Edit: Sarah was out of town apparently. Will work on fixing the infection soon.

Just in case, I saved my whole Legacy project and my most important posts (again) and made some preparations to quickly locate to our back-up. I hope it doesn't become necessary but I don't want my phone grilled.

And if anyone wants to save the conversations of larger threads (like this one) an easy way of doing so is Thread Tools->Show Printable Version->Show 1000 post(s) from this thread on one page and downloading each page (there are 20 right now). All the formatting is there save for images.

Batman Ninja's trailer sounded great. Nice to finally hear something, anything, attached to Batman that reaches for emotional range beyond sour, gloomy, clattering noise straining for profundity.

I want to get back into discussing stuff on this thread, but I'm a bit worried about how dodgy things have been getting with pop-ups and other such nonsense (I should consider myself incredibly lucky that my Android didn't go the way of Tango's, even though I've visited this thread dozens of times on the thing by this point). Should I try to add to the discussion, or hide at the Winchester and wait for this all to blow over?

Right now all you need to do to stay "safe" is to block javascript from running. However if a bitcoin miner managed to be installed on the server last week, who knows what someone might install on it next week... so it depends on if you like to gamble, I guess. :p

http://s2.quickmeme.com/img/2b/2b3004059129ca8e3e68359655b24b1abb7a3600b431b314c5 0359caa01a9c15.jpg

That's what I'm going to do. This is getting worse. I might lay off until this is all sorted. I'm posting from a sandboxed VM right now.

Before you all take cover, make sure you have an account made here (https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/orc/index.php) if worse comes to worst.

That Masako Otsuka score is really fantastic! Thank you for posting!

Huh, speaking of Yugo, I completely forgot that he composed a video game soundtrack earlier this year, for something else about samurai strangely enough. I expect the rest of his Batman to sound very much like this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j18iOJtMHbc

Naotora this is not.

the turrican orchestral arrangment of techno dungeon had me in tears of joy.wow!

the turrican orchestral arrangment of techno dungeon had me in tears of joy.wow!

Is this available to purchase/preview somewhere?

No, this is for backers only at the moment and will be commercially available next year (but check your mail ;))

Souhei Kano is not listed as an arranger on the album, but Yuzo Koshiro's piece is in (Turrican meets Etrian Odyssey, love the coda). What gives?
Regardless, this album is NOT arranged by either Wanamo or Valtonen, more of a collaboration project between various different artists.... and it is slightly ahead of the first album although no pieces does quite top my favorite SciFi moment (Concerto for Lasers and Enemies) from the first. Some wonderful moments.

You can still purchase it on Megafounder (digital or physical): https://www.megafounder.com/turrican-orchestral-selectionsnew-amiga-cd

I inquired about the Souhei Kano thing but I don't know if Huelsbeck responds to Twitter DMs.

Akiba Wind Orchestra "AKIBA WINDS"
GARUPAN Suite
Shiro Hamaguchi



Download (http://picosong.com/wF662)
Recording Session (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tz-63JEkVeE)

Akiba Winds is currently yet another upcoming professional unit that started as a fan circle of musicians that love anime and games. The past year they were involved in various anime and game productions from Hamaguchi's Haruchika to Smartphone games of Atelier and primarly playing music by (and for) Hamaguchi. They are also responsible for my favorite version of Butter-Fly (http://picosong.com/wF6dk/). Recent concerts include a P.A. Works concert and a Hibike Euphonium Concert.





EDIT: Okay I made an exception and had to buy Sato's Destiny after a little preview, I just can't resist scores that start with a waltz (http://picosong.com/wF6MS) :D I hope it turns up fast.

His Hi-Evolution Part 1 will release in February but only as a Blu-Ray bonus :/
I imagine after all three parts are released (and a new series announced) we will get a soundtrack box.

Intrada just released a 4 disc Franz Waxman box. The word on FSM is that this was in the works since 2008 and possibly earlier and was originally going to be a FSM release. The files sound quite great for old recordings, some going back to the 1930s. Check it out if you like Waxman. You can hear some tape hiss but nothing approaching acetate level of hiss.

Harumi Fuuki's music for next year's taiga drama is done. 4 and half hours of music recorded domestically. The first soundtrack will be 74 minutes.

It was also announced that the composer of 2019's taiga drama will be Otomo Yoshihide, a famous experimental musician who doesn't seem to have any experience writing for a symphony orchestra... (very questionable decision)

Yuki Hayashi & Takahiro Obata
Welcome to the Ballroom
Soundtrack Selection


(https://mega.nz/#!9zQmADgC!opVL_Nv-dBGKZgWEcfnloulV-eC1u6ZtuhTAbrocQBo)
Sample 1 (http://picosong.com/wFEKP) / Sample 2 (http://picosong.com/wFEKu) / Sample 3 (http://picosong.com/wFEKT/) / Sample 4 (http://picosong.com/wFEKh/)

Yes, I don't believe it myself. I was skimming through the first disc and found the usual Hayashi (a couple of pieces I like) but then... disc 2 happened... and it did flip my opinion of Hayashi quite a bit (95% of this collection is from the second disc). It is not exactly orchestral but regardless some good music you might miss out on otherwise. I was right on the money he's horribly miscast in Precure. I now put him into the same boat as Shiro Sagisu. And on Disc 2 his strenghts shine brightly and mark his best work to date. It's no coincidence he has a history with Ballroom Dancing. He worked together with his assistant Takahiro Obata on this project, a Jazz prodigee who studied Jazz and classical composition and who arranged all of the classic tunes and some of Hayashi's music. But most of what you hear here is original, could have honestly fooled me.

Will Takahiro Obata be to Yuki Hayashi what Suehiro is to Yugo Kanno? Time will tell.

It was also announced that the composer of 2019's taiga drama will be Otomo Yoshihide, a famous experimental musician who doesn't seem to have any experience writing for a symphony orchestra... (very questionable decision)Could be worse. I think the day where Sawano and co tackle a Taiga Drama isn't far away. It's a shame people like Tanaka and Iwasaki have no affection for live action projects or 100% traditional symphonic scoring.

Welcome to the Ballroom

It isn't at the same level of orchestral finesse for a choreography based show like say, Taku Matsushiba's "Yuri On Ice", but it's still a rather refreshing take from someone like Hayashi to pull out a noticeable effort for this type of music, despite of course, his clear limitations for it (he can't seem to write for brass, I know, I sound like a parrot at this point... but it's REALLY a pet peeve that I still continue to and will have with modern composers nowadays).

I always thought he had a certain potential with Death Parade, I'd personally put him in the same vain as Tatsuya Kato, not in terms of their orchestration skill, but rather in the sense that when they really put their mind into what they have to work with requires more than just their comfort zone, every once in a while you get some little interesting snippets (http://picosong.com/wFAR7/) that gives you a better impression on what they're capable of. Of course these are few and far between and not very representative of what they usually do, but I believe it's fair enough to give at least it's proper spotlight in here.

I think my only main issue with Hayashi is that he's being mainstreamed hired in so many shows in so little time, to the point that he becomes greatly miscast (Precure) and throws off so much wasted potential for what could've been a more suited and trained composer for the job.

I would agree... if Hayashi did arrange that piece, its actually Takahiro Obata according to the credits.
In general what I mean with the Sagisu boat is that I wish Hayashi would focus his entire career on solo Pop/Orchestra/Jazz albums or projects that demand music in the same vain. Thats a category where he has obvious skills, but instead they hire him for projects that demand "orchestral BGM" and thats a category he obviously struggles with... wasted potential indeed. So many more suited composers for almost every project he was involved in... oh well, thankfully sometimes things turn out right, speaking of which:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?&v=ketaIwsEm2Q

I believe this will be the Space Brothers score we anticipated for the second half (I hope the series continues before 2020!)
Needless to say there needs to be a soundtrack release!

Who's scoring the new Battle Angel Alita movie? I sure hope it's not Junkie XL.

Who's scoring the new Battle Angel Alita movie? I sure hope it's not Junkie XL.Going by Rodriguez's most recent films, Carl Thiel. Go back a bit further and it'll be John Debney.

Either way, I have zero expectations from this trash.


As for the Hayashi talk, I currently prefer him to Yugo Kanno at the very least. BNHA isn't very good but at least it's preferable to A-Jin, which is what every modern Yugo soundtrack is nowadays.

How is Watanabe getting away with writing a perfectly standard Watanabe orchestral sci-fi score for Shinkalion, but Hirano handed in a piece of complete and utter trash for Drive Head?

"DEEMO Musical Medley" for chamber orchestra: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3XGUim__Fdc&feature=youtu.be

Chu Yen-Po (a.k.a. Chamber Chu) composed the soundtrack for Deemo and Rayark's new game Sdorica (https://soundcloud.com/tastyisteak/sdorica-main-theme). Definitely someone to keep an eye on.



How is Watanabe getting away with writing a perfectly standard Watanabe orchestral sci-fi score for Shinkalion, but Hirano handed in a piece of complete and utter trash for Drive Head?
Probably because Watanabe has been in the biz for over 30 years now and can get away with whatever he likes.

That and perfectly standard Watanabe is tuneful and approachable, and perfectly standard Hirano is complex and occasionally quite challenging.

To be honest, Shinkalion looks like a much better made product with a lot more craft and care behind it. It also does help that its a Real-Life promotion of a Train company, (and Japanese Train companies care enough to hire Naoki Sato to write a symphonic piece or hire a composer to compose exclusive station melodies for each and every station with a reason behind it) whereas Drive Head just seems like your typical 0815 cheap kids show to sell Toy Robots.

In recent years he has been hired for projects that don't suit him at all (to pay the bills) and the only promising one (Broken Blade 2), has been cancelled. Judging by his own words, so long as no director with a dark fantasy/scifi/drama project wants "the Death Note / HunterXHunter composer", that won't change :(



More Watanabe news: He and his father will be the focus of the next "Untitled Concert" (Dec, 16th) with suites from Mazinger, Space Brothers, Super Sentai and more. I hope it appears online fast.

Preview: http://www.tv-asahi.co.jp/daimei_2017/

Ah, Space Brothers by a full symphony orchestra (with pristine sound)...

That and perfectly standard Watanabe is tuneful and approachable, and perfectly standard Hirano is complex and occasionally quite challenging.It's still a bit strange because Hirano isn't always atonal and chaotic. A lot of his music was just very dramatic and classically-inspired, and in a much more original fashion than Kanno's shoving of Bolero and the Scythian Suite into Escaflowne. Even something like Ouran took this approach. But I don't see any of this love for classical music in that recent Hirano piece. Is it really the producers or just Hirano not caring for that particular work?

is it only me or is the filmscore monthly forum down?

Working fine for me.

I hope "Symphonic Poem ~The Ancient Magus's Bride~" is not yet another liberal use of musical terms, just like how a Japanese track called "symphony" means everything from Jazz to Pop. It's out on Dec, 20.

EDIT: Seems like everything is back to normal again... for now...




Takayuki Hattori
TBS Sunday Drama RIKUOH
Tokyo Studio Orchestra

(https://mega.nz/#!52ZHEKwC!T8JOUKSXsjMMqF4__Jx3SG_F_t7_CLsJgV8pl_PE0bs)

Sample 1 (http://picosong.com/wFTwj) / Sample 2 (http://picosong.com/wFTwE/) (similar to Battle Athletes)

A short and sweet score by Hattori, but feeling very much like the outtakes for Godzilla (similar to ID-0). Don't expect Hattori to step out of his electronic phase (or the Japanese drama sound for that matter) for this short drama special.

I hope "Symphonic Poem ~The Ancient Magus's Bride~" is not yet another liberal use of musical terms, just like how a Japanese track called "symphony" means everything from Jazz to Pop. It's out on Dec, 20.
It's only a 3 minute track so...

:/

Now if the OVA pieces are also absent... (I don't understand why they went with an understated approach for the TV series, drives me nuts)


Oh well, I also like to be surprised in my anime scores, just like with the recent Owarimonogatari release (my last preview of my little project) : Symphonic Poem ~End of youth~ (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xKNyn2nWps4)

Kei Haneoka's writing is so strong, a clear cut above Kosaki. Now I wish he scored Hanabi and Kizumonogatari, or at least co-composed.

Already hearing some general complaints about the Last Jedi reusing too much musical material from Return of the Jedi and being very repetitive... let's hope for the best.

Complaints from who? People complained about TFA's score and that turned out alright.

Reddit, various review sites and forums, but this one is the most detailed of all the impressions I've seen so far:

http://www.jwfan.com/forums/index.php?/topic/28066-the-last-jedi-score-mentions-in-online-reviews-social-media-etc/&page=3&tab=comments#comment-1428176


- There are (best to my knowledge) 2 new themes. A sweet one for Rose, and a more militaristic one for Admiral Holdo. They both get some workout during the end credits.

- Returning are (of course) the usual suspects: Rey's theme, Kylo Ren's/First order themes, March of the Resistance, Snoke's male choir, Poe's Theme, Force Theme, Rebel Fanfare, Luke's theme, Leia's theme.

- Jedi Steps is referenced.

- No references to the 'running along with Finn' theme from TFA.

- I don't think there is a theme for the Porgs.

- I could not hear any tracked music (although the Main Title may have been from TFA, I could not hear because of screams and clapping of the audience)

- Canto Bight will probably be a fun source music track. Lots of steel drum. It sounded a bit like the Cantina Band, but different.

- Saw William Ross credited alongside Williams for conducting.

- Other old themes return, but revealing them would be very spoilerific. Best you find out what they are in the theater or on the OST. Also I was far from impressed with the score for Force Awakens, but my opinion has nothing to do with this right now.

Williams soundtrack albums are very different from the actual film version. For example, Scherzo for X-Wings is never heard in its full glory in the film itself, and over the years I prefer concert arrangements over complete score releases so I'm more looking forward to the album than hearing it in the theater (that said I will probably enjoy it the most after a certain remaster drops around here). It's why I'm listening to Charles Gerhardts Star Wars albums more often than to the actual film scores. I will reserve judgement until the album is out.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kVuQo2x7Cso

I would agree with that, but allegedly the score was written before filming and the film was edited to fit with it, so what is heard is what will be on the soundtrack.

But yeah, best to reserve judgement until it actually comes out.

Well the Waxman set is as delightful as expected, perhaps even more than that. Sound quality is great all around except for some minor hiss and the occasional really short score that has poor sound quality The big ones, Captain Courageous, Dr. Jeckyl, Huckleberry Finn, and Count Your Blessings are all lovely. Then King of the Roaring 20s has a very jazzy feel that makes it a good fit for disc 4. I am quite glad I picked this one up.

Just saw that Ni no Kuni 2 got pushed back again - this time until the end of March. Hopefully that's the last delay because I want to hear some new Hisaishi.

I also saw that Yuya Mori scored the recently released Fullmetal Alchemist live-action film. I wonder if there will be a soundtrack?

Thats quite a prestige project :O
I hope it is not riddled with too much modern elements. The trailers were full on modern Hollywood so hopefully this time it was just trailer music.

Just saw that Ni no Kuni 2 got pushed back again - this time until the end of March. Hopefully that's the last delay because I want to hear some new Hisaishi.

Agreed, I'm dying to hear it - the music in the trailers sounded fantastic

Last Jedi is out, and initial reviews have kind of confirmed my worst fears.

http://www.post-gazette.com/ae/music/2017/12/13/Star-Wars-new-last-jedi-john-williams-soundtrack-music-film-score-review/stories/201712120107

Also, no concert arrangements in the soundtrack itself, a huge disappointment.

Disagree, sorry. It's a great listen, and it's a pleasure to hear, this kind of music is extinct completely in 2017.

I have listened to it a few times and don't get all the negativity. It may be the weakest Star Wars score written by Williams, but it is still leagues ahead of any big franchise score this year in Hollywood and one of this years best scores. That report almost makes it sound like Willliams wrote Giacchino's Rogue One. It is nowhere near horrible. The score is actually good, just not that great or anywhere near the best Star Wars scores. The fact that a 85 year guy, for the biggest movie of the year, defeated almost everyone else in the media music business this year (save for Kanno's Naotora and maybe Iwasaki's score) is a stunning feat that is not to be underestimated.

There is almost nobody writing on this level today. The only exception this year is Kanno's Naotora which is the only score of the year I would rank higher than The Last Jedi until Iwasaki's High School movie score is out, but that is also a whole different thing than a traditional orchestral score like this is.

Not a big fan of that review, not that he isn't completely wrong, the score does fail to excite and l agree with him on things he said, but it is just that he makes it sounds much, much weaker than it is even if it might be the weakest Star Wars score written by Williams. He should have pointed out how good it is compared to everything else this year even if it fails to excite. It is not just an uninspired reharsh, there are some pretty inspired varities of prior themes, he is a bit too harsh. Williams could have made it much easier and ignored to even do new takes on the material. The success-rate of the new variations of the previous material varies of course, but it is not just all unspired and certainly not just recycled from the seven previous scores. The instances were we can hear the rehashes are the exceptions. Themes aside, the underscore is stronger here than in The Force Awakens.

3.5 stars out of 5 sounds about right. I give Naotora 4 stars (the 3.5 volumes taken together as a whole).

John Williams simply can not write bad music, that's for sure. And he's the best (in truth the last great one) in the Hollywood business...
Last Jedi is not the score I wanted it to be (what else is new), but there are moments where it does excite me. Its hard for me to listen to Battle of Crait and not wanting to listen to Battle of Hoth or Sail Barge Assault instead, but the man writes different than in his 40s and 50s and it still is incredibly sophisticated, thematically and emotionally rich music that completely wipes the floor with everything else in Hollywood and I'm sure it will elevate my enjoyment of the film.

You're all nuts. TLJ is almost perfect. TFA was about getting the motor running again; so it was particularly heavy on new themes as it introduced new characters and re-introduced us to Star Wars, setting out its intentions for what Star Wars in 2015 was going to be like. It accompanied a film that was a two hour apology for the prequels. In TLJ, and now we're back in a franchise; we've got most of our ensemble already in place. Williams' job is different; we hear familiar themes in new and fascinating directions, giving consistency but at the same time forward motion, and a handful of new themes provide a sense of uniqueness.

I particularly enjoy the finale, which sounds as though it's going to end in battle/action mode, but everything dies away and we're left with Rey's Theme for pulsing strings and woodwinds, then finally a few notes from it in a fairy-tale style against a string chord, and a trademark Williams-esque slightly dissonant harp flourish at the end. Just lovely.

This, if we're lucky, is the second-from-last sci-fi movie in history that will ever receive a score even a tenth as good as this one. Williams is not getting any younger, and nobody alive even comes close to matching his skill. This score is the last chapter in the history of the symphonic score in media. The final part of the trilogy (I presume at Christmas 2019) will be its epilogue and swansong.

If I were to offer any criticism:

1. The LSO is missed once again. Not that the Hollywood Studio Symphony is bad, although it's not as good as it used to be, but the close-miked studio orchestra sound is simply not on a par with the LSO playing in Abbey Road Studios. I completely understand that Williams doesn't have any interest in lengthy international flights any more, but this is a shame. I was hoping that Williams would relent after TFA and push for London, but alas, no.

2. Time will tell, of course, but I don't think the new themes are quite up to previous standards - emphasis on not quite. Rey's Theme remains one of my favourite Williams melodies of all time, and in comparison, Rose's theme doesn't quite reach my heart in the same way. Perhaps it will with repeated listens, though... which leads neatly on to...

3. CONCERT SUITES. We're blessed with some deliciously long cues (seven out of 20 are over four minutes, three are over six minutes) but I really miss the "bonus" cues - Rey's Theme, Scherzo for X-Wings, etc. The new themes might have won me over more easily if they had been given a workout like that. It's unusual for such cues not to exist on the album. A disappointment, which given the overall brilliance of the score, I feel guilty expressing or even feeling.

That said... Wonderful, wonderful score. Instant score of the year. Naotora is great and all, but Kanno is not and never will be Williams - however much she's wanted to be in the past. TLJ has it beaten ten times over in terms of skilled writing, development, thematic consistency, variety of melody, and storytelling.

No other composer, and no other score - in any part of the world - comes close.

I dunno about you - but so far, the first one is my favourite., the one I first listened, and when I did.. I couldn't be any more happier. I was so.. so.. so happy to listening to all the beatiful classic sound I love so much that is SO extinct in 2017.. and honestly, is it Hollywood Orchestra again? Because to me the reprises of the themes sounded much better than the last one - but eh..

Point being.. it may not be flawless, but it is a soudn that is practically EXTINCT in 2017 in Hollywood, that I love and want back SO MUCH. So just because that it deserves all credit. Just.. listening to it gave me so much happiness, the way it all sounded, was orchestrated, the complete symphonic feeling of it.

Simple: John Williams is the last jedi...


:this:

So I am almost done with my second listen of The Last Jedi, and I have say I am having a blast. I always felt The Force Awakens was Williams on auto-pilot. Good, yes, but not especially memorable. With The Last Jedi, I am finding multiple cues that I would not call hummable, but are certainly within the realms of being memorable enough for repeat listens. Tracks like The Supremecy, The Rebellion Is Reborn, The Falthiers, A New Alliance, The Battle of Crait, The Spark and The Last Jedi are the best, in my opinion.

...did I just list half of the score. Sue me. Post new release hype.

But I do have some issues with the score. Williams relies too much one themes from the Original Trilogy, instead of creating new themes for new characters. We still don't have an established theme for Finn and Poe (or at least one as prominent as Rey), and I would have liked a march for the First Order. It is still a good score, but not one of the series' best. Better than Attack of the Clones, worse than The Empire Strikes Back.

Hello, I am currently looking to add Yoko Kanno's Naotora to my collection. Vol.1 is out here, released by nextday, and is everywhere, but I'm told there are also Vol. 2 and 3 and another one about songs, perhaps?

I have the first one from a torrent place, where can I find the other two? I need this music in my life. Hell if I could afford them I'd buy the 3 right now in a heartbeat.

If you want to buy it, I'd wait for the "complete edition" that will be probably be announced in the near future. It won't be cheap though.

For now, I will PM you download links. (have to upload them first)

If you want to buy it, I'd wait for the "complete edition" that will be probably be announced in the near future. It won't be cheap though.

For now, I will PM you download links. (have to upload them first)

THANK YOU. THANK YOU so much. For one score lover to another. This music is heaven to my ears..

I will wait for the complete edition then, maybe, to purchase them.. :)

Hopefully the FYC version expands on certain ideas, after a second listen I'm eagerly awaiting more unreleased material. I also wish the "Hyperspace" moment in Battle of Crait at 0:38 was two minutes long.

Personally, no cue in Last Jedi tops the Amatora Suite in its full 14 minute glory, and I need to listen to a 70 minute edit of the whole purely orchestral score to determine my score of the year. But Naotora is not really comparable to Star Wars. They are two completely different beasts. Initially, I prefer the more classical inspired Naotora, especially with Chopin in Weak Heart and Tchaikovsky in Amatora.

EDIT: Actually, as I listen, I'm even more impressed with Naotora, its no cheap rip-off or best-of from the concert masters, its a genuine loveletter to romanticism, a crowning achievement in Kanno's career and convinces me Kanno quoted and "copied" Prokofiev and Williams out of a genuine love for their music and not because of a corporate deadline, compositional inability or ghostwriter mockery. I just can't give Williams the honor because Last Jedi lacks the truely stellar/phenomenal cues of New Hope, Empire, Jedi, Phantom Menace etc. Its missing that crucial element that makes me shiver all over, cry in tears and "I want to be a composer". I hold Star Wars by its own standards and I'm dead sure Last Jedi won't be a score to make people listen to Ravel. Its the same problem I had with Force Awakens initially and it took several listens (and a rearranged remasterd album) to fully warm up to it. Now I'm a fan of the Resistance March, but Rey's Theme is not quite up there for me with the rest of the Saga. Only this time I knew what was coming (I didn't expect no march for the bad guys or any concert suites, however!) so I accept what is still one of the last grand symphonic scores from Hollywood (and only Hollywood!)

@Ponyo: The other volumes have been posted in the thread. The links should still work.

I did the search before asking - only found the thread for the first - and the first had the link with some sort of login that I didn't know about. o:

I'll listen to the score for TLJ first in theaters Saturday morning. Excited to hear it and hoping that my theater lets the music shine as it should. Naotora is easily the only other score that comes close from this past year.

There are not enough new themes in TLJ for my liking. I'm always looking for those show-stopper moments, and I didn't hear many in this one. The orchestration is good and busy, but that's just business per usual. There seemed to be way too many references to previous scores, so it feels off balance. The lack of suites is a major concern for me.

A thought that keeps coming to mind is it's like many of Horner's recycled scores (Bicentennial Man, Bobby Jones, Spiderwick, etc.) which are solid scores and pleasant to listen to, but if you've already heard the themes in previous soundtracks it just feels empty. Though overall it is an upper-tier score, it's only 3/5 for me, where TFA was 4/5 and Empire was 5/5.

A genuinely fantastic video on Hisaishi (though it's more about Japanese melodies than the man himself)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4bZ19hnr8vc

Ferdinand by John Powell just got out today! Give it a listen and tell me what do you guys think about it.

A genuinely fantastic video on Hisaishi (though it's more about Japanese melodies than the man himself)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4bZ19hnr8vc

The title is foolish, but there's some very solid music theory in there. Thank you!

@Ponyo: The music is not interesting to me ;) (but truth be told, nothing from Hollywood is these days). However, it made me listen to Mask of Zorro again so I give it a point. John Powell has not written a score as good as Chicken Run for over a decade now (actually seventeen years ago!): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M93xNG93Zcg. HTTYD 2 had a few pieces that came close but thats pretty much the only effort coming anywhere near the glory of pre-2000 Hollywood.

Talking a bit more about Last Jedi, after the inital wonder of "wow this music in 2017" has passed, I notice more and more cracks the more I listen to it. Especially listening to it after Naotora and Empire. It jumps too quickly from one idea to the next, my problem with "The Battle of Crait" being symptomatic of the whole score in hindsight. And most often to a recycled theme we've heared a million times already. It's not magic anymore. Even the themes from Empire feel totally tagged on and do nothing for me. The whole score may have pieces over four minutes long, but most often its just a few cues tied together that don't have the same symphonic and narrative cohesion as the original trilogy (and to a lesser extend the prequels). The only time I would consider a great Star Wars moment is in "The Last Jedi" but even that pales to the Saga's emotional highlights. My main gripes with the new Trilogy is actually in TFA, in particular "Torn apart". The build up is intense and would be one of my favorite Star Wars cues... if after the crescendo it didn't immidientally fall apart with a more than lackluster payoff with those tired brass acrobatics that just feel uninspired to me. Its all over Last Jedi as well. I get it, "it's Star Wars" but common. And the big action climax in your score is a recycled Tie Fighter attack cue already recycled in Jedi. And what is up with that "Finale" cue. It's a sloppy edited mess. Compare that to the ten minute version of "Jedi Steps and Finale" (the best thing from this new trilogy) or true symphonic masterpieces like "Throne Room and End Title". Not impressed. I agree with Streich that no concert pieces ("The Rebellion is Reborn" kinda counts) also hurt the score.

Don't get me wrong, its still masterfully crafted music, like a perfectly tuned machine scoring cues on a level of skill few composers on the planet can match... but to me it is music from a machine nonetheless. I sense no panache, no enthusiasm, no creativity in Last Jedi like many people do. Williams was doing his best with the material given to him, and for me the "film score" is overall a better score than Force Awakens but Force Awakens has the better symphonic pieces (Scherzo, Resistance, Rey, Jedi Steps). But both don't reach the heights of what Star Wars is capable of. And that's "not good enough" to "save" the orchestral symphonic score in Hollywood.

I am afraid to disagree with you, I like most of Powell's work and I find this one a neat listen, I really truly enjoyed, and I can't begin to see what dissapoints you with it (or any of the other scores you mention) because, they sound so much better than your usual Hollywood fare. I am honestly awaiting his Han Solo, because I'm trusting he can do the Star Wars sound without copying John Wlliams. For, to me, the Star Wars sound is nothing but well-done symphonic orchestra la old style, with themes and brilliant orchestration, and I feel that Powell can do this easily. And he has more time than Giacchino, so, something good outta come from this.

(Pokes his head out from the shed he was hiding away in)

Oh, nice! The website's working fine again. I can come back and discuss something.

(Sees the discussion on TLJ, a movie that he has no interest in seeing or discussing)

Aw. Is there something I can cling onto...?

(Sees some John Powell discussion, and decides to go with that)

Since Powell's come up, I've got a question for those who are interested in his work: what did you think of his music for the first How To Train Your Dragon?

I'm curious to know because, personally, that film is the only one I've ever watched where the soundtrack made it unbearable to watch. I don't have a problem with Powell; I quite like his score for Chicken Run, for example; but I legitimately could not stand HTTYD's music. The problem for me is that Powell had been doing the music to nearly every Dreamworks Animated film up to that point, and this was in the middle of his 'scoring 5 films a year' phase (which is insane given the kind of effort it takes to score ONE movie, let alone FIVE), so when I watched this movie, it just sounded like every other Dreamworks film I'd heard up to that point. This action cue sounds like it came out of Shrek, that romantic song's ripped from Chicken Run, this humorous piece feels perfectly fitted for Road to El Dorado, etc.

It actively made the film unbearable for me to watch, to the point where I was more concerned about who was responsible for the soundtrack than anything that was going on in the film (which just did not engage me at all), and that's never happened to me for any film. So I'm curious to know what y'all think of the score. Does it really sound so recycled/samey, or is it just me?

@Ponyo: Oh, don't misunderstand. Its a fine score with "Madrid Finale" being a piece I very much like but I'm just not that interested in Powell as a film composer. He's no James Horner (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dI37lHVCUqU&index=6&list=PL67CE54F745D573F7)
Yes, Han Solo has far more potential than Rogue One but that is not saying much. The movie is a production nightmare and I don't expect Powell to be such an orchestral master to compensate any filmmaking shortcomings like Williams can do in his sleep. He's also leaning on the RC school of thought, just more nicely orchestrated. Fun fact, "From Train Station to Area" sounds earingly similar to Masato Coda's "Burning Appearance!" from Knights & Magic, even with all the obvious inspirations.

@FrDougal9000: I once very much liked HTTYD but nowadays I find it very much like all of Powell's animation scores sans CR, overblown, overloud, no proper structure, too much emphasis on rythm and too much in your face.

Vinphonic I am sincerely offended by your view on Powell! I disagree so much!

But I respect it. But I completely disagree!

2017 is not like 1977, and whilst it's tempting to consider that a big, glorious vintage Williams score like Empire might be enough to kick-start the second silver age, it wouldn't have happened that way.

TLJ isn't going to be the first in a long line of great orchestral scores; audiences don't want this kind of music in modern movies, and there are barely any composers left who can write that way any more. Modern film-making does not have "space" for proper scores any more. Modern directors aren't musically literate and don't understand the true value of a score. Even when they do, they are fighting against trends which have brought the symphonic film score to its knees. Between illiterate directors, illiterate composers, general musical trends, the dominance of a certain type of score, the shift from "music composed by Somebody" to "music created by Company Ltd", the increasing importance of 14 year-old kids' opinions at test screenings, contemporary film-making style, frenetic uncontrolled production schedules, and Hollywood's steadfast refusal to take any kind of genuine risk or creativity and preference to stagnate on sequels, prequels, reboots, and naff animated movies about wisecracking animals... There is literally no space for proper music to return to cinema.

Williams on Star Wars is an abberation. Star Wars is a franchise that started when these things were acceptable in cinema, and Williams' music stood the test of time - and by sheer good fortune, Williams is still around in 2017, still a famous name, and still prepared to score the new movies. The Star Wars theme is as much a part of Star Wars as anything, but in all seriousness, 99.9% of fans do not give a fuck about the music in Star Wars beyond hearing the fanfare at the beginning and the end. The popularity of the shockingly abysmal Rogue One is proof; Williams could be replaced with Giacchino on Star Wars Episode 9 and people would care, but not enough people and not sufficient caring to give the film's producers any lasting concerns. They could replace Williams with almost anybody and as long as they kept the fanfare and quoted the Force theme a few times, this would satisfy 99.999% of the film's audience. It will still make the fuckton of money that Disney genuinely want it to. (Surely nobody seriously thinks Disney care about Star Wars in any way beyond its ability to be exploited to print money.

At this point, it doesn't matter what kind of score goes in TLJ.

Let's also remember that Star Wars in 1977 was a low-budget (it cost $11 million; compare with $20 million for Close Encounters, $14 million for The Spy Who Loved Me, and $46million for Star Trek The Motion Picture just two years later) space adventure movie for kids that George Lucas threw together in a huff, because he was unable to secure the rights to make a Flash Gordon movie, and which Universal refused to make on the grounds that it was "a little strange".

Now it's the biggest movie franchise of all time.

If anybody pitched it to Hollywood today, nobody would make it in a million years and nobody would contemplate making a blockbuster space opera movie for the modern equivalent of $45 million. They'd much rather spend five times more money rebooting a shitty franchise based on comics.

As for the score itself... I get what people are saying, and on reflection, I think TFA holds together better. Though Williams is too much of a gentleman to ever say so, or even imply it, I strongly suspect his relationship with Rian Johnson, a director with only four films to his name before, and has never worked with a composer in history, was not easy. Johnson is a modern filmmaker through and through - even moreso than Abrams and whatever Abrams atrocious choices in composers (Giacchino) in the past he appears to be a genuine fan of Williams (not just someone who's going to say "Oh, wow, working with John Williams is so amazing!" whilst secretly wishing he could get his cousin who plays guitar in some crappy rock band to score his movie.

It shows in the music. It sounds like Williams did the best he was capable of doing under a unforgiving set of circumstances, and that the score is as cohesive as it is, is a tribute to his greatness. Williams comes from a time where a composer essentially wrote an opera without words which synchronised with a movie. Rian Johnson comes from a time where "music" is written by some jackass with his keyboard and consists of chords, pads, atmospherics, and if you're really lucky, bland and repetitive ostinati.

I could do without the occasionally jarring "[music] HERE IS THAT ASTEROID FIELD MUSIC YOU ALL LOVED [more music] HERE IT IS AGAIN!!! [more music] OMG IT'S YODA! [more music]" but honestly, Williams' naff moments are still light years ahead of anybody else's finest moments and I can cheerfully overlook them in favour of the bigger picture. (That, and, we know Williams - we know what he can do, and we know his work ethic. At this point in his career, at which he has been simply at the absolute peak of for going on FIFTY YEARS, I am prepared to accept completely without proof that anything in his scores that don't work musically is the result of directives foisted on him by the film-maker or by the film itself. (That includes stuffing in the Asteroid Field music in the middle of an unrelated action cue. It's not just a hint of a theme being dropped into a cue. The cue stops, we hear the Asteroid Field music almost verbatim in the same orchestration, then it finishes and the rest of the cue resumes. It reeks of fanservice and that kind of clumsy ham-fistedness is beneath Williams.)

This is why I say that I consider TLJ "almost perfect" - clearly, it's not. It's occasionally messy, the album is poor (and thus our overall perception of the music negatively impacted) because of the concert-suite missed opportunities, and the contrast of styles that occur when 1977 Williams and 2017 Williams play against each other sounds odd when it happens.

But, we've got one more John Williams science fiction score to enjoy, and all being well, one more again to follow in 2019. We have a big blockbuster movie, with a score that genuinely functions as a big, old-fashioned Korngoldian film score which can be genuinely enjoyed and appreciated by people who love film scores the way they used to be written and are bored sick of Giacchino, and of being told "Shut up moaning, Giacchino is just as good as John Williams!" and "Modern movies don't need that stupid outdated opera shit any more, Hans Zimmer RULES!!!"

From that perspective, it's almost perfect.


Powell

I don't think he's ever written a single note that puts him up there with "serious" composers like Williams, Goldsmith, etc. He's written a lot of music that's above Hollywood average, which to be frank isn't hard these days. Chicken Run, which was scored in collaboration with Harry Gregson-Williams, was nearly seventeen years ago and that didn't impress me (it was heaps of fun, but it didn't impress me) - my enthusiasm for him being involved in the new Han Solo movie is based on the following points:

1. He's not Michael Giacchino and Powell at his worst would be better than Giacchino.
2. He's a real composer with a real musical education.
3. If he takes the movie seriously, goes at it with the view to writing a proper, integrated, story-telling, symphonic Star Wars score, and doesn't fall into his MV ways, I feel like he could do something really good.

That said, HTTYD was bland and boring and very much your typical bouncy animation score - nicely orchestrated nothingness, simple melodies, and lots of bombast, but almost nothing going on under the surface. I have no idea if he can do serious and symphonic at the same time, because he never has. We'll see.

@Ponyo: Geez, had I known I would have worded it more flowery :D

For the record I respect Powell and I enjoy his concert work and potentially he is the best of the RC bunch by a mile. It just so happens over the years I'm no longer looking for that more sophisticated RC bombast Powell can no doubt deliver. I love Chicken Run (next year some random Japanese kids movie even rips off its Main Theme) and I like HTTYD2, X-Men: The Last Stand, a couple of cues from his animation movies and recently a cue from Ferdinand. The rest is not for me. Happy now?


@Tango: Ah, now you're truely back, old friend :D

I must confess, being overly harsh on Last Jedi is maybe unwarranted and I'm kind of embarassed to even nitpick so hard since it will probably be one of the last scores of this kind you can hear in the cinema (if the cinema is even a thing in ten years). I have not heard the FYC album or Sonicadventure's album yet, so maybe that will flip my opinion like it did with TFA.

And of course, you guessed it, you're probably right in regards to Hollywood.

Incidentally, the Big M also had similar remarks about Johnson:

Relatively speaking, the new Williams scores are fucking masterpieces. That said, they support dramatically inferior, forgettable films. Interestingly, you can hear the structural dramatic failings of the film in the cues. It never breathes!!! It's typical Abrams mad-dash of frenzy to stop the viewer from realizing the film has no substantive core. Williams has no choice but to serve it as he has, but the cue structure is night and day from anything in Empire or Jedi, for example. It's worth listening to one of these action cues, and then go listen to The Asteroid Field, or Battle of Yavin. Night and day. Williams is doing his best, but garbage in/garbage out."

Honestly I don't know why I am surprised you guys don't like Powell. Coming from you I should have expected it.

Mike's right on the money, and I just played Battle of Yavin for comparison. He's right. COmpare that to something in TLJ, and you can literally feel the structural vagueness of the movie pulling the score one way, and Williams somehow chasing after it and trying to pull it back the other way. The problem is, Williams can't create the structure the music genuinely needs without abandoning the film - so he does what he has to do.

He was really, REALLY brave to agree to do this in the first place. I can't even begin to imagine what it must be like for somehow who cut his teeth working with Herrmann, Waxman, Newman, Salinger, Goldsmith, Bernstein, and Mancini, to take a job scoring a sprawling blockbuster in 2017 made by an illiterate director working for a faceless money-grabbing international conglomerate - let alone do it as well as he did.

This speaks not only to Williams' talents as a musician, but his (apparently superhuman) people skills.

Well I really enjoyed TLJ in theaters today though as usual they crank it up too loud. I find that the music has a lot more energy in the action because there is much more interesting stuff to score as opposed to TFA. Really impressed overall and glad to have gone to the theater for it. I gotta enjoy this sort of thing because it is a rarity. I never got that sucked in to the original Star Wars scores the same way as others here so I much prefer the mix of new and old material on TFA and TLJ.

I found a place to watch Naotora so I am going to check it out and see if I can stand it.

Williams' naff moments are still light years ahead of anybody else's finest momentsThis is a very silly statement and I assume just for dramatic effect. Weren't you putting Hisaishi on the same level as Williams some ten pages ago?

I find TLJ especially disappointing because Williams supposedly wrote this before the movie was even filmed; everything he scored was supposed to be edited to the scene, not the other way around. So why the hell does it just sound like a bunch of cues meant to match whatever happens on the screen instead of flowing naturally like what we're used to hearing from him? But unlike Force Awakens, he isn't able to add in much of any new material. It's just another one of those "I REMEMBER THIS THEME FROM DECADES AGO!" soundtrack in the same vein as Giaccchino's Rogue One, Elfman's Justice League, whatshisnameDJ's Alien Covenant, and dozens of other scores from the past and future 5 years. Only difference is that William's skill level is several hundred leagues ahead of everyone else alive in Hollywood and he can figure out how to make the transitions from theme to theme actually smooth and interesting.

All this talk of it being "Hollywood's last great symphonic score" is laughable. But I can't really blame Williams given how incestuous and formulaic Disney has forced Star Wars to become.

[QUOTE=The Zipper;3709083]This is a very silly statement and I assume just for dramatic effect. Weren't you putting Hisaishi on the same level as Williams some ten pages ten pages ago.

You always leap to "what a silly statement" before trying to understand. I do wish you wouldn't. It's unworthy of an educated man as you are.

I was talking about Hollywood 2017, or if you want to get even more specific, the pool of composers who have even a remote shot at scoring a Star Wars movie.

There are classical composers out there who give Williams a run for his money - names you've probably never heard of. None of them will EVER be asked to score a $300 million Hollywood blockbuster.

And I unreservedly stand by it. I would rather hear a mediocre Williams score than ANYTHING else Hollywood has put out in recent years. Because even when he's mediocre (i don't count TOM as mediocre at all) he's working at a level other composers can only dream of. Just look back over his career. What he's done, who he's studied with, who he worked with, what he's scored, where he's recorded, his awards and accolades... Nobody else can even come close and that's no exaggeration.

As for "last symphonic score", well, exclude John Williams' recent scores and name one which you consider worthy of the title. For bonus points name there additional composers who regularly work in Hollywood today who has even a hint OF Williams' greatness.4

@Zipper: Turned out to be just lies and marketing BS, so Hollywood in a nutshell. That or Williams actually did write it as promised but they chopped it up in editing... that would explain the over ten conductors listed for Last Jedi. So Williams wrote the original score, then they called for Williams to write some "transitional cues from his old films", then all those conductors were called in and they recorded the various different "I remember this" pieces and then they chopped up the original score beyond recognition. Either way its a disappointment.


Oh well, I still love to hear this music in cinemas so I will take after SirusJr and enjoy it while I still can. Also, upon reflection and taken my bias out, Ferdinand is actually pretty good Ponyo. At least compared to everything else I shouldn't have been that hard on it. But times are dire.



Sigh... better move on from the rather depressing outlook for Hollywood an return to my comfort zone, because a lot of good things happened the past weeks that made me smile. Some I keep for myself for a "special occasion" very soon but here's some news:


I. Girls und Panzer ~Das Finale~

1. It has an original score
2. It's no simple retreats of previous material
3. It moved exactly in the direction I wanted it to go
4. As a bonus, even the ending song is fully orchestral

http://picosong.com/wFviU/

Considering it's 6 x 40~60 minute OVAs, there should be plenty of new material. Considering GuP notorious release schedules the soundtrack will either be years down the line or released as Blu-Ray bundles per episode, like Sato's new Eureka Seven.


II. Hayato Matsuo answered our prayers: "I'm very sorry I can't give you a soundtrack for Keijo, but I can give you something to make up for it": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uUK4zTkcz1U

III. Yoshihiro Ike has his second overseas recording for a netflix Fantasy anime airing next year, its recorded at Dvorak Hall and I'm very much anticipating Ike in Crimson Sea territory but with his new Bahamut style.

IV. Mamoru Hosoda's new film has the good kind of Hollywood bombast: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Qo9cLO9QFc

V. Kenji Kawai's new project is very interesting in the sense that it looks so much out of his comfort zone. How will he score it? An epic romantic fantasy love story? I just can't imagine him going all usual synthy, electronic, rythmic onslaught on this one. I'm not saying it could be his second Warsaw score (and he has enough prestige to fly to Warsaw if he wants to), but I sense something good may come out of this production: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JHwkaoRq26M

Naotora Vol.4 releases digitally in 3 days: http://www.sonymusic.co.jp/artist/SoundTrackInt/info/489412

22 new tracks and 11 remastered tracks, 1 hour 40 minutes total. (edit: was reported as 140 minutes, but that was a mistake)

I guess, Vinphonic, that is just me. Perhaps, seeing how Hollywood's musical landscape is right now, I just give it to anything that sounds played live or orchetrated live. My desperation to find the sound I like to hear in Hollywood is perhaps why I give this kind of scores more credit than you think they deserves. Perhaps because you have much more ear and finesse listening, and prefer to have scores that have much more to it, and I don't blame you, but I'm happy this way. That is why I listened to Justice League and didn't find it that awful, mostly because, while not having the finesse of a classical orchestral score we all know and live, it still was to me, very relieving to hear some sort of orchestra and melodies somehow, in a big, epic Hollywood blockbuster in 2017. It may be a miracle to find the type of meaningful orchestra we all know and love in this day and age, but perhaps we should really give some credit to those who try, or at least have a nice orchestral feel to it.

I enjoy Powell's music, because of the good melodies, themes and the orchestral bombs, but that's just me, and my personal preference, but still I admire his work and wouldn't like to think he's a hack, or that he hasn't composed anything worthwhile. I think Ferdinand has lots of heart in it, like most of his animated work, where he fully stands out. I really like the guitar tones of Ferdinand, they are nicely played and sound close to Spain's, the themes are nice and catchy, they get into my mind after a listen or two. The same with the main theme, which has some Spain flamenco undertones, and I would know! I'm from there.



I am hoping there's an eventual Naotora complete collection, and that someone buys and rips it. This should be the last, no? Considering the year's ending and these tipes of drama last a full year. A new one should begin next year, and hope there's a score as good as this one, though it's doubtful. But I don't understand, what does "remastered" tracks mean? Reprise of older themes?

I find TLJ especially disappointing because Williams supposedly wrote this before the movie was even filmed; everything he scored was supposed to be edited to the scene, not the other way around.
Not true, he wrote it to a rough cut, then they kept him updated as they were cutting and changing things.

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


Naotora Vol.4 releases digitally in 3 days: http://www.sonymusic.co.jp/artist/SoundTrackInt/info/489412

22 new tracks and 11 remastered tracks, 140 minutes total.
Another volume? Wow.

Finally seeing the film and giving it a few more listens, I can confidently say TLJ is no near perfect at all in it's presentation, add to the fact the lack of concert tracks that many of you have pointed out already. It's still a miracle to see in John Williams that much devotion and musical integrity at his age to continue in the middle of this horrid mess that Hollywood has become. I agree with the general consensus that most of these modern directors wouldn't even hesitate to replace Williams, heck, even the general public seems pretty okay with Giacchino taking his place, what else is new?

As for the score itself, here are some of my pointers (probably will update it as I listen to it again):

- Rey's theme is even less noticeable compared to TFA, one of the few cues that were worth mentioning, I was truly interested to see were'd it go, and now there's less development from before, how!?

- Rose's theme is nice and all, but unlike Rey's from TFA, it barely has any moment to breathe properly, and we only have short glimpses of it (closest we got is probably in "The Fathiers").

- Tracks like "The Spark" truly shows the missed opportunity in a build up, I'll refrain from spoilers here, but basically this was intended as a "glorious comeback" scene starting at 2:16. So you start with a slow and steady marcato in string and woodwinds sections (correct me if I'm wrong) as another phrase in spiccatos incorporates and repeats itself getting louder until the end. Even with Williams orchestrations that prevents this from being a repetitive bore, it doesn't take away from how anticlimactic and unsatisfying of a piece it is if you remove those elements.

- "The Battle Of Crait" and "The Last Jedi" are definitely my highlights, sure they're not at the level of it's counterparts in the original trilogy, but I believe this as a space opera you're going to get in the entirety of this score, and even then it can't be saved from how it quickly drifts from one idea to another without giving proper time to digest it (definitely noticed some more nods of "The Planets" in the first one).

- I miss some of his choral work that he had going in the prequels (https://youtu.be/1Hva1SH5Eo4?t=1m34s) rather than just a bunch of "AAAAH's", but I guess we'd also need the LSO for that, a true shame!



It's no bad score by all means, not even remotely. It's always a blessing to get more of Williams in this day and age, it's the greatest soundtrack in the realm of Hollywood scores for this year, but that's just not even saying much anymore, is it? It's just that there's not very much new material to talk about and praise, it's either repeating old themes that just makes me want to revisit ESB again, or it's new themes lack any sort of the development that I could warm up to. In that sense, it's no score of year for me, it's tracks have only moments rather than the fulfilling entirety of one in it's value that has, say, Naotora's 14 minute cue, that hasn't cease to impress me until this very day and that I come to revisit every so often. Great score, not much disappointing since I was very much expecting something of similar caliber of TFA. I guess Williams only source of creative freedom these days, or even someone capable to understand how he works, belongs in his long term relationship with directors such as Spielberg, and I'm saying that as one who really liked his fantasy score for the BFG, might be a little bit of an apples to oranges comparison since it's no Star Wars, but I seem to like the BFG enough to revisit it every now and then.

Speaking of fantasy score, time for a post:


Symphonic Fantasy
Udi Harpaz


(https://soundcloud.com/udi-harpaz-composer/sets/symphonic-fantasy)
(Soundcloud)

Best known for his scores of the US version of the very first Digimon (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gr2vh9QgMsU&list=PLEE1C53149B099375&index=15) (one of his best works) and Spiderman TAS, Harpaz is a classically trained composer, orchestrating and conducting his own music, his main influences stems from the greats of the Silver Age, primarily and mostly Alan Silvestri. Last month he released in his own soundcloud a compilation of his trailer music for the genre of this album title. It's as formulaic yet nicely orchestrated as you'd expect it to be for this type of music, but I guess it was better than ever to make at least a little mention to this composer. I'm still debating if it's worth getting a copy, but for now have an online link, enjoy!

i was surprised to hear that henry jackmans jumanji 2 went the old silvestri route with a rousing adventurous theme, great romantic and mythtic stuff, predator-style suspense, high speed action and very little modernism.lots of fun.kinda like debneys zathura, but more jungle feel of course.

More Naotora! OMG!!! Can't wait to hear this. My favorite score of the year.

So, is this finally the reveal of Tanaka's big project for 2018 he teased so much about?: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKAly6teEK0&t=52s

Answer: Yes it is!


"There was an announcement today at Jump Festa. A One-Piece Action-adventure game for the PS4.

I was in charge of the music of "World Seeker". Musically, while following the One-Piece worldview, sticking to the raw, pure orchestra, I tried many challenges unique to this game.
One Piece is spreading to various media and software so much, I will not be able to handle all that music but in regards to the opportunity for me to compose for One Piece on this scale, I will do my utmost.
I am doing my best to meet everyone's expectations. I am pleased to finally announce this work I was working on from the beginning of this year.

Release is in 2018. Please stay tuned."

- Kohei Tanaka



I believe this is his Gravity Daze 2 Ensemble again (or even a Symphony Orchestra, considering the trumpets are in the middle, but GD2 Ensemble was insanely big anyway so either way would be fine).
For reference synth Tanaka sounds like this: http://picosong.com/wRn5A / and here's the new piece from the trailer: http://picosong.com/wRnQd
Now lets see about that Royal Philharmonic album... doesn't seem so unlikely now, does it :D

Might this be another case of a potpourri of music like in Gravity Daze 2 or his return to full symphonic form, either way, I don't mind. But considering this is One Piece we're talking about, and he has on his command a "raw pure orchestra" as he says, this really sounds promising already :D

That's good news considering almost all of the new music for the anime has been reduced to pitiful synth. I'd love to hear new One Piece music played by an actual orchestra.

I checked one of the recent episodes (817) and is there some new material?! (talking about the three minute waltz that starts with celeste). It sounds real and I do not recall it from any of the movie scores (then again, I have not heard them in a long time). Maybe its even music from the game.

I checked one of the recent episodes (817) and is there some new material?! (talking about the three minute waltz that starts with celeste). It sounds real and I do not recall it from any of the movie scores (then again, I have not heard them in a long time). Maybe its even music from the game.
They occasionally let Tanaka record new music but it's mostly only for special occasions. For example, there were a few new pieces in episode 807/808 including a lovely piece for piano, strings, and woodwinds (near the end of 808).

pensquawk, while you have a hard time deciding if you should buy it or not, I bring you a FLAC commercial copy of the album from TIDAL. Thank you for bringing it to me, I quite enjoy it. Clich� or not, it's brilliantly orchestrated symphonic music and I adore it! It's a pity this guy doesn't get hired for movies anymore, or at least live orchestrated, because I for sure would hire him if I was making a family film or a cartoon movie! I just know he'd do the type of music perfect for it, and add lots of feel and magic to the music. I am loving this album lots, perhaps because it's childish and cartoony and there's still a kid in my heart :P I wish Udi Harpaz could pull a Nathan Furst and release his Digimon The Movie score even if it's in digital too! Long as it has the original quality to it. I'm glad enough we got a lot of cues that the composer himself gave to a fan!


Symphonic Fantasy (https://musicbrainz.org/release/f02ee8b5-a31a-49a0-a428-58a0e2f497c0)

Udi Harpaz

WEB FLAC



Tracklist

1 Celestial Meadows 2:31
2 Enchanted Firefly 2:02
3 Up In the Air 2:13
4 Felix the Flea 2:29
5 Little Friendly Sprite 2:08
6 Porcupine Paul 1:47
7 Bolerina 2:17
8 Crazy Nocturne 1:55
9 Dance of the Dragon Tails 2:07
10 Majestic Excursion 2:05
11 Black Forest Mystery 2:12
12 Inside the Rabbit Hole 2:31
13 Chasing Magic 2:21
14 Adventures in Neverland 1:57
15 Navigating the Nebulae 2:18

Download:

https://mega.nz/#!Owd2HQKI!6D_IQVs9OG96c5VKwi7t2-5d_Xcu3AuwOacmXBEce30

I was talking about Hollywood 2017, or if you want to get even more specific, the pool of composers who have even a remote shot at scoring a Star Wars movie.If that's the case, why were you saying that Last Jedi surpasses "ten times over" Kanno's Naotora a few posts earlier? If it were in the context of modern Hollywood, I would completely agree, but that was clearly not the context. Naotora DESTROYS Last Jedi, and the gap between the two isn't even comparable.


As for "last symphonic score", well, exclude John Williams' recent scores and name one which you consider worthy of the title. For bonus points name there additional composers who regularly work in Hollywood today who has even a hint OF Williams' greatness.4My point wasn't that there were other great symphonic scores in the current state of Hollywood, but that I consider Last Jedi to be far from a "great symphonic score". It's been written with the same intent and structure as Giacchino's Rogue One and the other handful of rehash scores I was talking about. This type of score is one of the few things I consider worse than the Media Ventures crap, because even if that music sounds worse, at least the people behind it are not actively trying to recycle old material for verbatim in order to appeal to the nostalgia crowd. Inserting cues made for no purpose other than "CLAP HERE IF YOU REMEMBER THIS" are repulsive, and discourage every composer from creating new material or reusing old material in new or inventive ways. Once again, I don't blame Williams, but separate the music from the man and I find nothing special about it compared to modern Hollywood trends. It's skillfully done for what it is, but it is no saviour.


Not true, he wrote it to a rough cut, then they kept him updated as they were cutting and changing things.That's not what I remember happening.

http://www.slashfilm.com/star-wars-the-last-jedi-score/

Not like such a process made any difference in the final product.

Naotora DESTROYS Last Jedi

Yes and no. The actual orchestration of Last Jedi and taking the cues individualy and seperate are easily just as good as Naotora, with Williams being a cut above. BUT orchestration isn't everything.
You're right if we are talking about narrative and structural cohesion, because Last Jedi falls painfully short in that regard the more you listen to it.

Bottom line, the more I listen to Last Jedi the less positive things I can say about it and the more I listen to Naotora, the more impressed I am. So I would suscribe that Naotora trumps Last Jedi, even if I stand by that they are completely different scores.

If that's the case, why were you saying that Last Jedi surpasses "ten times over" Kanno's Naotora a few posts earlier?

Oh, my God...

I wasn't talking about Naotora; I was talking about TLJ in the context of Hollywood 2017. I would rather listen to a mediocre Williams score (and, as I said before, I do not consider this a mediocre Williams score) than the best effort of any recent Hollywood movie. Even a mediocre Williams score is going to be, as a baseline reasonably melodic, skilfully composed, sensitively arranged, and make a pretty good attempt to tell a story. That's it, that's all I said. ;)

The post in which you claim that modern Hollywood was "clearly not the context" is 100% about TLJ, Williams' place within Hollywood, how modern Hollywood functions, how modern Hollywood movies don't leave much space for Williams-style symphonic scores, and how TLJ is fundamentally flawed for these reasons.

I bought up Naotora the previous day, where I said:


Naotora is great and all, but Kanno is not and never will be Williams - however much she's wanted to be in the past. TLJ has it beaten ten times over in terms of skilled writing, development, thematic consistency, variety of melody, and storytelling.

Naotora is essentially a concert work written to compliment a TV show. It was not written to picture, and it makes no attempt to tell a story. It is a series of miniature tone poems, some of which are terrible, and some of which are some of the best music written for any medium, ever, in history. It is used, as most television scores are, as general mood music - not as a score. The music doesn't develop as Jedi does, because that's not its function. Jedi has 40 years of thematic content, written by one of the greatest living composers, to draw upon and develop; Naotora is its own, unique, individual work. Development is heavy within cues, but not across the piece as a whole. It does not tell a story, as a whole, because it cannot - it is not written to be played in order, it is written so multiple cues can be re-used, edited, chopped up, repurposed, and deployed multiple times across over fifty hours of episodic television.

Naotora is a series of symphonic poems. TLJ is a symphony. It exists as one, (mainly) coherent work that has a beginning, a middle, and an end.


My point wasn't that there were other great symphonic scores in the current state of Hollywood, but that I consider Last Jedi to be far from a "great symphonic score".

"Great" doesn't have to mean "greatest" though I do see your point... but I don't know how you can listen to TLJ and not acknowledge that it's light years ahead of ANYTHING else in town - yes, including Naotora. It's not perfect. It's massively flawed. The movie it accompanies is, by most reliable accounts (I have yet to see it but I have a feeling I'm going to hate it) a train wreck. It's a score written in 2017, when orchestral film music in Hollywood is not merely dying, but is completely stone dead - so if it were terrible it would still be worth noticing - but it's not terrible, it's not a masterpiece, but it is very, very good. (Both in its own right and bearing in mind the fact that, by rights, with the Hollywood climate as it is today, it shouldn't even exist at all.)


This type of score is one of the few things I consider worse than the Media Ventures crap, because even if that music sounds worse, at least the people behind it are not actively trying to recycle old material for verbatim in order to appeal to the nostalgia crowd.

Well, to be fair, this occurs a grand total of about three times in TLJ. Almost every use of familiar themes are clearly efforts for thematic consistency. Only really the Asteroid Field music stuck out for me, and the badly shoe-horned Leia's Theme quote. In 80 minutes of music, about 90 seconds of it pisses me off. That is pretty good going, I think...

Yes and no. The actual orchestration of Last Jedi and taking the cues individualy and seperate are easily just as good as Naotora, with Williams being a cut above. BUT orchestration isn't everything.Orchestration is nothing without good composition. Elfman's JL was also very well-orchestrated, as are most current Hollywood scores that don't ride on the MV style. Doesn't make the composition any less bland or derivative! William's TLJ is very well orchestrated, but how much of it is new? How much of it is done better than before? Not much. TLJ is just another Justice League.


I wasn't talking about Naotora; I was talking about TLJ in the context of Hollywood 2017. I would rather listen to a mediocre Williams score (and, as I said before, I do not consider this a mediocre Williams score) than the best effort of any recent Hollywood movie. Even a mediocre Williams score is going to be, as a baseline reasonably melodic, skilfully composed, sensitively arranged, and make a pretty good attempt to tell a story. That's it, that's all I said.

The post in which you claim that modern Hollywood was "clearly not the context" is 100% about TLJ, Williams' place within Hollywood, how modern Hollywood functions, how modern Hollywood movies don't leave much space for Williams-style symphonic scores, and how TLJ is fundamentally flawed for these reasons.When you say "TLJ has beaten (Naotora) ten times over" in just about every way possible, I hope you understand the implications of that statement. Naotora, and I'm sure you can agree with me on this, is the most original and arguably best work Kanno has ever written in her very long and impressive career. Essentially, you're saying that Williams on autopilot bland rehash mode is better than Kanno at her peak in Naotora. I see no contradiction between this and what you said earlier about how "Williams' naff moments are still light years ahead of anybody else's finest moments". You believe Last Jedi not only sweeps the floor with all of modern Hollywood (which I agree), but Naotora as well. Once again, no contradiction here.


Naotora is essentially a concert work written to compliment a TV show. It was not written to picture, and it makes no attempt to tell a story. It is a series of miniature tone poems, some of which are terrible, and some of which are some of the best music written for any medium, ever, in history. It is used, as most television scores are, as general mood music - not as a score. The music doesn't develop as Jedi does, because that's not its function. Jedi has 40 years of thematic content, written by one of the greatest living composers, to draw upon and develop; Naotora is its own, unique, individual work. Development is heavy within cues, but not across the piece as a whole. It does not tell a story, as a whole, because it cannot - it is not written to be played in order, it is written so multiple cues can be re-used, edited, chopped up, repurposed, and deployed multiple times across over fifty hours of episodic television.

"Great" doesn't have to mean "greatest" though I do see your point... but I don't know how you can listen to TLJ and not acknowledge that it's light years ahead of ANYTHING else in town - yes, including Naotora. It's not perfect. It's massively flawed. The movie it accompanies is, by most reliable accounts (I have yet to see it but I have a feeling I'm going to hate it) a train wreck. It's a score written in 2017, when orchestral film music in Hollywood is not merely dying, but is completely stone dead - so if it were terrible it would still be worth noticing - but it's not terrible, it's not a masterpiece, but it is very, very good. (Both in its own right and bearing in mind the fact that, by rights, with the Hollywood climate as it is today, it shouldn't even exist at all.)Last Jedi is basically the past Star Wars scores chopped up and repurposed to fit each scene. There is nothing new or original or symphonic about it, and ironically enough it doesn't even come with symphonic suites like what was expected. The only thing that makes it listenable is that William's insane talents have allowed him to figure out ways to make the transitions work (but not always, i.e. the aforementioned out-of-place Asteroid Field) despite needing to match the frenetic pacing of the movie. To say that the Last Jedi is better than Naotora for this one merit due to differences in mediums is not something I that can agree with at all. The core music of TLJ certainly is better than Naotora- but as you say, it was written 40 years ago. As a standalone, TLJ is nothing new.


Well, to be fair, this occurs a grand total of about three times in TLJ. Almost every use of familiar themes are clearly efforts for thematic consistency. Only really the Asteroid Field music stuck out for me, and the badly shoe-horned Leia's Theme quote. In 80 minutes of music, about 90 seconds of it pisses me off. That is pretty good going, I think... Yes, I made that statement more about that type of scoring rather than Last Jedi alone. More than the music itself, I think Williams has spectacular dramatic sense that allows him to place cues where they belong and vary them in appropriate manners for each scene. Giacchino doesn't have this quality, and his deficiencies speak for themselves in Rogue One.

I tried watching Episode 1 of Naotora and the score is absolutely as Tango describes it, not written to picture. I would even say that in context the 30 minutes I watched the score barely fit the show. As a soundtrack it is barely functional while as music it is wonderful. I don't think I could stand to watch more than the 30 minutes of Naotora that I already did because it moves so slowly and seems like there will be at least 2 episodes of setup for a character before we know why we should care about her back story.

Star Wars TLJ fits the movie wonderfully and also works on its own. That is what makes so many John Williams and other great composers scores so interesting. They both fit the movie and are interesting to listen to separate from it. Naotora does not fit the show very well at all.

^No, as said before that's the difference between scoring to scene and scoring to a random cue sheet from a director. TLJ only flows as well as the movie itself does, and the movie itself is of questionable pacing. It's more consistent, but better? Not one bit. But it is a different approach.

Now that I've seen Last Jedi, its no train-wreck at all. Even the "remember this?" moments are there because the scene demands it. Overall it felt very bland but some scenes are well shot and look beautiful. And I had serious goosebumps hearing "Tie Fighter Attack" on the big screen. I thought to myself "this could be the last time we hear music of this caliber in a Hollywood movie".

I even like the Casino scene, Kill Bill Throne Room, Luke's Return and sent-off a lot, but overall just moments, not the movie as a cohesive whole, the music logically has the same problem the film has.

That's the problem (or blessing) with film scores. The music is inherently linked to the structure of the film and what happens on screen, for better or worse. Naotora could be the shittiest TV series ever, it still wouldn't change one thing about the music. So if I had to choose between these two scoring approaches, at least one of them soley depends on the composer.

Need to establish criteria if comparing Western film scores with the yearly Japanese drama. In terms of themes and variation (what I mostly care about), if subtracting the cues from the original trilogy (main theme, Yoda's theme, Leia's theme, force theme, rebel theme, tie fighter battle, etc.) Naotora wins out.

Speaking of themes and variation, Udi Harpaz is an amazing orchestrator, but he really needs some stronger themes to tie it all together. As I understand it he mostly pays the bills writing library music, so that really limits standing out too much. His only theme I can remember is the Digimon one, which is the Back to the Future theme inverted. One of my Kanno theories is she makes library music and then picks out a bunch of tracks when called upon and calls it an OST. That would explain the weirdness that is Ragnarok Online 2, at least.

Let's just agree that TLJ is the best film score of the year, while Naotora is the best TV score of the year. It's difficult to compare the two mediums due to the differences in production. Films can be scored to picture fairly easily, lengthy TV shows not so much. Star Wars films call for around 90 minutes of music, a taiga drama calls for around 4 and a half hours. Star Wars has decades of development, while Naotora has no history.

If I had to pick just one, I'd pick TLJ... but it's not really a fair comparison. And even though I think TLJ is better as a whole, Naotora's Amatora Suite is still my favorite piece of music this year.

Does anyone have a favorite orchestral Christmas recording to share? Preferably one without vocals. I tend to not be a fan but I want to offer something to play that might even satisfy the rest of the family.

I agree, enough debate for now. To anwser Sirusjr's request and to get into christmas mood, time for a repost.



John Williams & Arthur Fiedler
Joy to the World
Orchestral "Filmic" Christmas Collection

(https://mega.nz/#!9vIwBbLI!jyEOLBQfb4BaZduzfMaXYfsdiDtpYQbPZkyXGTALEPc)

Ain't no christmas without John Williams & Arthur Fiedler for me. Can't wait to listen to Home Alone and Hook again.

Well then, looks like something arrived way sooner than anticipated :D:


BESTORA (Lady Lord Naotora Original Soundtrack Vol.4)
Yoko Kanno, NHK Symphony Orchestra, Lang Lang, Midori, Ko Shibasaki, Miu Arai


(https://mega.nz/#!UIBVwLYa!myPFkQPaPyCm5KNnArd2F1O2gs1ruv15DvSVSJ6KRMk)
(M4A)

And before you ask, yes, that was the actual title, it's as silly as it's album cover. But do not let that deceive you from what to expect here in these 22 new tracks, which additionally includes some "remastered" versions from the various released volumes. So here we are at last, the fourth and final volume of what could be Yoko Kanno's glorious return to form. I'm pretty sure there's some unreleased material left as I've been catching up with the Taiga Drama, but we'll have to see for an announcement of the complete package.

Just like the previous volumes, the real meat that are Kanno's few standout orchestral pieces are scattered between either ambient or average at best. We're back in classical mode, starting with jolly tuneful strings, woodwinds and harp for "Ryūgū's Training", a gorgeous semi-mini violin concerto in "To Sena", more suite treatment with "Ikue Ikudo" and "The Woman from the Li Valley" that finally ends the album with a very peaceful Japanese note with the epilogue pieces "Onago to ha" and "OTORA".

What a ride has been the music for this year's Taiga Drama, Volume 1 might've been the pinnacle of it, but that didn't stop me from thoroughly enjoying each volume of this series and I can't sing enough praise on how much this highlighted to be for 2017, one of the better year for symphonic scores, including many others such as Matsuo's Drifters. After hearing for so long these volumes, I really got used to the NHK SO, sure Warsaw might've been missed but I think the music that was written suited quite well that orchestra, it gave a more "raw" feel that helped represent the 15th century Japan setting better, but that's just a little theory aside that could respond Warsaw's absence. Kanno returned to deliver us on one of the best Taiga Dramas and TV scores to have ever existed. Her writing has mature in such a way that there's no longer an immediate noticeable copy/paste of the great moments in classical music history, but rather use those elements to her favor to bring her best original work to date and paying proper homage to the influences that are behind the music at the same time, such as Ravel, Debussy, Tchaikovsky, etc. REALLY really love it and I hope it's appreciation spreads across the world as an incentive for her to reconsider that maybe she could go back with a Warsaw Sci-Fi/Fantasy score, hopefully. And even if she'd decided to dissappear for a certain period of time in the orchestral scene, I'm sure this won't be the last time we could hear something of this magnitude again, she's 54 after all, that's like 30 years more to go!

Our national classical radio, "Radio Beethoven", actually played the last 8 minutes of the Amatora suite some months ago, including a few other pieces from the first volume (shame they couldn't play the entire 14 minutes of the suite, but I'll take it), so it's nice to see it's getting worldwide recognition in the classical field of music :D. Enjoy!

Thank you very much, pensquawk :)

Thank you for posting Naotora vol. 4. What a strange tracklist. I don't really understand why the remastered tracks are included.

Big thanks for the prompt share!

Here’s a mini-track analysis of OST 4 (selected tracks). I can’t identify any plagiarisms or borrowings, so the the following are just my musings as I listen.

1. Definitely feels like Kanno was influenced by her own Inspired Dragon for the theme here.

2. The first half sounds like something Poledouris would write, but the second half sounds like something Bill Conti would write. I really dig the 80s film score vibe from this track.

3. Speaking of the 80s, this sounds like it could right out of an old Gundam anime. It really is an amazing track, I've not heard anything like it before. The drum kit gives it a kind of Mancini feeling.

4. This track is vintage Kanno. Some parts remind me of Macross Frontier.

6. Sounds like the return of Nobunaga's Ambition. Kanno's decision to add random sfx over live instrumental music is superfluous as usual.

7. Maybe a little bit of Debussy and Ravel here.

8. The strings are definitely Kanno, but the brassy fanfare is like something out of a sword and sandal epic.

10. Another vintage Kanno track. Similar to some of the writing in Turn A Gundam. It's like something you'd hear out of an old black and white educational film.

19. Kanno always does well with the gradually building rhythm. This one comes across a little Star Wars-y for a change.

20. I think this one is a variation on a theme heard on one of the previous OSTs.

21. Starts off with some Shostakovich-sounding harmonies, then kind of wanders aimlessly. I don't really have any context for this.

23. Wow, finally some choir! It really adds some gravitas.

25. Has a very regal quality to it, like something Patrick Doyle would write.

27. This track is really where Kanno's theme-writing strengths comes through. Not just that, but the harmonic development in the middle is on point too. It seems to follow in Kanno tradition of writing an “old song” with a very simple melody, almost like a nursery rhyme or folk song (Myung’s Theme, Aimo, Moon, etc.)

29. Hard to pinpoint the inspirations for this one. It is reminiscent of both Copland and Walton for its stately and regal nature.

30. Strong Ravel inspirations here, especially the String Quartet in F. The second theme reminds me of a theme in Broughton's O Pioneers.

31. The theme that started it all. It kind of has an E.T. feel to it, and definitely sounds Williams-inspired, but it's just an all-around great theme with natural development. I could swear there's some Copland-esque Americana in there. Williams's theme to Amazing Stories might also be a source of inspiration.

33. Kanno's soundtracks always end ambiguously. I wonder if this theme is supposed to represent the cat on the cover. It reminds me of Ravel's cat duet from L'enfant et les sortileges, which I'm sure is something weird enough to rank among Kanno's favourite pieces of music.

There is actually a piece from Macross Frontier in Naotora. It's Trumpet of Reminiscence (http://picosong.com/wRkzw/) appearing in Cello of Reminiscence (http://picosong.com/wRkzf/) of the first bonus OST. Maybe she gives us a musical hint what her next score will be. If my ears don't decieve me there's also a little nod to Aquarion. It's kind of like a "Hey, remember my anime works ;)" piece. This woman :D




Naoki Sato
DESTINY

(https://mega.nz/#!4iAmCYgb!JSJqVYirUkszPhHUC7G8O9zbC0MltrySvUhMXTHtIYI)


A delightful film score by Sato, sometimes diving into Priceless territory, but overall not at all like I expected. It's very restraint and only fires the heavy guns at the end, but those pieces give us a little taste what a STAR WARS score by Sato would sound like:

http://picosong.com/wRYPZ/

He very much matured from his earlier years and although it is also classically inspired, make no mistake, this is definitely taking after Williams, especially the heavy use of Celeste and Glockenspiel remind me very much of Harry Potter. As I mentioned, his Main Theme theme starts with a lovely Waltz and has many lovely variations througout the score. His string writing is on point! Overall it makes me very much exited for his new Eureka Seven scores but most important of all, this was also recorded at Sound Inn! It sounds even better than Godzilla! I guess a good engineer is all you need ;)

To my ears I don't hear much new material in Volume 4. Are the ones marked as remasters taken straight from previous albums?

Symphonic Suite STAR WARS HEPTALOGY

Japan Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra

Lien Upload please !

To my ears I don't hear much new material in Volume 4. Are the ones marked as remasters taken straight from previous albums?
There's 11 songs marked as remasters which are from previous soundtracks. The remaining 22 tracks are new.

Has anyone heard Naoki Sato's recently released DESTINY?

https://itunes.apple.com/jp/album/映画-destiny-鎌倉ものがたり-オリジナル-サウンドトラック/1315896922?l=en

Doh! There it is on the previous page. Sorry for this post!

check out bernhard phillipps eders short but delightful score spacehasen (spacebunnies?) on spotify.classic heroic sci-fi scoring with full orchestra, great themes and well orchestrated.GUNDAM STYLE.G-G-G-G-GUNDAM STYLE!

check out bernhard phillipps eders short but delightful score spacehasen (spacebunnies?) on spotify.classic heroic sci-fi scoring with full orchestra, great themes and well orchestrated.GUNDAM STYLE.G-G-G-G-GUNDAM STYLE!

Thank you for the recommendation, giving it a listen right now. I'm up for ANYTHING orchestral. Even if short

Anyone see Mike Verta was live streaming on YouTube for like 15 hours straight yesterday? Gotta love his rants: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jljyeWKOBs&t=520s

How is it that Xenoblade 2 can have such an amazing soundtrack, yet there is nothing announced as far as a release of the soundtrack, except for the few songs on the selection CD?

Anyone else listen to The Shape of Water yet? I was quite impressed by the themes and overall score.

How is it that Xenoblade 2 can have such an amazing soundtrack, yet there is nothing announced as far as a release of the soundtrack, except for the few songs on the selection CD?
That would be because Mitsuda intends to release it on his own label. As an independent label, it takes longer for them to release albums.


Anyone else listen to The Shape of Water yet? I was quite impressed by the themes and overall score.
Yeah, it's a great score and I really love the main theme. Desplat might be looking at his 2nd Academy Award - he's certainly a frontrunner.

The Shape of Water is pretty good but it is nothing special. Jonny Greenwood will win the Oscar this year for Phantom Thread.

For those looking for a little more Christmas classical, someone shared a great recording of some Bach music in the original !
Bach - Christmas Oratorio [1-3] Harnoncourt
This recording of Bach�s Christmas Oratorio took part during several days in the Autumn of 1981 in the Stiftskirche of Waldhausen, Austria, and was then edited and put together on LP�s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98UjjwzJBFE&feature=youtu.be

Every time I read a Yoko Kanno interview a part of me dies on the inside.


Do you research different styles?
If I research it, it doesn’t really work well. That’s because if I think in terms of left brain/right brain, and if I really think about the logic, it doesn’t really work. I like to make music by intuition.

For example, when I get an order for a TV commercial, and when I [make music] based upon what they like to hear, it doesn’t really work. But when I make it from my feelings, outside of logic, and work out of intuition, those are the [pieces] that they like and that they pick. So that’s how I work.

What music inspired the Cowboy Bebop soundtrack?
The only thing I can think of right now is when I went to New Orleans. I was 20 and I saw street musicians. [She imitates a Zydeco washboard player.] That really stuck in my mind, and that probably came out in Cowboy Bebop.

Anime soundtracks are taken much more seriously these days. Has the approach changed over the last decade in terms of the depth of the music and styles that can be used?
I don’t really listen to other people’s music very much, so I really don’t know about the soundtracks these days. But from what I hear of Hollywood movie music, it sounds the same. When I listen to compilation albums, that’s when I think it’s interesting. So I like to make one compilation by myself.

https://web.archive.org/web/20021219223424/http://www.requestmagazine.com/qa/qa_yokokanno.html

Regardless, it doesn't make Naotora any less great. By far the soundtrack of the year. Merry Christmas everyone! :)

Merry Christmas! (http://picosong.com/wR2m4/) :)

I hope you can all enjoy your holidays and have some delightful times. I will probably return in a few days. The year is coming to a close, but I intend to finish it with some fireworks ;)

Merry Christmas to everyone in the thread as well. Also since I didn't say thanks originally Vinphonic, thanks for sharing that Christmas album. I am listening to it a bit more and the arrangement is wonderful.

Merry Christmas, everyone! I hope you're all doing well!

I don't have anything to upload, but I do have a couple of links to provide!

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLBhaF40-OdNg9GmqlM8dnPCEmUBRCGcHN

https://open.spotify.com/user/xs38zddy6ozmetug1ysquiecl/playlist/367b43lGtmzNApQCGwAVMv

These are two playlists containing my favourite examples of orchestral music, either in general or from listening to them over the last few months. Coming to this thread has helped me to appreciate orchestral soundtracks, and helped me to discover composers I might have previously ignored (Wojciech Kilar, Masamichi Amano, Roque Ba�os, and more). And like I said back when uploading the Last of the Summer Wine soundtrack, I just love this place in general for being able to give me something fascinating to read and discuss whenever I'm feeling down. I hope any of the tracks featured on either playlist touch your heart the way they touch mine.

On that note, sod it, here's the Last of the Summer Wine soundtrack again:



Last of the Summer Wine: Original Music from the TV Show (1997)

Composed, arranged and conducted by Ronnie Hazlehurst

Track 7 (Liebestraum) is based on a trio of piano works composed by Frank Liszt.

Track 17 (Scarborough Fair) is a traditional ballad.

Track 18 (Pratty Flowers) is a traditional folk song, originally adapted from an earlier, corrupted ballad by Joe Perkin.

(Included in the download are the album's liner notes, with an overview of each song written by the show's producer/director (Alan J. W. Bell), comments by Bell and the show's creator/writer (Roy Clarke), and a list of members from the orchestra. I couldn't find a good enough scan of the album artwork, nor was I able to get a good scan of the copy. I offer my apologies in advance.)

ALAC:

https://www.mediafire.com/folder/7na926cl9ncq6/Last_Of_The_Summer_Wine_AALC
https://mega.nz/#F!IToA2IZD!6UbbDjpE7xktXtHOTU_lQw

MP3:

https://www.mediafire.com/folder/2ggzid88ssdxh/Last_of_the_Summer_Wine_MP3
https://mega.nz/#F!dPIE1DSL!vM7v-SSvPX-u_ZSpGWWd6w



Ronnie Hazlehurst was an English composer, arranger and conductor who became known for the countless theme tunes he created for BBC programmes, particularly sitcoms. Among the many shows he worked on, such as:

Are You Being Served?
Yes, Minister/Yes, Prime Minister
To The Manor Born
The Two Ronnies
Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em
The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin
Only Fools and Horses (arrangement)

His most enduring and recognized work is for Last of the Summer Wine. Not just for how long the show itself ran on for (1973-2010: 37 years!), but also for having a fully fledged soundtrack. Most sitcoms tend to have a theme tune and a few transitional cues, letting the dialogue and comedy take precedent over everything else. Last of the Summer Wine, however, was an exception - every episode would have a specifically recorded score, complete with recurring character themes, arrangements of classic songs associated with the area, and an overall musical quality that was unheard of in TV sitcoms of the day (and is still unheard of, so many years later).

Some of the show's strongest moments came entirely through the beautifully written and performed soundtrack provided by Hazlehurst and his orchestra. The gorgeous, yet incredibly sombre piece that Compo (played by Bill Owen) plays on trumpet at the end of 'Last Post and Pigeon' still haunts me, even years later. The choral version of the show's theme tune used to accentuate Compo's death in 'Just A Small Funeral', with nothing more than a few shots of the town and the surrounding countryside, really helped give the character an emotional send-off. Even quieter moments or when the characters just talked about bizarre ideas were given a special something thanks to the music playing in the background.

In 1993/4, a fan group known as the 'Summer Wine Appreciation Society' got into contact with Ronnie Hazlehurst, with a list of background music that they wished to see get some kind of official release. Hazlehurst liked the idea, and after a couple of years of researching and recording, a selection of the show's music was released on CD and tape in 1997: 'Last of the Summer Wine: Original Music from the TV Series'.

This soundtrack mostly consists of themes that would be used as the basis for the show's background music (for example, a general arrangement of Nora Batty's theme 'Nora, My Nora' is featured here, but not a version that was composed for a specific episode), along with a few themes that were only featured once throughout the show's run. A few of the themes are also arrangements of songs by other people (which songs were not composed by Hazlehurst are noted above).

As far as I know, this is the only CD/tape release for any of Hazlehurst's music besides his theme tunes, and is actually quite rare (even online websites don't have it, or it tends to be very expensive). It was only by complete luck that I stumbled across a copy in my local library a couple of years back, and it's only through reading this forum on a regular basis that I was inspired to share the music to you guys, and the rest of the internet.

Though Hazlehurst did not live to see the show to the very end, dying in 2007 (three years before its final season), the impact that he left on the show should never be forgotten.


Have a very Merry Christmas, have a wonderful New Year, and have a fantastic life in general! Thank you all for everything!

Fate Apocrypha had surprisingly good music in its last episode.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JUW2S-eenII?t=1m27s

What's surprising to me is that this is from Masaru Yokoyama, of all people. I never would have guessed. Those Budapest sessions must have paid off after all.

Junichi Hirokami
The Tokyo Garden Orchestra
THUNDERBIRDS: Ongaku Shu

(https://mega.nz/#!h2YFRYAJ!in-o6b-q8U3NsUNLuEm3nCAi5tfo4J34cgmvBN2WetU)

Recorded at Suginami A public hall, December 28, 2015.

Sample ~ Concert Suite (arr. Vinphonic) (http://picosong.com/wRmDz/)


"A new groundbreaking album, a newly recorded score, using the music from the original soundtracks. The biggest issue was finding the master tapes. First we tried reproducing it by ear but that was too different sounding from the original recording. So we searched for the master tapes since 1993. Ten years later we were successful, we found it "in some warehouse" in the UK but also together with the original printed scores. We worked together with the Barry Gray Association and that combined work payed off.

Especially since 2015 is Thunderbird 's 50th birthday, this was a unique opportunity. I contacted the Barry Gray Association and consulted the rental of the score, fortunately I had a spirit of mutual understanding among those who liked the same Barry music and they lend the score to us.

At the Mitaka City Art and Cultural Center on April 26, 2015, we held the first Barry Gray concert. The Tokyo Garden Orchestra who was in charge of the performance is a young performance group composed of music students in Tokyo. They are very talented people, dry and sharp strings, brass tubes reverberating heavily, healthy and youthful, the quality is perfect. In Thunderbirds the explosive brass is distinctive, especially trombone and tuba are important. If it is weak, it is not Thunderbirds. However, the sound they gave was impressive and it was really wonderful. The response to the concert was very positive "I reproduced the sounds brilliantly", and many people gave me words of compliment.

The Concert
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YI8ZAS-Y3eA)
After the performance, a producer from Nippon Columbia approached us that he would like to record a Thunderbirds album, and the talk of recordings began. Regarding the conductor, as a result of consulting with the producer, we asked Mr. Junichi Hirokami, one of the world's leading conductors in Japan. He was a fan of Thunderbirds and he seemed shaking when asked."

Recording Session (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZ6vLfgCVAU)

- Keisuke Kamio (Supervisor of the project)


"We will revive great music! Long ago I was watching Thunderbirds on NHK, that is now 50 years ago. It seems my child's heart felt the wonderfulness of the majestic, cheerful and immersive great music. "5, 4, 3, 2" and "one" and then the music blew me away. It was a piece written by British genius composer Barry Gray.

In 2016, the sound is now revived! Moreover, by the young generation of musicians of Japan! They might not have grown up with the show but the power of this music is universal."

- Junichi Hirokami (Conductor)


CDJapan (http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/product/COCQ-85289)

That would be because Mitsuda intends to release it on his own label. As an independent label, it takes longer for them to release albums.
Well that's fine then. The same happened with Kid Icarus Uprising, and I didn't have to wait TOO long for that.
I just wonder if you know he plans to do that, or if he probably does.

Merry Christmas, folks - belatedly... I've been out of commission with the flu since 21st but I follow the thread with interest from my sick bed.

I don't really like the new Thunderbirds recording - but the least said about the Japanese lyrics "SUNDA BARDO" the better... Typical over-use of the famous tunes and dated easy-listening stuff, with criminal underexposure for Gray's magnificent underscore for the show. The recording itself isn't up to much, either - ironically, the open and wide concert-hall acoustic (the type that Japan never seems to get right) doesn't work; a drier acoustic, a closer recording, and and a smaller orchestra would've suited the music better.

Still nice to hear. Thank you. :)

On another subject, has anyone heard Andrew Cottee's Orville score (for episode 11) yet? I only got around to hearing it yesterday. They need to sack McNeely and Debney RIGHT NOW and get Cottee to score Season 2 in its entirety - and I say that as someone who liked every single score in the series and downright loved more than half. Cottee is the quintessential anti-Hollywood guy. He's barely ever scored anything, and he's never scored sci-fi. He worked with Seth MacFarlane as an orchestrator and then he ended up scoring an episode of The Orville. He brings quality of orchestration that belongs in the concert hall (the score entirely composed, orchestrated, and conducted by Cottee) and a style of scoring that definitely fits the Orville template but at the same time is just light years ahead of the other scores. There are passages in there that make the hairs stand up on the back of my neck; some lovely light dissonance in the brass, deliciously dark woodwind writing, and a cue at the episode's 28th minute that builds suspense and then crescendos in a delicious looking-at-something-amazing-on-the-viewscreen "My, God!" moment and goes into the commercial break with a wondrous major-key flourish... After the break, the mystery theme from the earlier cue becomes a romantic "It's beautiful" theme. There's a wonderfully frantic stabbing dissonant brass cue, and there are even some outrageous trombone slides a-la Yoshihisa Hirano (and other orchestral passages that are quite Hirano-esque.) There's a downward woodwind glissando that's straight out of Tom and Jerry, in an action cue that would make you laugh if it weren't SO WELL DONE and so wonderfully allied with the image. There are string tremolos building suspense, lovely layered brass, and GRADE A woodwind writing. I didn't expect to hear this stuff on television, let alone on Western TV, and in a Seth MacFarlane show. And there's a big finale cue that just... I find it hard to describe. The passage isn't long, but it does stuff that I have not heard a score try to do in so many years - and it manages to breathe at the right time, pile on the power at the right time, slow down at the right time... It's precision, sharp, sensitive scoring.

Seth MacFarlane did yet another wonderful, wonderful thing. He gave a completely new, insanely skilled composer a shot at writing for an episode of episodic television sci-fi - a composer who has almost no chance at all of scoring anything in this style ever, and who, now, might just get hired on the strengths of what he achieved in The Orville.

TT

Apparently Takaki-San is the composer for Lupinranger vs Patoranger http://www.tv-asahi.co.jp/lvsp/#/スタッフ

Good old Sentai :)

@Zipper: The last three cues definitely show signs of, "oh god, I'm recording overseas, I better not fuck this up". He can write a good serviceable orchestral piece so its nice that another one of the "bad apples" is trying to improve.

@Tango: Yeah, but I find Fundabirdo hilarious anyway. Overall, I like it very much (I do not have the same level of issue with the recording. Then again I'm no Brit so who am I to judge ;)). True, some cues are dearly missed on a "best-of" but from a Japanese perspective, that this is done at all is very charming.

Regarding Orville, I finished it last week and I concur that episode 11 was not only the most "original" but also among the best written. For all of MacFarlane's strengths, one of the faults with the Orville is that it tries too much to be like a Best-Of of SciFi "remember Alien?, remember Wrath of Khan?" I enjoyed the show very much but I hope next season (and a movie please!) is giving the new composer more spotlight with less pastiche and homages.

http://vgmdb.net/album/73688
WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT.
2018 movie won't have Ken Sawada
Takayuki Hattori
Okay, okay, okay. WHAT? First, a Doraemon movie gets a standalone release. I mean, it's weird because it hasn't been done in years, I can count the 1998 movie and I don't know if there's for other movies.. but not just that, Ken Sawada is dropped? This smells like when they dropped the original composer for the 1998 movie.. and it was a good change, nice symphonic orchestra feeling from 1998 to 2004, but.. this new composer? I hope.. just why? I mean I don't know if this guy will do better and Ken Sawada could've been there for more years.

But I honestly just wish there were more releases of Doraemon BGM in general. A few more unreleased of Kikuchi's originals, and perhaps some of the 1998-2004 movie OST's..

---------- Post added at 04:17 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:11 PM ----------

okay I retreat what I said, seeing his stuff in Youtube he seems like he has domains with symphonic stuff.. let's see what he does, I look forward to it.

Doraemon 2015 was scored by Naoki Sato, although that wasn't part of the "series" - this is very odd news. Also... Hattori? Seriously? If somebody said "OK, parallel universe, Kan Sawada is out of Doraemon, who's the last person in the entire universe you think they'd pick to score the next animated movie?" he might be pretty close to the front of my list... Does he have any previous, here?

Vinphonic: Yeah, Orville 11... some pretty wonky science, but it was a wonderfully original piece of high-concept sci-fi. I wish we could've spent more time in the 2D universe (going to this amazingly beautiful, unknown place in a dimension barely ever discussed in sci-fi, for absolutely no reason except to hide from the Krill... that pisses me off) rather than simply having the quick exchange "Wow, this is amazing, can we talk to these guys?" / "No, our methods of existence aren't compatible." / "Oh, well, take lots of pictures then." explaining why we're just going to look at a visual effect... Where they went was worth at least a movie to explore, but they just went there, "hung out" for a while, and went home again. The whole visit to the place was a plot device to give Lamarr a chance to shine at something and get promoted to Chief Engineer. Not a fantastic bit of pacing. But I can forgive SO MUCH with The Orville. The episode could've been a 60 minute trudge through cow pats and Andrew Cottee's score would've saved it...

Thanks for the heads-up. I totally forgot to share his Godzilla in FLAC, so here it is:




Takayuki Hattori
GODZILLA: Planet of the Monsters
Tokyo Studio Orchestra & Choir

(https://mega.nz/#!g2pVlZBC!Xf-F9aDRvwf4O6Rlzb-FrGpO9zsB-_zF6dmMhawJeSE)

I will update it to FLAC when my cd arrives.

Here is the Original Soundtrack (unchanged) in FLAC (https://mega.nz/#!Vu5mQYRR!QH6hj_RieHxe63EMObyDDauWmGA04Bh16G4mPSjI1y0)

In any case, this is Hattori returning to form, a SciFi tour de force albeit in his modern style that favors electronics and drums but they very much feel like just another composer tool in this case and not dictated by anyone. Of course this score features every SciFi cliche in the book, down to the obligatory action piece by Holst (and a couple of other homages). The standout of course is the heroic march (Klendathu Drop, Anime version), heared in full glory in Leland's Kamikaze Attack. Other standouts for me are the last couple of action piece were the RC drums (or just toms...) are played in full force, but thats pretty much the only modern element in it, that said I wish he would have replaced it with snares but regardless, these pieces are nuts and very much a wall of noise, in a good way.

Hattori is now scoring the final episodes of Gundam: The Origin and after that, there's a good chance he will end up scoring the Gundam remake, so its pretty safe to say he's one of the high-profile composers these days and in no shortage of getting work.



And if anyone doesn't know or wants to hear more of Takayuki Hattori, an anime veteran composer with many works I love (most from the 90s), and who is now scoring pretty much all of the most prestigous projects Japan can offer, from Gundam to Godzilla and now Doraemon, check the thread below. I hope the general tone of Doraemon and the swashbuckling theme of the movie do keep Hattori's Drum battery behind bars.

Thread 219653

I guess they said, hey, give me the first most famous big name currently who can mange symphonic.. and he was picked, idk. I just dunno if he will do better than Ken Sawada but you all know I don't demand much so at long as there's plenty of symphonic music I'm all set.

He's got the symphonic chops, for sure... probably a great deal more than most people realise... but I just can't fathom what past score he's done made the Doraemon team say "Oh, yes, gotta get this guy!"

He's been typecast in recent years as the guy who can do big, dark, dissonant, brassy, ambiguous, scores. He's the guy who goes crazy with electronics, but can also out-orchestrate most of his peers. So, how did they arrive at his name for scoring their light-hearted children's swashbuckler? Crazy. Could end up with a really, really good score, though!

I would say "On the bright side, at least they didn't choose Yugo Kanno!", but somehow I think even he would be a better fit for Doraemon than Hattori. They have both been getting some very big budget theatrical projects recently, but I'm not sure either of them really deserve it.

Well the King of Kings recording has met its funding goal. Anything raised after this will be gravy to save more money for future projects. There are still a few days left to go too! Recordings expected to start in November 2018 and the music to be available March 2019.

I dunno, perhaps you guys can think of other Japanese composers who could substitute Ken Sawada nicely, but are they easily accesible for this job or something? I dunno.. perhaps it was a deal made by the label..

Is it just me, or is newcomer Shunsuke Takizawa uncanningly similar to Sahashi?



Shunsuke Takizawa
Overture for Bambi
The Zoorasian Philharmonic Orchestra

(https://mega.nz/#!tr43AJaK!UhKJYbzQFXgOoWyvwEHantqVEXZB8un-ulBLYgnOYxw)

Sample (190kbps) (http://picosong.com/wR6Qr/)


He's an 80's guy: http://picosong.com/wR6E5/


Next thing, he speaks a similar language:

Sample 1 (http://picosong.com/wR6Eg/) / Sample 2 (http://picosong.com/wR686/) / Sample 3 (http://picosong.com/wR68Z/)

Oh, not to mention, he also loves Mozart: http://picosong.com/wR6QL/

Hmmm... I will keep an eye on him ;)


Btw, Sahashi is looking significantly younger in his recent studio recordings, must have been a bad day.

Wow, this Bambi overture is quite good. And I was impressed by the playing of the Zoorasian Philharmonic (!). And the second piece is called Chourui Zaizuken. Amazingly enough his album is in the iTunes store and is called "One Ant Bumped Beethoven." Thanks for posting!

I didn't realize Bambi was a western. That's the feel I get from one of the themes in that sample.

Apart from a tendency to write hilariously dated music, I hear no Sahashi likeness whatsoever.

As for the Bambi thing... I found it to be one of the blandest examples of orchestral music I've ever heard; a nine minute parade of cliche, generic gestures, predictable themes, and playing-it-safe orchestrations that all add up to precisely nothing. And at the 8 minute mark, in comes that Japanese pop-arrangement-cliche of light jazz percussion. Efforts made in posting are ALWAYS appreciated, but I find absolutely nothing whatsoever enjoyable in this music...

Oschmann's BoUT is generic but classy. This is just generic.

Well, I can not vouch for it winning any points in originality, that's for sure ;)


As the year is now almost over, there is actually one more share... it will be up soon... I hope...

RE: Overture for Bambi - Decided to listen to it on Spotify while working on some music theory tests, and while it's pretty good, I have to admit that it's just not my thing. It's quite pleasant to listen to, and there are parts of it I like, but I think my issue with it is that every track is a suite of some sort. When it comes to orchestral music, I'm the kind of person that prefers listening to 'symphonic poems' (as tango would put it) than a suite comprised of numerous pieces - I'd rather listen to each piece on their own and be developed as far as they can, as opposed to what I would call the orchestral equivalent of a medley. If you enjoy suites, that's awesome and I only wish I could enjoy them myself, but I just don't in this case. On the bright side, it was at least something enjoyable to have in the background while working on other stuff, so I managed to get that much out of it.

On the subject of listening to music on Spotify, I decided to listen to John Williams' music for The Last Jedi and I think I finally figured out what it is that I don't like about Williams' music. EDIT: This is a subjective post critiquing the music for TLJ specifically. While I feel these same issues occur to a lesser degree in his other soundtracks, there's a good chance this may not apply to the vast majority of his work, and I apologize if I come off like I'm dismissing Williams as a composer.

What exactly makes for a good soundtrack is something I feel can only be determined from a case-by-case basis (the film itself, the music used, the placement of the music, the director's/composer's intent, etc.), but one of the qualities I personally consider make a good soundtrack is that each piece can be enjoyed when listened to in isolation. Take this piece from Ninja Resurrection by Masamichi Amano: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WvXfEFBo3i4&list=PLBhaF40-OdNg9GmqlM8dnPCEmUBRCGcHN&index=30 I have never watched this film, but the piece has a distinct atmosphere, progression and melody that I can appreciate even when I have no idea how it's used within the movie.

However, Williams' music seems to be mainly intended to work as part of the film; as part of the editing in the same way cuts or overlays are used, as part of the overall soundscape in the same way foley or sound effects are used, as much a part of the storytelling as the camera angles or the actual script. But what this leads to is music that, for me at any rate, just doesn't work when removed from all of that. Melodies seem to be half-suggested but don't go anywhere, it transitions between different segments in a manner that doesn't seem natural, and it overall just sounds like slightly interesting noise.

That's not to argue it's bad music; there's a very good chance music like this works like an absolute treat when you hear it within the film, and every decision made is completely justified when it's done to complement and enhance the rest of the work (in much the same way that certain stylistic choices only truly make sense when you understand their context). But personally speaking, I feel it just doesn't work anywhere near as well when being listened to on its own.

One more thing, actually. I quite like that track from Ninja Resurrection, and I'd really like to listen to the rest of it. Can anyone give me a link to the the soundtrack? Thank you!

Well Xenoblade 2 sound selection is posted elsewhere on the site in the Lossless Game Music thread.
Thread 126974
Only a small portion of it is performed by orchestra. The first two tracks and the last track are the most purely orchestral. Lots of rock tracks in between.

The game has much more orchestral tracks, but I actually enjoy the hybrid cues here. Considering Mario Odyssey is getting a 4CD release with all the cutscene music, and Mitsuda's big name and past efforts to get complete soundtracks out, I would say its just a matter of time.

Mitsuda also has in addition to Inazuma Eleven, two other anime recordings for next year in addition to a Xenogears concert, so I guess he wasn't lying that he wants a vacation.


@FrDougal9000: Amano probably recorded the music first and then it was edited to the scene, as is probably the case with all Warsaw recordings. But I'm curious, do you feel that way about "E.T. Finale", "You are the Pan" and "Yoda's Theme" as well?

But I'm curious, do you feel that way about "E.T. Finale", "You are the Pan" and "Yoda's Theme" as well?

Reading back over my thoughts, I probably should've added that those thoughts applied largely towards TLJ, but that they do occur to a similar (albeit lesser) degree in the other films I've seen. I've not listened to a grand majority of Williams' work if I remember right, and I don't particularly care for most of the films he composed for (which might mean that my apathy for his music is tied to my apathy for the films to some extent), so I apologize if I came off as someone dismissing Williams as a composer. Even if I only meant to say that I figured out why he didn't do anything for me, I will always give his music a chance in the hope that I'll finally understand what people see in him.

With that in mind, I decided to listen to the three pieces of music you suggested, and here are my thoughts (removed from their respective films, which I've either not watched in years or can't remember where each piece was used):

E.T. Finale: Lordy, I hope this is the song you're on about, because I couldn't find anything named E.T. Finale (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uGP2o8lBgV8). If it is the song you meant, then it's not for me. It's absolutely fine, and I can see how someone could enjoy it, but it just does nowt for me.

You are the Pan: It's decent, but I don't find it particularly noteworthy. It naturally transitions between different moods and segments, and it's nice to listen to in the same way I enjoyed listening to the aforementioned Bambi score, but it just does nothing for me personally.

Yoda's Theme: Y'know what? I think this might be the first Williams piece of music I actually like. I'm a little iffy with the sudden shift at 0:58 before it returns to the song after about 20 seconds, but it's an overall nice song. There's a clear melody, I like the chords used, and there is a relaxing atmosphere nicely conveyed. I don't love it, but I definitely like it.

I don't want to feel apathetic towards Williams' music (or indeed the music of other beloved composers who just do nothing for me; Horner, Silvestri, Goldsmith, etc.), but unfortunately, it's just a difference in taste between what I like to hear and what these composers provide. I appreciate the opportunity to check out specific pieces at random, and the fact that I actually rather liked the Yoda piece, so thank you for that.

On the last day of the year i discovered the album of the year (non asian that is) Spirit of the Cosmos is propably Austin Wintorys best work.As far as i know its fully realized ideas from his time as a student.Orchestra and Choir.Every single track is different and fantastic in its own way and it culminates in a 3 movement sci-fi symphony for orchestra and choir which is simply delightfull.its on spotify.i also recommend his deformers gamescore which is bananas and really refreshing.

On the last day of the year i discovered the album of the year (non asian that is) Spirit of the Cosmos is propably Austin Wintorys best work.As far as i know its fully realized ideas from his time as a student.Orchestra and Choir.Every single track is different and fantastic in its own way and it culminates in a 3 movement sci-fi symphony for orchestra and choir which is simply delightfull.its on spotify.i also recommend his deformers gamescore which is bananas and really refreshing.

Thank you for a lovely recommendation once again, that was such a lovely listen.

Ninja Scroll Resurrection was largely inspired by Poledouris's Conan the Barbarian. They both share that nice "bVI bVII i" progression that gives it an ancient feel. It's also very common in works by Horner, Hisaishi, and Wada.

Proudly presenting:

2017 in Concert
Anime and Games Symphony
The wonderful music world of Japanese media



Part 1 (https://mega.nz/#!lnBWTCAY!stobUMo6UOCIXJfpu51DuTG9kebBBuFmGc4gkkwibb8) / Part 2 (https://mega.nz/#!J6Bz0BAJ!N1PeEpVwf7AIyRdnXwV85ZCVAD_IkScnxpAjXqPXmN4) / Part 3 (https://mega.nz/#!VqAwiYAI!ejezYBmSL1DmDZkbw8eVJZK4dC0N7eLSvG_mhId6_lo) / Part 4 (https://mega.nz/#!szIExRjL!KVWMq6tjD5MsQkP7PGV7Fly2vD9WTrcMBKFdcF1_4UM)


How to begin? Last year I shared a small compilation of music from Japanese Media and wrote some pretty enthusiastic things about it. In hindsight I shouldn’t have done that. Not only was it grossly exaggerated, I’m now also in a dilemma. How can I compare 2017 to 2016 now without using a million superlatives to put it in perspective? I figured it might be best to revise my opinion and think of 2016 as a good year that was just a small stepping stone to a more promising decade. But being enthusiastic about it is no longer enough or would give enough gravitas to the situation, because 2017 in terms of quantity and quality of orchestral score AND JAZZ absolutely blows 2016 (and at least the last five years) out of the water and gives us an outlook for 2018 that is ALREADY shaping up to be, without even hearing a single score, and just taking in the samples and news and blog posts, something really special. I deeply thank Tango for disagreeing with me so much because that let me to truly research if the last bastion of the symphonic orchestral media score on earth will someday cease to exist. It made me dug deep, search every cranny on iTunes, amazon and various online sites. It made me look into the production side, interviews, books and composer blogs. The list goes on. After everything is said and done, I’m now more in awe of it all than simply looking forward to next year.

Of course I could also let the music speak for itself, after all this is the year of NAOTORA (which I arranged to a Symphonic Poem btw), but I believe, this time, context is needed to relieve even the worst fears from the PTSD-riddled Hollywood veteran.

But first things first, I put A LOT of effort into arranging the best of the Japanese Media world has to offer this year. I bet quite a sum that roughly half of it you probably never heard, because some of it is very obscure. I did this project occasionally across the year but after the debate with Tango I was really fired up and did on the sidelines what time would allow. Arranging Valkyria Revolution, Taishi, Gravity Daze 2 and dozens of others into a quasi-symphonic suite was a lot of work (because loops suck), but I’m very pleased by the final results.

True, I won’t deny in some cases a single piece or the arranged piece you hear in this collection is actually all the meaty orchestral material from an album (which is about 30 minutes per media score on average) from roughly 60-90 minutes of recorded score per album. Japan still spits out lots of stuff “that doesn’t interest me” to put it mildly, but the amount of music that IS THERE is simply marvelous (certainly coming from a 2017 Hollywood view).

My criteria were the following: The music must be recorded by a full orchestra or at least emulate a full orchestra recording, and must either be heard in 2017 media or on a soundtrack released in 2017.

In total, over 24 hours of music, a whole day’s worth, with over one hundred pieces, mark my most ambitious project to date: A project to truly encapsulate the Japanese Media world of 2017.




Contents

Total amount of orchestral pieces (scores): 120

20% with unconventional elements (drum batteries, electronics, funk, rock, jazz, pop and other)

20% Live-Action pieces or Commissions in 2017

40% Tribute concert performances and/or new Interpretations of classics in 2017

60% new orchestral scores written for 2017, roughly half of it recorded with a symphony orchestra or big studio orchestras, the other half are small or moderately-sized studio ensembles with 1/3 having fake brass instruments or other synth replacements in some shape or form.

Keep in mind this is still a selection, there’s more orchestral scores out there than I listed here, but they are either not symphonic or unavailable at the present time. For example, Virgin Soul is not out until January, so that counts as a 2018 release.

Of course this collection/library would not be possible without a strong and dedicated community, here and elsewhere, certainly not without nextday's efforts and people on the sidelines making it happen so that I can share it before the year is over.


If you have a bit more space available, here are my favorite Media score arrangements from Japan this year in FLAC (from soundtracks I own), you can either replace the tracks from the main collection or use this as a separate "Best-of" album, but I strongly advice to listen to the main collection first:


2017 in Concert
My Favorite Scores [FLAC]



Download (https://mega.nz/#!PpY3BbyR!p2u8WsrDferDtFWzdDYSrpGMbR1S1mwD0UYLxt7hQTg)


What now follows are detailed reasons why the future looks very bright. As I already stated, I put a bit of research into the current scoring environment in Japan and what I now list are (mostly) cold facts, so here we go:


I. Japan is a country that utterly devotes itself to the orchestra and traditional music instruments

Every child in Japan grows up listening to western classical music and is on average much more likely to end up playing in an orchestral ensemble, Wind Band or Big Band than anywhere else on the planet. Japan has by far the most orchestras of the world per capita and the amount of Wind Band Ensembles and Big Bands tops even that. Orchestral music and Jazz is now strongly tied to their culture and tradition. There exists a whole indy orchestral scene, freelance orchestras and a love for classical and classic film composers that borders on idolatry. Even in media ads, switch on their television channels and you can hear orchestra and Jazz ALL THE TIME, ads with H�ndel or even Mancini’s Moonriver are not the exception but the norm! MUSIC MATTERS to their daily lives and their daily entertainment. To this day they let their old religion and ancient culture prosper amidst technological and social advancement, so that leads me to believe they will treat the orchestral symphonic score in similar fashion.


II. Japan treats Media products as “items of cultural value” dead serious and makes zero distinction between E-music and U-music.

Whether anime, game or live-action, orchestral tribute concerts are on the rise. The Tokyo Philharmonic alone was featured on over ten orchestral albums this year celebrating music from anime and games. If you look at video footage of Japanese tribute concerts they put an insane amount of work behind the scene, dedicating themselves to honor the history of long-running franchises with respect, love and care. A proper developed concert culture (among mostly young people) certainly is visible. The same can be said for Wind Ensembles. They treat their music with a level of respect that utterly amazes me. Doesn’t matter if it’s music not connected to the concert world in any way (Kemono Friends), they put serious effort into making it a “serious” affair.
The Symphonic Gamers Concert this year speaks volumes. The Japanese themselves (various agencies and individuals) even acknowledge they want to further push and evolve classical music through Media music (Games, Anime, Live-Action). There is some serious effort made behind the scenes, with Naotora hopefully being just a precursor.


III. A strong love for Film music and no distinction between classical works and Film music works in the concert hall

This year marks an unprecedented amount of classic Hollywood tribute albums, mostly by the Japan Philharmonic from the Golden Age to the Silver Age, from Cleopatra and Ben-Hur to Titanic and Avatar in addition to tribute albums to classic Japanese cinema and songs.

This year Japan established a fulltime professional symphony orchestra called “The Film Score Philharmonic” that plays ONLY film music in the concert hall and for new “cinematic projects”.
Since this year marks the 85th Birthday of living legend John Williams, Japan put together two Birthday concerts, a whole tribute album (John Williams Film Spectacular) and finally a special tribute to Star Wars (Heptatology).
To this day many Japanese composers are inspired by the Hollywood greats and Alan Silvestri is a name known to all. You can hear numerous film music references this year, from Ron Goodwin’s Squadron 633 in Gravity Daze 2 to Magnificent Seven in Anime-Gataris.

What is also worthy of note, among the nearly twenty film music albums released this year, despite the occasional oddball, in general nothing goes further than the 90s unless its by John Williams or Horner.
You see plenty of Herrmann tribute concerts this year (the Japanese adore Taxi Driver) but you don’t see any Giacchino concerts or even film suites.


IV. Japanese Media has a strong individuality; (new) Western influence is not as pronounced as before

I really noticed this with Games this year. As a veteran gamer there existed a time until recently where Japanese Games were chasing after western trends (Call of Duty in Resident Evil) but that has now almost completely stopped. My favorite games ereleased this year (GD2, Nier, P5 etc.) are all obviously, undeniably, Japanese in aesthetic, narrative, presentation and music. It sure speaks volumes that at a western Game award show that tries to be the Oscars, Japanese Games dominate. The Japanese philosophy about putting gameplay first, let games be games,, with strong aesthetic, incredible artdesign and thought-out core concept, while also being the first country to establish a serious video game culture, especially through music, certainly payed off big time for me this year. And this abandment of "new" western influences across all of Japanese media is actually ironic because now everyone tries to rip off Japanese media items instead, from a Hollywood series of One Piece to Death Note to Battle Angel Alita. No thanks.


V. The Sound of it

My main reason why I decided to NOT use any remastering on this project is simple, I want to make a point that Japanese scores are simply starting to sound good. And most of the pieces in this collection, with a few exceptions, sound good!

Whether that’s because its recorded in a real hall or a “tin-can” studio with a decent engineer, Japanese scores sound now miles better this year on average than ever before, and that was one of the major problems holding Japanese scores back. There’s actually numerous symphony-orchestra recordings this year but also a fair share of studio recordings that sound totally fine, with a noticeable increase in orchestra-size (Godzilla, Black Butler, Virgin Soul, Naotora, Gravity Daze 2). It will probably never reach, say, David Newman’s Hollywood recordings in scope but that was a bit overblown anyway.


VI. Recordings with a Symphony Orchestras and overseas collaborations are increasing

London, Budapest, Berlin, Brussels, Prague, Warsaw, Paris and Boston: All featured this year on Japanese soundtacks. The Tokyo Symphony, the Tokyo Philharmonic, the NHK Symphony, the Tokyo City, Kanagawa Philharmonic, Senzoku Gakuen College Orchestra and newcomer JAGMO: All featured this year on Japanese soundtracks. Especially with Boston there exists a whole catalogue of announced projects, starting with two Go Shiina scores for God Eater and Code Vein, and many many more. Warsaw is still holding joint events in Japan and is featured on their media products, from Berserk to Drifters to Fafner Beyond. Japanese composers still love to travel around the world and the numbers are going up.


VII. Mobile Games with orchestral symphonic scores

From a fullfleshed symphonic suite “Aerial Legends” and “DEEMO” to bombastic Hollywood action in “Black Knight and White Devil”, mobile games from Japan more often than not featured an orchestral score this year either by a full symphony orchestra or a decent orchestral ensemble. And it brings with them plenty of old veterans (Sahashi for Soen no Kantai, Tanaka for Reconne, Kaoru Wada for Battle Destiny 2) or launches newcomers on the scene (Tsumo Narita for Granblue). Let’s see what the future holds but since a mobile game brought us Rage of Bahamut: Genesis I’m certainly anticipating the future.
They put a lot of care into them. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LVSQxcWDcGc)


VIII. Veteran composers are making a comeback

Kohei Tanaka is busier than ever, this year he released one of the best game scores I ever heard from Japan, numerous pop singles, various anime projects and next year he has a symphonic score in some capacity for us in store and that is definitely not all

Oshima flies around the globe day and night and recently has a film series to score. Among those is an Esmeralda remake.

Takayuki Hattori is increasingly scoring anime and live-action, and also has a film series to score. Next year he is the one scoring Doraemon’s Treasure Island, and the soundtrack will be released in February.

Naoki Sato is busier than ever scoring for live-action and anime, and also has a film series to score. He is now on a whole other level than when he started out. I can’t wait to hear his reprise of “Renton Thourston”.

Shiro Hamaguchi has some projects in the works and also has a film series to score. Right now he’s in 60s war film mode.

Hayato Matsuo is back in the game, scoring at least two shows next year, one of them a Warsaw score

Taku Iwasaki is increasingly writing more classical and operatc music and next year has two film scores in store for us, all with confirmed soundtrack releases

Toshiyuki Watanabe is returning big time with not one but two Sci-Fi firecrackers

Kaoru Wada not only returned to the anime scene but also has various game projects for us in store

Yoshihiro Ike is now busier than ever, scoring for Cygames and Netflix (with a confirmed symphony orchestra)

Kosuke Yamashita is still busy with Sentai, PxD, Romance of the Three Kingdoms and arranging numerous concerts, next up is Seiken Densetsu in January. I’m sure he has some projects for 2018 in store for us.

Taro Iwashiro is an anime regular now and increasingly writing symphonic music

Yasunori Mitsuda is now busier than ever, writing one orchestral score after the next

Toshihiko Sahashi is very busy next year, not only an opera but “three big media projects”, and he’s also on the Netflix composer list

Hitoshi Sakimoto returns with a big title and with reorchestrated versions of Zodiac Age and Dragon’s Crow as bonus

Kotaro Nakagawa and Hitomi have quite a few projects next year, of course Code Geass S3 being the big title

Yoko Kanno returns big time with one of the greatest media scores ever written

Meanwhile Joe Hisaishi is busy with concert works, conducting classical symphonies and writing for various media projects across all Asia. If you see him in the concert hall, he still has the brightest smile on his face and conducts (and plays) with vigorous passion.


IX. The new generation

Evan Call has finally his big breakthrough next year with a score that I feel will deliver on all fronts

Natsumi Kameoka is very busy arranging and scoring, we have yet to hear any of her confirmed recordings with big orchestras but perhaps 2018 will finally reveal all of them

Hiroshi Takaki has a few projects in the works, among them is a Super Sentai title

Kenichiro Suehiro is shaping up to be far greater than his mentor (Yugo Kanno) and he has serious aspirations to write classical film music, Morricone, Hisaishi and Mancini being among his idols. Let’s see how he develops in the coming years

Masako Otsuka improves and is no longer far off from Kanno territory

Masato Coda consistently improves and I really enjoy Chain Chronicle and Knight’s & Magic, he’s also taking after Yoko Kanno and that’s reassuring

Yūsuke Shirato launches on the scene with a full symphony orchestra, let’s see how that will turn out

Hiromi Mizutani can write in plenty of styles and he even can do Opera well, looking forward how he will develop

Kei Haneoka can write for strings, but he needs an orchestra again. He has numerous projects so I hope one of them has enough budget for it

Akito Matsuda is increasingly writing concert works and I long for the day he completely abandons his Nijine style and goes full classical

All the new game concert arrangers (Tsujita, Fukasawa and friends) are slowly entering the scoring business and the more classical trained composers in there, the better I say

Shuji Katayama really impressed me with Tanya, but in the sense that a modern-sounding score through and through has thematic development, motifs and counterpoint. I really wanted to hear the modern sound palette in a more intelligent way that is not “overblown” and he delivered exactly that with Tanya. Next year his Overlord S2 sounded like a big improvement on the first season score so I’m looking forward to hearing more modern Hollywood done right. He’s also obviously inspired by Taku Iwasaki.

Yoshiaki Fujisawa just needs proper budget to shine. I still see much potential in him and if someone would send him to Warsaw I believe we could have some Katamari-level Hollywood bombast

MICHIRU made it into the anime business, and has two shows in January. Not exactly orchestra material, but at least she appears to be a regular.

Harumi Fuuki’s Taiga Drama sounds exactly like I expected. A young upstart that still needs to find her voice but delivers a fun and well written orchestral score with a strong Americana vibe. Looking forward to her career.

Souhei Kano returns next year and at least he’s around in the business

Even a Bad Apple like Tatsuya Kato is consistently improving with recent works so I’m eager to see how he will sound in 2018

Satoshi Hono, Shunsuke Takisawa, Rei Ishizuka, Naota Kubo and Yasunori Ishiki have potential


X. Anime NEXT 100 and Netflix Bad=Good? Intentions

Anime NEXT 100 is a serious undertaking of the Japanese Animation Association to expand the Anime Industry until 2020 to ensure a prosperous future for this Industry at least until 2117 with numerous cultural programs and events (concerts), schools and university collaborations (Senzoku Gakuen college of music). They have direct ties to the Japanese Government (many politicans are also involved) for fundings, education and cultural events.

"Animation is basically for children, although we admit whole-heartedly that there are lots of grown-ups who do not forget the naiveness of children, so to nurture in their mind “dream and friendship, love and courage, spiritual excitement and power to live”, it is our delight that Japanese animations could contribute in this regards not only for Japanese "children" but in global, transcending generations, sexualities and borders. It should “animate” the human being and epoch.

- Animation Cultural Program and Japanese Animation Film 100th Anniversary Project


It’s no coincidence all these classic series from the 60/70/80/90/00s are being remade or getting sequels. It is not purely for monetary reasons but also part of a cultural awareness to preserve and reimagine classic titles for future generation. Sometimes they are so stubborn in staying true to the original that they are reluctant to change the music IN ANY WAY, which can equally be a curse and a blessing. Good luck finding Wah-Wah Pedal action and 80's Drum batteries anywhere else on the planet.

And not just anime, many games also receive similar treatment, from Zodiac Age to Secrets of Mana, there is a strong cultural effort made to preserve classic Japanese games as well.

This happens just as Netflix decides for purely selfish, corporate greed reasons to invest millions of Dollars into the Anime industry without really knowing where to invest it all, which leads to lots and lots of money potentially ending up in the hands of artists who have relative freedom in deciding how a series or movie can be scored. That Ike can record his Netflix Fantasy Anime in Prague is probably because of this reason. Hopefully anime directors and composers can now go the extra mile because "the money is there".

All the while the Anime industry is growing rapidly with increased global interest. In recent years Animation Studios across the board are either trying to go for the Oscars (Ex1 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yuQA5_O0RxE) / Ex2 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qnOa2TFXWRY)) OR bring back glorious 60/70/80 kitsch in full force (Ex1 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=js2-r_KB3xk) / Ex2 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tCjRKXwdIho)).



Bonus:


2017 in Brass
Anime and Game Jazz


Download (https://mega.nz/#!cuRU0apb!sZqRVXp6sEcy3GxTYT19NSM_MOMO2N2TF57HJcvVRxE)

That Japan is the new home of Jazz, that much I already stared numerous times. But this year has been absolutely ridiculous. From the establishment of various Big Band ensembles dedicated entirely to anime and games (JAGMO Big Band being the most popular) to numerous Jazz and Wind Band albums by newcomers and veterans, its been one hell of a swing!

Life is full of dreams! (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GDnLHd2Ei3Y)

Last year there were maybe a dozen Jazz tracks I could put into a collection. This year I can make an entire album with over two hours of diverse Jazz styles. The first 24 tracks fall into this category. The next ten pieces are all about brassy funk and wind band and finally ending with my favorite “Brass Pop” pieces from this year, ranging from funk to pop ballad. There are some pop songs coming out from time to time that simply have to stay on my hard drive. Most notably, Kohei Tanaka has been very active as a pop composer this year with his greatest contribution to the Anime Next 100 project. Some incredibly catchy music in Big Band style this year as well (but a tolerance for “anime voices” is recommended to truly get the most out of it). Speaking of Big Band, the Broadway sound is also increasing. Some scores this year could fit right into Family Guy.

I did arrange various soundtracks to “Jazz Suites” and again, I’m very pleased how that turned out.

On another bonus note: More and more Japanese Pop songs are moving away from electronics and features either at least a string ensemble, brass band or a full orchestral ensemble.

Not your average pop song (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYvcjzQ-gys)



Conclusion

2017 exceeded my expectation that I had from 2016 on a level that is truly astounding. It also cemented a path to a future that will continue to give us many new best-ofs from the classical and film music world and take it into new and exciting directions. And that future, even if it may only last for a decade or two has the symphonic orchestral score (and Jazz) on the rise. Every industry chews out lots of trash, it was ever so, but the quantity and quality of orchestral score this year, not even mentioning that many Japanese composers take after Hollywood composer from even 80 years ago, in addition to incorporating all sorts of classical and Jazz style into their works, has defied my expectations. Japan in this day and age has absorbed various components of European and American Culture in addition to having a strong desire to culturally preserve their own media output for future generations with a “Foundation-esque” (Asimov) effort. The heart of Symphonic music and Jazz is not dead in our times but vividly beating elsewhere. What began with Bach (a favorite in Japanese concert halls) and Beethoven (Pop Icon in Japan) in Europe, had a period in history where it was at home in America’s Hollywood industry with Williams as its arguably greatest composer (HUGE inspiration for Japanese composers, they even formed a professional symphony orchestra just to play his music in concert halls) and now this spark has settled in the Japanese Anime/Game/Live-Action industry. I said it before with a little doubt but now I can say it with more confidence, the next STAR WARS after Williams has entered the Pantheon of the Greats, whenever it arrives, will in all likelihood be written in the Land of the Rising Sun.





And to all veterans of the thread, newcomers, by passers, friends and colleagues:



Happy New Year
Onward to 2018

Bravo to this lovely and massive post. Full thoughts to come after I have gotten a chance to digest it all for sure. Can't wait to hear some of the scores you included that I didn't hear before.

Good god man! Your work is immensely appreciated. So much music here from scores I didn't know existed. I jumped to the Destiny cue thinking it might be related to the video game wondering what the hell I had missed and of course it is some unrelated dramatic score that is one of Naoki Sato's most delightful in quite some time.

Happy new year, passionate gratitude for all your hard work and I hate off my hat to you for your boundless enthusiasm and consistent optimism, and absolute disagreement with almost all of what you wrote - particularly the parts you have listed as "cold, hard facts" but which are clearly personal opinions mixed with hope.

Nonetheless, have a fantastic evening, everybody!

This is a dream. Thank you so much, Vinphonic!!!

Happy new year 2018 and here's to hoping this new year brings us marvelous orchestral scores to listen to. I still rejoice everytime I discover a new one!

Thanks for this great share, vinphonic and happy new Year to you all.
Keep up the interesting discussions and suggestions :)

Austin Wintory continues to impress with the sublime, elegant and delightfully orchestrated fullorchestral classic action-thriller score the rendezvous.its on spotify. propably the best of this genre in a loooong time.

propably the best of this genre in a loooong time.I swear you say this or something equivalent in every post you write about every recent soundtrack.


Devilman Crybaby... what a wasted opportunity that was. The visual execution was hit-and-miss, but the music was so awfully generic (cheap synth and satanic chanting) that it actually further distracted from the viewing experience. And for those who complain about Iwasaki's hip-hop, Devilman will teach you what terrible hip-hop actually sounds like. The final battle music was especially painful to listen to. Why is Hirano scoring dumb J-Dramas instead of shows like this? I have not seen a recent show where his intense and chaotic style, with as many evil Gregorian chants he wants, would fit better. And yet he complains that his style of music is not in demand.

I swear you say this or something equivalent in every post you write about every recent soundtrack.


Devilman Crybaby... what a wasted opportunity that was. The visual execution was hit-and-miss, but the music was so awfully generic (cheap synth and satanic chanting) that it actually further distracted from the viewing experience. And for those who complain about Iwasaki's hip-hop, Devilman will teach you what terrible hip-hop actually sounds like. The final battle music was especially painful to listen to. Why is Hirano scoring dumb J-Dramas instead of shows like this? I have not seen a recent show where his intense and chaotic style, with as many evil Gregorian chants he wants, would fit better. And yet he complains that his style of music is not in demand.
i rarely comment on new non asian scores.and if i do they deserve the praise.some are just fun, some are smart and well thought out like the rendezvous.also no one seems to care.exactly one person replied to my recommendation of witches which is superb.no one even commented on oscar navarro.no comments for the tear inducing beauty of lamb of god.i love sharing my discoveries with everyone thats why i established the hidden treasures thread in fsm forums (which btw i cannot access anymore because my ps4 browser shows a permanent server error when i try it so bummer) i try to cover mostly the non asian and not obvious scores and music that appears without warning.like the amazing masters of light the last crusade from jean-phillippe vanbasalaeare ( i certainly butchered his name) and who thought henry jackman would be allowed in this time to write an almost 90s adventure score for jumanji 2.which isn�t even full of obvious temptracking like the tad the explorer scores.

The Rendezvous is probably my favorite Wintory score after Spirit of the Cosmos, so many thanks for mentioning it.

I'm always grateful for your recommendations, because I completely lost interest in (new) Hollywood soundtracks so whenever something is mentioned here, I pick it up. So far that works out fine for me. If Kevin Kaska, Wataru Hokoyama (shame he went to LA and not Japan) or other unused talents score something I will make an exception however.

In addition to Oscar Navarro's concert works (which I shared quite some time ago) and Witches (shared by pensquawk), I can also recommend Nathan Lanier's Supercapers, classic "generic" 80s superhero score and Benedikt Brydern's The Pagan Queen, both from 2008. Of course Hendrik Schwarzer's Happy Family, Wodan and Time Carousel is a given (the links should still work).

Oh and Christopher Tin will start his kickstarter for his new album at Abbey Road with a new recording of Sogno di Volare in February.

Well, the new season has begun. So far, a crushing disappointment of epic proportions - just like last year.

Watanabe's Shinkalion is almost all terrible (episode 1, anyway) and the handful of good bits sound promising until they're spoiled by electric guitars and drum-machine beats. Nextday gave orchestra credits at VGMDB and it's substantially the same ensemble Watanabe usually uses - so we'll see... but since it's missing a whole slew of important instruments and our old favourite "Synthesizer Programming" gets a big credit... I'm not holding out a lot of hope. It might be better than Hirano's pathetic Drive Head, but that wouldn't really be hard.

(And Watanabe's Mazinger isn't a TV score at all, it's a movie score and it happened last October - though a release is planned for January 10th. Enthusiasm immediately dropped when I saw that it's 40 tracks on one CD I'm not holding out any hopes of well-developed symphonic cues. An orchestra is already credited on VGMDB and it's small, only three woodwind, strings, an unnecessarily large brass section (eleven), and a synthesizer programmer. On a big prestige movie, this is hardly good news.)

Yugo Kanno's Grancrest is completely average Yugo.

Go Shiina's Emiya-san is one long piece of sappy J-pop arranged for string orchestra.

Takayuki Negishi's Cardcaptor has some lovely moments but seems to be going down the cheapie route, like so many modern scores do. I can't get over how Tanaka-esque some of this music sounds - particularly the cue at the 22 minute mark near the end; and the whole thing is filled with synth effects from Tanaka's back catalogue, going back as far as Sakura Wars. I know they worked together in the past, but three possibilities present: a) Tanaka co-wrote this score with Negishi. b) Negishi has picked up a great many of Tanaka's musical mannerisms over the years. c) Negishi contributes more to the recent Tanaka sound than we would probably want to admit. My money's on the second.

Harumi Fuuki's Taiga score starts soon - and it looks as though the whole main theme is played in the recent PV. It is, as expected, generic and melodically timid, full of slamming percussion and a depressing theme which has almost no counterpoint and is just a drab melody played against chords - this may be the worst Taiga theme in a decade, and in comparison with Kanno's 2017 effort, it's just pathetic. I like the Japanese colour in the theme and orchestration, but there's just nothing else there. Recent predictions that the score would turn out to bring back vintage James Horner are looking - unsurprisingly - like they will not be fulfilled. It's not fair of me to write off the score based on the theme, granted - but since Taiga composers tend to give their best for the theme, it's fair to say we have a good idea how it's going to turn out; and folks, it's not good. (When was the last time we had a Taiga score with a dreadful theme and a golden score? It's invariably the other way around.)

Oh, well. I'm off to play some Japanese music back from when Japanese music was good. :)

Harumi Fuuki's Taiga score starts soon - and it looks as though the whole main theme is played in the recent PV. It is, as expected, generic and melodically timid, full of slamming percussion and a depressing theme which has almost no counterpoint and is just a drab melody played against chords - this may be the worst Taiga theme in a decade, and in comparison with Kanno's 2017 effort, it's just pathetic. I like the Japanese colour in the theme and orchestration, but there's just nothing else there. Recent predictions that the score would turn out to bring back vintage James Horner are looking - unsurprisingly - like they will not be fulfilled. It's not fair of me to write off the score based on the theme, granted - but since Taiga composers tend to give their best
It has some of the same problems as Yugo Kanno's theme. You won't be impressed.

I think I dislike Fuuki's theme even more than Yugo's - at least Yugo's had the right sound and wasn't a bad melody; this, I dunno, it's like a zombie Taiga theme; the body is walking, but the mind is dead. It somehow ends up sounding even more amateurish than Gunshi. (And Yugo Kanno is a better orchestrator than Harumi...)

Intrada just released a massively expanded Robin Hood Prince of Thieves (Kamen) on 2CDs. Go get it!

You have no idea how fast I hit that pay button. The only thing that could evoke a smiliar reaction of relief and joy out of me is a complete Soundtrack Box for Hellsing. It's the one Silver-Age score I wanted the most in complete form.



Oh, well. I'm off to play some Japanese music back from when Japanese music was good.

I'm confused, do you mean Winter 1988 where every TV show was horrible synth and the two good movie scores, Char's Counterattack and Saint Seiya: Kamigami no Atsuki Tataka despite being really good now sound quite dated thanks to drums and disco?

Or do you mean Winter 1993 where we had a couple of small studio orchestra pieces amidst a sea of guitars, drums and synth, where the most notable scores were 20 minutes of orchestra for Kouryuu Densetsu Villgust by Tanaka and Magma Taishi by senior Watanabe?

Or do you mean Winter 1998 were we had a couple of pieces in Outlaw Star, two pieces for Silent M�bius that were actually recorded by a real orchestra and not horrible synth, a few pieces in AWOL and otherwise horrible synth shows? That this was a good season at all is thanks to two movie gems, Galaxy Express 999 by Tanaka and Ninja Resurrection by Amano and even then it was only 30 minutes of Moscow and barely 40 minutes of Warsaw if you want symphonic scores over an hour long.

Or do you mean Winter 2003? which has Wolf's Rain albeit only had 30 minutes of Warsaw and almost no Brass, but the rest is wonderful so I can let that count. Sahashi's Big O II is a favorite but only really avbout 30 minutes of orchestral score and most is genre fusion. Ashita no Nadja was a substantial score but mostly just classical re-recordings by a small studio orchestra. Stratos 4 is only 20 minutes of Warsaw and Holst anyway, Machine Robo Rescue is a good Hollywood homage but basically two themes repeated ad infinitum and taken those out there is not much score to talk about. The rest was either terrible synth or small Jazz ensembles (Sato's Mouse). Tanaka's Ecole de Paris is a genre potpurri and I know you don't want that either and One Piece Movie 4 was barely 30 minutes of score with synth and a little underwhelming.

Or do you mean Winter 2008 with Rosario to Vampire probably being Tanaka's and Hamaguchi's weakest output and Precure 5 Gogo with Sato with a small orchestra in recycling mode and hardly symphonic and the Chopper Movie by Tanaka despite some good pieces for Orchestra and Choir being a fairly weak One Piece score? Other than that there was no orchestra to be found. Spice and Wolf and Aria Origination were traditional band ensembles and Kara no Kyoukai and Persona Trinity Soul was strings + electronics. Otherwise a lot of horrible or unremarkable scores with mostly synth.

Or do you mean Winter 2013? which had a 20 minute Moscow score for LWA by Oshima, a 30 minute Warsaw score for Berserk III by Amano, 15 of Hollywood bombast for Star Driver and 30 minutes of score for Chihayafuru 2, 50 minutes for AKB0048 (which were mostly J-Pop), Love Live with 60 minutes of score that mark one of the very few real Brass scores by Fujisawa (but I guess you can find it unremarkable) and Hakkenden which was the last substantial studio orchestra score by Hitomi? Otherwise there were only a couple of good pieces from Hirano for HunterXHunter with a gem of a bass tenor piece but little else, Dokidoki! Precure was good fun with a few pieces of serious scores but hardly symphonic, and Vividred Operation while having an orchestra was not all that exciting despite some nice vibes, but at least it had a real ensemble. The rest were a couple of synth orchestra shows or small strings + winds ensembles (Hamaguchi's Mondaitachi).

But what about Winter 2018? Violet Evergarden has a full orchestra with over 60 minutes of score, Death March has an Orchestra with over 60 minutes of score, Grancrest Senki has over 60 minutes of orchestral score (24 Episode show) and it's actually the most enjoyable Kano score in quite some time for me, I really like that Panflute piece and the little march at the beginning edited for Parade sound. Fate/Extra has a full orchestra + choir and probably around 60 minutes. Mazinger Z has an orchestra with over 60 minutes of score, Overlord has a full orchestral ensemble + choir and probably 50 minutes of score (based on Katayama's last score with the same ensemble), Shinkalion has an orchestral ensemble (I predict 40-60 minutes of score) which I find delifghtful in addition to throwbacks to 80's Toy Robot commercials and a couple of modern Hybrid cues. Macross Delta movie has an orchestral ensemble (I predict 30 minutes of score), Sayonara no Asa ni Yakusoku no Hana wo Kazarou most likely has an orchestral score. Hugtto! Precure most likely has an orchestral ensemble but its Hayashi... I don't expect anything. From thr 50+ shows this season, most feature at least a strings + winds ensemble. The most delightful for me is Slow Start by Fujisawa which is quite bouncy with some lovely cutesy Jazz. A Place further than the Universe has some string pieces and a semi-orchestral piece at the end that make me curious for more. Yuru Camp is delightful in the vain of Spice and Wolf with a celtic folk ensemble and Cardcaptor Sakura sounds wonderfully old-fashioned.

I can do this with every season from 1980s to the 2010s in an intervall of five years if you like Trends that much ;)

So I guess you either mean the late 90s, the early 2000s or the early 2010s or you meant to say you don't enjoy the orchestral scores of the late 2010s as much? Because I do enjoy them. Quite a lot. A whole lot. And I find nothing to truly complain about in Segodon. It's by a relative newcomer and I'm not expecting a Magnum Opus, especially considering Taiga Dramas being very uneven. There is actually lots of Horner in the first episode and the couple of orchestral pieces, especially near the end and after the show are very much to my linking. I will buy the ost.

I've actually given up wondering what you find so disappointing about 2017 with Naotora, Aerial Legends, Last Jedi, Black Butler, Gravity Daze 2, DESTINY, Taishi, Kyuranger, Godzilla, Haikara-san, Virtual Life etc etc etc ... other than not meeting your taste and every year must have dozens of symphonic scores over an hour long (which in 2003s case only FMA and Last Exile qualify)

Pulling back that 2017 vs 2007

Is Sato’s DESTINY really inferior to Heroic Age? Is Godzilla really inferior to Moonlight Mile? Is Naotora really inferior to Romeo X Juliet? Is Kyuranger inferior to Boukenger? Is Valkyria Revolution inferior to Fire Emblem Radiant Dawn? Is Xenoblade 2 inferior to Eternal Sonata? Is Taishi inferior to Odin Sphere? Is Aerial legends inferior to Mario Galaxy?

Maybe I'm just crazy and losing my mind but I see nothing inherently going downwards, I only see evidence its staying the same in some areas or moving up in others. The only thing that’s really changed over the decades is the amount of shows each anime season and games with full orchestral scores but even then this season has barely any synth for the 50+ shows and I don’t hear horrible synth in games anymore. There’s still a couple of excellent shows each season and nowadays you can find at least one show that suits your taste (last season Girls Last Tour was my gem). I’m quite content with the Japanese output as my massive post made evidently clear and I see no way of that changing soon.

Tl:dr
I beg to differ, sir.

I joked elsewhere that they should have implemented next day shipping just for the people who can't wait to get this score complete. I might have even selected it myself.

i rarely comment on new non asian scores.and if i do they deserve the praise.some are just fun, some are smart and well thought out like the rendezvous.also no one seems to care.exactly one person replied to my recommendation of witches which is superb.no one even commented on oscar navarro.no comments for the tear inducing beauty of lamb of god.i love sharing my discoveries with everyone thats why i established the hidden treasures thread in fsm forums (which btw i cannot access anymore because my ps4 browser shows a permanent server error when i try it so bummer) i try to cover mostly the non asian and not obvious scores and music that appears without warning.like the amazing masters of light the last crusade from jean-phillippe vanbasalaeare ( i certainly butchered his name) and who thought henry jackman would be allowed in this time to write an almost 90s adventure score for jumanji 2.which isn�t even full of obvious temptracking like the tad the explorer scores.

Just because we don't reply to your post doesn't mean we didn't see it or appreciate it. I always appreciate your recommendations and agree with you on Jumanji 2 being much better than I expected.

---------- Post added at 08:23 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:20 PM ----------


Devilman Crybaby... what a wasted opportunity that was. The visual execution was hit-and-miss, but the music was so awfully generic (cheap synth and satanic chanting) that it actually further distracted from the viewing experience. And for those who complain about Iwasaki's hip-hop, Devilman will teach you what terrible hip-hop actually sounds like. The final battle music was especially painful to listen to. Why is Hirano scoring dumb J-Dramas instead of shows like this? I have not seen a recent show where his intense and chaotic style, with as many evil Gregorian chants he wants, would fit better. And yet he complains that his style of music is not in demand.

Good god I agree so much. Just finished Episode 2 and good god every time those idiots start beat boxing I cringe. Would have been amazing to hear a Hirano score instead. Such potential thrown away by choosing to make it retro. I'm not sure I can stand to watch more.

Where is 2-CD Willow? Isn't it the 30th Anniversary? I picked up the 4-CD Titanic.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-CRlDxwY_VU#t=5m20s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sRiWShBN-j4

With the greatest respect, I am not playing this tit-for-tat game any more.

I will continue to state my opinion for as long as you continue to state yours. My reasons have been stated repeatedly and, if they're ignored the first time, I have no reason to think there's any point in finding new ways to say the same thing; I will simply say "please refer to what I said before" and will not get into any further arguments about them. Nobody wants to read arguing, it won't help you see my point of view, and it certainly won't help me see yours.

I do what I can to keep the thread on some kind of reality track. It's not much - but it's all I can do.

Intrada brings us finally Robin Hood Prince of Thieves complete with an hour of unreleased music and thats not counting the alternates and extras.

Nice to hear; I personally am satisfied with the album that already exists but for people who want every burp, fart, and whistle in a score this new release will be a godsend. :)

Good god I agree so much. Just finished Episode 2 and good god every time those idiots start beat boxing I cringe. Would have been amazing to hear a Hirano score instead. Such potential thrown away by choosing to make it retro. I'm not sure I can stand to watch more.It speaks volumes when the most unique piece on the entire album is a knockoff of Kenji Kawaii's GitS but with a church choir.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QI5yakS5yyo

And to be honest, I wasn't as annoyed with the retro synth and techno stuff as much as I was with the "epic orchestral" pieces like this which play in every dramatic moment:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uOK-1IG-j68

Does Netflix just not like funding decent music in their shows? First Castlevania and now this, both tremendous wasted opportunities.

Or do you mean Winter 2003? which has Wolf's Rain albeit only had 30 minutes of Warsaw and almost no Brass, but the rest is wonderful so I can let that count. But Stratos 4 is only 20 minutes of Warsaw and Holst anyway, Machine Robo Rescue is a good Hollywood homage but basically two themes repeated ad infinitum and taken those out there is not much score to talk about. The rest was either terrible synth or small Jazz ensembles (Sato's Mouse). Tanaka's Ecole de Paris is a genre potpurri and I know you don't want that either and One Piece Movie 4 was barely 30 minutes of score with synth and a little underwhelming.

Or do you mean Winter 2008 with Rosario to Vampire probably being Tanaka's and Hamaguchi's weakest output and Precure 5 Gogo with Sato with a small orchestra in recycling mode and hardly symphonic and the Chopper Movie by Tanaka despite some good pieces for Orchestra and Choir being a fairly weak One Piece score? Other than that there was no orchestra to be found. Spice and Wolf and Aria Origination were traditional band ensembles and Kara no Kyoukai and Persona Trinity Soul was strings + electronics. Otherwise a lot of horrible or unremarkable scores with mostly synth.


Also during those respective winters, there were The Big O II and The Fantastic Deer-Man by Sahashi

Netflix has had very few decent scores for their shows. The Crown was largely inconsequential musically. The only thing that I thought really stood out was the music for Godless. I'm sure some people out there like House of Cards but to me it was all wallpaper though it worked nicely with the show itself.

I think an extra 60 minutes of music is a lot more than every bump but that's just me. And I like the sound Intrada has been getting for their releases from that era.

Netflix has had very few decent scores for their shows.It's so sad how on a platform where there are almost no restrictions or censors on the content created, and no focus groups to worry about, there is still so little creativity or quality in the music. I guess Netflix's producers and directors are just more interested in shoving in as much sex and gore as they can like in Crybaby instead of making quality productions, music being a part of that.

@BladeLight52: I tried to limit myself to anime scores for which there's numerous sites online about every anime ever made so I could make some easy comparison lists so I can not count Deer-Man but wow, you're right, it never crossed my mind that Big O II was a newly recorded session because I alyways listen to the two soundtracks put together so I assumed it was all recorded in 1999. Apologies, I also forgot Ashita no Nadja. Doesn't change the fact winter 2003 was a good season.

Interesting thought:

Winter 2003 had 30 minutes of Warsaw for Wolf's Rain. Winter 2013 had 30 minutes of Warsaw for Berserk. We have 20 minutes of Warsaw for Stratos 4 and 20 minutes of Moscow for LWA. We have over 30 minutes of score for Big-O II which is genre fusion and we have over 30 minutes of score for Chihayfuru 2 which is genre fusion. We had a small studio orchestra (50 minutes) for Machine Robo and 50 minutes of small studio orchestra for AKB0048. Precure 5 GoGo and DokiDoki Precure were both small orchestral ensembles with Big Band tone. A studio orchestra for Ashita no Nadja and a studio orchestra for Hakkenden. Fascinating.

Happy New Year, everyone! I hope you're all doing well!

I've been looking for some orchestral soundtracks to listen to over the last couple of weeks, and I was hoping some of you could give me a few suggestions or recommendations. In terms of orchestral music, I guess I'd want something similar to the likes of Masamichi Amano or Shiro Sagisu. If not, any recommendations in general will go a long way (particularly anything I can listen to on Spotify).

Also, I wanted to ask y'all a couple of questions, since I'm curious as to your thoughts on certain areas that might not have been discussed (then again, there's a good chance it's been brought up in the decade this thread has been around). Anyway, here they are:

1. What's your favourite orchestral soundtrack, that you genuinely like/love, by a composer whose work you otherwise cannot stand? And why?

2. What's your all-time favourite orchestral soundtrack for a video game? And why?

3. What's your all-time favourite orchestral soundtrack for an anime? And why?

4. What's your all-time favourite orchestral soundtrack for a live-action show? And why?

5. What's your all-time favourite orchestral soundtrack for a film? And why?

6. Name a soundtrack you honestly did not expect to enjoy, or even love, anywhere near as much as you actually do.

I might answer these questions myself at some point in the next week or two, but I thought it might be something to discuss in between releases of new soundtracks or works that bring us back here. If anyone does decide to answer these, thank you for indulging me. In the meantime, have a great day!

Tango, I didn't want to sound demeaning in any way, I was just presenting a counterpoint to the doom and gloom you see and hear everywhere (no pun intented). Perhaps that is our fate, never to agree again.



EDIT: Taku Iwasaki has finished his Bungou Stray Dogs film score "with lots of long cues and much Leitmotif", he is now on to his next job. But also take notice he had a recording with Lotus Juice, so it won't be entirely orchestral.




@FrDougal9000: Well, then I will gladly take you up on that offer. Off the top of my hat.

1. Kenji Kawai... Hana Moyu (ha... bet you thought Avalon)... he's probably the composer I'm most bi-polar on. He can be really amazing but 98% of the time his scores are frankly not my cup of tea to put it lightly. The show he's scoring this season being a case for the 98%. This time for this NHK Drama Kawai had a real orchestra and choir for once and despite my dislike of his electronic style he is nonetheless a master of rythm. This time its elevated by unusually lyrical writing and I dearly dearly wish his upcoming film (which at least looks absolutely amazing btw) will feature his inner genius and be among his 2% of scores that are actually amazing: http://picosong.com/wywEu

If we are talking about Not-exactly-orchestral/fusion then its without second thought Marc Mancina's Blood+

2. Ni no Kuni, it's a classical tour de force with every note being magic. That it has not one but two AMAZING themes even by Hisaishi standards makes it off the charts. One of the modern masterpieces of our times. If we are talking non-orchestral, Gravty Daze 2 is my new benchmark of genre-fusion. If we are talking about western games, then its Age of Pirates: Caribbean Tales, more mini tone poems than game score.

3. TV: Yoko Kanno - Escaflowne, everytime it still feels like pure magic, from the Williams-inspired WINGS to perhaps the most iconic orchestral anime piece ever DANCE OF CURSE / OVA: Super Atragon, even if its partially lifted from JNH's Outbreak it is still some of my favorite orchestral action ever put into Anime / Film: Sakura Wars The Movie, it's Tanaka at his best and the most beautiful fusion of synth and symphony orchestra I've ever heard

But if I have the give credit for originality, then Michiru Oshima's Fullmetal Alchemist wins, likewise, it's pure magic. I don't know how many years it took for this constelation to take place but everything about it from the sound to the composition feels like a classical-inspired masterpiece. One of the greatest orchestral scores of the 21st Century in my Book.

Western Animation: Hunchback of Notre Dame. Alan Menken once was an orchestral tour de force and the score has lost none of its power.

4. Naotora, everything has already been said at this point, it's Kanno's Magnum Opus and a truely glorious classical inspired masterpiece.

5. Alexander Nevsky, for many reasons this is the score every film composer has at least lifted from once in their lives. It's a mandatory masterpiece. Otherwise, Golden Age: Ben-Hur, Silver Age: Hook, Japan: Kulta

6. Saga of Tanya - Shuji Katayama, Fate/Zero - Yuki Kajiura, Princess Principal - Yuki Kajiura, Gigantic Formula - Hiroyuki Sawano, Smile Precure - Yasuharu Takanashi, Hercules - Joseph Lo Duca, Dimension W - Go Shiina, Mahoujin Guru Guru - TECHNOBOYS PULCRAFT GREEN-FUND, Shiro Sagisu's Songbooks, Welcome to the Ballroom - Yuki Hayashi, At World's End - Hans Zimmer, Dark City - Trevor Jones, Shrek Forever after - Harry-Gregson Williams

Having listened to it a few times now, I agree with hater that The Rendezvous is quite the impressive score by Wintory, and likely his best to date. The main theme is lovely and gets many variations in the score. Interesting that this was for a film that was released in 2016 but was only released on his private label recently though that appears to be also related to Varese Sarabande's decision to release the CD on their limited edition.

A little thing like this isn't going to stop me from respecting you to the ends of the earth and back. But I do think that we're both beating out heads against brick walls. By your own admission, you're overly optimistic, and by mine, I'm overly pessimistic - perhaps we're both talking shit. I dunno... :)

FrDougal9000: Happy new year, welcome back, and thank you for the questions - they really got the grey matter moving!

1. I would want to say Hans Zimmer - The DaVinci Code, but it's not quite orchestral enough to qualify; but it's a score by the man I blame for destroying Hollywood and some of it is truly unique, truly lovely - and Poisoned Chalice, even twelve years later, still makes me cry. Otherwise, it would have to be Kenji Kawai's Avalon - both because it's Kawai's most substantially symphonic work to date, and because it works SPOTLESSLY in the film. It is a perfect marriage of music and film.

2. Katsuro Tajima's Katamari - truly a score with everything. It's sad (but not surprising) that we don't hear from Tajima these days. (Please don't bring up Deadstorm Pirates - eight years is a LONG time...) Lennie Moore's Outcast remains a close second place.

3. I'll answer four times in a shameless cheat: Anime movie; Yasuo Higuchi's Phoenix 2772. Television series; Souhei Kano's Fractale. OVA - Masamichi Amano's Super Atragon. Western animated movie; David Newman - The Brave Little Toaster.

4. Jerry Goldsmith - QBVII. I have no words.

5. John Williams - ET. Wendy Carlos - Tron, as a runner up.

6. I'll get back to you on that! :D

Nice to hear; I personally am satisfied with the album that already exists but for people who want every burp, fart, and whistle in a score this new release will be a godsend. :)

its one thing to release every burp and fart or the tons of essential swashbuckling action that was omitted from the first release.

Happy New Year, everyone! I hope you're all doing well!

I've been looking for some orchestral soundtracks to listen to over the last couple of weeks, and I was hoping some of you could give me a few suggestions or recommendations. In terms of orchestral music, I guess I'd want something similar to the likes of Masamichi Amano or Shiro Sagisu. If not, any recommendations in general will go a long way (particularly anything I can listen to on Spotify).

Also, I wanted to ask y'all a couple of questions, since I'm curious as to your thoughts on certain areas that might not have been discussed (then again, there's a good chance it's been brought up in the decade this thread has been around). Anyway, here they are:

1. What's your favourite orchestral soundtrack, that you genuinely like/love, by a composer whose work you otherwise cannot stand? And why?

2. What's your all-time favourite orchestral soundtrack for a video game? And why?

3. What's your all-time favourite orchestral soundtrack for an anime? And why?

4. What's your all-time favourite orchestral soundtrack for a live-action show? And why?

5. What's your all-time favourite orchestral soundtrack for a film? And why?

6. Name a soundtrack you honestly did not expect to enjoy, or even love, anywhere near as much as you actually do.

I might answer these questions myself at some point in the next week or two, but I thought it might be something to discuss in between releases of new soundtracks or works that bring us back here. If anyone does decide to answer these, thank you for indulging me. In the meantime, have a great day!Can you explain what it is about Sagisu and Amano (to which I'm assuming you mean their works together, because vanilla Sagisu is mostly jazz) that you like in their works? If it's as simple as chanting choirs I can name literally dozens of similar works of the same quality. But if there's something more to it, you should specify what to make it easier to narrow down. As for your questions:

1) Hiroyuki Sawano's first soundtrack for Gundam Unicorn. I saw it as an extension of his admittedly less developed work on Cyber Formula, and while it does contain some glimpses of his more annoying tropes later on (the slamming percussion and electronic background noises, the Mika Kobayashi vocals, the "Sawano Drop", etc), it was clear that he was writing a soundtrack meant to evoke more than just "epic action scenes xD" like he usually does nowadays. There's a bit of everything in there- the heroic fanfare, the military march, the sad love theme, the hopeful finale, even a very interesting oriental jazz piece- it's all great music. And Sawano with woodwinds! Something nobody would expect to hear from him nowadays. He hasn't written a piece like this since Unicorn: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kX0k-nGSWUY&

2) Yoko Kanno's work on Nobunaga's Ambition is spectacular. I only listened to it a few months ago after finding out some of my favorite pieces from Iron Chef were taken from that game, so I may be a bit biased in that regard. But there is no questioning the quality of the music, it oozes heroic silver age grandeur in a way that few scores have been able to achieve in any media format (and something of a prototype for Naotora, a work that I've recently come to believe is arguably Kanno's best). Even a solo horn ensemble piece sounds majestic. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8GO4PnBm_dU)It's also a lot more consistent with itself rather than the usual multiple-genres-in-a-disk medley that Kanno usually shoots out like Wolf's Rain, and while I do like that approach, Kanno's orchestral music is always something that I feel deserves its own spotlight.

3) Tomoyuki Asakawa's Five Star Stories. I think I've gushed too much about Asakawa in this thread already, but this is such a standout soundtrack that I feel goes beyond Asakawa himself. The guy usually scores things like documentaries, cheap J-Dramas, or cheesy kid mecha shows, but for this one he went out of his way to create a Golden Age masterpiece (coincidentally, the main robot in the film is "The Knight of Gold"). It's melodically gorgeous, thematically well-developed, astoundingly well-orchestrated, and has its own consistent identity, even among Asakawa's other works. It also has one of the best examples of organ usage that I have heard in any soundtrack (though since Asakawa got his Masters in organ composition, that should be no surprise) And while it may be short at only 12-ish tracks, each one is meaty and self-contained, and the overall experience tells its own story parallel to the film's. What's even more impressive is that Asakawa was able to write a symphonic score for a sci-fi fantasy work using Golden Age influences without sounding like John William's Star Wars. I can't think of a single other composer that has been able to accomplish that (to my limited knowledge, I would love some recommendations if there are any). It's such a shame he never got any other opportunities to write music for something of similar magnitude (or for a larger ensemble outside of Japan like Warsaw) before he switched careers to becoming a harpist.

4) I don't really have any because I generally don't watch many live-action TV shows. I would say that the Twilight Zone had some really great pieces, but they're all attributed to the variety of styles of all the different accomplished composers they brought in like Waxman, Herrmann, or Williams. I really wish there were more modern works that would allow a wide variety of skilled composers to individually flex their muscles every episode. Orville is doing something like that, but so far I'm not impressed. (I almost forgot Naotora was a live-action TV show as I typed this, but I was speaking more towards western TV shows because I tend to lump Japanese TV shows and anime together)

5) Danny Elfman's Edward Scissorhands. Once again, I'm a bit biased because I grew up with this movie, but the music is just timeless and so beautiful. There's a reason car commercials keep trying to ape this movie's music whenever they're having a holiday or winter sale. Elfman's music had essentially given a whole new identity to winter that can only be competed with by the most classic Christmas songs. The melodies are also gorgeous and whenever I hear Elfman's usual choir, this is the movie that I most strongly associate it with. Elfman has completely lost his touch since the 2000s rolled around, but there is no denying that he was once a genius. Scissorhands, Batman, and the Nightmare Before Christmas are all classics.

6) Fate Zero. I expected the usual Kajiura electro-strings foreign language chanting, but instead we got a fairly decent medieval action score played by a sizable orchestra. It was enjoyable much like Zimmer's 90s scores such as Backdraft, and something I never thought I would hear from Kajiura of all people. Certainly, she's not the greatest orchestral composer, but unlike many others who have gotten their hands on it (i.e. Tyler Bates and most of modern Hollywood), she's done much better. Masaru Yokoyama's work on Fate Apocrypha had a few decent orchestral pieces too, but wasn't as complete as Kajiura's.

Taku Iwasaki has finished his Bungou Stray Dogs film score "with lots of long cues and much Leitmotif", he is now on to his next job. But also take notice he had a recording with Lotus Juice, so it won't be entirely orchestral.What was very unusual was that he actually sounded happy and enthusiastic about it. Iwasaki, wanting to write with leitmotif and pure orchestral themes? Iwasaki, the guy who hated his experience on Agito at Warsaw so much that he swore never to record with a foreign ensemble again? Iwasaki, who basically told off Gainax when they asked him to write something similar to Giant Robo when he worked on Gurren Lagann? Iwasaki, being happy about a project that he was whining a few months ago about having too many cues to write?

Is this the same Iwasaki? 2018 is off to a weird start. At the very least I'm certainly looking forward to hearing his new Mahouka in a couple weeks.

1. Zimmer’s The Lion King (the score, not the songs.) The melodies are great and nostalgic with fitting ethnic instrumentation and orchestration. It’s too bad it’s so short. I have a feeling there might have been a lot of ghost-writing and arranging by others, but since I have no proof, Zimmer gets the credit.

2. For real orchestra: Outcast by Lennie Moore. The themes are great, as is the orchestration. It’s very powerful and evocative and all-around fun. I imagine the orchestra had a great time performing it.

For fake orchestra: Uematsu’s FF6. A lot was accomplished in that one with simple synths, it’s actually really amazing. Has anything else come close to the number of character themes in FF6? And then rearranged them all into a single orchestral suite at the end? Never been done before, and will probably never be done again.

3. This is tricky because the answer is Escaflowne, but I know I only like it because of how the music stands by itself away from the show as its own entity. It’s similar to how I enjoy Horner’s score to Krull immensely, but because the movie is so bad, I consider Braveheart to be a superior score.

Braveheart functions well both in and outside the film, probably better than any other Horner score out there. I don’t think the music for Escaflowne functions as well in the show compared to, let’s say, ReZero, where the director and composer seemed to better understand the emotional effects of music in various scenes. The only scene in Escaflowne where I can remember the music working well was the scene where “Chain” played. Everything else felt like typical anime, ad-hoc, “not-scored-to-scene” fare. Great music, not so great score.

4. I guess I’d have to say Star Trek TNG wins here, especially the Ron Jones episodes. Jones’s music really told the story of Star Trek through music, using themes and melodies where appropriate, exciting action cues, and intelligent use of synth good enough to equal the efforts of Horner or Goldsmith. The other guys weren’t too bad either. Jay Chattaway’s music for The Inner Light was a stroke of genius.

5. The score I always come back to is Braveheart because it’s a score that truly made the movie better. Everything about the score is perfect, from performance, to recording, to instrumentation, to dozens of recurring melodies and motifs, to thematic development, to counterpoint, to harmony, etc. It is a score that effectively paints a picture of a time and place, and whether you like the movie or not, the story told by the music is pure fantasy, which is a recurring theme for me throughout this list.

6. Probably ReZero, because it was totally unexpected and seemingly came out of nowhere. There is actually a lot of development going on in that score, and several recurring themes and motifs, including harmonic ones. Suehiro really put a lot of effort into it, and while the orchestra might be small, the ideas are big and cinematic in scope.

Iwasaki's recent tweets seems to be centered, at the moment, around a) him showing off his collection of esoteric synthesizers, and b) him talking about how clever he is. There is no indication that Bungo will be even substantially orchestral, let alone entirely orchestral, a Warsaw score, or an old-fashioned space opera. All we know is that Taku thinks it's great (as the most egotistical-bordering-on-psyhcological-imbalance living composer, this is no surprise), has long cues (Taku, by his own admission, writes pieces longer than necessary, across all genres), and is motivic - so we'll see, but I don't think anybody seriously thinks this is going to be Taku's symphonic magnum-opus. It's Taku Iwasaki. You know what you're going to get. Fifty billion different styles interspersed with a handful of orchestral cues, some which are relatively unmolested and some which are drowning in electronica. It might be worth a listen - but Iwasaki isn't going to suddenly become 90s Amano - those days have well and truly passed.

the most egotistical-bordering-on-psyhcological-imbalance living composerNow that's just uncalled for. Iwasaki is very self-indulgent, but I can think of many many other composers (especially our usual suspects outside of Japan, many of which have never written a single note of music on paper and rely solely on their fancy expensive orchestral samples in their computer) that would actually qualify as being narcissistic. However, I do think that Iwasaki currently qualifies for "angriest living media composer". Which is one of the reasons I was surprised to see him actually being happy with his music and how it was used for once, rather than his usual manner of either throwing shade at people he found incompetent or raging about musical trends and whatever else he can think of.

As for what the music will be like for the BSD movie, I don't feel like beating this dead horse again. =)

We will see. In the meantime, time to share a bunch of recent and one not so recent anime scores I quite like and who I believe deserve a listen and who I have trimmed down to their essence, making it MUCH more enjoyable for me to listen to:



Conisch
Recommendation of this wonderful Virtual Life
Music composed and conducted by Hiroaki Conisch
Studio Orchestra, Piano: Conisch

(https://mega.nz/#!bgh2DZRR!htLU_tj80kVueo8LXH6lTKkeSqcKcaTFPJD5mrPz4f8)

This is a score that like so many Anime scores feel like an "artist album". I LOVE how the piano is pretty much the centerstage throughout the entire score and is only backed by the orchestra and never overtaken. I also like how virtuosic it sometimes get. It particulary shines through in pieces like "to be continued" (http://picosong.com/wynmT) and "Beyond the horizon" (http://picosong.com/wynu3). Love it.



Shunsuke Takizawa
My girlfriend is Shobitch
Studio Ensemble

(https://mega.nz/#!ftg2xTDR!AEZlLJn_6Yxt5iAkhYLnwsWJdFpRUCGbia97FK5HGOE)

Approach it like this: This is music for an ecchi raunchy comedy in 2017. Important things (http://picosong.com/wynhm) / Continuation of love ~never changing~ (http://picosong.com/wynha) It's full of classical style and 80's sax action with a bit of orchestral funk by a complete newbie. I enjoy it a great deal.


Hideyuki Fukasawa
Vividred Operation
Studio Ensemble

(https://mega.nz/#!O8o2HI7C!Q1ygYIvymd7vljD1MFCcH3Fi3l5DsKWEEv4b6C4V7aA)

I very much don't care for Fukasawa but Vividred is the one score where I think he did a good job. I love the vibe its going for with all the 80's synth pads, piano and guitar and 90's action Blockbuster sound. It's not exactly orchestral but the real ensemble helps making it an enjoyable ride: Operation Complete (http://picosong.com/wynNk) / Reverberation of Victory (http://picosong.com/wynNL)



Probably ReZero, because it was totally unexpected and seemingly came out of nowhere. There is actually a lot of development going on in that score, and several recurring themes and motifs, including harmonic ones. Suehiro really put a lot of effort into it, and while the orchestra might be small, the ideas are big and cinematic in scope.

He's a favorite among the new faces as well. Speaking of him:


Kenichiro Suehiro
Girls Last Tour ~This wonderful ending world~
Studio Ensemble

(https://mega.nz/#!6wIQVQZT!5x8bM8kfjdgLzh51qAYJiEGu1-LO4nVY_n8eGyg67Zg)

He actually employs a Fagotto for this one which is rare for anime. In any case this is first and foremost an atmospheric score performed by a live ensemble and little choir. For me, it has a wonderful esotheric vibe and a special little something that just clicks, especially during the choir pieces. It is quite similar to Nanase Hikaru's Zettai Shonen, so much so that I believe it was inspired by it. But its much more "cinematic" with segments that truely made the show shine. I don't know how this album impresses without context but it did leave an impression on me, especially the two pieces Main Theme (http://picosong.com/wynxA) and Traces of civilization (http://picosong.com/wynxN) and how they were used for the shows most poignant moments.


That's all for now.

Now that's just uncalled for. Iwasaki is very self-indulgent, but I can think of many many other composers (especially our usual suspects outside of Japan, many of which have never written a single note of music on paper and rely solely on their fancy expensive orchestral samples in their computer) that would actually qualify as being narcissistic. However, I do think that Iwasaki currently qualifies for "angriest living media composer". Which is one of the reasons I was surprised to see him actually being happy with his music and how it was used for once, rather than his usual manner of either throwing shade at people he found incompetent or raging about musical trends and whatever else he can think of.

As for what the music will be like for the BSD movie, I don't feel like beating this dead horse again. =)

The only thing worse than beating a dead horse is hearing people tell you that you're beating a dead horse every time you start talking about a topic they're bored with. ;)

There is no earthly reason to expect the Bungo movie score to be a symphonic score. That's not a commentary about the state of modern scoring, or a criticism of Iwasaki, or a criticism of anybody - in Japan, movie versions of popular TV series tend not to make massive changes to the music style - particularly when the TV composer comes along for the ride. It's likely to be very similar in style and intent to the TV score. I'll be the first to smile if it's fantastic - and fantastic doesn't necessarily mean symphonic, before somebody jumps down my throat.

As for my comments about Iwasaki, well, I'd be lying if I said "someone used words I disagree with, I'm going to complain about that!" wasn't a completely tired and pointless exercise to make - but for what it's worth, I did what I nearly always do and have nearly always done, pretty much every day in this thread for the last ten years; deliberately exaggerate for effect. I suspect that Iwasaki himself would get the intention, and would probably agree with the statement. He's certainly acknowledged it in his past tweets. The guy is egotistical, and if you can point me towards any other living media composer (if you're talking classical composers, he's not even close to being the worst offender) who is more, I'd be fascinated to read about them. I maintain that he's a genius of sorts. That doesn't change the fact that he's frequently loose-lipped, rude, egomaniacal, self-aggrandising, dismissive of his peers, and apparently loves to piss in the face of the industry that keeps him in a life of artistic luxury. (If I could spend my life eating, travelling, playing keyboards, and complaining... I would be a happy, happy man.)

That said, I agree - it is nice to see positive Taku, who's happy with the way something went, instead of the usual "everything sucks I hate my life". :)

Ladies and Gentlemen, Violet Evergarden, Netflix Flagship title and the supposed future of Japanese TV Anime, is scored entirely with an orchestra from start to finish, not entirely sure everything is scored to picture but it feels like it so far:

Opening (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPb49Mbbn9s) / Frolic (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RwziI7jy-04)

I guess I should say light spoilers.

Music composed (and conducted?) by Evan Call, soundtrack is out just as the show finishes, March 28. Turns out since the first preview we could hear this scores leitmotif. I guess I should say music, animation art and directing is enough reason to watch it. Same as A Place further than the Universe, but so far I only hear strings and winds for that which keeps me to believe Fujisawa is cursed with fake brass again and will use it sparingly (which is hilarious considering his cutesy show Slow Start has real brass), otherwise it could go some places once they reach Antarctica.

What are you saying? Can't hear you over the constant sound of "orchestral sound is dead"

Same as A Place further than the Universe, but so far I only hear strings and winds for that which keeps me to believe Fujisawa is cursed with fake brass again and will use it sparingly (which is hilarious considering his cutesy show Slow Start has real brass), otherwise it could go some places once they reach Antarctica.
There's a bit of fake brass in the first episode but it's very subtle. You'll only notice it if you listen closely.

What are you saying? Can't hear you over the constant sound of "orchestral sound is dead"

I have NEVER said that, not once.

What are you saying? Can't hear you over the constant sound of "orchestral sound is dead"

Dude, that's pretty uncalled for. I understand if you disagree with tango, but it's not only completely unnecessary considering the tone of conversation has been more about general discussion than doom and gloom, but it's quite mean-spirited to passive-agressively criticise an opinion you disagree with like that.

Be better than that, man. I know you can.

Thank you. :)

I'm now cautiously optimistic about Violet Evergarden. So far, it seems to be a lot better than the fragments of score we've heard so far would suggest. We don't know that the whole show is scored with an orchestra from start to finish (this has happened probably five times in the entire history of anime) but there certainly seems like there's going to be a lot of score. I always worry that the first episode of something will give us an unbalanced impression of a show. How many times have we seen episode 1 and thought "Oh, wow, this is gonna be amazing!" and then the rest of the score is crap? So far, so good... and Evan Call has perfectly assumed the Japanese style. (I don't know how you'd describe it - it's not a Japanese style in the sense of being culturally Japanese, but it's a style that instantly suggests Japanese media music.)

I never said anything about Tango, the comment wasn't refering to him, but if the shoe fits, that's not my fault. :P

Can't say I did immidientaly jump to that conclusion :D


Evergarden is special enough that I have little doubt it has been scored entirely with an orchestra.

Evan Call is basically living the dream right now, as a classically trained composer from America, who grew up with anime and games (which I guess is why I feel a strong Sakimoto vibe from "Frolic"), who now marks the first "foreign" composer to establish himself in the Japanese scoring world (collaboration and comission is one thing, Morricone, Wallfisch and Davis have done so, but learning the language so you can live and work there another) and who now scored perhaps the most important anime title of the decade in terms of global recognition, from a studio already aiming for the Oscars, with a full orchestra without any restriction. A perfect symbiosis of picture and sound by a director that lets music simultaniously "breathe" and be the showrunner, has nowadays almost completely vanished aside from some spots in Europe.

How Evergarden will turn out in score and picture will be of major importance for the coming years, I'm not saying its like Star Wars but a TV anime never had the amount of global attention as Evergarden has (not only to Netflix). That it seems to be a full-on orchestral film score, lyrical and rich in themes and motifs, could mean everything. Future production comitees who want "music like Evergarden" because it made Kyoani and Netflix millions in cash is perhaps the best possible outcome we could wish for. The circumstances around this score are special, the circumstances of its composer are special, the first episode in its symbiosis of picture and sound was special. Now it needs to stay special for the remaining runtime and finally be special in profit and soundtrack sales, and there will be a high chance we will hear many more scores like it in the future, even excluding what this might do to Evan Call's own career.

I am making an effort, here, folks. :P

I personally think Evergarden will come and go - even if it does turn out to be the miracle score people are saying it is. (So far, it's not; it sounds very nice, it's better-orchestrated than one would expect, and the ensemble is a good size - but so far it's a fairly uncomplicated romance score. There's nothing wrong with that. Some of the best things in life are simple. It fits the show like a glove, but it's going to have to go a LOT further to convince me that it's anything special in a pure music context. Nonetheless, the first episode is a very good start - and it's now the only show of the current season I'm going to "keep an ear on" (with the exception of Shinkalion, which I'm prepared to give another chance) from a score perspective.

It's not going to set the anime world alight, it's not going to lead to a thousand copycat score, it's not going to do wonders for Evan Call's career - any more than Fractale did wonders for Souhei Kano's.

I doubt I'll watch it. But stranger things have happened. Hell, I watched Daimidaler!

1. What's your favourite orchestral soundtrack, that you genuinely like/love, by a composer whose work you otherwise cannot stand? And why?

I make a point of not listening to the work of composers I've decided I dislike, so I don't have an answer for this one. Sorry.

2. What's your all-time favourite orchestral soundtrack for a video game? And why?

Mario Galaxy. Lovely orchestral melodies that actually sound like, and function as game music.

3. What's your all-time favourite orchestral soundtrack for an anime? And why?
Macross Plus. Not Kanno's MOST orchestral work by a longshot, but what's there is truly magic.

4. What's your all-time favourite orchestral soundtrack for a live-action show? And why?

I never watch live-action TV unless it's a comedy, let alone pay attention to the music in it. Another pass.

5. What's your all-time favourite orchestral soundtrack for a film? And why?

John Barry's Out of Africa

6. Name a soundtrack you honestly did not expect to enjoy, or even love, anywhere near as much as you actually do.

Gundam Unicorn, mainly because I hadn't seen the anime at the time, and my only working impression of its score, and Sawano's music as a whole, came from the constant bellyaching of this threads' posters when in fact there are quite a few standout themes and songs in there. A great surprise that turned me into a fan.

-

One more piece from Violet Evergarden in isolation: https://twitter.com/Violet_Letter/status/951393562091900929

It turns out that Death March wasn't MONACA's "big" orchestra score this season. That show was given to their B-team, led by Kuniyuki Takahashi.

Kosaki's team (including Hoashi) is instead working on Fate/Extra, which airs at the end of the month.

I expected as much since I started the episode, the show looks incredibly cheap, especially compared to the amount of shows this season with AMAZING production values by TV anime standard (hopefully Fate/Extra will count among those, so far it looks promising).

As for Death March, it sounds like a small orchestral fantasy JRPG score with fake brass but it sounds nice enough that I will give the OST a shot.


On the plus side, M�rchen M�rchen has a real orchestra but very tiny, sounds like 1 Trumpet, 1 Horn and 1 Bone but the music isn't really noteworthy so far.

After the Rain looks and sounds lovely, but its not orchestral so far, its scored by Ryo Yoshimita who hasn't written something for anime in nearly 20 years.

The only thing worse than beating a dead horse is hearing people tell you that you're beating a dead horse every time you start talking about a topic they're bored with. ;)At this point there is nothing left for you or I to say about Iwasaki's music or the state of the anime industry's music scene that we haven't already heard before. I know where your opinion lies in the matter, and you know mine. If there is something new you would like to add, I would love to hear it, but from all I'm reading so far it's the same as before and before that even. But to address your points (again):


There is no earthly reason to expect the Bungo movie score to be a symphonic score. That's not a commentary about the state of modern scoring, or a criticism of Iwasaki, or a criticism of anybody - in Japan, movie versions of popular TV series tend not to make massive changes to the music style - particularly when the TV composer comes along for the ride. It's likely to be very similar in style and intent to the TV score. I'll be the first to smile if it's fantastic - and fantastic doesn't necessarily mean symphonic, before somebody jumps down my throat.I can already counter that, go compare Mitsuda's recent work on the Black Butler movie to his music in the TV series. The film uses a larger ensemble, is more thematically coherent and developed, and certainly much more "orchestral" than the TV series. I don't know if I expect the same from Bungo because Iwasaki isn't the type of person to happily sit down and write a score for pure orchestra, and I also highly doubt Bungou will be pure orchestra. However, I have no doubt that it will be a much more cohesive experience than the TV series, which didn't even have any trace of something that could be identified as a theme to begin with. And as we all know, Iwasaki is more than capable of pulling off a large orchestral soundtrack with no electronics- if he feels like it. And that's really why I'm fairly optimistic about Bungo; never once before have I recalled Iwasaki being so happy to score to scene or with leitmotifs. All bets are off. I don't expect a grand symphonic score like Giant Robo, but something like Goldsmith's Chinatown is not out of the question.


The guy is egotistical, and if you can point me towards any other living media composer (if you're talking classical composers, he's not even close to being the worst offender) who is more, I'd be fascinated to read about them. I maintain that he's a genius of sorts. That doesn't change the fact that he's frequently loose-lipped, rude, egomaniacal, self-aggrandising, dismissive of his peers, and apparently loves to piss in the face of the industry that keeps him in a life of artistic luxury. (If I could spend my life eating, travelling, playing keyboards, and complaining... I would be a happy, happy man.)That's very easy, hop on board to FSM, JWfans, VSL forums, or any other similar places where pro composers can go whine about how much better they are than some other established composer and how they ought to get all the gigs. I distinctly remember one guy wagging his sample library, calling himself the reincarnation of Bernard Herrmann and then constantly boasting on Twitter about his status as a "top composer" because he's within the 50 "best living composers" according to IMDB. If you want to read about those kind of people, be my guest, but I don't know why you would other than to get some chuckles and feel pity for them. So far, I see no behavior from Iwasaki that puts him on the same level of arrogance as someone like Horner or Soule, nevermind all those aforementioned composers. (Also, I think you're forgetting that Iwasaki is someone who spends more time in the recording booth than on his synth machines. This is a guy who will conduct non-stop for six hours a day and bully his violinist into playing a perfect solo piece even if takes over ten tries. Certainly a less luxurious life than the one you spoke of, and a much less luxurious life than most western composers in general.)



On the subject of Violet Evergarden, I'm fairly optimistic! It's a huge step above everything else I've heard from Evan Call so far. It's far from being a symphonic masterpiece, but it is comparable in quality to a standard Oshima work like Shirayuki. I doubt it will be any sort of future benchmark for music in future anime productions, but I do hope that Evan will continue to have more opportunities to write music like this in the future. As long as it doesn't sell as abysmally as Fractale (impossible considering this is Kyoani), he has a good chance of sticking around. Hopefully Kevin Penkin can learn a thing or two from it as well.

Fabrice Aboulkers score Excalibur for some kind of medievil stuntshow i guess is fullorchestral with several different choirs, a plethora of themes and motifs some of which are quite good.however it dissapoints in the final battle which sounds too much like trailermusic to me.then there is another orchestral score for an animated adventure movie called chris colorado which i havent fully heard yet but it sounds like the parts from excalibur i�ve enjoyed.

a few tracks later and i am beginning to suspect that nicholas dodd had something to do with it.very arnold-ish, with one secrecy motif being almost identical to something from independence day.very cool actionmusic in this one.
also my answers:
1.Arthur and the Invisibles by Eric Serra.I cannot stand him normaly, he ruined Goldeneye completely.But Arthur is classic orchestral greatness full of energy with lots of themes and highlights.
2.Gravity Daze 2.Its incredibly variied, charming and simply magnificent.but there is also nier automata which is very different but makes an outstanding game even better. (my favorite game of all time now)
3.if gundam symhponies count, then these.best scifi scores outside of star wars and star trek.
4.best of both worlds star trek tng by ron jones.best goldsmith score he never wrote.mini size orchestra, maximum effekt.and also apokalips now part 1 and 2 from justice league by team shirley walker.one of the best superheroscores ever.
5.The Empire strikes back by John Williams.Perfection.Never surpassed
6.Creed by Ludwig Goransson. One Training Montage to end all Training Montages.Incredible Theme.

6) Fate Zero. I expected the usual Kajiura electro-strings foreign language chanting, but instead we got a fairly decent medieval action score played by a sizable orchestra.

Listen to Elemental Gelade then.
She has the style I like but I just can't get into it for some reason. But not counting .hack//SIGN or Noir, Gelade and Kurubiki Cycle or whatever it's called surprised me.

Ha, time to go offtopic :D (will check your recommendations later)

@hater: I find it interesting that you listed those two games together. Those are my favorite games from last year (P5 is really a 2016 game only released in 2017 in the west), and they couldn't be anymore different. GD2 is incredibly vibrant in setting and artstyle (so much so that I bought the artbook which I rarely do) with an astounding dedication to detail (its the little things that count), the characters and story are simple but incredibly charming and together with Tanaka's masterfully crafted music across all genres mixed with a truely unique gameplay concept, really feels like an interactive Gainax anime. Director Keiichiro Toyama (of Silent Hill fame) was especially inspired by old Franco-Belgian comics (like the first game) and it definitely makes up the bulk of the games narrative and style (mixed with anime tropes).

Contrast that with Nier Automata, which is a game with a quite depressing setting filled to the brim with some would say excessive and maybe unnecessary but definitely not random symbolism and philosophical concepts and perhaps the most unique experience I had playing a video game eventhough I wasn't familiar with the whole Yoko Taro Narrative Universe beforehand (you need to see a stageplay in a Japanese theater and play all of Taro's games to get the entirety of the story for example). While GD2 is pretty much your standard gameplay affair, Nier Automata really puches the boundaries of narrative through gameplay (and of course gets no or at the very least not enough recognition for this fact). It makes a point that there are some narrative experiences you simply can't get passivly watching a film or TV series. Not to mention the music from a sounddesign perspective is quite stellar as well. It also has character designs by legendary Akihiko Yoshida (FF Tactics, Vagrant Story, Bravely Default or just look at my sig ;)). who btw worked on this upcoming anime film: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rU9YmHtYN2E (now THIS is a prestige project)

He currently is part of CyDesignation, a branch of Cygames full of incredible artistic talent from professionals decades in the business to talented newcomers (2D art, 3D modeling) who contribute art to games and anime. Speaking of Cygames, to get a bit more on topic again, want to know who scores their next flagship series, even more baffling than Hattori on Doraemon?



Granted, he did write music about a race horse once but that's really all the reason they needed? :D :D :D

Hahahaha, Iwashiro?!

Well, stranger things have happened! :D

He's also in charge of the music for the Netflix anime A.I.C.O. Incarnation. In addition to the BGM, he's also composing the opening and ending theme. It's by the director of Gargantia and Kado, so you know what to expect.

Too bad I'm NOT a big fan of Iwashiro.

Since people are still answering the questions,
1. What's your favourite orchestral soundtrack, that you genuinely like/love, by a composer whose work you otherwise cannot stand? And why?
Most recently, this would be The Rendezvous by Austin Wintory. Most of his music does nothing for me despite getting lots of praise but this score has sucked me in like few recent scores have.

2. What's your all-time favourite orchestral soundtrack for a video game? And why?
Final Fantasy XIII - All of the orchestral pieces are power houses though the score itself needs some serious trimming to get to just the orchestral parts what is there is a delight.

3. What's your all-time favourite orchestral soundtrack for an anime? And why?
Space Brothers - The theme really grabs me and there is so much heart in the score. Also one of the few I watched the show and listened to the music. Though it is at times not 100% orchestral, there is enough.

4. What's your all-time favourite orchestral soundtrack for a live-action show? And why?
North and South - A tour de force of delightful themes. Also my all time favorite Bill Conti scores.

5. What's your all-time favourite orchestral soundtrack for a film? And why?
The Sand Pebbles - Jerry Goldsmith
Goldsmith has such skill and his scores drip with emotion but there is nothing that reaches me to the depth that this score does. The longing in the themes is delightful in so many ways. This was also one of those scores that I picked up in part due to an over-hyped FSM release and yet has sucked me in and stolen my heart many times over.

6. Name a soundtrack you honestly did not expect to enjoy, or even love, anywhere near as much as you actually do.

John Debney's Jungle Book - Really surprised me by how good this was. The themes worked wonderfully together.

Of course for some of these if you asked me tomorrow my answers would be different. It is especially hard to pick a favorite film score.

I am really, really loving all these answers. I know I didn't ask the question to start with but it's genuinely fascinating to know not only what people like, but what combination of things people like.

Hi again, everyone! I hope you're all doing well! A big thank you to everyone who answered my questions, and I'm really happy to see people enjoying the discussion. And now, it's about time I try to answer my own questions (I say try, since I'm terrible at picking out favourites unless it's really personal to me, and I don't feel I'm very good at explaining why I like/love certain soundtracks):

1. What's your favourite orchestral soundtrack, that you genuinely like/love, by a composer whose work you otherwise cannot stand? And why?

Argh, the first question, and I can't think of anything. I tend to not listen to composers I don't like, but I'm willing to try anything in the hope of answering this question.

If you could indulge me, can you suggest a soundtrack by John Williams, Taro Iwashiro, Jerry Goldsmith, Alan Silvestri or James Horner that I might like? (They're just the first five that popped into my mind)

2. What's your all-time favourite orchestral soundtrack for a video game? And why?

I tend to be a bit selective when it comes to orchestral game music, so most of my favourites tend to be bits and pieces from soundtracks I like, but don't care for too much otherwise (Oblivion, Dragon Quest, Blue Dragon, Nobunaga's Ambition, etc.). There are two that I am fond of, however.

Enemy Zero by Michael Nyman. A SEGA Saturn survival horror game with some very interesting ideas, and a touching, minimalist soundtrack by the man who arguably wrote the book on minimalist soundtracks. Aspects of Love is a stunning theme, and is one of my all-time favourite orchestral pieces in any medium. Similarly, Laura's Theme is a sad, but beautiful work. Enemy Zero is a really tense theme that fits surprisingly well when playing Dark Souls. I've not played the game, but I want to in order to contextualize the music someday - it really is that good that I want to know.

Halo 3 by Martin O'Donnell and Michael Salvatori. This soundtrack isn't too much to write home about most of the time, but I enjoy it for how it thematically concludes the Halo trilogy by reprising many themes from the first two games, but now performed by a live orchestra to give everything a sense of grandeur that wasn't there before. It works very well as a textbook example on how to score a finale to any series, since it very effectively brings the original games to a conclusion that has since been lacking from other games.

3. What's your all-time favourite orchestral soundtrack for an anime? And why?

I have to split this into two films, since I enjoy them both equally.

Firstly, Professor Layton and the Eternal Diva, composed by Tomohito Nishiura and arranged by Norihito Sumitomo. The Professor Layton series has always been blessed with some of the finest presentation in the industry; a gorgeous European art-style that takes a few cues from Sylvain Chomet's work (Triplets of Belleville, The Illusionist), beautifully animated cutscenes by the fine folks at P.A. Works, and a soundtrack that I consider to be up there with the greats. Although held back by the constraints of the original DS' hardware, the quality of the music still shone through, and the live arrangements featured on the albums are particularly fantastic.

But my favourite soundtrack from the series has always been for The Eternal Diva, partially because it was my introduction to the series and partially because it's one of my all-time favourite films. Yes, the music largely consists of rearrangements of cues from previous games, but the arrangements for them are just wonderful and make for the best renditions of those cues in the entire franchise (this version of Puzzles 4 is a particular highlight: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upz0nq-wZQk&index=19&list=PLBhaF40-OdNg9GmqlM8dnPCEmUBRCGcHN). At the same time, there's a good bit of new material, and it shines just as brightly as the rest - Whistler's Theme is one of my favourite piano pieces to play, and its use in the final scenes is downright heartbreaking.

The Eternal Diva is simply an incredible movie, and its soundtrack is equally incredible.

So what's the second soundtrack? End of Evangelion by Shiro Sagisu. I'm a fan of Sagisu, but I'll admit that this is the only soundtrack of his that I enjoy in its entirety (I tend to cherry-pick what pieces I enjoy from his later works like Berserk, Bleach, and even the newer Evangelion movies). And there's a good reason for that - the soundtrack, like the rest of the film, is amazing. Yes, it also largely features of rearrangements of the show's background music, but they're put to great use here. The stripped down version of Thanatos that plays near the mid-point of the film is a simple, but very effective theme in conveying the mood it needs to.

Escape to the Beginning is a beautifully haunting tune that features the best use of the Sagisu choir, mainly because it features a large choir that helps to add to the nightmarish tone of the scene it's used in. End of Midsummer is a theme I suspect to be based on Angel Attack, and that adds an interesting subtext to a terrifying piece of music that captures and accentuates the horror throughout the film's first act. And while there's a few arrangements of Borderline Case (a piece the TV series was all too happy to use by the end), they are quite excellent in their own right, with Gap of Dream being a particularly tragic highlight.

At the same time, there are original songs that are just as strong, if not moreso. Komm, s�sser Tod (not to be confused with the Bach piece of the same name) is one of the most iconic pieces of anime music for a reason - its lyrics, the way it clashes yet somehow fits disturbingly well with the scene, the orchestral flourishes; it's all there. The Flow of Emptiness is a powerful action theme, with a surprising use of loud melodies punctuated with quiet moments that make the progression feel very natural. Expansion of Blockade contains one of my favourite melodies, to the point where I was near close to tears when I heard it for the first time in months. It's a gorgeous theme, and one that provides a mixed atmosphere of triumph, trepidation, and yet hope that really evokes the overall mood of the film's final scenes.

What impresses me even more about this soundtrack is that it was according to the S2 Works* liner notes, this soundtrack was composed in November of 1996, months before the film was planned to release in the spring (originally with the Death & Rebirth compilation movie before it had to be delayed to the summer with only 20-30 minutes fully completed). The fact that the music works so well with the scenes, even though Sagisu might not have been told much beyond the general idea of each section, really speaks to his skills as a composer (and this is all his work; aside from a piano arrangement of Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring by Myra Hess, there is no mention of anybody else having arranged the music besides Sagisu himself) that he could pull it off so well.

It's one of my favourite soundtracks, and for my favourite movie of all time.

*A collection of every single music cue Sagisu composed for the original Evangelion TV series and movies, including unused arrangements, alternate versions, and unused songs.

I haven't watched a lot of TV anime, so I'll have to go with the only one I can recall, though it's still a classic - Dragon Ball/Dragon Ball Z by Shunsuke Kikuchi. Some accuse the music of sounding too old and outdated, but there's a quality to Kikuchi's music that I never got from Kenji Yamamoto's "score" in Dragon Ball Kai or Norihito Sumitomo's work in the newer moviesSuper. There are character themes, each with their own arrangements depending on the situation, the melodies are simple but very nice, and they help to create a feel for the show that is very distinctly "Dragon Ball".

4. What's your all-time favourite orchestral soundtrack for a live-action show? And why?

Last of the Summer Wine by Ronnie Hazlehurst. It's very unusual for TV sitcoms to have more than a theme tune and a couple of transitional cues, but to have an entire score specifically written for each and every episode? And for each score to feature leitmotifs, recurring instruments to signify certain characters and moods, and for the overall quality to be heartbreakingly beautiful? That's something I can only describe as truly magical. And while it is a tragedy that Summer Wine never got the kind of complete soundtrack release that other shows get (likely owing to the massive amount of episodes (295!), and therefore amount of scores that would have to be released), at least there was a selection of music released.

I uploaded the soundtrack a while back, so I'll put it in this spoiler here for anyone who is interested:



Last of the Summer Wine: Original Music from the TV Show (1997)

Composed, arranged and conducted by Ronnie Hazlehurst

Track 7 (Liebestraum) is based on a trio of piano works composed by Frank Liszt.

Track 17 (Scarborough Fair) is a traditional ballad.

Track 18 (Pratty Flowers) is a traditional folk song, originally adapted from an earlier, corrupted ballad by Joe Perkin.

(Included in the download are the album's liner notes, with an overview of each song written by the show's producer/director (Alan J. W. Bell), comments by Bell and the show's creator/writer (Roy Clarke), and a list of members from the orchestra. I couldn't find a good enough scan of the album artwork, nor was I able to get a good scan of the copy. I offer my apologies in advance.)

ALAC:

https://www.mediafire.com/folder/7na926cl9ncq6/Last_Of_The_Summer_Wine_AALC
https://mega.nz/#F!IToA2IZD!6UbbDjpE7xktXtHOTU_lQw

MP3:

https://www.mediafire.com/folder/2ggzid88ssdxh/Last_of_the_Summer_Wine_MP3
https://mega.nz/#F!dPIE1DSL!vM7v-SSvPX-u_ZSpGWWd6w



Ronnie Hazlehurst was an English composer, arranger and conductor who became known for the countless theme tunes he created for BBC programmes, particularly sitcoms. Among the many shows he worked on, such as:

Are You Being Served?
Yes, Minister/Yes, Prime Minister
To The Manor Born
The Two Ronnies
Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em
The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin
Only Fools and Horses (arrangement)

His most enduring and recognized work is for Last of the Summer Wine. Not just for how long the show itself ran on for (1973-2010: 37 years!), but also for having a fully fledged soundtrack. Most sitcoms tend to have a theme tune and a few transitional cues, letting the dialogue and comedy take precedent over everything else. Last of the Summer Wine, however, was an exception - every episode would have a specifically recorded score, complete with recurring character themes, arrangements of classic songs associated with the area, and an overall musical quality that was unheard of in TV sitcoms of the day (and is still unheard of, so many years later).

Some of the show's strongest moments came entirely through the beautifully written and performed soundtrack provided by Hazlehurst and his orchestra. The gorgeous, yet incredibly sombre piece that Compo (played by Bill Owen) plays on trumpet at the end of 'Last Post and Pigeon' still haunts me, even years later. The choral version of the show's theme tune used to accentuate Compo's death in 'Just A Small Funeral', with nothing more than a few shots of the town and the surrounding countryside, really helped give the character an emotional send-off. Even quieter moments or when the characters just talked about bizarre ideas were given a special something thanks to the music playing in the background.

In 1993/4, a fan group known as the 'Summer Wine Appreciation Society' got into contact with Ronnie Hazlehurst, with a list of background music that they wished to see get some kind of official release. Hazlehurst liked the idea, and after a couple of years of researching and recording, a selection of the show's music was released on CD and tape in 1997: 'Last of the Summer Wine: Original Music from the TV Series'.

This soundtrack mostly consists of themes that would be used as the basis for the show's background music (for example, a general arrangement of Nora Batty's theme 'Nora, My Nora' is featured here, but not a version that was composed for a specific episode), along with a few themes that were only featured once throughout the show's run. A few of the themes are also arrangements of songs by other people (which songs were not composed by Hazlehurst are noted above).

As far as I know, this is the only CD/tape release for any of Hazlehurst's music besides his theme tunes, and is actually quite rare (even online websites don't have it, or it tends to be very expensive). It was only by complete luck that I stumbled across a copy in my local library a couple of years back, and it's only through reading this forum on a regular basis that I was inspired to share the music to you guys, and the rest of the internet.

Though Hazlehurst did not live to see the show to the very end, dying in 2007 (three years before its final season), the impact that he left on the show should never be forgotten.


As a personal bonus, I also want to give a mention to the soundtracks for Chojin Sentai Jetman and Tokusou Sentai Dekaranger. These aren't orchestral soundtracks (maybe one or two cues altogether), but they were the soundtracks that got me to realize why music is such an important element in any medium, and that inevitably lead to me writing music and coming here.

5. What's your all-time favourite orchestral soundtrack for a film? And why?

I suppose I meant live-action film when I wrote this, but I honestly can't think of anything. I'm not terribly into the classic live-action scores that people usually bring up (anything by Williams/Horner/Goldsmith, the Alien movies), and what few live-action films I enjoy enough to rewatch don't have particularly good music, orchestral or otherwise. Sorry about that.

6. Name a soundtrack you honestly did not expect to enjoy, or even love, anywhere near as much as you actually do.

The score to Poldark 2015, composed by Anne Dudley. I wasn't too interested in the show, but my parents were watching it while we were having dinner one night and I decided to stick around to watch it with them. I was genuinely surprised at how excellent the music was; how it gave scenes an atmosphere that wasn't being supplied by the other aspects of the film-making; how it managed to make itself stand out in my mind when most live-action drama soundtracks prefer to hide as a wall of noise. A soundtrack release exists, but I do wish a release of the score was also available - it really is that stunning.

Seasonal report and guide through the Japanese winter season 2018 (by a hopelessly optimistic and really happy fellow right now):


Soundtracks I will (probably) buy:

Violet Evergarden (candidate for score of the year, the preview for the next episodes has a lot of showpiece possibilities, already bought it btw ;))
Preview: http://picosong.com/wyygw
Soundtrack out March, 28 / http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/product/LACA-9573

Ni no Kuni II (candidate for score of the year, sounds like a studio orchestra, probably because of its size but otherwise quite some stellar moments already from the preview, Hisaishi in top form, instant buy when it becomes available)
Preview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LljQQlf3BQg
No soundtrack yet but a music selection will ship with the game on March, 23

Dragon Quest XI Symphonic Suite / Tokyo Metropolitan Orchestra (Sugiyama still working after all these decades, I hope he can give us one more in the future, like John Williams will give us another Star Wars)
Preview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lB0RK9sE_nU
Symphonic Album out Jan, 24 / http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/product/KICC-6365


Darling in the FranXX (Tachibana turned out to be a more mature and orchestral Sawano who merges the modern sound with good old orchestral mecha, greatest surprise of the season for me, just like Kateyama she is one "modern" composer I want to hear more off)
Preview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vh6E8E5dc0E
Soundtrack not yet announced, but I hope its not Blu-Ray

Mazinger Z (kickass action, SciFi Mecha action ala Tanaka with glorious setpieces, already bought it btw ;))
Preview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wpsDT9UCIHs
Soundtrack was released on Jan, 10 / http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/product/WPCL-12833

Segodon (every attempt at sounding like Horner without making my brain hurt is a buy, it is not a score of the year candidate like Naotora but I’m expecting many good things from it over the year, in those five hours of recorded score there is bound to be some stellar moments)
Preview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KAOkg7jdH-s
No soundtrack announced yet but a given

Bungou Stray Dogs: Dead Apple (Happy Iwasaki and promise of Leitmotifs is enough to make me optimistic)
Preview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yy1ccUfOxVg&t=9m12s
Soundtrack out on March, 03 / http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/product/LACA-15694

Sayonara no Asa ni Yakusoku no Hana wo Kazarou (depends on the samples but I just can’t see electronic uninspired Kawai after I’ve seen behind the trailer, it would just totally clash with the visuals, tone and directing, considering the film was in production for over four years this can’t be a pennypitcher either)
Soundtrack out Feb, 24 / http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/product/LACA-15696

A.I.C.O. Incarnation (if it is more like Kado... then yes, if it is more like Gargantia I’m not sure I will buy it)
Preview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m9pYmsOYl9s
Soundtrack out on March, 28 / http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/product/LACA-9593

Valkyria Chronicles 4 (the recent previews of gameplay unfortunately have Sakimoto in synth mode but I still hope for a bulk of recorded score for cutscenes and key moments like the first game, just with more material)
Preview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RCPUiABSvCI
No soundtrack announced yet but a given, a mini selection of tracks will ship with the Collector’s Edition on March , 21.

Shinkalion (Watanabe in SciFi and 80s Toy commercial mode, I will watch it to see if it is worth a buy but if epiosde 2 is any indication it most likely is worth it, some serious Starfox Assault vibes during one cue)
Preview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-nu1oc0Uj60
No soundtrack announced yet

Cardcaptor Sakura Clear-Card Hen (straight out of the 90s, considering its over 24 episodes, when a piece with pronounced brass appears (and its not fake), its definitely a buy for me)
Preview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VySDRbfnev4
No soundtrack announced yet

Doraemon (A swashbuckling Hattori is at least worth checking out, I just hope most of the trailer tracks were library music)
Preview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jp67CUi5Xp0
Soundtrack out on Feb, 28 / https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B078HFCVGM/

Speaking of Hattori, he also has an album out on March, 15 consisting of “suites” from Sanada Maru, Shinsengumi, Restaurant and HERO: http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/product/AVCL-25914

Fate/Last Encore (depends how it turns out but I really like orchestral Hoashi, so…)
Preview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=safBKn9zP9U
No soundtrack announced yet but very likely

Yuru Camp (Celtic Folk ensemble, sounds lovely)
Preview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpH42sJ8t9c
No soundtrack announced yet but I suspect it

Hakumei to Mikoshi (Evan Call with a Folk ensemble as well as a small orchestral ensemble, sounds lovely and I want to support him even if it turns out to be pointless)
Preview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=92QzLnLXlcY
No soundtrack out but I suspect it
…
Oh and Hirano’s “Sur-saxophonism: Contemporary Works for Saxophone Quartet” is only a few weeks away
…

That’s quite a lot of scores for one season I’m interested in, not to mention all the leftovers from last year (Virgin Soul, Eureka Seven Hi-Evolution, Irregular Movie, Heine etc.) Good thing I saved up some money for the coming weeks :D
Here they are:

Hi-Evolutuion is unfortunately Blu-Ray Bonus (for now), but it should appear online fast me thinks, it's out Feb, 23

Rage of Bahamut: Virgin Soul will be out on Jan, 31 / http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/product/GNCA-1841
Preview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LlbZAyuqLc
(the outtakes were released as Blu-Ray Bonus, I don’t know if a real soundtrack box will be announced considering the hours of score for the show)

Seiken Densetsu 25th Anniversary Orchestra Concert (it’s arranged by Kosuke Yamashita and Natsumi Kameoka and performed by the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, what more reason do you need?)
The symphonic album is out on Jan, 24 / http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/product/SQEX-10640

Yamato 2202 (Akira Miyagawa steps up and provides a more meaty but still glorious 70s and Star Trek homage)
Preview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YYY91YluyB8
Soundtrack out on Jan, 24 / http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/product/LACA-15686 (but I suspect like with 2199 just wait till all volumes are out and then make your own album because individually they just don't work ;))

Taku Iwasaki’s Irregular movie score “which was scored to the scene” according to Iwasaki will be out on Jan, 24 / http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/product/SVWC-70290
Preview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0q7wGrCcSk&index=44&list=PLDSd2oPCEi1BfT-mg2MZGFMphkwrR82Ru

Hatsune Miku Symphony 2017 will be out on March, 07 / http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/product/WPCL-12829



Soundtracks I will check out (by rank):

Girls und Panzer: Das Finale (will most likely be bonus material, so…)
Grancrest Senki (the first two episodes had a couple of good pieces, episode two more so, this is a 24 episode show so plenty of material to choose from me thinks)
Antarctica (fake brass but promising score regardless)
Overlord II (real orchestra + choir, an extension of Tanya which is all I want, the upcoming Tanya film “will be modeled after Dunkirk” so I’m curious how that will sound)
Monster Hunter World (sounds good so far)
Dissidia Final Fantasy NT (Kentaro Sato arranging always has merit, even if it is orchestral power metal)
After the Rain (lovely drama sound, nothing orchestral yet)
Slow Start (Fujisawa with a real ensemble, bouncy and jazzy)
M�rchen M�rchen (tiny orchestra but it sounds nice)
Emiya-san (soundtrack will probably be released at the end of the year considering its monthly episodes)
Death March (fake brass but solid fantasy score, low interest)
Hugtto Precure (it took Takanashi one season to find what he’s good at and what he’s not, hopefully the same applies to Hayashi)
Miira no Kaikata (lovely woodwindplay + strings)
Hakata Tonkotsu Ramens (Nakagawa with a real Big Band ensemble but low interest)

From last year I’m interested in Mario Odyssey by Naota Kubo, Oushitsu Kyoushi Heine by Keiji Inai, Love Live Sunshine: Second Season by Tatsuya Kato, NO GAME NO LIFE –ZERO- by Fujisawa and Tales of Orchestra Concert 2017 by Kameoka and friends


As bonus, shows I will (try to) watch:

Violet Evergaden (amazing art, good directing, orchestral film score, what more can one ask for?)

A Place Further than the Universe (REALLY good directing, stellar art, doing the most with a modest budget, good comedy… in an anime… WHAT!!!, interesting subject and seemingly lots of enthusiasm behind the production)

After the Rain (WIT studio putting A LOT of work into this series, the music fits it like a charm and the main character is voiced by Mutta)

Yuru Camp (stellar quality behind everything, comfy as hell, Celtic folk ensemble, it also shows even in pop, Japanese plagiarism is alive and well :D)

Hakumei to Mikoshi (really good vibe so far, Evan Call employs some unique little score for the show as well)

Slow Start (undecided, mostly for the music but its really nicely animated)

Segodon (for the music, I want to hear more pieces like the post-show scene with the soprano voice evoking Sahashi/Horner)

Darling in the FranXX (mostly for the music but directing and animation is quite stellar so far, the designs I have mixed feelings about)

Fate/Last Encore (for the music but I suspect the art will be stellar)

Card Captor (for the music but art and animation are nice)

Shinkalion (for the music)



On paper we have over a dozen orchestral scores with most being over 60 minutes (according to vgmdb and other sites)... sure Fujisawa is cursed with fake brass and Card Captur Sakura 2018 stays so true to the original music that it probably has the exact same ensemble (to my ears the brass is real), but what else is new? Other than orchestra we have everything from Celtic Folk music to Big Band Jazz to pure Electronic underscore to Hard Rock & Metal, and from the 50+ shows, only a handful have no budget for live players, three of those are orchestral and only one of them is noteworthy (Antarctica is the greatest shame)...

A very VERY strong season



But since Robin Hood arrived in the mail today and I'm having a BLAST maybe that has clouded my judgement, I don't know, so wait for Tango :D

made a mistake in my answers.apokolips now is superman the animated series not justice league.superman is orchestra, JL is synth (but still same style) unbelievable that it sold so poorly that volume 2 is unlikely.RAGE!!!!!!!!!
also would add Code Vein to Vinphonics list.No idea who wrote it but the boss battle music in one video was fantastic and fullorchestral.Waaaay more heroic than those Souls Scores.

Well, since you asked... ;)

...My appraisal of the January 2018 season is coming. I've not finished collating or writing yet, but I should have it posted tomorrow. :)

This is going to be a bit of a random question, but does anyone know where I can find a list of where all the original music cues and their composers from Spongebob (or Ren and Stimpy, since they both used the same musical library) originated from? It's such an absurdly huge collection of 50/60s orchestral music ranging from light to horror made by many of the more obscure composers out there.

In a way, being able to put this much old orchestral music in a western kid's show made around the turn of the millennium is kind of genius (even if most of it is used ironically). Can you imagine hearing anything like this in a modern film score?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UWUDkxv0FbQ&index=14&list=PL066EAAFFB5CF769F

EDIT: Forget limiting it the 50s/60s like I mentioned, where the heck did they pull out glorious stuff like this from? It's a bigger library than whatever Kanno uses.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Hg73U4mM70
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qrNrEa-noR4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=06niLT92bco

Speaking of Kanno, a handful of "expy" themes too

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tPFNjUE1UHo

This is going to be a bit of a random question, but does anyone know where I can find a list of where all the original music cues and their composers from Spongebob (or Ren and Stimpy, since they both used the same musical library) originated from? It's such an absurdly huge collection of 50/60s orchestral music ranging from light to horror made by many of the more obscure composers out there.

In a way, being able to put this much old orchestral music in a western kid's show made around the turn of the millennium is kind of genius (even if most of it is used ironically). Can you imagine hearing anything like this in a modern film score?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UWUDkxv0FbQ&index=14&list=PL066EAAFFB5CF769F

EDIT: Forget limiting it the 50s/60s like I mentioned, where the heck did they pull out glorious stuff like this from? It's a bigger library than whatever Kanno uses.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Hg73U4mM70
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qrNrEa-noR4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=06niLT92bco

Speaking of Kanno, a handful of "expy" themes too

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tPFNjUE1UHo

holy shit this is incredible! could someone put a compilation of this together?

This is going to be a bit of a random question, but does anyone know where I can find a list of where all the original music cues and their composers from Spongebob (or Ren and Stimpy, since they both used the same musical library) originated from? It's such an absurdly huge collection of 50/60s orchestral music ranging from light to horror made by many of the more obscure composers out there.

AARGH... I have somewhere in the back of my mind, a recollection of seeing just such a list a few years ago... I just looked for it again and I couldn't find it... I know it has to exist somewhere... I know that's not a lot of help, but it IS out there somewhere...

This is going to be a bit of a random question, but does anyone know where I can find a list of where all the original music cues and their composers from Spongebob (or Ren and Stimpy, since they both used the same musical library) originated from? It's such an absurdly huge collection of 50/60s orchestral music ranging from light to horror made by many of the more obscure composers out there.


http://spongebob.wikia.com/wiki/List_of_associated_production_music

This might help :)

Thanks! That is a lot of cues. All of this was made specifically for library music, right? Not ripped from some obscure films we'd never heard of?

Bungou Stray Dogs: Dead Apple (Happy Iwasaki and promise of Leitmotifs is enough to make me optimistic)
Preview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yy1ccUfOxVg&t=9m12s

At 16:25 I wonder if he was going for a sound similar to the fourth movement of Bruckner's 8th.

---------- Post added at 07:09 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:53 PM ----------


Thanks! That is a lot of cues. All of this was made specifically for library music, right? Not ripped from some obscure films we'd never heard of?
Skimming the list I see Ron Goodwin and John Scott. Also spotted Trevor Jones and David Arnold, but I doubt it's the film composers. Some random popular classical pieces (Funeral March of a Marionette, Saber Dance). Vesti la giubba is credited to Pavarotti and not Leoncavallo for some reason.

This piece was apparently used at some point: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Dh6KWNgeZo

I have to agree with hater, doing an orchestral compilation package of all this music (sorted out by who wrote each piece) would be pretty fantastic.

Interestingly enough some tracks even have composers who worked on separate pieces collaborating together for one or two pieces:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d91Aw7uS8io

It would be great... some of these pieces will be easier to come by than others. Things that are straight off a commercial film soundtrack, no problem. Things that are buried in obscure (maybe even no-longer operating) music libraries, less so...

Edit:

A little off-topic, but indulge me... ;)

One of the most criminal examples of "not available on CD" syndrome has to be a 1965 "musical fantasy" on Lewis Caroll's Alice In Wonderland. A ridiculous ensemble cast of some of the finest comedians and actors of the era (Karen Dotrice, Dirk Bogarde, Tommy Cooper, Frankie Howerd, Harry H Corbett, Fenella Fielding, Bruce Forsyth - the list goes on) is paired with a lovely (very much of its era) score by Philip Green, orchestrated and conducted by Brian Fahey. Many of those who know this adaptation consider it to be the best dramatisation of Alice ever produced - yet it is ignored today. It was released in 1965 on double-vinyl, and re-released (with crappy artwork) to celebrate its 20th Anniversary in 1985. Then - obscurity.

I found near-mint copies of the 1965 and 1985 LP releases but found sound quality disappointing and variable. Then my attention turned again to the 1985 re-release... In addition to a re-pressing of the original 1965 LP, there was also a double-cassette set manufactured by EMI. Not easy to come by. But I found it. It sounds gorgeous; it's a wonderful example of how good cassette can sound. I transferred the cassettes on a very recently serviced dual-capstan Denon cassette deck with Dolby B NR and that's it - no remastering, no restoration, no buggering around, no nothing - it's perfect just as it comes off the tape.

You can currently find it on Youtube in a terrible transfer from vinyl in (let's not beat about the bush) piss-poor condition.

IN about a week I'll be finished editing and making artwork, and will release it online.

Here's a short sample to whet your appetite.

Note - if you hate 1960s musical-type stuff, don't bother... but if you can get yourself in that frame of mind it's unsurpassed.

http://picosong.com/wyVRD/

I have the orchestral tracks, but they are not tagged so if anyone feels so strongly about it, do what you want ;)

SBSP-OPM (https://mega.nz/#!O1o01SKa!38iu9x-2A0csk8wwDRoQrUE7f1ZwKs1aD2lj4A9N2dM)


@FrDougal9000

Many thanks for your favorites, because The Eternal Diva is quite delightful and I never really gave it a full listen. Regret. Now I'm really curious who will score the upcoming Miss Layton TV anime series.

I have the orchestral tracks, but they are not tagged so if anyone feels so strongly about it, do what you want ;)

SBSP-OPM (https://mega.nz/#!O1o01SKa!38iu9x-2A0csk8wwDRoQrUE7f1ZwKs1aD2lj4A9N2dM)

Thanks. I tagged everything: https://mega.nz/#!8RUGlQZJ!7D_RbdtAn6tsCsB3MS7ndbi0bC7soBGddGEMgTlvrqw

Excellent work gentlemen. ;)

@FrDougal9000

Many thanks for your favorites, because The Eternal Diva is quite delightful and I never really gave it a full listen. Regret. Now I'm really curious who will score the upcoming Miss Layton TV anime series.

I'm going to suspect (and hope) that they'll ask Tomohito Nishiura to compose for the series. My only reasons for that suspicion are that Nishiura has composed for every other work in the Layton series, and that Level-5 properties seem to want to maintain a degree of brand consistency (for example, Kenichiro Saigo does the music for both the Yo-Kai Watch games and the anime, just to ensure that even the sound remains the same for all the fans). There's a good chance I could be wrong, but I currently have no reason to suspect why they'd go for a completely new composer.

How about we start the new year with a bang ;)



Toshiyuki Watanabe
MAZINGER Z -INFINITY-
Tokyo Studio Orchestra

(https://mega.nz/#!K54GSBRa!njmp3fQykOtAtQijpszF-LG-4WDTKa9wLXYs0v3LhcM)

Music composed, orchestrated and conducted by Toshiyuki Watanabe

Another "scored to picture" anime film score and one of the biggest bait and switch cases for me in recent memory. The piece "Incoming" at the start is full of modern elements (note, modern doesn't necessarily mean overblown and bad and Watanabe uses the modern tools intelligently) and I thought it would go down this route for the action setpieces but just as the next piece starts it's pretty much over. What did happen instead? 60s/70s/80s action galore mixed with symphonic setpieces and some sparingly but effectivly used drums:

Army strategy preperation (http://picosong.com/wymgX) / Battle and destruction ~ Dr. Hell (http://picosong.com/wymgY/)

There's not a lot of nuance in the action but seriously, look at the trailers, it's pure unfiltered testosterone in a battle for the planet and absolutely bonkers (female robots shooting rockets out of their bosoms is the least notable). But even then the score is not nonestop action. Watanabe has a little romantic core with "Lisa's Theme" woven into the score and even a "love theme" (based on the credit song The Last Letter, which is a really good pop ballad to end the score on) appears. The middle part of the score is a welcome breather between the major action setpieces in the film and an emotional core even makes up the score's climax, including a stellar four minute piece for orchestra and choir that has to be one of the best pieces Watanabe ever wrote. But the main attraction has to be the action and oh boy there's a lot and in plenty of styles, from one minute thrills to four minute extravaganza, this score has it all. This will probably not be the last time we hear of Mazinger, either a new movie or a TV series seems like a certain affair, given how pretty much all of Go Nagai's works got TV adaptions recently. In any case, this is a kickass mecha score with some of the best action I've heard in a long time. If I want a more lighthearted and more traditionally symphonic SciFi affair I bet Shinkalion will fill that desire (pls let there be a soundtrack!)


Finally, enjoy and as always buy it if you love it!

Mazinger turned out about what I expected, some solid orchestra alongside some very retro bits. Reminiscent of what we've heard in the Yamato reboots.

In other news, Hattori's Doraemon got a trailer a week ago:

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

There's a bit of his usual banging percussion, but it sounds like he has a fairly sizeable orchestra to work with. Nothing outstanding so far though, and I doubt the final product will feature anything like Korngold's acrobatics.

I still have doubts thats the actual score. It sounds no different than a year ago and way too cheap for Hattori. He gets a big studio orchestra and A+ sound by Japanese standard for Godzilla but for freaking Doraemon they have no budget? I suspects its either some quick pieces he wrote because they needed some for the trailer or its library music. Up until now the last ten Doraemon movies (+ Sato's spinoff) all featured a big studio ensemble.

That or he was brought in at the last minute because something happened with Sawada (unlikely because it sounds the same a year ago). Oh well, we will know one way or another in a few weeks.

Yeah, that trailer has nothing by Hattori - say what you like about the guy, whether he's in his crappy slamming banging percussion and electronic mushy noise mode or his symphonic poise mode, his harmonic, orchestral, and melodic styles are very, very recognisable. There's nothing in there that says "Hattori" and everything that says "this is generic trailer fluff that we haven't had a chance to replace with the real score yet".

Hattori is an utterly strange choice for this movie. I agree with Vinphonic - something weird and last-minute must've happened for him to end up on this project. Or the director suddenly got a boner for Hattori's music that he heard in another show or movie, and explicitly sought him out. It's like a new Pirates Of The Caribbean movie being announced, and then a few months before it comes out we hear that Ludovico Einaudi will be scoring it instead of Remote Control.

Sawada's Doraemon scores are beautifully written but generic (the good kind) old-Hollywood - heavy on theme, relatively straightforward harmonies, and an overall feeling of happiness, levity, and extroversion. Modern Hattori is heavy on texture and favours dense, dark, tonally ambiguous harmonies, and an overall feeling of unease, mystery, and introversion. It's an odd choice - and Hattori isn't going to magically become Korngold and deliver a 1940s pirate movie score. I think his score will make concessions to the Doraemon sound - Hattori will tone down the doom and gloom (though I'm sure he'll deploy it sparingly when the plot calls for it) and will be a little more "cheerful" than we've heard him before. The melodies will probably be a bit more overt. It's going to be very interesting to hear what he comes up with. It's one of the few times that I've been genuinely interested to hear what someone will come up with, regardless of whether I think the final product will be worthwhile. It's just fascinating and odd to see Takayuki Hattori on a kids pirate movie. :D

---------- Post added at 08:55 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:55 AM ----------

Yeah, that trailer has nothing by Hattori - say what you like about the guy, whether he's in his crappy slamming banging percussion and electronic mushy noise mode or his symphonic poise mode, his harmonic, orchestral, and melodic styles are very, very recognisable. There's nothing in there that says "Hattori" and everything that says "this is generic trailer fluff that we haven't had a chance to replace with the real score yet".

Hattori is an utterly strange choice for this movie. I agree with Vinphonic - something weird and last-minute must've happened for him to end up on this project. Or the director suddenly got a boner for Hattori's music that he heard in another show or movie, and explicitly sought him out. It's like a new Pirates Of The Caribbean movie being announced, and then a few months before it comes out we hear that Ludovico Einaudi will be scoring it instead of Remote Control.

Sawada's Doraemon scores are beautifully written but generic (the good kind) old-Hollywood - heavy on theme, relatively straightforward harmonies, and an overall feeling of happiness, levity, and extroversion. Modern Hattori is heavy on texture and favours dense, dark, tonally ambiguous harmonies, and an overall feeling of unease, mystery, and introversion. It's an odd choice - and Hattori isn't going to magically become Korngold and deliver a 1940s pirate movie score. I think his score will make concessions to the Doraemon sound - Hattori will tone down the doom and gloom (though I'm sure he'll deploy it sparingly when the plot calls for it) and will be a little more "cheerful" than we've heard him before. The melodies will probably be a bit more overt. It's going to be very interesting to hear what he comes up with. It's one of the few times that I've been genuinely interested to hear what someone will come up with, regardless of whether I think the final product will be worthwhile. It's just fascinating and odd to see Takayuki Hattori on a kids pirate movie. :D

One Piece had Tanaka and Hamaguchi for a decade and a half until they suddenly decided to bring in Yuki Hayashi of all people for One Piece Gold, which was a disastrous choice. But his name sells. And maybe Hattori, fresh off Gundam and Godzilla, would make a better selling name than Sawada?

I don't think any of their names "sell" - 99.999% of the people who watch One Piece don't give a shit who scored it. We do, but we're not the target audience. I'm trying hard to imagine a committee meeting in Tokyo that went something like this:

(In spoiler tags - lots of swearing ahead...)


Director: Right, we want One Piece, which is has had over 800 episodes and a dozen goddamn theatrical movies so far and already fucking PRINTS money, to be even more successful.
Team: Well, you could replace the composers.
Director: What? The two guys we've got right now are fantastic and they've been doing this show for nearly twenty years. Plus, nobody really gives a shit about the music anyway.
Team: Time for a change?
Director: NOBODY CARES ABOUT THE SCORE. We just keep what we've got right now. It worked before, it'll work again. There are probably twenty people in the whole world who actually give a crap about that.
Team: We really have a great idea, you should at least listen...
Director: Pfft, fine, I'm listening, what's this big fantastic idea?
Team: How about Yuki Hayashi?
Director: Who the bloody hell is that?
Team: Some kid with spiky hair. He works with Hiroyuki Sawano, and people like him. Pre-pubescent kids buy that trash. I dunno, I'm just shooting out ideas here.
Director: Can this guy write pirate music? Has he done any big movies before?
Team: We don't know, he's only ever written a handful of shit scores and none of them are pirate scores. He's done a couple of movies, nothing interesting though.
Director: Uh, you're not selling me this guy. Are his scores popular?
Team: Not really, they sell basically well enough when they get released, but people aren't really buying for the music, they're buying for the show, because they're all sheep and neckbeard otakus.
Director: He must have a good background, though, right?
Team: Well, he actually wanted to be a dancer but he found himself studying with some keyboard guy and record scratcher, and then he started sucking up to Sawano, and that's it really.
Director: Come on... You want me to replace somebody nobody cares about with somebody nobody cares about, but who will do the job worse than the guys we've already got? Plus we'll piss off the other guys and they might ask for more money if this all goes wrong and we ask them back on the next movie.
Team: Come on, live a little. Like you say, nobody gives a shit about the music and we want to give this guy a go. His agency came by the office today with a big suitcase of money.
Director: Fine, whatever, fuck it, it's Friday and I wanna go to the bar and get drunk.
Team: *ring ring, ring ring*
Tanaka: Kohei Tanaka speaking!
Team: Yeah, this is the One Piece team...
Tanaka: Oh, shit... I'm sacked, aren't I? This is the call where you say "Thank you for all you've done over the last twenty years, your talents made our naff little show really fantastic, but we're doing budget cuts and sorry, you're fired."
Team: Oh, no, not at all.
Tanaka: Riiiight...
Team: Oh, well, actually, yeah, that's kinda what we wanted to say, I guess.
Tanaka: Great. Thanks a bundle. Just for shits and giggles, can you tell me who's replacing me?
Team: Well, it's going to be Yuki Hayashi, I think.
Tanaka: What? That dickface who fluffs for Hiroyuki Sawano?
Team: Uh, yeah, that's the guy.
Tanaka: HAHAHAHAHAHA LOL ROFL, ENJOY THE MESS YOU MADE, I'M OFF TO SCORE GRAVITY DAZE 2 NOW SO I DON'T CARE, HAHAHAHA YOU PRICKS!
Tanaka: *hangs up the phone*
Team: I guess that went well.

Sawada on Doraemon, Hattori on Doraemon, nobody's going to care about it in the long run... :)

My scenario is a far less sinister, although a huge check by Hayashi's Agency is not out of the question. I believe Tanaka simply turned down the offer because he was occupied and Hamaguchi was already assigned elsewhere. Hayashi's agency was simply the quickest and cheapest replacement (its Toei we are talking about afterall). Tanaka actually has much more work to do in recent years than ever before. And I don't mean just scoring. Not only numerous concerts, TV appearances and University assignments we have to consider but also being "the musical face" of the anime industry has other responsibilities. For example, he is currently in Saudi-Arabia by request of the Japanese government to promote Japanese Animation and music to get investors and business partners on board for Japanese Anime entertainment. So I imagine he was simply too occupied to work on the Gold Film at the time. Considering he and Hamaguchi continue to score new material for the TV series and now a big One Piece game project, it's safe to assume Hayashi was not the first choice for the film.

Tanaka didn't score that One Piece movie because he had his hands full with other projects (Gravity Daze 2, Endride, etc.).

Hattori is on Doraemon because maybe Sawada is busy... or maybe because it's the studio's 30th anniversary... or maybe they just felt like changing it up this year (remember how Naoki Sato scored that 2014 Doraemon film?).

I don't think any of their names "sell" - 99.999% of the people who watch One Piece don't give a shit who scored it. We do, but we're not the target audience.They won't know the name, but they will recognize the music. I recall right before OP Gold, Hayashi worked on My Hero Academia, which was so popular that it was hyped up to be "the next Naruto" and lead all shounen anime and manga. So since the kiddies loved that other shounen franchsie so much, why not bring their composer who produces "hype music" into the biggest shounen franchise in all of Japan to revitalize it? Or so the producers thought.

I'm definitely reaching here, but even if Tanaka was busy, I don't see Hayashi being chosen just because he's the cheapest option. The same way Yugo Kanno was chosen to score Batman Ninja because most of the other staff members had worked with him on Jojo, there are a lot of other factors that we probably aren't taking into consideration.

Offtopic, but what do you guys think of Discord? Seems like a good place for the sort of discussions and shares that take place in this thread. I thought it'd be cool to create a channel and carry on things over there, if others are up for it.

Why? We don't need more competing chat groups just because some people get too offended to voice their opinions here.

Nah, I don't think that was the intent at all.

But I seriously doubt Discord can offer the "relative" stability and "protection" of this thread. Everything I've exclusivly shared here is still up, going even eight years back, given the respective file service is still working, and I NEVER had any of my files deleted here. It's also now almost ten years active and still kicking and thats kind of a miracle (and you don't mess with miracles). Of course, should the forum cease to exist that's another matter, but switching to another place right now won't improve all that much I feel except increase the possibility of needing to switch to a new place again after a while.



EDIT: I also forgot to share this "little" selection from Xenoblade 2: Xenoblade Chronicles 2 - Orchestral Selection (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8KwJye-YA2o)
This is still only half of the orchestral score because its a) a selection and b) most of the cutscenes haven't been ripped yet. Still, here's something to get a better picture about what to expect from the eventual soundtrack. Needless to say this game had an absolutely ridiculous budget. There is something for everyone, an hour of rock and hybrid, an hour of celtic folk and vocal, and about two hours of orchestral score. Numerous pieces have already been uploaded to youtube and other streaming sites if you don't want to wait a few months.

I don't like Discord. From what I've read, it seems to be a more popular equivalent to Facebook chat groups, and have you tried to take part in a Facebook chat group? Unless it's just you and one other person, it's an absolute nightmare to keep up with: a constant stream of images, short sentences, and interesting thoughts that get forever lost in the swirling black hole. If I want to enjoy the experience of seeing a whole bunch of people react within a few seconds, I go and talk to people I know. I come here (and on other forums) to have a more in-depth discussion, and to have something enjoyable to read/make me think about something/links to soundtracks or other such places, and I can pull up any response from the last decade without having to worry about it getting lost in the void.

Honestly, it seems that people only like having/making Discords because it's the "new" thing at the moment, but give a few months (a year or two, at the most) and I reckon most of them will be near ghost-towns. There's a reason forums have been around for 20+ years, after all.

Nah, I don't think that was the intent at all.Intent or not, I've seen many forums have infighting when one portion of the community decide to create and offshoot forum and gather some members from the original forum. None of them have ever done so peacefully. If people want to find a better site to host music, that's fine, but finding a new discussion site is completely pointless, especially when this one still works fine.

Anyway this is completely off topic and I have nothing more to say on the matter.

EDIT: I also forgot to share this "little" selection from Xenoblade 2: Xenoblade Chronicles 2 - Orchestral Selection (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8KwJye-YA2o)
This is still only half of the orchestral score because its a) a selection and b) most of the cutscenes haven't been ripped yet. Still, here's something to get a better picture about what to expect from the eventual soundtrack. Needless to say this game had an absolutely ridiculous budget. There is something for everyone, an hour of rock and hybrid, an hour of celtic folk and vocal, and about two hours of orchestral score. Numerous pieces have already been uploaded to youtube and other streaming sites if you don't want to wait a few months.

Wow -- this is really beautiful. Thanks for posting!

In case anyone is interested, Intrada just released a 3CD Who Framed Roger Rabbit. Pretty massive expansion of the original album. They are on a roll this year!

You can't go wrong with some good old Silvestri, especially from his golden period.

In other news, this year will also bring me quite a few western game scores I'm very much interested in and here's already something to add to my western video game collection (if only Witcher 3 had this approach, I would have bought the soundtrack):

Kingdom Come - Bohemian Symphony (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lhr1ulxd_og)

90 minutes of recorded score with a Symphony Orchestra, recorded at Dvoř�k Hall.
"More Williams, less Zimmer, with Smetana and Dvoř�k and new wave film composers of the 60s"
Soundtrack will be out Feb, 13 (enclosure for now).

yeah kingdom come, monster hunter world and that incredible looking and great sounding granblue fantasy project re: link with uematsu and some other guy.monster hunter beta has some fantastic action music which sometimes reminded me of star wars and such.granblue sounds a lot like final fantasy (7 mixed with barry bond in that boss battle video) but with more rock here and there it seems.also i think i forgot to mention an fantastic score from msm. the legend of silkboy from alain mayrand is animated superhero comedy done right with a shitload of highlights.classic, fullorchestral, great themes, great action, great everything.same goes for the rocket post.a drama about a german rocket scientist in scotland in 1920 or something.superb score by nigel clarke.very powerful, sweeping, emotional and one hell of an action cue near the beginning.also liked conrad popes in my sleep a lot. cool actionthrillerscore.current msm are not so hot maybe with the exception of george kallis albion the enchanted stallion.that was pretty nice.

btw where the hell is final symphony vol.2??!! its taking FOREVER.

You can't go wrong with some good old Silvestri, especially from his golden period.

In other news, this year will also bring me quite a few western game scores I'm very much interested in and here's already something to add to my western video game collection (if only Witcher 3 had this approach, I would have bought the soundtrack):

Kingdom Come - Bohemian Symphony (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lhr1ulxd_og)

90 minutes of recorded score with a Symphony Orchestra, recorded at Dvoř�k Hall.
"More Williams, less Zimmer, with Smetana and Dvoř�k and new wave film composers of the 60s"
Soundtrack will be out Feb, 13 (enclosure for now).

This is very promising. A preview of some of the tracks may be downloaded on the Warhorse Studios' SoundCloud page.

You know I didn�t really like it at first aside from a couple when I watched it but the soundtrack to Vatican Miracle Examiner is really good. I dunno what you call it? Olden day stuff? But it�s grown on me a lot especially disc 1-23, maybe this is what he�s good at all along. Though I still want my Prince of Strides and Rail Wars.
Speaking of which he�s sounded a lot more different since then.

You know I didn’t really like it at first aside from a couple when I watched it but the soundtrack to Vatican Miracle Examiner is really good. I dunno what you call it? Olden day stuff? But it’s grown on me a lot especially disc 1-23, maybe this is what he’s good at all along. Though I still want my Prince of Strides and Rail Wars.
Speaking of which he’s sounded a lot more different since then.
He's a good orchestrator but it's a waste of talent because he uses fake brass on 90% of his scores (including the one you're talking about).

At least there was real brass on Land of the Lustrous: http://picosong.com/wyDsQ/

If you approach Land of the Lustrous not as an orchestral score but a minimalist score its quite a good listen.

The fake brass is also not his fault. In a recent interview he not only talks about his love for film music and aiming more for Williams than Zimmer but also how he TRIES to fight for live-players because he firmly believes recording a group of people playing on a specific date at a specific time creates a special feeling samples can't reproduce. All the more sad, that we now have confirmation he must be internally devastated how GATE turned out.

He collaborates with Tatsuya Kato on a "operatic show" this summer so maybe that will give him a full live ensemble.

Operatic show? Haha, no. They might market it that way but it's just going to be more idol garbage.

Well, Lost Song initially looked like just another idol show and Fujisawa had his biggest orchestral ensemble ever for any media project for said idol genre: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=06M7MKEkifM

Also AKB0048 and Macross make me believe that an orchestra turning up in the genre is not so uncommon. I'm actually more worried about the collaboration since I suspect Tatsuya Kato will overshadow him and he gets to write maybe 30 minutes of score. In any case, as with Japan, anything is possible (now that I've seen what its about it looks more like Kaleido Star actually).

Well, Lost Song initially looked like just another idol show and Fujisawa had his biggest orchestral ensemble ever for any media project for said idol genre: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=06M7MKEkifM

Also AKB0048 and Macross make me believe that an orchestra turning up in the genre is not so uncommon. I'm actually more worried about the collaboration since I suspect Tatsuya Kato will overshadow him and he gets to write maybe 30 minutes of score. In any case, as with Japan, anything is possible (now that I've seen what its about it looks more like Kaleido Star actually).
If it's anything like Kato's Love Live, then there will be one big theme and nothing else. That's not really something I'd get excited about.

But using the word "operatic" is deceiving when it's just going to be generic pop songs. If they wanted something truly grand then they'd hire Go Shiina: https://youtu.be/CAVGUlqur8o?t=81

It's amazing how much funding Kanno got for Frontier and then all the other idol shows don't even get a tenth of that budget. And to be completely honest, every single idol show outside of Mac F has had forgettable music that no amount of budget could save. Not even worthy of the cheapest Broadway musical.

If you're going to try an idol show, make the music with the same level of care as Yuri on Ice or Blood Blockade Battlefront. Just because it's idol music doesn't mean it has to all be cheap sample garbage.

Good thing they hired Go Shiina for the recent Idolmaster songs then, because if there is one thing Shiina excells in is in writing larger than life schmaltzy orchestral pop ballads. Though I quite like the AKB0048 orchestral pop pieces.

I also stumbled upon one of Masaru Yokohama's recent drama scores and it seems like Fate/Apocrypha was not the only case of him improving (don't bother with it otherwise):

Overture ~Not a child but a minor~ (http://picosong.com/wyDd5/)


And for the hell of it, why not also add one of Kato's recent outputs (one of the outtakes for my 2017 in Concert):

Sayuki Reload Blast: Cinematic Suite (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NxB9NJjy7DY)

That's about it in terms of bad apples, you know what they say, know your enemy ;)

Yokoyama had one decent-ish Budapest piece in Apocrypha, no idea what the heck he did with the rest of the music recorded in that session because it's nowhere in the soundtrack. Probably being saved for the second soundtrack with the other big orchestral finale pieces.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_nu0ldX2BI

And now he has another big orchestral bouting in Spain. What a waste.


Speaking of Yokoyama-ish music, I also got to see Mary and the Witch's Flower yesterday, and for all the effort put into recreating Miyazaki's visuals, the effect was greatly subdued by the awful score. I'm not asking for Joe Hisaishi here, just decent music that doesn't sound like Iron Blooded Orphans.

Sayuki Reload Blast: Cinematic Suite (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NxB9NJjy7DY)
This is pretty good, especially that theme at 9:24.

In that case, how about one more bad apple ;)



Hiroaki Tsutsumi
Tone colored Whales: Cinematic Chamber Suite
Deutsches Filmorchester Babelsberg
Orchestrated and conducted by Youki Yamamoto

(https://mega.nz/#!r4RkDSiA!U7IUmhK8xLcXdUsC9DuNfikt-uolEfHamp-l5kmhGmI)

Sample (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pB7h5yZ2a1k)

LOVE Sayuki Reload Blast. Is the soundtrack available to download somewhere? Thanks!

Yep (https://mega.nz/#!QDwWQJLA!hvkiJPDsCl1IVjDgBRmUWqR53Bh-_GJs4vMbw2T8srQ)

But words of warning, as is the case with many Japanese soundtracks, don't expect much beyond what I selected to be orchestral, most of it is rock (but there's a funky piece in it I quite like).