bad to me, but Star Wars without Williams is just NOT star wars.

Williams is already confirmed to be working on all three of the films. However when you consider that Disney plans to make Star Was a yearly affair I think someone will have to take the helm pretty soon (especially when you consider his age).

Williams is 83 isn't he? Eh, he looks like he isn't close to retiring yet. I mean he still writes his scores by hand :).

Well other composers are stepping in on the other side project films. Desplat is already assigned to one of them, and I think his version of Star Wars would be vastly superior to Giacchino's. I haven't heard much of any recent Giacchino work that has the complexity of orchestration that would support a proper Star Wars score. Though I am not one who is intimately familiar with the various Star Wars scores, I do quite like what I have heard from the new score and the mixing. It is powerful while letting the complexities come through nicely.

As for sawano, I haven't played Xenoblade Chronicles X yet but I do remember distinctly turning off the music half the time playing the first game, so I expect I would do the same with the sequel. I have a very low tolerance when it comes to game scores and especially fairly boring area music. I doubt I would play the new Xenoblade anytime soon though considering I don't plan on buying a Wii U anytime soon. I know what it is like trying to suggest that Sawano doesn't know what he is doing though. I've been called a troll for suggesting as such elsewhere. Though to me even a great composer like Hisaishi can write fairly annoying area music when given a specific set of guidelines. I find most of the town themes in Ni no Kuni to be barely listenable outside the games or even in them. I can't stand half of the area themes for FFXIII and doubt I will be able to get through FFXV without difficulty (if it ever comes out) or at least without having to turn off the volume for a while and put on something serious.

Level hub music: "1. 2. 3. 4....HOOOOOOO YEAH YUH"

Me: "Hahaha this game is great, why do people hate Sawano so much"

Level hub music: "1. 2. 3. 4....HOOOOOOO YEAH YUH"

Me: "Hahaha this game is great, why do people hate Sawano so much"

Hmmmm where have I heard that before?

1:51
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JnsRHP0SEA4

:P

hahah Right on. I wish Hollywood would hire Sawano over Zimmer and his ilk. Least his music has a pulse and an idea of melody. Whose bright idea was it to take a movie where, for instance, Superman punches dudes through walls and throws tanks and shit, and decide the most appropriate course of action was for it sound like a goddamn funerary dirge plugged into the world's biggest amp the whole time? That's my real problem with Hollywood composers now. Not that the music is simplistic or grungy or goes for a particular sound above all else. You can take the most simple constituent parts(yes, that includes the dreaded samples and electronics and BWOMMMMS) and make amazing music. See also: Williams' War of the Worlds, a sorely underrated score that's nearly all sound design, top to bottom. Zimmer's boys will take these technical triumphs of dirty, heavy sound design, and just let them sit there over the movie like a grey, immovable fire blanket, making itself known only to belch at you over the THX speakers.

But there I go, perpetuating THIS sadly-immortal conversation, again. ;)

PILI HEROES MUSIC COLLECTION LII=57
01 九輪紀元（九輪異譜總收幕曲） 曲/編曲：浩旭 03:21 試聽
02 一笑天下（九輪燎原第一片頭曲） 曲/詞/演唱：荒山亮
編曲：小林玉置 03:31 試聽
03 九輪天（九輪天國度） 曲/編曲：孫敬凡 03:52 試聽
04 天譩之間（九輪共裁） 曲/編曲：風采輪 04:04 試聽
05 有生之蓮（解鋒鏑角色曲） 曲/編曲：黃建秦 04:25 試聽
06 明意徵聖（墨傾池武曲） 曲/編曲：風采輪 03:27 試聽
07 崇罪明邦（絕日狂圖角色曲） 曲/編曲：孫敬凡 03:30 試聽
08 戰璽境界（戰璽主角色曲） 曲/編曲：孫敬凡 03:47 試聽
09 夢殘（碎無淚角色曲） 曲/編曲：黃名偉 02:45 試聽
10 不滅英雄火（不動城任務出征） 曲/編曲：丁天牧 03:07 試聽
11 九輪燎原（九輪燎原搶先看預告曲） 曲/編曲：風采輪 03:33 試聽
12 雲海青簡臺（一線生角色曲） 曲/編曲：黃建秦 03:09 試聽
13 太上雙尊（天極地限角色曲） 曲/編曲：黃建秦 03:52 試聽
14 天地無極（天極地限武曲） 曲/編曲：黃建秦 03:00 試聽
15 魔息山（魔息大帝角色曲） 曲/編曲：孫敬凡 03:33 試聽
16 蒼天一筆（碎無淚之歌） 曲/編曲/演唱：風采輪
詞：廖明治 05:14 試聽
17 金騎帝后（月之熙角色曲） 曲/編曲：風采輪 03:33 試聽
18 近神天（永恆天司角色曲） 曲/編曲：孫敬凡 04:26 試聽
19 欲沉輪（沉輪王角色曲） 曲/編曲：黃建秦 03:19 試聽
20 魔吞傳奇（九輪燎原第一片尾曲） 曲/編曲：孫敬凡　
詞：廖明治
吉他：許勝峰　
演唱：阿爍
01 靈符破邪祟（符水靈符法咒術） 曲/編曲：李耀廷 03:07 試聽
02 創罪唯吾（創罪者角色曲） 曲/編曲：風采輪 03:41 試聽
03 天奪妖禁曲（戰慄公武曲） 曲/編曲：孫敬凡 04:16 試聽
04 菩提斬罪（赮畢鉢羅怒斬閻王） 曲/編曲：風采輪 03:34 試聽
https://mega.nz/#!AodGGYiT!saF69lupcdV6qtR0WtPEiBdGk88BXjsAghSRxLe0gh0

A bit off topic, BUT... since it is the season to be jolly, I decided to make my album available for free listening on Soundcloud :D. A sidenote, my arrangement "Ancient Stones" just got nominated for "Best Game Cover" in the 2015 G.A.N.G. Awards. Anyway, if you really enjoy the music please hit that "Buy" link so we can make better, higher quality productions.

https://soundcloud.com/josh-barron/sets/etherealstringproject

Merry Christmas, thread... Here's your gifts - some seasonal reposts. Don't worry - tomorrow, you will get something new.


NEIL BRAND
A Christmas Carol (after Charles Dickens)
BBC Radio 4 Saturday Drama, December 2014
With Robert Powell, Sophie Thompson, Ron Cook, Tracy-Ann Oberman, Patrick Brennan, Shaun Mason, Paul Heath, Hannah Genesius, and Bettrys Jones



Orchestrations by Hugo Gonzales-Pioli and Timothy Brock
BBC Symphony Orchestra
BBC Singers
Conducted by Martin Andre

1. Marley's Ghost (23:22)
2. The First of the Three Spirits (15:50)
3. The Second of the Three Spirits (18:40)
4. The Last of the Spirits (10:20)
5. The End of it (7:57)

Total Time: 1 hour, 16 minutes, 9 seconds

FLAC at Level 8 - transcoded from a lossy source (BBC Radio 3's 320kbps AAC stream)

Technical stuff:

Before the chorus begins to sing "don't transcode from a lossy source, you don't gain quality" - I know - that wasn't my intention. Until the BBC start broadcasting a lossless stream, the current offering (320kbps AAC) is as good as it gets - it surpasses FM quality and it's excellent. Editing AAC without re-encoding is possible but is somewhat messy - one cannot fade, or normalise, or perform accurate gapless splitting. I am therefore left with the choice between providing the original stream in its raw, badly presented form - or transcoding to FLAC (in doing so, preserving the original stream quality but increasing the file size) and doing a proper album presentation. I have chosen the latter. There is logic behind my madness. If you don't like it, you're welcome to bugger right off.

https://mega.co.nz/#!4hxSiZrS!4WddTcCrzvwGyqN6tMqRfwbtbcmjscfst8sbcZu pEt8

This is a repost; though initially broadcast last year well in time for Christmas (December 20th) for a variety of reasons (all outside of my control) I didn't manage to post it until January 8th - so I'm getting in ahead of time here so you can enjoy this while you're still feeling excited and Christmassy, not worn out and depressed at the prospect of going back to work or school as we all were in the first week of January!

You'd be forgiven for thinking that only the Japanese were bananas enough to give an orchestral score to a radio drama... but you'd be wrong! We've got them completely beaten - this one-shot Saturday Drama first broadcast at Christmas of last year, features a full-sized symphony orchestra and a chorus. "Afternoon Drama" is a spoken word strand on BBC Radio 4 that has been running continuously since 1967 - this unusually high budget production was co-produced with BBC Radio 3, a cultural station that broadcasts classical, jazz, and world music. This programme was recorded before an audience as a part of the BBC's free "invitation concert" series from the famous Maida Vale studios in London.

This "score" is, in reality, more akin to a symphonic fantasia. The music is just gorgeous - very English, highly filmic, grand, unashamedly romantic and sweeping, and utterly approachable. The performance by the BBC Symphony Orchestra and BBC Singers is utterly spotless, and for the speaking parts, the cast are excellent.

I have taken the liberty of splitting the story up according to Dickens' original chapter divisions.

-----------------------

CHRISTMAS WITH ALED JONES



London Concert Orchestra
Bach Choir
Laura Mitchell, soprano
Laurence Kilsby, treble
conducted by David Hill

1 hour, 45 minutes, 30 seconds. Video at 848x480, 25fps, CRF 21, H264. Audio true VBR AAC (Apple) at ~224kbps. MKV container. Download is 912mb.

https://mega.co.nz/#!I1hlHYAD!KxZf2J_PYbGzUFd6VtS6wIUs6NHlgZliDl4y7Vk 5rZM

Technical note: This is an analogue recording of a television broadcast from the subscription channel Sky Arts 2 HD. The channel is heavily encrypted and therefore capturing the original stream is not possible without spending God-knows how much money on equipment. Quality is, nonetheless, excellent.

Merry Christmas, ladies and gentlemen of the Final Fantasy Shrine! In celebration, here's a splendid concert from the Royal Albert Hall, mixing festive classics, carols, and other Christmassy music in a fine performance by the London Concert Orchestra. Aled Jones, thankfully, is only presenting - his atrocious jokes are somewhat cringe-inducing but are something of a Christmas tradition of their own - and best of all, no Andre Rieu!

There's music by John Williams ("Merry Christmas! Merry Christmas!" and Prokofiev ("Troika"), and a good selection of traditional carols (most in arrangements by Willcocks, Rutter, etc). Phillip Lane's orchestral fantasia on the poem "The Night Before Christmas" is magnificent... And a lovely performance of the piece of music without which a true Briton would simply be unable to appreciate Christmas - Walking In The Air, by Howard Blake. There's something for everybody here. As it should be around this time of year.

You can tell that this isn't a BBC production as some of the direction is downright sloppy; strange choices of closeups, including big close-ups for members of the woodwind section during a brass fanfare, a French horn player looking bored and then the whole brass section whilst the strings are playing, shots of the female choristers while only the men are singing and vice versa. We also get a torturous shot in "Merry Christmas! Merry Christmas!" of three members of the male chorus - the gentleman on the left has clearly forgotten the words and leafs nervously through the sheet music trying to find his place, smiling awkwardly as his colleagues continue to sing. That said, the situation does improve as the concert goes on; and in the greater scheme of things... it doesn't really matter when the concert is so excellent.

Enjoy! :)
TT

Merry Christmas everyone


How about a glorious festive tune for the occasion: From one of my absolute favorite christmasy scores (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QlvKGc-zHe8&list=PL28E1DF3998C0E8D0&index=11)

I also urge you to listen to Williams "christmasy" scores like Hook and Home Alone again to remind you what the maestro was once capable of, especially after the rather underwhelming Force Awakens (which is still better than 95% of today's Hollywood scores): Melts my heart everytime (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5kHH6LJpEbQ)


And finally I have a colossal project in the works for over two years which will be finished by new year's eve. Stay tuned.




I will now take my leave for some delicious christmas goose and I wish you all happy holidays. See you next year.

Force Awakens did more for me than anything Williams did since probably Jurassic Park.

The guy is better than ever; although his style has shifted into more introverted places. That change has been going on steadily and continuously for perhaps the last thirty years. It should come as no great surprise. 1970s, 1980s Williams was about unabashed grandness, extroverted melodies, and orchestral virtuosity. 2015 Williams is leaner, meaner, smarter - it's as if we're sitting inside an engineering-masterpiece engine, watching the cogs turning, seeing every single well-machined component working together in a breathtaking ballet of automation - whereas in Empire Strikes Back (and similar era scores) we were spectators witnessing that same beautiful car pull off a jaw-dropping drift and win the race.

Additionally... the Williams "sound" shifted almost overnight when Herbert Spencer passed away.

These days, Williams does best when he's not trying to force himself into an earlier mindset; Force Awakens is the way he writes now - and whilst it's definitely not as melodically exhuberant as the original trilogy I still think it's a truly excellent piece of work.

Merry Christmas to you and to all. :)

Well other composers are stepping in on the other side project films. Desplat is already assigned to one of them, and I think his version of Star Wars would be vastly superior to Giacchino's. I haven't heard much of any recent Giacchino work that has the complexity of orchestration that would support a proper Star Wars score. Though I am not one who is intimately familiar with the various Star Wars scores, I do quite like what I have heard from the new score and the mixing. It is powerful while letting the complexities come through nicely.

A Giacchino Star Wars is a horrifying proposition.

---------- Post added at 11:06 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:57 AM ----------


Force Awakens did more for me than anything Williams did since probably Jurassic Park.

The guy is better than ever; although his style has shifted into more introverted places. That change has been going on steadily and continuously for perhaps the last thirty years. It should come as no great surprise. 1970s, 1980s Williams was about unabashed grandness, extroverted melodies, and orchestral virtuosity. 2015 Williams is leaner, meaner, smarter - it's as if we're sitting inside an engineering-masterpiece engine, watching the cogs turning, seeing every single well-machined component working together in a breathtaking ballet of automation - whereas in Empire Strikes Back (and similar era scores) we were spectators witnessing that same beautiful car pull off a jaw-dropping drift and win the race.

Additionally... the Williams "sound" shifted almost overnight when Herbert Spencer passed away.

These days, Williams does best when he's not trying to force himself into an earlier mindset; Force Awakens is the way he writes now - and whilst it's definitely not as melodically exhuberant as the original trilogy I still think it's a truly excellent piece of work.)

Well put, though I'm sympathetic to those who don't approach Star Wars music expecting grace and subtlety. Even I can't help but reflect nostalgically on his overt narrative approach to the original trilogy.

I saw Star Wars and The Hateful Eight in the last couple days. It's an unfamiliar feeling going to the cinema and hearing classic film music these days. What an experience.

The Force Awakens for me is even better than War Horse, mostly because it has more themes and more complexity to it. War Horse is still one of my favorite recent Williams scores but Force Awakens just has so many fun new themes especially all the material for Rey. It is delightful to hear all the different themes work together so nicely like this. Having gone back and revisited the original Star Wars scores I think I will probably get more listens out of this new one than all the others combined. There is just something delightful about the performance and recording the way the various instruments play off each other. I hear various snippets of War Horse and The Book Thief here and there which makes it even more fun.

Well put, though I'm sympathetic to those who don't approach Star Wars music expecting grace and subtlety. Even I can't help but reflect nostalgically on his overt narrative approach to the original trilogy.

But are "Princess Leia", "Binary Sunset" and "Yoda's Theme" not the very definition of "grace" and is Empire and Jedi not full of subtletly when it comes to Leitmotif, even in the action pieces?

While I can't deny the technical brilliance of TFA and the venture into much more classical territory, it still falls short to the OT for me. Don't get me wrong, it has it's fair share of brilliant moments (Rey's Theme is great) that make it one of my favorite orchestral scores of 2015 and perhaps the best Hollywood score to come out in years but I still hold the man to his own standard and there was not a single jaw-dropping musical moment in TFA, a moment that inspires you and makes you think: "someday I want to write music like that". But I see much potential for future Episodes (if Williams is blessing us), Poe's Theme has so much potential and I'm anticipating what he will do with "The Mysteries of the Jedi" and "Kylo Ren". But for me, no piece in the score made me as excited this year as Adlet's Theme from Rokka no Yuusha. In my mind STAR WARS needs to be as bold as possible, especially in the age we live in now. Perhaps it's unfair of me, John Williams is over 80 and a very different man than he was in 1977 (just to clarify: different, not worse) and perhaps even the fact that we are getting a full on classical film score in 2015 is enough to stop any complaining :)

From the criticisms I've read of the film (I've not yet seen it, myself) and my general low regard of JJ Abrams as cinematic storyteller, were there actually any touchstone scenes for Williams to elevate musically? My understanding is that the film speeds along at a fairly brisk pace without much pause or indulgence for what cineastes refer to as cinematic moments. After all, Williams can only score to what's on the screen, and if Abrams only delivered routine television dramatic beats perhaps Williams hoped to lend the film more gravitas; gravitas, that is, of the sort George Lucas imbued six films in a space opera series for children.

I don't understand why people point out what they perceive as deficiencies in Williams' writing and then justify it by reminding us he's over 80. If he can still hold a pencil and write, it makes no difference. It doesn't require great physical strength to write Yoda's Theme nor is Rey's Theme a sign of physical weakness or a great mind addled by age. The process of scoring a film for Williams is sitting down in a comfortable chair and writing black symbols on big sheets of paper. If, at ANY POINT in my life, I'm ever able to write music a tenth as good as TFA, I will consider myself a genius.

I find most of TFA jaw-dropping, just for different reasons - yes, I miss Williams The Showman, but I'm very, very happy to embrace Williams The Great Architect. That Williams scored such a gigantic, important, culturally relevant Hollywood blockbuster in 2015, nearly thirty years after the concept of a film score as music pretty much died in Hollywood, is miraculous in itself. If I'd been Williams, I'd have told Abrams to go fuck himself and ran as fast as physically possible from that project - but Williams took it on, ten years everybody (including Williams himself) believed he'd made his final statement in the Star Wars universe, and ended up writing a ludicrously good score that I believe outclasses all of the prequels put together.

Articles like this one, particularly, are insulting and whilst literate in a language sense, are anything but musically literate:

https://www.inverse.com/article/9553-why-you-can-t-hum-any-of-the-tunes-from-john-williams-star-wars-soundtrack-for-the-force-awakens

For starters, it's titled "Why You Can't Hum Any of the Tunes from TFA" - well, folks... *I* can. I can hum Rey's theme and I can even whistle, note for note, every bar of Scherzo for X-Wings. It's not that this stuff isn't memorable - it's because we've ALL had the "tunes" from the original trilogy drummed into our heads pretty much incessantly all our lives. If Average Joe can't happen to recognise March of the Resistance just yet but he DOES know the Imperial March, perhaps it's because he's heard the latter every other day for the last 30 years literally everywhere - and in an era where this stuff was mainstream. He's heard that "tune" on television, in the street played by brass bands, in the concert hall. I've even known people to whistle the Imperial March to denote the presence of an unfriendly boss, uncooperative cashier at the supermarket.

You simply cannot play a cue from TFA and say "Look, that's not as good because it's not as memorable as the original trilogy!" - play every single member of the public Rey's Theme every single day for three decades and THEN ask if the man on the street can hum it.

Thoughts on the score itself:

I'm overjoyed that Williams doesn't overdo the Main Theme, or any other theme for that matter. That would've been the easy way out. No - we get the main title theme and then a seamless transition straight into one of Williams' finest action cues of all time; from the dying embers of the final chord of the march comes a terrifying brass figure that tells us right away that this isn't going to be a lazy redux score.

Of course, we hear fragments of themes in appropriate spots, but they don't dominate the score and there is never a feeling of Williams ramming older material down our throats. If any other composer (Giacchino...) had got hold of this movie, we'd have ended up with predominantly a bland, "cell-structure", themeless, outrageously simplified, compositionally anonymous monstrosity with occasional, forced, and over-the-top statements of "classic" themes in shameless bursts of fanservice: "LOOK EVERYBODY IT'S THE FAMOUS JURASSIC PARK THEME! I'll tease you with a couple of notes of it, or maybe use a familar chord progression every now and again, then I'll make you sit through ten minutes of repetitive noisy banging gradually increasing in volume, tease a few more notes, then you can have a big, extravagant arrangement for 600 piece orchestra over the End Credits which you won't hear because you'll have fucked off home by then." If he did contribute any original themes himself, they would have been totally and immediately outclassed by what came before.

Here's two minutes of recent Giacchino; I've snipped out a few passages here and there to make a point - but this really is ALMOST TWO MINUTES OF MUSIC (out of an eight minute cue) featuring just two chords and one stabbing rythym, repeated endlessly until the scene is over. That's not film scoring. It's making a lot of noise.

http://kiwi6.com/file/wu68vjhsul

Back to TFA... Rey's Theme is glorious and only an absolute idiot would fail to spot that its harmonic relationships are feeding important information about the characters to your subconscious. It's melancholic and romantic, it's heroic and tragic, it's strident and suspenseful.

Pretty much the only negative I can say about the score as it stands is the performance and recording; I know Williams doesn't fancy long plane rides any more, and I know that Abrams chaotic, amateurish film-making style makes writing and recording any kind of musically valid score impossible to achieve any other way... but I MISS THE LONDON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA. The lack of polish and panache in those Los Angeles freelancers is now very obvious; highly depressing, but unavoidable. It's a professional performance, which must've taken some doing; it's been confirmed by multiple sources that their standards are at an all-time low as a result of the complete and utter crap they have to play on a daily basis. They just don't have the same sweep and sense of ensemble that you get when you record with a world-class orchestra that performs in concert as one unit and in that unit frequently plays the classical greats.

On the whole, though, I bloody love every minute of it.

EDIT: Well, Keiji Inai's Heavy Object is atrocious; apart from the first episode opening cue and one other standout cue, it's all noisy electronica trash. The stuff that's worth listening to isn't more than 10 minutes. What a dissappointment.

It's been a while were I could fully walk out of a movie with a big dumb smile of joy out of my face :)

Enjoyment from the movie aside, I believe TFA is a score that will eventually grow from the next two sequels, knowing how Williams perfectly knows how to develop his own themes. But that's just it, it's potential material that will probably get surpassed by the sequels (if Williams health does not impede him from continuing in the next few years). Other than that, it's not that hard to mention that this stands as one of the best scores that Hollywood will ever have in YEARS.

In terms of first episode trilogy scores, ironically enough, TPM still stands as one of my favorites, part of it has to do with what Tango's negative which I also share in terms of performance and recording, the LSO will truly be missed (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLQ-rCSbFeQ) for future SW scores.

Well I should be glad that I don't hear what you are talking about Tango. Maybe it is my ear for a certain level of clarity of recordings that lead me to prefer the sound of TFA over the original trilogy, even listening to some of the best quality source available from the original soundtracks. I have a hard time hearing all the counterpoint in the original scores as compared to how clearly it is present in this new one. I can tell that it is there but I just don't hear it very clearly.

Well to be fair, the original STAR WARS is closer to TFA in recording space than any other. If I recall it was recorded in a much smaller room than Empire and Jedi in Anvil studios. You can argue it adds to its charm but I much prefer Charles Gerhardt's recording for his symphonic album. Which reminds me how sad I am that it is very unlikely that a symphonic album will be done for Force Awakens. Today I can only see Joel McNeely pull it off.

I agree with Tango, TFA has the worst recording/performance of any Star Wars score. I mean just listen to the Main Title on the album and then to Erich Kunzel's "Star Tracks", night and day.

From the OT, Empire is the best recorded Star Wars to my ears, just for the fact that Jedi has had some fuck-ups in the final act. Overall I would say Phantom sounds best out of all the Star Wars scores. In terms of pure music I would say TPM also holds up well (but only the complete score edit). Clones has the beautiful Across the Stars and the delicious Arena march so it's still worth keeping. Sith has some really good moments but features far too much recycling, I prefer the edited complete score. I'm still not sure if I would call TFA outright better than the prequel's best moments but overall it's a step above.
But the OT just can't be beat, it's perfectly structured and flows almost like a symphony. I guess this has to do with the lost art of locked picture. You can really feel the absense of it in the prequels and also Force Awakens, at least I do. In STAR WARS alone, good god, that energy and boldness, so much Korngold, Holst and Walton, it's a golden age throwback to the SciFi adventures of the 20s and 30s in the best possible way.

The important of locked picture simply cannot be overstated... If a composer has can have reasonable confidence that the film will not be constantly dithered around in the editing studio until five minutes before release, he can create that naturally progressive, symphonic structure; writing a score that ebbs and flows and responds not only to the film, but to itself.

Williams, a natural composer (not a sound designer, which is what 99% of contemporaries in this line of work actually do,) has a hard job on his hands. He tries to do two completely opposite things at the same time; keeping that structure and flow, but at the same time writing in a way that won't mean the whole score is destroyed if the structure of the film is changed behind his back. If you're Michael Giacchino, and you deal in "themes" of two bars or less and write cues that are static and unstructured, it doesn't matter if the film is recut and your cue gets chopped up into little pieces. If you're John Williams and you write each cue like a compressed symphony that has a natural beginning, middle, and end, that tells its own story, and you have actual melodies of three, four, five, six, or longer bars, and they themselves have structure, twisting and turning in the most natural, inevitable way - and suddenly the movie is recut and your cue needs to be half as long or twice as long, you're screwed.

Would the twenty minute, through-composed ending scene of E.T. have had a tenth of the impact it did if that music had been written with no idea what the final cut would look like? Hell, the music was considered so important to the structure of that scene that Steven Spielberg let Williams dictate the editing of that scene with his score. Even though the picture was locked down before Williams started to compose, it was decided at the recording session that Williams should conduct the cue not so that it fits the film, but so that it works best musically and that they would edit the film around that performance. The end result is a finale that shows the perfect synergy of film music and film, a breathtaking sequence of operatic scope and unprecedented emotional payoff.

Imagine if Abrams had directed ET...

Ew.

I was pleased by the new Star Wars music. There weren't any blatantly obvious tunes-you-leave-the-theater-humming like some of the older movies, aside from maybe Rey's, but it was extremely solid. Not just solid, John Williams solid. Everything felt right at all times, musically. It wasn't just some guy phoning in a stream of starwarsish replica sounds, it really was Star Wars. And the occasional callbacks to the main theme and a few original trilogy themes weren't overdone.

The recording style of the original trilogy favoured a concert hall acoustic. The contemporary technique is to capture absolutely every sound with a million different microphones shoved right down the necks of the instruments and then mix it all together with some fake room reverberation later on after the event. The end result is a cold, clinical, false record of what it actually sounds like when 80 people play instruments in a large room and all at the same time. Eric Tomlinson (RIP) placed his microphones, set his levels, and then sat back to allow the composer/conductor to shape the performance. Time has not been kind to the tapes of those original scores, and they have been further spoiled by atrocious and ill-conceived remastering attempts made throughout the years... but even through the sometimes muddy sound, the spectacle of a world class symphony orchestra playing together in a world class studio is present. There is air around the instruments, there is a natural room sound, there is a sensation of each sound interacting with every other sound in real time. The sensations of that room on that day with those people inside it are almost tangible.

In TFA, we have a recording that is clean and professional to a fault; the colour of the orchestra created not by the dexterity of the orchestrator, nor the conductor, nor the skills of the musicians, but weeks after the recording sessions inside a computer. A proper film score - like a proper film - is made by people.

Recording an orchestra isn't about slavish attention to clarity and it isn't about hearing every single detail. The modern symphony orchestra is made for its colours to be mixed, manipulated, and balanced within a natural acoustic.

Contemporary recording engineers aren't used to making recordngs under those circumstances, because a) it takes longer to get it right, which costs more money, ergo it is never done, and b) most of the composers they are recording don't know how to do it.

Episodes IV and V were recorded at Anvil - which was a lovely big room you could get over 120 players inside with comfort. Episode VI was recorded mainly in Abbey Road 1, with a few pickup sessions made at Olympic in Barnes (now a really nice independent cinema, which is just across the road from my favourite curry house) which sound like total crap. Abbey Road had scheduling conflicts so they ended up there, trying to squish all those players into a room barely larger than the notorious "A Studio" at Sound Inn in Tokyo. The cues that were recorded there are easily identifiable not only because the sound quality is terrible and the orchestra is smaller, but because the atrocious room acoustics almost deafened Williams and the orchestra leading to performance errors that simply weren't noticed on the day. Of course, by the time they DID identify them, it was too late to do anything about them.

Tragically, most music listeners associate quality recordings with ridiculous amounts of reverb and pronounced loudness (all the better, of course, to hear it while they commute on the 405 or M1).

I really wish you weren't right all the time... :D

Edit: Japanese Wikipedia is reporting that Flying Dog is a stakeholder in Macross Delta. Where there's a Flying Dog, there's a Yoko Kanno. Or at least, I believe she will be involved marginally more than I did before. Four days until we find out for sure.

Garbo: El Esp�a by Fernando Vel�zquez:

Review (from MundoBSO (http://www.MundoBSO.com))

For this magnificent documentary the composer develops his score in two well-defined and established dramatic levels: first, and in a dominant position, an ironic, sarcastic, playful tone; secondly, an austere and evocative dramatic music. The first level is substained in a retentive principal theme, of jazz air and with the use of a whistle, who knows many variations and which is applied with the clear intention that the viewer empathize with the nerve and insouciance with which the character unfolded in lands as sensitive as dangerous, but not frivolizing but highlighting his picaresque.

In the second, Vel�zquez places his creation at the epicenter of the tragic events of the war and its consequences on the defenseless population. He does this with emotional and heartfelt music, warm and also loving, where stands out the use of a cello and that reminds, although only as a reference, the music of Georges Delerue. Overall this is a solid work, adequately applied and structured, which includes some songs (pre-existing and also by the author, who also sings one of them).

http://s3.subirimagenes.com:81/otros/previo/thump_5033651garbospymms10013.jpg (http://www.subirimagenes.com/otros-garbospymms10013-5033651.html)

Track listing

1. The Man Who Saved the World (01:34)
2. Garbo: The Spy (01:58)
3. Spanish Civil War (01:30)
4. Don Quijote (00:47)
5. Lisbon Lies (01:23)
6. Malta Siege (02:31)
7. The Nazi Menace (01:15)
8. The Illusive Spy (02:02)
9. The Early Years: Barcelona (01:35)
10. The Net in Motion (03:30)
11. My Contribution to Humankind (00:59)
12. Garbo's Vivace (01:39)
13. Operation Dream (01:44)
14. Network of Spies (01:09)
15. Assignment: Venezuela (02:00)
16. Road to Caracas (01:19)
17. Peccatoribus (Non Est Qui Adjuvet) (04:00)
18. Nihil Sum (05:55)
19. Mars in Ball (02:04)
20. End Credits: Garbo's Theme (04:52)

Total Duration: 00:43:46

Format: wav

RapidShare: 1-CLICK Web hosting - Easy Filehosting (http://rapidshare.com/files/414737673/Garbo__23-08-2010_22-54-28_.rar)

http://www.multiupload.com/5ZXDI2R4J6

Can somebody, please, re-up this one?

Yoko Kanno fans...
kinda nostalgic

I really wish you weren't right all the time... :D

Edit: Japanese Wikipedia is reporting that Flying Dog is a stakeholder in Macross Delta. Where there's a Flying Dog, there's a Yoko Kanno. Or at least, I believe she will be involved marginally more than I did before. Four days until we find out for sure.
Flying Dog also produced the music for Aquarion Logos. I really don't think Kanno is involved. They probably know people will be disappointed and that's why they've announced nothing.

In other news...
Kousuke Yamashita is in charge of orchestrations for a SaGa orchestra album produced by Square Enix (recorded in Prague).

Can somebody, please, re-up [Garbo the Spy]…?

Don't have it in lossless wav, but I do have it in 320 mp3.

Flying Dog also produced the music for Aquarion Logos. I really don't think Kanno is involved. They probably know people will be disappointed and that's why they've announced nothing.

It IS awfully odd that, three days from premiere, they haven't said a god damned thing about the composer. Stranger things have happened, but you're right, Kanno would seem to be an unlikely proposition - even though, as I said, I think this makes her involvement more likely than it was before. (In the sense of going from completely impossible to almost-certainly impossible.)


Kousuke Yamashita is in charge of orchestrations for a SaGa orchestra album produced by Square Enix (recorded in Prague).

Interesting! And obviously the announcement of any symphonic arrangement album is extremely encouraging.

Oddly enough I'm quite looking forward to Nurse Witch Komugi. Yamashita's presence is about the only thing in the world that could make me interested in that show. I have a weird premonition that it will be surprisingly good.

Oh, and a couple more things from Japan.

Michiru Oshima recently recorded the score for the film Ertuğrul 1890. The music was recorded in Russia and Paris. No soundtrack release is planned at the moment. Oshima noted the trend about soundtracks being enclosed with blu-rays these days. She says she might consider releasing a CD album of her film compositions in the future.

Yoshihisa Hirano will be releasing his first collection of contemporary works next spring. It will include his Piano Sonata and two pieces over 20 minutes long. I'd been wondering what Hirano had been up to lately - it's been nearly two years since his last soundtrack.

Don't have it in lossless wav, but I do have it in 320 mp3.

That'll do. Thanks in advance.

Has anybody seen Gundam Thunderbolt? The score is HILARIOUS, absolutely 100% *not* what you'd expect, and thoroughly wonderful! It's by Naruyoshi Kikuchi who may well be THE MOST UNLIKELY composer to get a big sci-fi series... the fact that he's scored it with ultra-cool progressive jazz makes me smile on so many different levels.

Don't get me wrong... I will always think Gundam deserves large-scale symphonic scores... but this one wins for pure audaciousness alone. In a genre where you're expected to go with either the traditional, timeless orchestral sci-fi score or something Hiroyuki Sawano... somebody said "Hahaha, fuck that!" and decided to subvert expectations COMPLETELY.

The jazz is actually a part of the original manga. They're just trying to make a good adaptation. :P

Didn't read the manga, and don't like Gundam... so there you go. :P

Yeah, I haven't read it either. I just remembered someone making a post wondering if they were going to get the jazz mentioned in the manga (Coltrane, etc.) or if they'd be all original. As it turns out, it was the latter.

I'm really digging Thunderbolt as well. What a coincidence that the second OST of Code Geass Akito will be released at the end of february :D There were some more absolutely crazy jazz pieces in the later episodes.

MICHIRU OSHIMA (lossless/flac)

BRITISH MUSEUM VOL 2: Thread 198258

WARES ZEED: Thread 198259

Hmm, in regards to The Force Awakens, despite being late to the party, I have to say that I while I enjoy the score, I feel that it doesn't really stick with me very well. I think that, unlike the other Star Wars scores which can work both with the film and without, the score for The Force Awakens works better with the film than on its own. And, considering the quality of most John Williams scores, that's... actually kind of sad. Now, from what I've read, a lot of the music underwent heavy editing by Abrams himself as he edited the film. Bad Abrams, bad. TFA isn't a bad score, far from it, but it does feel lacking at times when compared to the other movies. Perhaps, one day well hear the unused music that Williams composed before the editing that took place, and then we can truly compare The Force Awakens to its brethren. The Force Awakens is a good movie. Not brilliant or the greatest thing ever, and not bad or terrible either. It's simply a well made movie that I enjoyed watching, and I was actually glad that I saw it after leaving the theater.

My favorite Star Wars Scores:

01. The Empire Strikes Back

02. The Phantom Menace

03. Return of the Jedi (Ignoring that Jedi Rocks song, anyway)

04. Shadows of the Empire (I don't care that it wasn't a movie, Joel McNeely did a damn fine job scoring a book)

05. Revenge of the Sith

06. A New Hope (Although, the Throne Room theme at the end is still one of the finest themes in the entire franchise)

07. Attack of the Clones

08. The Force Awakens

My favourites; 1-3 being very close to each other, 4 a little distance away, 5-6 close to each other, and 7 quite a considerable distance away.

01. Empire Strikes Back
02. A New Hope
03. Return of the Jedi
04. The Force Unleashed
05. Revenge of the Sith
06. Attack of the Clones
07. The Phantom Menace

McNeely's SoTE is indeed glorious; as far as its sound is concerned, it's more like Williams (1970s, early 1980s Williams, should I say) than Williams himself; commentators at the time (myself included; never trust the opinion of a 13 year-old who thinks he knew everything) bemoaned The Phantom Menace's score and used Shadows Of The Empire to make a point. The thing is, and I appreciate this now when I really didn't back in 1996-97, whilst Joel McNeely is a great composer and he's got the golden-age Williams sound absolutely nailed here... McNeely is no Williams. SoTE is easier to like if you're a fan of the way Williams used to sound, but it's extremely nicely orchestrated pastiche. Internally, McNeeely doesn't have the attention to detail and effortless development that Williams does in his sleep. John Williams studied composition with Castelnuovo-Tedesco, became an arranger and conductor for the the US Air Force, studied at two of the USA's most prestigious schools of music (Julliard and Eastman), worked as a jazz pianist, carved out a career as a session player (playing under Mancini, Bernstein, Goldsmith, and more) and dabbled as a bandleader... all before his thirtieth birthday.

Nobody, not a living soul on this planet, can beat those credentials.

I love McNeely's score to listen to, but the musician in me always prefers Williams.

Twenty years after SoTE, McNeely is scoring God-damned straight-to-video Tinkerbell movies, and Seth MacFarlane remains his only chance as far as getting back to scoring proper films.

:(

When you guys are comparing star wars soundtracks, are you comparing albums to albums? or complete scores to albums? I for one can't stand sitting through most of the complete score versions of the Star Wars soundtracks and am glad to have the shorter album versions and I have been mostly comparing TFA with the original trilogy scores by using the original albums not the longer complete score versions.

Part of me wishes I could say "Why, the whole score, of course!" but the truth is every single film score, like every single film, has filler. I generally find the shorter albums to be good listening experiences - particularly if they're arranged by the composer. Not every note has to be significant - not even for John Williams. Listening to every single fart, scrape, and cough - every alternate, every take, every stinger, every pointless drone cue, every single last moment that was ever recorded - doesn't do the score any favours... and as you say, you can end up wishing you were dead trying to listen to it.

I *tend* to use official releases as a point of comparison, but obviously not if there's something drastically wrong the official release. Leaving off some monolithically important cue, shoving crappy source music cues right in the centre of the score, things like that.

Since very few of us (any of us?) are listening to music by putting a CD in a CD player, sitting in a chair, and listening to the CD from start to finish... I suppose the lines of what we're actually comparing are easy to blur. If I've got a score I love but there's parts of it I hate or don't find useful in the "bigger picture" (ie, filler) or I don't like the ordering... I can make it disappear in ten seconds flat with a playlist.

I probably don't think in albums any more. I still buy CDs but mainly out of necessity; if I could get CD-quality downloads of everything I liked, with digital booklets, and some means of knowing that if my computer dies or the seller goes bankrupt or loses the distribution rights I will still have the music, I'd never buy a CD again. OK, they could be stolen or destroyed in a house fire, or they could physically disintegrate... but I can be reasonably confident that the CDs on my shelf will survive until the day I die. Downloads do not provide that level of security. And, as far as the things I like... 50% of my CD purchases are second hand because the stuff I want is out of print (and not available digitally), and I am aware of NOWHERE AT ALL I can buy Japanese soundtracks losslessly. Very rarely, they're on iTunes, but iTunes is bloody iTunes and �16 for a lossy-compressed digital download is just INSANE. And I have to jump through stupid hoops with my Japanese iTunes account with my fake name and fake address in Tokyo, buying Japanese iTunes vouchers from third parties (who charge their own fees) - so, to coin a phrase, why the fuck bother? I'd pay �16 for a straight up legitimate lossless download, no DRM (so I can back up the music as I see fit) with a full PDF booklet. Anything else is ridiculous.

Hmm, in regards to The Force Awakens, despite being late to the party, I have to say that I while I enjoy the score, I feel that it doesn't really stick with me very well. I think that, unlike the other Star Wars scores which can work both with the film and without, the score for The Force Awakens works better with the film than on its own.

I was disappointed in the score after my initial viewing, but I bought the album and each listen has revealed new depths to me; even a subsequent rewatch of the film played better. I'll always prefer the original scores for nostalgia's sake, but TFA is still very much a worthy Williams Star Wars score. I really hope JW gets to complete this new trilogy.

I usually listen to the discs from the Anthology box set, or the Gerhardt recordings of the highlights. Complete score presentations are overrated. I find the composer is generally a better judge of what makes for a quality listening experience than the average fan on the Internet, and an album presentation is usually just about the right length without the music overstaying its welcome. (Of course, there are always exceptions....)

Of course Tango. I get your point but I'm asking because I still have to search out specific releases if I want to download lossless. So as I had deleted whatever original Star Wars albums I had prior to TFA coming out I went for what was the best option I figured would be available, the original albums from Vinyl as thankfully I found some high quality "rips" available. Most of what I had still kept was mediocre quality MP3 versions of the same.

I also do tend to listen to full albums from start to finish while doing other things, whether working, researching for a trip, etc, so having something in the form of an album is important to me. I wouldn't know what to pick and choose from one of the longer complete editions of the various Star Wars scores for example. So my question was more which versions someone should be searching out if they were to freshly grab the Star Wars music for comparison's sake.

Yoshihisa Hirano will be releasing his first collection of contemporary works next spring. It will include his Piano Sonata and two pieces over 20 minutes long. I'd been wondering what Hirano had been up to lately - it's been nearly two years since his last soundtrack.

Thanks for the heads up. Seems like the CD will mostly be piano works! :D

Macross Delta: Saeko Suzuki, TOMISIRO, Mina Kubota

Three names, but the first two work as a group. I don't think Kubota is going to be able to carry the score by herself.

Bloody hell, that was unexpected! Kubota could absolutely fly - absolutely, solo... have you heard Amuri? If she's on her game and has a decent budget, she could do this score all on her own with her eyes shut.

Edit: Just watched the first episode... Urrrghhh...

Bloody hell, that was unexpected! Kubota could absolutely fly - absolutely, solo... have you heard Amuri? If she's on her game and has a decent budget, she could do this score all on her own with her eyes shut.

Edit: Just watched the first episode... Urrrghhh...
Oh, I know - I'm a fan of Kubota. It's just that the majority of the music seemed to be the work of the other two composers. If she were the lead composer then I would be more hopeful.

Edit: She had a recording back in November and never mentioned what it was for. Strings + woodwinds + ~10 piece brass section. Might have been for this.

Happy New Year





Vinphonic presents:



The Art of Film Scoring
The Music of Japanese Entertainment
1995-2015





The biggest project I have ever done, and it only took two years to finish...



Every small remastering test, dozens of concert suites and score medleys I did in my free time eventually formed a colossal conglomeration of quality music from the Japanese Entertainment Industry. In total I created 10 volumes with over 20 hours of the creme de la creme of Japanese "film" music of the last 20 years with a clear focus on contemporary orchestral music.

I divided the volumes into general categories but when I arranged it all I did realize just how much quality orchestral music rooted in Hollywood traditions with classical symphonic structure there actually is in Japanese Animation/Anime. It is by far the biggest chunk of the collection and the first four volumes are all about animation, a clear winner in terms of quality AND quantity. I think there is currently no place in the world where more film music is written by a huge quantity of experts (by old Hollywood standards, some even in their early 30s) and performed by traditional studio and symphony orchestras than in the Japanese Anime Industry.

Volume five and six are all about where you would normally expect to hear grand Hollywoodesque epic film music in style of Williams/Horner/Goldsmith. It's now 2016 and there are still countless scores recorded with studio and symphony orchestras like it's 1977 or even 1959.

With volume seven and eight we venture into video game territory and there's no shortage of "film" music here as well. I also realized just how big the "RPG" video game genre actually is in Japan. I guess I shouldn't be surprised with all the numerous historical series out there and some now even older than I am :0 (and I even post here right now because of one). But you can go so far as to say that this genre of video game music is more rooted in classical, symphonic film music than any other and the respective volume is a true testament to its greatness. Even in 2016 there's already two symphonic albums with full symphony orchestras announced and I'm sure the genre will get blessed with countless more.

The eight orchestral volumes also show the deep connection of Japanese composers, arrangers and music producers with European Symphony Orchestras. Worldclass orchestras like the "The Warsaw National Philharmonic Orchestra", "The Moscow Symphony Orchestra", "The Tokyo Philharmonic" and even the worldbest "London Symphony Orchestra" have all performed and are still performing numerous scores for Japanese Anime, Games, Films and Television. The same orchestra that played STAR WARS also played three equally fantastic symphonic Sci-Fi scores for GUNDAM. In fact Japanese orchestral composers usually go overseas, most of the time to eastern europe, if they can afford it and if the budget is ludicrous they even make their way to London because most are simply commited to the art of Film scoring and doing the best you can with the money you have for the love of music.

Yes there are numerous "Zimmeresque" scores as well in Japan but overall it is a country that values music over sound design which should be common sense but just isn't anymore in Hollywood. It is a country with a high level musical education system, strong love for classical music, numerous symphony orchestras and concert bands and equally eager composers who write music for them.

The last two volumes are not exactly orchestral but nonetheless show the massive diverseness of quality film music, ranging from frantic Jazz to soft piano sonatas. Another face of Japanese entertainment is experimentalism and a mix of very differnt genres in the same score. It is not at all unusal to find a baroque flute piece in combination with progressive Jazz and Sch�nbergian Dissonance, in the same piece even. You can find pretty much any genre and style of Jazz there is in Japanese scores and an even greater number in fan albums from small and big bands. Jazz is far from dying in Japan, in fact it's very much alive.

The last volume finishes on an intimate note but it has to be said, Japanese Entertainment just excells at intimacy, loveliness and cuteness far more than any other industry on earth. There's an insane amount of delicate piano and string pieces, most in classical and romantic style, heartwarming, sugary cute and with addicting melodies. This country perfected the terms "lovely" and "cute" to an artform.

I created every volume with a concert listening experience in mind and thus made numerous concert suites and medleys, I believe all will work well in the concert hall and I hope some influencal listeners take some inspiration to avoid the usual missteps of the normal "hip" concert program with "The Greatest Video Game Music...Call of Duty...and Minecraft" (Ouch) and "The Greastes Anime Hits...Naruto, Bleach and Attack on Titan" (yawn)
Many orchestral pieces were remastered to improve the listening experience with the greatest attention to quality, all were edited in FLAC if possible and then converted to MP3 V0 (It's just too massive in FLAC). The only downside to Japanese scores is usually the "sound" and that involves the mastering as well. Most of the scores recorded in Europe are fine but it's another matter with domestic recorded scores. I can say with confidence that it just sounds much better, especially if you are used to the european classical and the traditonal Hollywood sound. I realized if I want to remaster every Japanese score I love that it would take years, and all that time and work without getting paid... oh what a man does for his love for music.

With all that said I hope you can find the time and dive into the wonderful world of Japanese Entertainment.





The Music of Japanese Animation






Volume One [ADVENTURE] (https://mega.nz/#!atIjmaqY!u7z9P0Gwfi0nZGryCuiGX4hOQeQn7Nd8o-h-OqIfz6M)






Volume Two [DRAMA] (https://mega.nz/#!ux4i0bKD!OM7hqMvx3QLylMpxQKh8BxR7u8ZfZ86jaVB9HTa3ahI)




Volume Three [FANTASY] (https://mega.nz/#!X5YWhDCL!2iOqkQmjNnr4PzcQerOxKYaTdgqUM2QWJWd2fF6EpQA)




Volume Four [SCI-FI] (https://mega.nz/#!DpIh0ZCK!GO6uNFXlT0RpqOxYQ2CLFjTgKs9wyQn51TrxexTGpSs)




The Music of Japanese Live-Action



Volume Five [CINEMA] (https://mega.nz/#!K5w00awB!Q4hTpOkm52HF-pymczjiCo6RZCnr2B55Z-Slbmz7yT0)




Volume Six [TELEVISION] (https://mega.nz/#!q4wxRCzR!4sKqCLGBNeoOC9w1wL_5CtpXekEmgd6N2NF9WRV9Js4)




The Music of Japanese Video Games



Volume Seven [ACTION GAMES] (https://mega.nz/#!G8RkSboL!es46Vt-jOkroOmFtATGz_bohgkl91EgaOo9YgYO44OI)




Volume Eight [RPG] (https://mega.nz/#!75RDnSgT!59dBtCBVsYSFPHqokU_bKE3SxmXQEWolHnsZ8l3tpvU)



Bonus



Volume Nine [JAZZ] (https://mega.nz/#!65YByKRD!EAs9FMv1OoXlb3acJVBYRYILMgIaCpKg0VyFFfolprU)




Volume Ten [LOVELINESS] (https://mega.nz/#!W5xG1A4T!pHYMehXup761cC9RJLtI7lnjZnzGWL7tkCbnJJPN8ss)





Feel free to share, spread and recommend but don't forget to credit


To a wonderful 2016 and to the thread, I Love you fellows

Thx vinphonic : a wonderful start to 2016 indeed! Thank you.

Wow, is all I can say.

Dear Vinphonic!
What a great job!
Thank you for this excellent compilation, thank you!

Oh. My. Goodness. This is absolutely stunning. Can't wait to jump into them. What a grand way to start the year. Many thanks indeed!

OMG what a huge project Vinphonic.
Thank you very much for these selections. Is exactly what I was looking for!

That... is utterly delightful! :D :D :D :D

Also, from an entirely selfish perspective, it's nice to see some of my rips and edits being used in another project - and I emphatically do NOT don't mean that in the sense of "you scumbag, you stole my stuff!"

People waste so much time yelling at each other that they forget to listen to music.

When you upload something, it's nice to get praise and likes and reputation, and all the rest of it... but for me, the most honest and gratifying form of thanks is to know that people are actually appreciating the crap you did. I just LOVE seeing stuff I was involved in appearing years later in weird places.

Vinphonic, in all, a wonderful piece of work... there are a few minor tagging errors (somebody didn't arrange a piece and you said they did, the wrong orchestra credited, misspelling in the composer's name, etc) and a few pieces that don't really belong in the sections you've placed them in (Yamashita's overture "The Earth" was written to help you calibrate your hifi system, and Hikaru Genji is an orchestral pop album, but both turn up in the "cinema" compilation, for example.)

And I think there are a few tracks that really, REALLY don't react well to your remastering... and quite a few which I contend did not need remastering at all as they sounded excellent to begin with... I hope you know how much I respect you and your work and therefore criticise in a genuine spirit of honesty. I know that your intention was probably to create some kind of consistency - obviously running a Crap Japanese 30 Piece Orchestra score side by side with a Warsaw score would make the inadequacy of the Japanese engineers even more evident...

Also... dear world... This music is all (with a handful of exceptions that prove the rule) from the last twenty years - a convenient bracket of time for Vinphonic to pay attention to because I tend to think of 1994's "Stargate" as the end of Hollywood's (actually written by an Englishman and performed by the City of London Sinfonia, but I digress) "silver age" - yes, a few good things appeared from time to time but the mid nineties were when hearing a good score in a Hollywood movie seemed worthy of noteworthy surprise, rather than the sense of standard expectation we enjoyed previously. Japan's continuation of that scoring tradition may be one of our chosen genre's biggest secrets. In Japan, music from a few months ago can sit alongside some of the finest examples of symphonic scoring from across the ages and be completely inconspicuous. Children's television shows rub shoulders with video games, adult drama, horror, science fiction, monster movies, human drama, and documentaries - and the only thing they all have in common is quality.

WOW.



very amazing compile! thank you many share!

edit:

3gb mp3?? would be very much crazy flac!

COMING SOON



Everybody loves Miklos Rozsa's Ben-Hur, right? How about that 1977 Decca re-recording performed by the National Philharmonic under the composer's baton? You know, that album you see constantly referred to as "audiophile" - it has a glorious performance but in the back of your mind you're thinking "but this sounds terrible..."? Yeah, that one.

Many have tried to successfully remaster this over the years; including the famous Mike Dutton. Eloquence have had a go. Decca themselves have re-released it, twice. Nobody ever seems to get it right.

http://kiwi6.com/file/npitqb7zfh

Coming soon from Tangotreats - after thirty-nine years, somebody got it right.

Incidentally, I wrote this description whilst listening to the first two minutes of the piece; can you tell? I find this description works best if you read it in your head with a majestic, projecting voice and roughly time it thusly:
Coming Soon - 0:00 to 0:21
Look at the album cover in wonder - 0:21 to 0:52
Everybody Loves - 0:52 to 1:09
Many have tried 1:09 to 1:22
Coming soon from Tangotreats 1:22 to 1:44
After thirty-nine years 1:44 to 2:10

ummm, ok wow. intrigued beyond words.

@Vinphonic: That is a great compilation. I honestly don't know how you find the time for these things. Thank you very much for all your contributions. (Edit: only just started browsing this but noticed the bonus track on vol.10 is mistagged - composer/artist should be Takatsugu Muramatsu).

The first 14 tracks for Rokka no Yuusha have finally surfaced. Glad to finally hear the glorious main theme (http://picosong.com/ERcY/)! The full soundtrack will be released in February. By the way, her Paris score for Akagami no Shirayukihime will also be released at some point this year (probably this spring).

https://mega.nz/#!AcU01TbZ!oKMhL0qsThFbPoH5RqCffmI1-eoF0r1VsPhSApR0b30

Edit: Adlet's theme seems to use the same notes as the beginning of the LWA credits theme. Knew I heard it somewhere before.

OH GOD YES!!! My favorite score of 2015. Also a bit peculiar that Tango posted Ben-Hur just hours earlier because Rokka would not at all feel out of place in a Ben-Hur 2 (how could you listen to "Prelude to a Battle" and not be reminded of R�zsa). Oshima is just a prodigy - a golden age composer living and scoring in 2016.




Well it's not like I did it in a day or week. It didn't really start to turn into a project until I already had so much material I figured it would be a waste to not make use of it in someway :)
Unless I want to highlight individual composers or try to make a point this will probably be my last compilation of anything Japanese. At least for a few years.

I must confess I wanted it done by New Years Eve and was "a bit" drunk during the final tagging, so I apologize for any errors.

Thanks for the kind words, everyone, and thanks Tango for your honest critique. It is true that my goal was consistency in presentation, but even if I failed in parts i'm glad that your overall pleased. I also apologize for not crediting your Magiranger Orchestral Suite, I intended to but either during remastering or conversion I must have forgotten to tag it right, perhaps a bit of sleeplessness and drunkeness and the sheer volume of tracks made me lose oversight. Here's the track with fixed tags: Magiranger (http://picosong.com/ERm9).

Incredible project Vinphonic !!! A million thanks for sharing wonderful music :D

ARRRRRRGH THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks for this superb compilation Vinphonic. I haven�t heard much of it yet, but till now it is absolutely wonderful :)

I always dreamed of such a compilation to be made. Thank you very much, Vinphonic!

Many have tried to successfully remaster this over the years; including the famous Mike Dutton. Eloquence have had a go. Decca themselves have re-released it, twice. Nobody ever seems to get it right.

http://kiwi6.com/file/npitqb7zfh

Coming soon from Tangotreats - after thirty-nine years, somebody got it right.

Just compared this to my Vocalion rip. Now the Vocalion sounds like a brittle, treble-blasting mess. Looking forward to your version. (And possibly Quo Vadis?)

It is true that my goal was consistency in presentation, but even if I failed in parts i'm glad that your overall pleased.

Don't get me wrong... it's a bloody amazing piece of work. To say I was "overall pleased" would be doing you a disservice. I can't tell you how much I love these things. I'm familiar with most of the scores you chose, but the number of times I hear something that I had previously dismissed and as a result of your compilation I fall in love with it. You show these scores off in their best clothes and your love for the music (and, dare I say, for the people in this thread) shines through in your work.

Yes, sometimes the remastering fucked up, sometimes the tags are a bit wonky... but the damn thing is superb nonetheless.


I also apologize for not crediting your Magiranger Orchestral Suite, I intended to...

My friend, no apologies are necessary - to be honest it may have made me cry a little to see it turn up in your compilation. I put the thing together a couple of weeks off seven years ago - it's timestamped January 14th 2009. I still play it from time to time (I bloody love Magiranger) and to know it's still floating around "out there" makes me far, far happier than it should.

Sitting there ripping CDs, scanning booklets, editing stuff, jumping through hoops with auction middleman agencies, writing long and convoluted descriptions, and all the rest of it... it's all fun and everything but the moment you KNOW it was worthwhile is when you see some aspect of what you did being spread around. It wasn't just Magiranger; a surprising number of those tracks were either outright ripped by me, discovered by me, or obtained and ripped by others as a result of a conversation I was involved in. As a guy who finds it hard to fit in, suffers anxiety, and constantly worries about just about everything... I can tell you that a simple thing like you putting a track of a CD I ripped in a compilation makes my year. I love this music, I love this thread, and I'm pretty fond of you guys too... and when stuff like this happens it makes me truly believe that I did something good.


Just compared this to my Vocalion rip. Now the Vocalion sounds like a brittle, treble-blasting mess. Looking forward to your version. (And possibly Quo Vadis?)

That's the sensation I was getting too! 1970s Phase 4 Decca is just... like that. In preparing this remastering I've looked at endless equalisation curves of other (modern) recordings of Ben-Hur and they are all telling me the same thing; the Decca is way, way over-emphasised in the upper-mid and upper range and under-emphassised in the low range.

Quo Vadis is a completely different kettle of fish... I think it's definitely the superior recording of the two, but here's some first attempts... (There's a bit more from Ben-Hur, then the Prelude from Quo Vadis, and then a short suite of a Herrmann score I've been working on. FSM released it in 2001 and buggered it up... now I see that Kritzerland have just re-released it and made it even WORSE... Principally I have wanted to deal with the wow and flutter that dominates previous releases and is sometimes so overt that it actually makes me feel physically sick to listen to it...)

http://kiwi6.com/file/zp44kqw9qc

Macross Delta: Saeko Suzuki, TOMISIRO, Mina Kubota

Three names, but the first two work as a group. I don't think Kubota is going to be able to carry the score by herself.

What's Macross Delta?

Never mind, I just read about it.............. Finally! A new entry! A new entry! It's a new-wait, Harmony Gold is probably going to block it from being seen legally in the US, aren't they? Well, shit. Oh well, that's what the Internet is for.

this is a big project! I can tell you really put your heart into making these compilations, so much thanks! <3

This is awesome Vinphonic. I am very glad to see such a massive compilation made available because as I found when creating my Loveliness, Elegance, and Nobility compilations (which were all recently re-uploaded) sometimes it is best to listen to highlights from these soundtracks. I'm sure I will have more to add on these later.

A few notes from checking out the tags - No criticism meant here, as I am quite impressed this is all I have to point out
I really like how you created the album artist for everything with Remastered and Arranged by Vinphonic. It avoids the dreaded "Various Artists"
I had to rename the game and anime compilations so that they have unique albums. Otherwise certain software I use will end up thinking they are all one big album and arrange everything in a strange way. So if you use something as picky as the Zune software, I suggest renaming each to Adventure Anime, Sci-Fi Anime, etc.
I get why you tagged everything as Film Scores genre but in case anyone else is anal about their genre tags like me I ended up using Anime for some, Soundtrack for others, and Game for others.

For my purposes, I've adopted the use of: Soundtrack, Soundtrack TV, Soundtrack Game and Soundtrack Anime, which are both broad and specific enough for conducting diverse searches in iTunes with the fewest filters.

I keep my tags broad; Classical, Soundtrack, Everything Else. ;)

I keep my tags broad; Classical, Soundtrack, Everything Else. ;)

But does Soundtrack include anime and TV? Everything else would not work with all my various rock and metal tags totaling maybe seven or 8 just that alone ;)

I keep my tags broad; Classical, Soundtrack, Everything Else. ;)

Just…just "Classical"!?! You? I'm shocked, I tell you. Just shocked by your acquiescence to broad convention.

Me, I've got so-called "Classical" subdivided by century using the grouping tag, and distilled down to the likes of Brass Quintet, Percussion Concerto and Chorus with Orchestra. Then there's Avant-Garde, Electronic, etc., etc., etc..

I'm an old-fashioned guy and I don't really use tags. It's not so much acquiescence or the acceptance of convention as it is a particular way of working. The only real use for massive sub-divided genres I can see if if I wanted to use it to search... But as a rule I'm not in a string quartet mood, or a symphony mood, or a concerto mood, or a late 19th century orchestra and chorus mood... I'm generally in the mood to listen to something specifically and I'll go looking for it. I trust the database in my head more than I trust one on a computer anyway. ;)

I'm an old-fashioned guy and I don't really use tags. It's not so much acquiescence or the acceptance of convention as it is a particular way of working. The only real use for massive sub-divided genres I can see if if I wanted to use it to search... But as a rule I'm not in a string quartet mood, or a symphony mood, or a concerto mood, or a late 19th century orchestra and chorus mood... I'm generally in the mood to listen to something specifically and I'll go looking for it. I trust the database in my head more than I trust one on a computer anyway. ;)

I used to be that way until I got the zune. Then all of a sudden it required tags or everything was a total mess. It drove me nuts at first but then after a while I was glad that I went through the trouble of tagging everything the way it understood. Then later when I uploaded things to Google Music things were categorized properly and easy to find. Yes I would prefer to be able to organize everything myself and just rely on folders on portable music players but that is not the way they are designed. So I was stuck between using some no name third party device or organizing stuff.

2 more by Michiru Oshima (lossless/flac)

TSUBAKI SANJURO: Thread 198489

YOIKO NO MIKATA: Thread 198490

Thank you very much Vinphonic for your marvellous collection.

Naoki Sato - Persona Non Grata (Chiune Sugihara) - 2015



m4a AAC Itunes Rip

Tracklist:
1. SUGIHARA CHIUNE Title
2. Train
3. City of Harbin
4. Hope
5. Encounter
6. Persona non grata
7. Intelligence Officer
8. Synagogues
9. Refugee
10. Preparedness
11. Visa
12. Farewell
13. Platform
14. Berlin Japanese Embassy
15. Invasion
16. Slaughter
17. Letter
18. SUGIHARA CHIUNE End Title

https://mega.nz/#!181nSJhb!JNLgxVqOd8vu0jLtE_nS6T6wxRvmAkYoQICvJI4zo_U

Thanks for the share. Always excited to check out Naoki Sato scores. Initial impressions: Another quite subdued drama score in the Thomas Newman style of long slow notes. Not sure if I will hang on to it or not.

For those in this thread who like Jazz and Anime themes played in Jazz format, I just ran into a few interesting albums that surprised me. They aren't my thing but I expect some might like them.
Rasmus Faber - Rasmus Faber presents Platina Jazz ~Anime Standards~
This guy has 5 volumes of Jazz versions of Anime themes. Interesting stuff and nice and acoustic, but not for me. Some of them are vocal tracks as well.

Vinphonic, what you've compiled is a true Christmas miracle for me. Thank you for giving me a wonderful start to the new year!

Naoki Sato also rather reminds me of Edward Elgar's style with some of his pieces. Little bit like his Enigma Variations.

Naoki Sato also rather reminds me of Edward Elgar's style with some of his pieces. Little bit like his Enigma Variations.

You know, I never thought of that... there's definitely something of Elgar in Sato's slower cues! :)

You know, I never thought of that... there's definitely something of Elgar in Sato's slower cues! :)

Now if only every God Damned CD of Sato's work weren't so bloody expensive. I've been buying Japanese CDs on Amazon as though they're going out of style since I average between $8 and $10 US a disc counting shipping. Same for Iwasaki's works. Guess it'll just have to wait a few years. Still waiting for Iwashiro's Onimusha 2 Orchestral album to become affordable. Sato's Gaku goes for $115 to $120 US for a used copy. WTF!?

Are you serious? Gaku's only a few years old. Maybe it's worth buying ten copies of new Sato albums and waiting until 2020 to make some serious cash!

Are you serious? Gaku's only a few years old. Maybe it's worth buying ten copies of new Sato albums and waiting until 2020 to make some serious cash!

Meh, guess you're right. Though even the Evangelion Rebuild albums don't go far beyond $25 or so on the used market. Though there are license manufactured Korean issues of them, so the sellers probably know not to be too greedy with those.

Hmm, in regards to The Force Awakens, despite being late to the party, I have to say that I while I enjoy the score, I feel that it doesn't really stick with me very well. I think that, unlike the other Star Wars scores which can work both with the film and without, the score for The Force Awakens works better with the film than on its own. And, considering the quality of most John Williams scores, that's... actually kind of sad."

My favs:

01. Revenge of the Sith it's so powerful! better than Metallica ;) the best action score ever

02. The Phantom Menace (Ignoring the Parade March)

03. Return of the Jedi

04. Attack of the Clones

05. The Empire Strikes Back

06. A New Hope

07. The Force Awakens

The Force Awakens score is like a new medieval light sabre cross blade = cheesy
whether YOU agree with me or not, all previous scores did have something distinguishing which instantly clicks in your memory when You hear IT, but the last one is just another background music. Personally I was hoping that some motives would be put to use more extensively, from ep.1 The droid invasion, from ep.ep. 4 & 6

---------- Post added at 05:06 AM ---------- Previous post was at 04:50 AM ----------


From the criticisms I've read of the film (I've not yet seen it, myself) and my general low regard of JJ Abrams as cinematic storyteller, were there actually any touchstone scenes for Williams to elevate musically? My understanding is that the film speeds along at a fairly brisk pace without much pause or indulgence for what cineastes refer to as cinematic moments. After all, Williams can only score to what's on the screen, and if Abrams only delivered routine television dramatic beats perhaps Williams hoped to lend the film more gravitas; gravitas, that is, of the sort George Lucas imbued six films in a space opera series for children.
very accurate observation gururu

---------- Post added at 05:15 AM ---------- Previous post was at 05:06 AM ----------


...Williams is better than ever; although his style has shifted into more introverted places. That change has been going on steadily and continuously for perhaps the last thirty years. It should come as no great surprise. 1970s, 1980s Williams was about unabashed grandness, extroverted melodies, and orchestral virtuosity. 2015 Williams is leaner, meaner, smarter (...) Williams does best when he's not trying to force himself into an earlier mindset
true, but please, keep in mind that SW in not just one more movie it's the saga ...and the continuation leads to [I fear to say it] non-importance

true, but please, keep in mind that SW in not just one more movie it's the saga ...and the continuation leads to [I fear to say it] non-importance

I don't like Star Wars and I've never seen any of the movies. I interpret this score upon its own merits.


all previous scores did have something distinguishing which instantly clicks in your memory when You hear IT, but the last one is just another background music.

I absolutely disagree; there is much that is distinguishing in TFA, and there isn't a single note of the score I would deem "background music". It is a living, breathing example of musical storytelling. It is missing some of the Williams crash-bang showoff style that we all loved in the 1970s but that doesn't make it a poorer score; it makes it a more cerebral one.

I'm very grateful that Williams has not used his previous melodies as a crutch; it would have been the easy, fan-service way out to stuff the score full of melodies from the previous movies and contribute a few minutes of filler to bind it together... but instead Williams keeps his references to the previous scores subtle and appropriate, building a completely original work around those quotes. Sure, he could have plagiarising his previous work and changed a bit of punctuation here and there, and it would still elect fangasms from people who, if their reaction to that horrific trailer music is any indication, would cheer literally ANYTHING that had a Star Wars tune shoehorned in.

I don't like Star Wars and I've never seen any of the movies. I interpret this score upon its own merits.



I absolutely disagree; there is much that is distinguishing in TFA, and there isn't a single note of the score I would deem "background music". It is a living, breathing example of musical storytelling. It is missing some of the Williams crash-bang showoff style that we all loved in the 1970s but that doesn't make it a poorer score; it makes it a more cerebral one.

I'm very grateful that Williams has not used his previous melodies as a crutch; it would have been the easy, fan-service way out to stuff the score full of melodies from the previous movies and contribute a few minutes of filler to bind it together... but instead Williams keeps his references to the previous scores subtle and appropriate, building a completely original work around those quotes. Sure, he could have plagiarising his previous work and changed a bit of punctuation here and there, and it would still elect fangasms from people who, if their reaction to that horrific trailer music is any indication, would cheer literally ANYTHING that had a Star Wars tune shoehorned in.


First counterpoint: As bad as you say the trailer music is, at least it wasn't that annoying twang sound from Inception that's used all the time.

Second counterpoint: "I don't like Star Wars and I've never seen any of the movies." Blasphemy. Sheer Blasphemy. I mean, if you haven't seen any of the movies, then how will you know if any of them don't hold any appeal? If you've watched them and then claim that you don't like Star Wars, that's fine. But... well, if you're going to claim that you don't like something, at least make sure you've sampled it first, unless you're trying to say that you don't like them in the technical sense that you have no feelings towards them of affection or negativity, in the sense that you don't dislike them either. If that's what you're saying, then, um, okay. That's... fine, I guess.

First counterpoint: As bad as you say the trailer music is, at least it wasn't that annoying twang sound from Inception that's used all the time.

Of course; my point was that it was terrrible but people lapped it up because it was based on a familiar theme.


"I don't like Star Wars and I've never seen any of the movies." Blasphemy. Sheer Blasphemy. I mean, if you haven't seen any of the movies, then how will you know if any of them don't hold any appeal? If you've watched them and then claim that you don't like Star Wars, that's fine. But... well, if you're going to claim that you don't like something, at least make sure you've sampled it first, unless you're trying to say that you don't like them in the technical sense that you have no feelings towards them of affection or negativity, in the sense that you don't dislike them either. If that's what you're saying, then, um, okay. That's... fine, I guess.

OK, fair comment; I haven't seen them so I don't know FOR SURE whether or not I like them. At the same time, I was born in the year after Jedi - it is simply not possible to go through life for the past thirty-one years and NOT learn a lot about Star Wars. Plot snyopses, clips, character profiles, "making of" segments, and the like have been rammed down my throat by the media since the day of my birth. I think I have enough "background" information about the franchise to say, with a reasonable amount of confidence, that I don't like these films. I'm always ready to be proven wrong but when every part of Star Wars (with the exception of the music, Princess Leia, and Amidala) to which I *have* been exposed, I don't enjoy... I don't think it's an unreasonable position to take. It's a franchise that names a bad guy "Greivous" and a good guy "Skywalker"... No further comment. ;) I haven't eaten donkey testicles boiled in camel's piss either, but I'm going to play the numbers and say I probably wouldn't like it.

I have no problem with Star Wars fans and I absolutely don't want to get into a conversation that will end up as some variation of "Star wars is shit! No, it's not! Yes, it is, it sucks! No, YOU SUCK! I'll kick your arse! Oh yeah, when you're done sucking off Captain Picard? I'LL KILL YOU!!!!!!!!!"

In any case, my point was that it is not necessary to consider the movies when interpreting the scores. John Williams is a real composer and his music for the Star Wars saga is not just background score - it's proper music that can be interpreted and enjoyed outside of its context as a film score. :)

Top form Tango, nicely written. You give pretty good reasons for not being keen to try something. I was more of a Blake's 7 sort of person anyway. Avon of course was my favourite character, lol.

Listen to Takayuki Hattori's theme for the NHK taiga drama Sanada Maru. It is fantastic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dRWH4dKH2cA


In other news... Michiru Oshima's score for Snow White with the Red Hair will be receiving a 2 CD release in March. The music was recorded by members of the Paris Opera Orchestra.

Also, I saw that Pierre Lenert, a viola player for the Paris Opera Orchestra, posted this on Facebook early last year:




The recording of the beautiful sonata for viola and piano with Pierre Lenert viola, Ariane Jacob piano!

A CD release is expected on Columbia after the recording of Michiru Oshima's equally beautiful Viola Concerto!!!

So last year, in addition to her TV and film work, Oshima completed a sonata, a concerto, and a full-fledged symphony. All waiting to be released.

"Recording of Michiru Oshima's Viola Concerto"

******** WHAT ********

Now, THAT I am looking forward to!!!


Sanada Maru

Wow! This must be the most unusual Taiga drama theme we've had in decades! I was hoping for Takayuki to come up with something in the same vein as Shinsengumi, but I am not complaining about this at all; a taught, minor key mini violin concerto. Orchestration is marvellous. Melody is very interesting. Fascinating stuff! :)

Symphonic Poem Emily of New Moon - music by Akira Miyagawa

MP3 (https://mega.nz/#!QIcyWALS!K0U_oOnJtW1WCiGEN-XngsoK9k5hmMqMRKCncvEeN00)
Credit goes to original uploader.

Symphonic Poem Emily of New Moon II - music by Akira Miyagawa

ALAC (https://mega.nz/#!gI8mXDDR!6bydiPUvKNEeTzW_g-0JEOTdgx3C50HqAngDSdXbgVE) | MP3 (https://mega.nz/#!cIlznbJS!blkbZSN6f9hrUQOcLq_LZ-DUAxhHeamrkbXQkWFqjuk)
Vol.2 scans forthcoming.

Akagami will sold in March 23th，from Amazon jp,anybody notice?

So I stumbled across this quote by a young Taku Iwasaki that was apparently the liner notes of the Kenshin Tsuiokuhen soundtrack. I know you guys talk about Iwasaki a lot, but his musical philosophy seems to have changed quite a bit since his debut.


"Aside from the practices and duties of my profession, I really can't say that I like listening to Japanese movie or stage music all that much. If I do listen to a soundtrack and don't get anything out of it more than a vicarious experience of the original, then I don't think I should be listening to the music at all. The scenes in a film establish an image clearly, and music works in a far more vague fashion. Along the lines of the old saying 'A picture is worth a thousand words,' hearing something requires much more imagination than just seeing something. Therefore, since it lacks the concrete reality of a visual image, it becomes very easy to subordinate the music to the pictures.

This is generally known as music 'that goes with something.' When I listen to music that is just a slave to a corresponding image, I get the feeling that doing so is indulging in a form of mental masturbation and I don't get much enjoyment out of it.

With that said, I wanted this score to be both connected and unconnected to the scenes. While it would by necessity be bound to the story and scenes in a somewhat mechanical fashion at points, I refused to let it all revolve around the bland surface pleasantness of most scores and tried to weave threads of imagination between the images and the story. Not so much describing concentric circles of meaning as trying to give the feeling of the chaos of conflicting memories of the past with occasional flashes of light-heartedness. If people follow this awkward path to its end and are listening to the music with their hearts, I wonder if they'll excuse these little philosophical quibbles of mine?"

-Taku Iwasaki

I wonder if he can say the same thing today...

Of course; my point was that it was terrrible but people lapped it up because it was based on a familiar theme.



OK, fair comment; I haven't seen them so I don't know FOR SURE whether or not I like them. At the same time, I was born in the year after Jedi - it is simply not possible to go through life for the past thirty-one years and NOT learn a lot about Star Wars. Plot snyopses, clips, character profiles, "making of" segments, and the like have been rammed down my throat by the media since the day of my birth. I think I have enough "background" information about the franchise to say, with a reasonable amount of confidence, that I don't like these films. I'm always ready to be proven wrong but when every part of Star Wars (with the exception of the music, Princess Leia, and Amidala) to which I *have* been exposed, I don't enjoy... I don't think it's an unreasonable position to take. It's a franchise that names a bad guy "Greivous" and a good guy "Skywalker"... No further comment. ;) I haven't eaten donkey testicles boiled in camel's piss either, but I'm going to play the numbers and say I probably wouldn't like it.

I have no problem with Star Wars fans and I absolutely don't want to get into a conversation that will end up as some variation of "Star wars is shit! No, it's not! Yes, it is, it sucks! No, YOU SUCK! I'll kick your arse! Oh yeah, when you're done sucking off Captain Picard? I'LL KILL YOU!!!!!!!!!"

In any case, my point was that it is not necessary to consider the movies when interpreting the scores. John Williams is a real composer and his music for the Star Wars saga is not just background score - it's proper music that can be interpreted and enjoyed outside of its context as a film score. :)

You raise a valid point. I had not given consideration to the obvious (in hindsight) possibility of someone being exposed to Star Wars in that manner. And as far as your opinion on John Williams' music goes, I actually agree. Part of what makes his music stand out all the more nowadays is that that he is a composer. He's someone who puts his heart and soul into just about every piece of music he makes, and so there's always a sense of something grander or beyond the reach of what we can see when we hear his music. I agree with you completely. However, given his age, he is also among the last surviving members of the early era of composers from the 20th century. His kin, which include Jerry Goldsmith, Elmer Bernstein, Michael Kamen, Henry Mancini, James Horner, and a few others, have all but died out.

Granted, while I would probably Choose Jerry Goldsmith over John Williams in terms of favorite composer, John Williams' power cannot be denied. His music and his ability to compose in a way that makes it stand out from the action is something that is sorely lacking from many of today's composers. His music works both by itself and with the visuals on the screen, and so much of today's other music is just stuff that works with the visuals. Sure, there are some exceptions now and then, but so much of it just fades into the background. Even John Williams' least impressive scores are still more entertaining than much of today's... background music.

I had a bit of download credit left on my iTunes account so I grabbed the Sanada Maru theme. Full score will be released on Feb 24.

https://mega.nz/#!5M02iIYR!_toPU1rMPyTPzINdKYHfaKKFycMz51CGQGbqa7j0LwY

Does anyone have a good source for all these new anime and drama scores that are released? My usual Japanese music source seems to be quite lacking on the Anime score front. I love the contributions of the members of this thread but I also would like to be able to independently find much of this same music myself like I used to. Also does someone have Takayuki Hattori's Gundam Origin scores? I found one online but it is only 24 bit FLAC and massive. I was hoping for something a little more reasonable.

only 24 bit

How many bits do you want?!

I have both scores; the first @320kbps MP3 and the second @256kbps AAC from iTunes. I can post in a couple of days, if that suits? :)


I had a bit of download credit left on my iTunes account so I grabbed the Sanada Maru theme. Full score will be released on Feb 24.

Wow, thank you! :D


Flannel
-- Taku Iwasaki

Wow, I knew he was massively conceited but this beyond nonsense... compare and contrast Jerry Goldsmith's famous quote when asked by a simpering interviewer how he wrote such splendid music for the finale of "The Final Conflict"...


I don't know, I just wrote the fucking thing.
-- Jerry Goldsmith

LOL well what I meant was the site only had the 24 bit option, no others. I don't really want to kill my ratio downloading the massive files just to downcovert them ;)

Wow, I knew he was massively conceited but this beyond nonsense...

Well, this was from his debut work and he was only in his late 20's at the time of that quote, so I think it's natural for him to be cocky and saying something like that at the time. =)

Though, he did express similar sentiments during that bit of drama on his Twitter a couple years ago about how pissed off he was that his soundtrack for Jojo's Bizarre Adventure was "misused" in the show, enough to make him think about "quitting the anime industry".

Well, this was from his debut work and he was only in his late 20's at the time of that quote, so I think it's natural for him to be cocky and saying something like that at the time.

Though, he did express similar sentiments during that bit of drama on his Twitter a couple years ago about how pissed off he was that his soundtrack for Jojo's Bizarre Adventure was "misused" in the show, enough to make him think about "quitting the anime industry".
Yeah, I was about to mention that whole JoJo incident. But that's not even the first time he's done something like that. Before JoJo it was [C]. And before that I'm sure it was something else. His Twitter in general tends to be very negative. It seems like he's always finding something to complain about - a reason to quit.

2016's Super Sentai series (Doubutsu Sentai Zyuohger) will be scored by Koichiro Kameyama, which will not be his first Sentai score; he scored Tokusou Sentai Dekaranger in 2004! Fascinating, and very odd, news. Hearing about the involvement of just about any composer except Kazunori Miyake makes me happy.

I've got Yamashita's complete Ninninger on order and will share it when it comes in a couple of weeks.

I might also have 2014's Toqger by Kei Haneoka. ;)


Taku Iwasaki

Yeah... all he seems to do is whinge - about the horrible things that happen to his genius scores, how bored he is, and how much he hates writing "generic" orchestral music.

If you can tell me any other medium in which a composer can make a living in the 21st century...

Yeah... all he seems to do is whinge - about the horrible things that happen to his genius scores, how bored he is, and how much he hates writing "generic" orchestral music.

If you can tell me any other medium in which a composer can make a living in the 21st century...

Well, at least he enjoys what he's doing, if that means anything.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nFUewF4z94M

Too often I read interviews with composers who seem to hate their jobs. ESPECIALLY Hisaishi.

Well, at least he enjoys what he's doing, if that means anything.

Maybe he's one of those guys who's in his element when he's got something to complain about. I think I'm the same way. ;)


...composers who seem to hate their jobs. ESPECIALLY Hisaishi.

Hisaishi? Really? It's never once come over in his music, nor in the overwhelming sense of joy he exhudes in his concerts...

Hisaishi? Really? It's never once come over in his music, nor in the overwhelming sense of joy he exhudes in his concerts...

Don't be fooled by his acting skills. ;)

http://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts-entertainment/article/1780283/studio-ghibli-composer-joe-hisaishi-talks-about-how


He admits: “I actually don’t like playing the piano or conducting the orchestra. There is always an exchange of energies, which is not even. It’s one against 80.”

“The most painful element of my life is composing because sometimes nothing comes to mind. It is very hard and very difficult. Sometimes the result is zero, but I go to bed and I feel something and some idea is born. So in the end there might be a composition, but the experience is often most painful.”

I imagine Iwasaki felt the same way back in his orchestral hey-days, which would explain why he's so reluctant to continue despite his talent for it. Sometimes I wonder if Hisaishi would have turned into his generation's Iwasaki if he decided to continue pursuing his electronic music origins, which he seems to enjoy a lot more instead of following the orchestral route. It's terrifying to think about. :D

I didn't get the impression he hated his job; only that he finds stress in some aspects of the creative process. There isn't an artist dead, living, or yet to live who would say otherwise. It's just one of those things. I strongly suspect "painful" is a poor translation of Hisaishi's meaning; for example the word "苦しい (kurishi)" can also be read as arduous, difficult, complex.

Of course, I don't know Hisaishi's mind, but I am fairly certain that if the man found genuine and profound discomfort in the tasks of composition and performance, he wouldn't have spent the last thirty years tirelessly becoming a master in the field...

Of course, I don't know Hisaishi's mind, but I am fairly certain that if the man found genuine and profound discomfort in the tasks of composition and performance, he wouldn't have spent the last thirty years tirelessly becoming a master in the field...

Well, when your closest business partner happens to be the face of Japanese animation (which is a massive boost to your reputation) and he wants you to make these orchestra-centric soundtracks for DECADES.... I think that takes priority. And I don't think it's very easy for most people to switch back to an electronic music mindset once they spend a lot of time with an orchestra.

It's also ironic that Miyazaki feels the same way about his movies. He hates the process because of how exhausting it is and how he has to sacrifice many ideas just to make it more entertaining for the general public (and not allowing it to flop and financially damage Ghibli like his partner Takahata), but pours in all his passion for them because it's for "the sake of the children". I imagine that mutual suffering is what ties together Hisaishi and Miyazaki. If it weren't for his reputation as a filmmaker of children's movies, I think he would much rather spend all his time drawing guns and airplanes, since that is what he enjoys the most.

anoyne have the mario and sonic orchestrainions from all games so far? thank you

You can get them on kingdom hearts insider apart from sochi, search for "Mario & Sonic". In general, just the "Opening", "Title" and "Staff Roll" are recorded with a live orchestra. But London and Sochi have more orchestral pieces but I'm sure they're just alternate takes and loops of those three.

There is a LITTLE more in London (we're talking two minutes, perhaps three) but you're right, the majority of it is cuts and remixes of the opening and closing credits music.

Vinphonic I just want to say absolutely amazing. I have been listening to these albums all morning and your taste in music and compilation is superb.

I thought I would point out the release of a new soundtrack by Diego Navarro called Capture the Flag. http://www.quartetrecords.com/capture-the-flag.html
After his delightful score for Oscar: The color of Destiny, I am excited to see what he comes up with. But am I the only one who thinks this orchestra sounds like they couldn't handle the music?

LOL! You're not the only one... this is probably the worst performance a film score has ever received, with the exception of Scott Benzie's Soul Searcher... and I can easily forgive Soul Searcher because the whole film was made for �26,000 and the score was performed by an amateur orchestra and recorded in a primary school.

Music-wise, it sounds pretty good... Thanks! :)

So long as he keeps writing scores like Gatchaman and Katanagatari, Iwasaki has the right to "whinge" as much as he wants for all I care.

MABOROSHI NO YAMATAIKOKU: Thread 198870

DAICHAN, DAISUKI: Thread 198869

So I stumbled across this quote by a young Taku Iwasaki that was apparently the liner notes of the Kenshin Tsuiokuhen soundtrack. I know you guys talk about Iwasaki a lot, but his musical philosophy seems to have changed quite a bit since his debut.


"Aside from the practices and duties of my profession, I really can't say that I like listening to Japanese movie or stage music all that much. If I do listen to a soundtrack and don't get anything out of it more than a vicarious experience of the original, then I don't think I should be listening to the music at all. The scenes in a film establish an image clearly, and music works in a far more vague fashion. Along the lines of the old saying 'A picture is worth a thousand words,' hearing something requires much more imagination than just seeing something. Therefore, since it lacks the concrete reality of a visual image, it becomes very easy to subordinate the music to the pictures.

This is generally known as music 'that goes with something.' When I listen to music that is just a slave to a corresponding image, I get the feeling that doing so is indulging in a form of mental masturbation and I don't get much enjoyment out of it.

With that said, I wanted this score to be both connected and unconnected to the scenes. While it would by necessity be bound to the story and scenes in a somewhat mechanical fashion at points, I refused to let it all revolve around the bland surface pleasantness of most scores and tried to weave threads of imagination between the images and the story. Not so much describing concentric circles of meaning as trying to give the feeling of the chaos of conflicting memories of the past with occasional flashes of light-heartedness. If people follow this awkward path to its end and are listening to the music with their hearts, I wonder if they'll excuse these little philosophical quibbles of mine?"

-Taku Iwasaki


I wonder if he can say the same thing today...

I don't really see this as him being arrogant honestly. Simply that he doesn't enjoy being restricted by a traditional film structure when making music (though I suppose some his remarks are a bit uncalled for). I mean he DID eventually compose for an animated movie but you can still sense his defiance to it in stuff like this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o6k8ngIMaIU

Song is thematically fitting for the movie but it doesn't stick to every movement of the characters/action either. It's not a bad approach honestly and I think we can agree that "Spirits of The Past" one of if not still his best scores oddly enough. For something he doesn't like making music for. Irony eh?

...Describing concentric circles of meaning as trying to give the feeling of the chaos of conflicting memories of the past with occasional flashes of light-heartedness.

Pure, unadulterated nonsense. I happen to believe Iwasaki to be a genius, even though I've found very little to enjoy in some of his most recent scores... but that kind of crap is beyond the pale. Not even Bernard Herrmann or Leonard Rosenman used such self-aggrandising puffery, and they were both legendary in their belief in their own talents and derision for 99.9% of their peers.

This, to me, is like an artist who presents a blank canvas to a gallery with the accompanying note: "In this piece, which I have called 'Le R�ve et L'�veil de la Beaut� sans fin dans la Nuit' I wanted to convey both the bleak hopelessness of life and the mass commercialisation that is the result of our bourgeous capitalist society. In juxtaposing these apparently disparate entities, and combining them in a unique but at the same time familiar manner, I have made a relevant and hard-hitting statement about mankind. The whiteness of the canvas and absence of man-made colour represents the bland conformity of the modern world; the indentations in the canvas represent the downtrodden dreams and latent psychic beauties inherent in our species, that will never be realised. The raised portions represent the dreamer, the anarchist, the rebel - the nail that is proud to stick up and resists societal expectations to conform..."

;)

GRAND SYMPHONY YAMATO
by Kentato Haneda, based on a "basical merody*" by Hiroshi Miyagawa



Tsugio Tokunaga, leader and soloist in the Double Concerto movement
Kentaro Haneda, piano
Kazuko Kawashima, soprano (credited as "scat" but, come on, now...)
NHK Symphony Orchestra
conducted by Naoto Otomo

*Yes, that really is what it says...

First Movement: Birth
Second Movement: Battle (Scherzo)
Third Movement: Prayer (Adagio)
Fourth Movement: Hope for Tomorrow (Double Concerto)

High Quality: H264 video (CRF 18) and FLAC audio @ Level 8 - 1.17gb - https://mega.nz/#!9pBRVLwS!BJf8g8txEyJ2pUh-whkou_f3pbmtLURXJJ8LJfeJIX0
Standard Quality: H265 video (CRF 24) and AAC audio @~128kbps - 207mb - https://mega.nz/#!l1wViYRY!gzzac8Wh1w4G2PJSlQzEgUx-ejpT_4wKPDDJomOJbEo

This glorious concert happened precisely one day after I was born. It was held in the Gotanda Kan-i Hoken Hall in Tokyo, on May 4th 1984. Haneda's famous symphony based on the melodies of Yamato has been released a number of different ways, and has the (somewhat unique in anime circles) honour of receiving not one but TWO separate recordings. The second, a studio recording made in 2009 with the Japan Philharmonic and Naoto Otomo again conducting, is the finest of the two - both in terms of sound and performance quality, but who can resist this premiere performance the composer himself at the piano?

I consider this Haneda's magnum opus, a very clear sign of his genius, and a poingant reminder of the heights he could have reached had cancer not taken him from us aged only 58.

It is surprisingly uncommon knowledge that this concert was released on VHS and then later on Laserdisc. A transfer appeared on BakaBT in 2012, which was advertised as being a Laserdisc transfer, but sadly it was so poor that even a mediocre VHS transfer would have been preferable. I had always hoped to get hold of a copy of that Laserdisc and find some way to make my own transfer, but that idea was buried very quickly after I discovered, open-mouthed, that a DVD of the concert had been released in 2005.

So, let's get to it. What have you got here, what's different to what you've had before, and why is it better?

The Laserdisc transfer on BakaBT has mono sound - whether that's all that's on the Laserdisc, or something went wrong during the transfer, I couldn't tell you, but the producer tried to compensate by adding a "hiss-reduced" audio track, which is unfortunately worse. A painful and intermittent screeching noise also features.

Within the spoilers, you will find a few comparison screenshots; with my restoration on the left and the BakaBT laserdisc transfer on the right.



The DVD edition does have stereo sound but it's based on the 1985 CD master and that is truly hideous; one of the horrors of the very early CD era bought about, I assume, by immature technology and engineers familiar with analogue recording. The sound passes through a grotesque hall-of-mirrors, changing a dozen times throughout the symphony.

In 2014, the concert was finally remastered from the master tapes.

Now, what you really need is for some enterprising person to get hold of the DVD and the 2014 CD remaster, and somehow combine the two.

Well, that's what I've done.

Unsurprisingly, this task was not as easy in practice as it would appear to be in theory. The CD runs infinitesimally faster than the DVD, so if you line up the tracks in a straightforward manner, synchronisation gradually drifts apart.

Extensive calculations revealed that the CD runs 0.09% faster. I couldn't tell you precisely why this was the case but fortunately the miniscule changes were easy to make; video and audio are now in synchronisation.

The video has undergone some minor tweaking; as one would expect of a production made thirty years ago on analogue videotape for television broadcast, picture quality is rarely ideal. To remedy the situation (at least partially) I have made a slight increase in contrast and drop in brightness, meaning black is now closer to genuine black and not medium-grey. In order to address a strange green-ish tint, I have also done some subtle colour retiming - nudging the hue and increasing the intensity.

Audio is derived from the 2014 "Eternal Edition Sound Almanac" CD release, subtly retimed to fit the video and re-equalised. (The CD features only the music, so the portions of this video that feature speech and applause are the original DVD audio.)

The BakaBT version included subtitles which one could charitably call "rough and ready"; I have very loosely based mine on this translation although I have completely retimed and re-written the text for grammar, clarity, tidiness, and factual accuracy. For example, the subtitles say that Space Battleship Yamato started in 1970, but in fact it started in October 1974. They also indicate that the Yamato franchise turns eleven "today" (May 4th 1984) but according to my mathematics, October 1974 to May 1984 isn't even TEN years. Since I do not speak Japanese, I was working "deaf" so to speak, and I can't verify the accuracy of the translation, but at least it makes sense now and, at the very least, no longer relays completely false information!

Periodically throughout the video, there are cards introducing the performers and scrolls which give their brief biographies. Whilst I cannot translate the text, I contemplated overlaying edited biographies in English, but decided to leave these segments clear.

Ladies and gentlemen, enjoy! :)

TT

I have to share this with you guys because I, for the first time ever, have been called a sample hater :P.

In regards to the Batman v. Superman score sample written by Hans Zimmer and Junkie XL...

Me: AWFUL!
Them: how can it be awful if it is only a sample hater
Me: I guess because I came from an era where composers wrote complex and smart scores like John Williams, James Horner, Jerry Goldsmith. So when I hear something that sounds like generic trailer music, yeah I think it is awful. Hollywood loves this garbage and for composers like me, this takes absolutely no thought or skill. I could score this in less than a half hour. So how am a hater, when I feel like this music is not art, nor is it original or above generic trailer music. I find nothing special about it period for it sounds just like everything else from the past decade or so.

Then some other guy came in: There's a mixed string section, a mixed horn section, a mixed drum section and a combination of sampled sounds. Each composer wrote and created their parts then came together to intertwine the two. Sorry but your opinion is based nowhere near facts. It's neither simple not easy to do. And I love this notion that you could do the same thing in half an hour...ya no shit. I can copy things in a half hour too. Watching the scene, getting the context, trying ideas, composing and colloberating...that's not a half hour. You sound like the most clueless "composer" ever and honestly are either in for a failure of a future or a harsh slap of reality some day.

Me: No need to smash a person's character over an opinion. But I will say it does take some considerable skill to mix a piece of music. I have written music for albums which have featured on two of the top gaming sites as well as being nominated for my Skyrim arrangement as Best Game Arrangement of the Year at the G.A.N.G. Music Awards. I have written and performed music for over a decade and a half in addition to writing articles for over five years on the subject of music composition and production. I maintain good working relationships with various composers and artists. I wouldn't say I am clueless at all due to my experience and access to some really cool circles in the industry. I am very fortunate for all of it in fact :).

I think I am bitter about stuff like this, but I firmly believe music has gone from being an art form to just something we experience out of habit.

It does sound generic, alright, I do agree with you, it really sounds like something that will be genericly used everywhere in programs in two years just like Inception or Tron Legacy.

Thank you very much for this fantastic share Tango! That must have taken an incredible amount of time and work. I can only imagine if I look at my own work and how you tweak and tweak again until it sounds right.


In regards to 2016, could this be the year symphonic albums/concerts make a furious comeback?! In the first quarter alone we have:

- Girls und Panzer Concert Album (Tokyo Philharmonic)
- Tales Of 20th Anniversary Concert Album (Tokyo Philharmonic)
- Fire Emblem 25th Anniversary Concert DVD (Tokyo Philharmonic)
- SAGA Symphonic Album (FILMharmonic Orchestra Prague)

There's also rumurs of a GATE concert/symphonic album in the works. Perhaps a GATE movie is even in production? Wouldn't surprise me. I'm also crossing my fingers for a Kantai symphonic album by Kameoka, perhaps after the second season and/or movie is released.

In regards to soundtracks in 2016 I'm of course always hoping for a complete release of Hellsing or at least the rest of the Warsaw tracks, I'm also anticipating the Kantai movie score, the second season of Bahamut, the rest of Gundam Origin and Sato's fantasy drama.

I'm also pleasantly surprised how many soundtracks have already confirmed cd releases from this season including Yamashita's Komugi-chan.

In regards to scores from this anime season I would say it's the typical winter season with a few pleasant surprises:

- Shirayuki continues to be marvelous, the best score of the season by far
- Komugi-chan is basically another Sentai score so far, I like it :D
- Kono Subarashii Sekai is great, this season's Danmachi, I think some of the brass is fake but that doesn't matter that much
- Shouwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu is interesting, a good mix of Drama and Jazz
- Heavy Object... I think we haven't heared all of Inai's orchestral contributions so perhaps there will be more on a second soundtrack.
- GATE continues to be very good but the fake brass always hurts a little
- Schwarzesmarken (Was zur H�lle?!) is a pretty good war score with a little bit Dies Irae
- Dimension W... I like everything about it a lot so far but let's see what Fujisawa brings to the table
- Active Raid has quirky Jazz and is otherwise enjoyable

The rest I have yet to check out but the only major disappointment so far is Grimgar which doesn't even have a score whatsoever from what I've heared

I have to share this with you guys because I, for the first time ever, have been called a sample hater :P.

I don't disagree with you at all, but I think your tone may have been your undoing there. (In addition, your opponent was obviously a troglodyte!)

I learned long, long ago that following the "Things used to be done better, and I'm from that kind of era" train of thought can ONLY get you into a flame war. I restrain my expression of such opinions to "safe" places. Having conversations like that is akin to trying to convince a member of the North Korean army that their leader is a nutcase and an international laughing stock, the country poor and destitute, South Korea has a better economy, higher standard of living, and a splendid international profile, and America is actually pretty nice when you get to know it. It can't be done. It doesn't matter what's true, who you are, or what your credentials are. You're talking to somebody who cannot be reasoned with and is insufficiently sophisticated to have a genuinely considered opinion but compensates by shouting loudly. They don't want to debate, or think - they want to attack you and hammer home your inherent wrongness, so they can feel good because they beat you into submission... and best of all, they never ONCE had to think. All they had to do was yell.

Don't be bitter; you can't win and that's nothing to do with you being right or wrong. It's just the way some of these people are. :)


Thank you very much for this fantastic share Tango! That must have taken an incredible amount of time and work. I can only imagine if I look at my own work and how you tweak and tweak again until it sounds right.

You are very welcome! Actually, as projects go, this one was actually pretty fast. The most lengthy part of the process was editing and re-timing the subtitles. In its entirety the project took about 12 hours spread over three days with probably another 12-18 hours of overnight encoding. It was mainly donkey work! :D

I can't say I'm as pleased as you are with the current season. Komugi was mostly cheapo stuff although there was hints that a reasonably well-sized symphonic score is lurking in there... [EDIT: Just watched Episode 2 - not much there, but how the hell does Yamashita get this stuff into a dozy show about boobs?]

Akagami is brilliant as expected, but are we sure that there is any new music? (IE, is it actually Oshima coming back and scoring Season 2, or is it all from last year?)

It IS nice to see so many symphonic albums scheduled. Kantai would be an impossible dream at this point although you never know what might happen. Does anybody know if Kameoka's score was particularly popular?

GRAND SYMPHONY YAMATO
...In order to address a strange green-ish tint, I have also done some subtle colour retiming - nudging the hue and increasing the intensity.


The greenish tint is because it was recorded while being broadcast in the Matrix, hardy har.

Great work tangotreats, glad to see you're still around and busting it out. Recently while reorganizing some old DVDRs onto a portable HD I reread a saved text file of one of your analyses of a Yoko Kanno "best of" share, which, due to its well-written and erudite nature, got me into "traditional" classical music. Who the hell was this "Prokofiev" guy everybody keeps bringing up? ;)

Kickass work as always.

So if I have a download of the audio from the recent Symphony Yamato you posted some time ago Tango, would that be the same audio as what you mixed with this video?

If memory serves, my older post was of the 2009 re-recording, so no... this is different. This is the 1984 concert synced up with the new remastering of the audio released in 2014. :)

Yeah looks like it was a 2009 edition. I seem to have skipped over the 2014 edition which is still available here: Thread 170684

Just watched Schwarzesmarken Episode 2... What? Elements Garden? Seriously? Some of this is very, VERY good... And not just "Well, Elements Garden are usually crap so I'm surprised that this is marginally better" - it's actually good.

---------- Post added at 07:52 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:51 PM ----------


Yeah looks like it was a 2009 edition. I seem to have skipped over the 2014 edition which is still available here: Thread 170684

Yes, the audio is still around, but this is the first time the video of the concert and the remastered audio have been put together. :)

Right, I thought I would share a link for those who are interested in just listening. It is amazing to listen to the differences in the two performances and recordings.

So I would totally be up for someone sharing Takayuki Hattori's score to Gundam Origin. Also which Ghost in the Shel score was it that had the track Major's Minuet from Vinphonic's compilation? Was that previously unreleased?

By the way, I'm glad to see that Movie Music UK has decided to do separate lists for best film music of the year based on area of origin this year, which gives a lovely look at a number of scores that most people may not even know exist. I thought i would share one of them here and you can easily find the others that have been posted and keep an eye out for the next few. He indicates in his article on Spanish and Portugese scores that Capture the Flag (the score I mentioned earlier) is as fantastic as I expected though doesn't say anything about performance issues.
http://moviemusicuk.us/2016/01/09/best-scores-of-2015-europe/#comment-195077

SaGa orchestra album sample is up: http://www.square-enix.co.jp/music/sem/page/saga/orchestra/


Akagami is brilliant as expected, but are we sure that there is any new music? (IE, is it actually Oshima coming back and scoring Season 2, or is it all from last year?)
Yes, she recorded new music for the second season last summer. She posted on her blog about if I recall correctly. The original soundtrack will be 2 CDs, one for each season I presume.


Does anybody know if Kameoka's score was particularly popular?
Soundtrack sold 12,000+ copies in three weeks. Sales stopped being reported after that point. I would guess total sales between 15,000 and 20,000 which is good for an anime soundtrack (also considering it was her debut).

Ah, Kosuke Yamashita, why can't you score EVERYTHING?

Ninninger has some truly wonderful moments... and it's probably the most unique Sentai score in recent years. Yamashita still milks the "house style" a little, of course, but this is really his score through the through. Whereas Sentai seems to dictate slow-ish "easy" music, Yamashita gives us some wonderfully frenetic action music rich in dissonance and brassy terror. Not that his score isn't thematic (it really is) but Yamashita isn't leaning on his themes too heavily. (A failing of, for example, Megumi Ohashi's scores.)

The orchestral cues are marvellous; sometimes a bit too percussive to my taste (in terms of modern cliche percussion) but Yamashita's class is all over everything. Ninninger is no Gokaiger, and that's a shame. But there's much to enjoy, and it's well worth a listen.

http://kiwi6.com/file/yjstd0yyo2

I will upload the whole thing shortly - I've got some scanning to do and naming the tracks which is going to take some time... But we'll get there!

TT

Anyone happen to be willing to share Takayuki Hattori's score to Code:Breaker? I can't seem to find it on the forums anywhere and the little bit I heard on YouTube sounds glorious :D.

If nobody else can do it quicker, I can have it up in about six hours. I'm at work at the moment.

TT

Edit: Edit: I've been having untold troubles uploading to Mega lately... it seems to be working reasonably well right now. ETA 10 minutes.

Edit: JBarron2005 - here you go! https://mega.nz/#!d4QUwa6Y!pFTY3kC9n94y3Q4RRRQg73BWbVqcET7RTOf0CBpSk8M

I think this might be a Leatherhead333 rip... referring to it as "FLAC" when in fact it's Apple Lossless is one of his trademarks. ;)

Many, many thanks to this gentleman. :)

If nobody else can do it quicker, I can have it up in about six hours. I'm at work at the moment.

TT

Edit: Edit: I've been having untold troubles uploading to Mega lately... it seems to be working reasonably well right now. ETA 10 minutes.

Edit: JBarron2005 - here you go! https://mega.nz/#!d4QUwa6Y!pFTY3kC9n94y3Q4RRRQg73BWbVqcET7RTOf0CBpSk8M

I think this might be a Leatherhead333 rip... referring to it as "FLAC" when in fact it's Apple Lossless is one of his trademarks. ;)

Many, many thanks to this gentleman. :)

Thank you very much, Tango! This is a good score so far! Do you still have plans to upload Hattori's score to Mobile Suit Gundam The Origin?

Leatherhead333 has posted the second in lossless in the Anime Music forum; I only have the first in lossy so will post that later. :)

So the much speculated return of Sakimoto with a Symphony Orchestra turned out to be Mitsuda's return instead Yasunori MITSUDA X Tokyo Symphony Orchestra (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OucOgFNHuUs)

I'm not yet convinced that it will top Xenosaga but I'm looking forward to it. I'm also pleasantly surprised that the entire score will be performed by the orchestra. That said I'm a bit disappointed that it's not Sakimoto, it's been years since his last symphonic score.

I would've preferred Sakimoto, too... but there's going to be some truly glorious stuff in here, and we all know that most of the good stuff will be written by Natsumi Kameoka. ;)

Kameoka left Mitsuda's Procyon Studio in 2013 so I wouldn't count on it.

Really? So Inazuma Eleven Super Go Galaxy Amazing Wow or whatever it's called was her last work with Mitsuda?

I still reckon she'll show up. Mitsuda can't orchestrate. Or it'll be Sachiko Miyano. Either way, they'll be doing a lot of the heavy lifting.

Leatherhead333 has posted the second in lossless in the Anime Music forum; I only have the first in lossy so will post that later. :)

Can you link to the specific post? I don't see it.
EDIT: NVM Found it
Thread 199072

Really? So Inazuma Eleven Super Go Galaxy Amazing Wow or whatever it's called was her last work with Mitsuda?

I still reckon she'll show up. Mitsuda can't orchestrate. Or it'll be Sachiko Miyano. Either way, they'll be doing a lot of the heavy lifting.
I guess she didn't want to be stuck as Mitsuda's sidekick forever and that's why she decided to go freelance. It's probably a good thing because now she's made a name for herself.

As for Mitsuda, it's as you guessed - Sachiko Miyano has been doing the orchestra arrangement on his most recent anime and drama works.

I thought it was odd that Kameoka was suddenly doing solo projects... I couldn't quite work out how you could go from orchestrating Inazuma Eleven one year to writing a big orchestral score for a HUGE franchise in just the space of barely two years. Now I know why. :)

I like Miyano's work... although I find her to be very much an orchestrator-orchestrator... If you hire Yoshihisa Hirano or Masamichi Amano as your orchestrator, you're actually getting a VERY confident composer who is going to leave their trademarks all over the music. I would strongly suspect that's exactly what you want. With Sachiko Miyano, you get a super-orchestrator who makes a conscious effort to stay out of the way.

In my previous post, I said Mitsuda can't orchestrate - reading the credits for Xenosaga Episode 1, I see that, unless the credits are a bad translation or an outright lie, I'm absolutely wrong. He orchestrated that score himself, and I think it's one of his most convincing orchestral scores to date...

Only good things can come of this... :D

In my previous post, I said Mitsuda can't orchestrate - reading the credits for Xenosaga Episode 1, I see that, unless the credits are a bad translation or an outright lie, I'm absolutely wrong. He orchestrated that score himself, and I think it's one of his most convincing orchestral scores to date...

Only good things can come of this... :D

You are correct! Mitsuda did indeed orchestrate Xenosaga Episode I himself. It was also the most recent time in which he was hospitalized for exhaustion due to him working day and night with barely any rest, food, or drink. Rumor has it that he asked Koichi Sugiyama for advice and guidance during that time, but I am not 100% certain of that.

In Japan, almost dying because you're working so hard seems to be almost a badge of honour.

I'm all for a strong work ethic... but not to THAT extent... I hope he's taking it easier these days!

Yeah he did the same for Chrono Trigger too, but I am not aware of him doing this in recent years. He does say that Xenosaga I did make him a better composer as a result him orchestrating everything himself.

It still seems as though it's not his favourite task... the likes of Hirano, Hisaishi, Oshima, Sahashi routinely orchestrate EVERYTHING themselves and you never hear a peep out of them.

I admire the guy for doing what's clearly way outside his comfort zone and doing it so well, but, y'know... :)

Is Gundam Origin soundtrack 1 better than the second? Because I found the second to be mostly disappointing.

I actually enjoyed 2 a little better... and there's quite a bit of repetition between the volumes too. This reeks of some studio executive wanting to put out two albums but there only being enough music to fill one. I think the score as a whole is shockingly underwhelming. It's got some great moments, but I'm hard pressed to find more than ten minutes on each album I'm likely to listen to again. There are places in Origin where Hattori seems to be going back to Intelligent Qube... and then it suddenly becomes a directionless percussion banging themeless noise. A really big shame. It's telling when the best track on the whole score is an arrangement of the original 1979 theme.

I was genuinely expecting it to better Code Breaker, but in the end it didn't get close to even equalling it.

I don't like Gundam Origin neither manga nor Anime.It has been affected by lack of Tomino and of a bad script.

Yeah exactly Tango. There is a lot of typical modern stuff that doesn't live up to his other works. Besides Code Breaker, Intelligent Cube, and Space Brothers are there a few other of his works that are worth hunting down? Maybe some that people here can share? I don't have much by him.

Karei-naru Ichizoku (Drama): A precursor of Code Breaker.

Kura (Drama): Fantastic symphonic score.

The Longest Tour (documentary): A great introduction to his symphonic scores.

Restaurant de Roi (Drama): A joyful symphonic score.

Nihon Rettou (Documentary): Traditional orchestral score similar to Intelligent Cube.

Shinsengumi (Drama): A pretty good orchestral score with a fantastic theme.

Slayers (Anime Movies): I really like them, they're classic fantasy scores. Lina's theme is a favorite.

He also arranged the symphonic album "Seiken Densetsu: put your thoughts to music".


I guess this pretty much covers everything noteworthy.

Does anyone happen to have the Tactics Ogre: Tactics Ogre: Unmei no Wa soundtrack? I was listening to a few tracks the other day and really enjoyed what I heard.

I have it, will post soon.

Only in MP3. Will that be OK? :)

Hitoshi Sakimoto and Basiscape - Tactics Ogre Unmei No Wa
MP3s - Orchestral performance of the original score
Download (https://anonfiles.com/file/7f700a8ba4f011455b50ae1c27d96ce5)

This music is one of the few Hitoshi Sakimoto scores to get a full orchestra though if you ask me the soundtrack has a bit too much music for 3 discs with a lot of not so interesting parts. I was generally disappointed by this album because of how no interesting arrangements were done to make the music really shine how it could have and the orchestra doesn't sound that great, too much reverb, but it is probably one of the few chances we will get to hear something like this so enjoy it for what it is.

Thank you, Sirius!

Also, anyone excited for Keiki Kobayshi's return for Ace Combat 7? What did you all think of the previous scores? I particularly love Unsung War for the two Warsaw recordings are absolutely gorgeous.

I never understood that score (Ogre) - a sixty-five piece orchestra is credited but every single track sounds like synth. I love Hitoshi Sakimoto; I thought Romeo x Juliet was one of the finest Japanese symphonic scores ever composed, even despite the occasionally shoddy performance by Eminence. Yes, he used an orchestrator... but the guy is an example of those people who don't orchestrate but still turn out unique, intelligent, and gorgeously constructed scores that entirely "deserve" their orchestra and don't need some smart-ass orchestrator to jazz them up; just transcribe the notes, add some sheen, and off you go.

I actually never listened to it before but I'm pretty sure "Overture", "Chaotic Island", "Catastrophe" and "Taking the Field" are performed by the Sydney Scoring Orchestra but the rest is the usual Basiscape synth sound to my ears. I don't know if the Booklet credits are correct, you never know with the Japanese. In total there's 8 minutes of worthwhile music for me.


Regarding Ace Combat: If that means Katsuro Tajima returns as well, I'm of course excited, remember the Warsaw tracks were all by Tajima and I'm pretty sure he did much of the heavy lifting for "Unsung War". Just three minutes of him is worth more than entire albums of most Namco composers. Kobayashi on his own can be enjoyable and if the cutscenes feature a full orchestra it's going to be especially enjoyable but I would rather have another Razgriz.

It is very possible that they did something like Valkyria Chronicles and only recorded a few tracks with orchestra. It would certainly explain a lot. I was under the impression that the whole thing was recorded with an orchestra but that wouldn't make much sense and if it had then they did a really poor job. Having recently listened to Final Fantasy Tactics again I recognized that the percussion was mostly live, which was why it had an oomph to it that kept me interested all these years ago.

I am going to achieve an orchestral album of FFXII and Vagrant Story eventually. I am in the process of gathering musicians for it. I have half a mind to not really change the music as it is really good as is, but obviously I would need to add some material to make up for loops in the originals. The Phon Coast performed would be absolutely awesome or even Battle for Freedom. Speaking of new work, I put out two arrangements for the next Materia Collective project. One of the arrangements is a test run for my future projects.

Michiru Oshima - Garasu no Usagi (2005)

thank you!

川崎 真弘
gaia gear 2
ガイア・ギア - オリジナル・サウンドトラック
01 ガイア・ギアVSブロンテクスター
02 メモリー・クローン
03 ガイア・ギア　ワールド
04 ヘラスのアウトサイダー
05 アフランシ・シャア
06 マハのプレッシャー
07 傷心のアルペジオ
08 タイトロープ
09 マン・マシーン　バトル
10 戦いは終わった・・・
11 メタトロンのレクイエム
12 母のように
13 戦士の語らい
14 再会のテーマ
15 ガイアギア組曲　第1序曲
16 ガイアギア組曲　第2楽章
17 ガイアギア組曲　第3楽章
18 ガイアギア組曲　第4楽章
flac
eac

https://mega.nz/#!rc81UKrC!KGcMp96llVxbkYxKRS6alMPgn0v0U-xodp-8Ez1glpE

pass family name of composer no caps

2egg48: Thank you so much for Gaia Gear! Do you have any plans to post the first soundtrack of the collection, please?

川崎 真弘
gaia gear 2
ガイア・ギア - オリジナル・サウンドトラック
01 ガイア・ギアVSブロンテクスター
02 メモリー・クローン
03 ガイア・ギア　ワールド
04 ヘラスのアウトサイダー
05 アフランシ・シャア
06 マハのプレッシャー
07 傷心のアルペジオ
08 タイトロープ
09 マン・マシーン　バトル
10 戦いは終わった・・・
11 メタトロンのレクイエム
12 母のように
13 戦士の語らい
14 再会のテーマ
15 ガイアギア組曲　第1序曲
16 ガイアギア組曲　第2楽章
17 ガイアギア組曲　第3楽章
18 ガイアギア組曲　第4楽章
flac
eac

https://mega.nz/#!rc81UKrC!KGcMp96llVxbkYxKRS6alMPgn0v0U-xodp-8Ez1glpE

pass family name of composer no caps

Request password

It tells you right there under the link.

This is going to be a great album: http://square-enix.co.jp/music/sem/page/saga/orchestra/

10 orchestral medleys by Yamashita and others. Check out the samples.