| VIP |
|---|
Subscribe to become a VIP member of SST!
· Request More Often
· Unshared Requests
· Request Countdown Timer
· Request Ready Indicator
· Your Request History
· Access To The VIP Forum
· Add More Favorites
:: Click Here To Upgrade ::
:: Give VIP as a Gift ::
|
|
| There are 528 Reviews Done |
|
Stéphane Grappelli Django Reinhardt, Rachel Portman, Juan Tizol Duke Ellington - Chocolat
|
| Musical chocolades |
|
|
Rachel Portman orchestrates the scenes individually and she successfully balances the sense of joy, melancholy and intrigue, that are expressed with strings, woodwind and piano solos, also supported by gypsylike guitar-music. Two classical Jazz tracks (Track 1 + 18) add “color”.
The light and “floating” music emphasizes the “fairytale” plot of the movie quite congenially.
ImO: A nice box of musical chocolates that can be savored – even if you haven’t seen the movie.
|
3 of 3 found this review helpful |
|
James Horner, Craig Huxley - Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan
|
| The ultimate Star Trek II ST! |
|
|
Thanks JERIC – for adding this FSM release that has new tracks added in complete and chronological order.
This score made Horner known in Hollywood and it shows his mastership in composing and arranging. He is able to turn the gorgeous view of the enterprise into a fitting musical piece (track 5).
Horner created one of the Enterprise’s most beautiful themes – it starts with the fanfare from the TV-series which evolves into music that expresses the beauty of the spaceship and optimism of space travel with notes.
A very distinctive counter theme is the dark, with rhythmic beats accompanied melody of the “Reliant”, captured by Khan’s men. Whenever the spaceships battle in the movie, the music evolves from these two main themes.
Track 20 - Spock dies – melts all emotions together in a wonderful piece of music – as Mr. Spock would say: ”Fascinating”.
|
6 of 6 found this review helpful |
|
Murray Gold - Doctor Who: Series 3
|
| A perfect musical portrait of the series |
|
|
What I said in the title of this review should be true of any score, but we all know how rare that can be. Of course, it’s even better when the series itself is so good. The score for Doctor Who: Series 3 is exciting, clever, glorious, scary and sad, just like the show it represents. Just like the Doctor himself, come to think of it.
The Doctor Who theme from the opening credits isn’t here, having been released on the previous disc and in its revamped form on the soundtrack for Series 4. Instead, we have “All the Strange, Strange Creatures,” which plays pretty much whenever our heroes have to run from danger. Listen for the steel drums on this one; I think they’re nifty, and it’s not a sound you hear often in scores. “The Doctor Forever” gives us the theme for the Doctor. According to the liner notes, it’s purposefully similar to “Martha’s Theme,” to show the affinity between the Doctor and his companion for the series. I think they’re too close to be easily distinguishable. Martha’s theme appears several times on the album.
The score is full of great tracks, to list them all would be overkill. Tracks like “Gridlocked Cassinis” and “Only Martha Knows” are playful and fun to listen to, though the latter track takes on a sinister turn so subtly you find you don’t notice it creeping up on you. “Blink (Suite)” captures the sadness and danger from that great episode in a mere three minutes. “Evolution of the Daleks” gives us a march of conqueror monsters, while “Just Scarecrows to War” does the same thing more creepily, with fife and drum.
Introduced in the last leg of the series, the theme for the Doctor’s home planet of Gallifrey is heard on “This is Gallifrey: Our Childhood, Our Home.” This was the track that got me interested in this score, and eventually led me to purchase it, the show itself unseen. I think it’s deservedly popular. It has a bit of a Zimmer/Media Ventures sound.
On a final note, I think it’s unfortunate that two of the vocal tracks on this CD, “My Angel Put the Devil in Me” and “The Stowaway,” have not been added to the playlist. These are not the versions from the show, but they are good songs, written for the series, and certainly form part of the story. “The Stowaway” is a nifty Christmas song as well. If you’re interested, you can buy the tracks alone online fairly easily. The last track, “Abide with Me,” is also vocal; it’s a traditional arrangement of the hymn sung by choir. I like it.
Request: “This is Gallifrey, Our Childhood, Our Home,” “Martha Triumphant,” and “The Futurekind,” in addition to the songs mentioned in the review.
Avoid: “Drowning Dry” has never made much of an impression on me.
|
4 of 4 found this review helpful |
|
Georges Delerue - Little Romance, A
|
| A Little Romance theme by Vivaldi |
| By: |
Twopop
|
| Date: |
1 Sep 2009 |
| Rating: |
 |
|
Georges Delerue had a distinct compositional and orchestral style that is easily recognizable. His music was deeply influenced by Vivaldi and other French composers of the Renaissance period. No where is this more apparent than in his score for A Little Romance.
In 1979 Delerue won an Academy Award for Best Music-Original Score for A Little Romance, but the word “original” might be in question. The popular theme music for the young lovers was not composed by Delerue but rather by Vivaldi. It comes from the "Largo" movement of Vivaldi’s Concerto for Lute, Violins, and Basso Continuo in D Major. That said, it was an instant top hit when the film was released and is still popular today. Unfortunately Vivaldi was not given credit on the album, so here we are helping to set the record straight.
|
3 of 3 found this review helpful |
|
Alan Silvestri - Forrest Gump
|
| Life is like a box of chocolades ... |
|
|
I guess everybody knows the movie – and the score of Alan Silvestri. So I probably sell fridges to Eskimos, but nonetheless …
A beautiful score for a cute movie: Among the many themes that instantly recall the movie scenes when you’re listening are three I like most: The beautiful, bittersweet, composed “Forrest Gump theme” (or feather theme as I call it) with his haunting piano play (track 1 and 20), the “running theme” (tracks 4, 6), a fully orchestrated theme that almost blows you out of your chair, especially with track 6, and the theme from Track 7, a melancholy string piece that is followed by a few piano beats.
The Forrest Gump suite (track 21) combines virtuously all themes except the feather theme (don’t know why).
Just an Information: There exists another 9 min score of the Forrest Gump Suite – including the “Feather Theme” - on the Soundtrack album (not with SST, as it has only songs except said FGS)
|
3 of 3 found this review helpful |
|
Alexandre Desplat - Afterwards
|
| Simplistic but moving score |
|
|
Alexandre Desplat has certainly made his mark on Hollywood films, adding a foreign flair to the norm circling the score composing world. While Desplat usually uses a minimalist style, never very many instruments or loud bombastic music, his simple scores add a great deal of feeling and emotion to the films they are trying to portray giving the listener a better feel for the characters. This is a great score to showcase Desplat’s style, few instruments are used but they are used in a way that best gives the listener a way to feel.
The first track, Wonders Of Life, introduces the listener to the main theme heard throughout the film. It is played out on just a piano to start, a simple but touching song. It increases in its intense feelings as background strings enter the track and push the theme further in its emotion; ending the track with just the piano replaying the theme over again. Crossroads is the second track, again starting with the piano in the simplistic and minimalist style. A few soft notes to begin as the strings take up the main melody, switching between the two as they interplay throughout the track. The soft jazz styled trumpet adds to the track with a few notes interjecting into the mixture of other instruments. A soft suspense filled track.
River Flows again showcases the piano and soft string in the background. The piano wanders across the keyboard like a river, meandering through the notes it plays, soft slow and in no hurry to get to the end. N.D.E. is composed of the same strings and piano combination, few notes, minimalist style again, with very little music able to portray a lot of emotional background. It is similar to Crossroads with the jazz trumpet coming in for its few notes. Vision starts off with the slow strings but quickly moves into quick hastened playing, giving the feeling of pressing need to get something done.
Dandelions goes back to the piano and string pairing, the piano again creating the melody and the strings following along quietly in the background. Changing from the others, midway the strings build to a crescendo, build the emotion and then fade back down as the piano comes back into the melody. Alexandre C is a short string dominated track, just a few notes back and forth creating a moody feeling. New Mexico is a bit more hurried than the other slow moving track previously played. The track is still dominated by the strings, doing most of the melody carrying in this track. The violin and piano make solo but brief appearances throughout the track.
Last Exit To Albuquerque starts with a wind instrument solo with the hurried strings accompanying it. The violins take up the melody, minimal in style until dissonant brass comes in to create a foreboding to the feel of the track. They play a quick few notes, leaving the string to carry the slow eerie melody to the end. White Sand brings back the solo piano and introduces the solo cello working with the piano to create a slow mournful type song. Kind Of Red takes the listener back to the string accompaniment of the piano, needing only a few notes it provides the emotion and depth in a simplistic way. The brass comes in mid track to create the hurried feeling then again going back to the slow strings as noted in previous tracks.
The Messenger again has the jazz trumpet, solo piano and strings in the background. The few notes that are played by each instrument are short, concise and give the listener a feel for the moment, hurrying along as the strings pick up the pace as the track progresses. Tell Me When again showcases the jazz trumpet but in a much quicker paced track. The brief but insisting strings give a frantic feel to the track, accompanied by occasional brass. The track is mostly dominated by the strings and increases in intensity till the high point near the end of the track. Here & Now takes us back again to the hurried strings providing background for the solo piano and violin which Trade off turns to provide the melody for the track. The Night Blooming Cereus takes us back to the slow jazz trumpet and string accompaniment, building for a mid track crescendo and going back to the soft slow feel. The end brings in the solo wind instrument and the sad notes of the violins in the back.
Angel Reflection has solo piano with the long notes of the violins in the background. The piano again gives that feeling, with its slow, precise notes, one at a time, just the minimal to give the listener that emotional feel. The solo jazz trumpet comes back in also, giving a similar feel as of that of the previous tracks. The Swan's Song brings back the solo piano accompanied by moody strings in the background, the piano plays the most prominent part, giving a richer feel to the song. Lost ends the score with the main theme reprises its role on the piano. This track is much like the first track, with the strings in the background creating a moody feel to the song and adding more depth to end the score. This track fully brings back the main theme and the deep emotional pull of the music created by Desplat.
I have come to appreciate Desplat more as I listen to him more often. This score is no different. I love the piano he uses and the simplistic way he scores complex emotions. A must listen for anyone wanting something simple in style but complex in depth created through the music.
|
8 of 8 found this review helpful |
|
John Williams - Sabrina
|
| A very romantic John Williams Score |
|
|
Those who appreciate a fine piano performance will like this ST.
The piano is the principal source of emotion, though the fully orchestrated pieces are equally beautiful.
The score is elegant, catchy, easy-going and very romantic – as the movie intended to be. But the music is so much better than the movie!!
The party sequence is a marvellous compilation of classic jazz and romantic pieces, but Sabrinas theme is the most emphatic and moving score for me.
|
2 of 2 found this review helpful |
|
Alain Goraguer - La Planete Sauvage
|
| Fantastic Planet or Planete Sauvage |
| By: |
Maddy
|
| Date: |
12 Aug 2009 |
| Rating: |
 |
|
This movie is a French/Czech collaboration done in 1973.
The movie starts with a woman running away from something holding a baby. She's killed and the baby is rescued by a young Draag. She names him Terr. And he's one of a race they call Ohms.
This is a strange movie, but it's also a beautiful one. I would say more, but I'm afraid of ruining the story for those who haven't seen it.
The movie moves along at a fairly rapid pace and you can easily get caught up in it. Some of the scenes (like the meditation sequence) could only be done with animation, but it's well done and I found myself saying "Oh, wow!" quite a bit.
There was one other thing I noticed. There definitely is a political undertone for this movie too. If you think of the Draags as Russia during that time and how Czechoslovakia saw Russia...then the difficulties between the Draags and Ohms become the problems between those two countries.
Anyway, the soundtrack for this movie is fantastic and fits it perfectly. And I do mean "fantastic" in every sense of the word. ;) Seeing the movie would only make the soundtrack seem even better than it is.
|
3 of 3 found this review helpful |
|
Trevor Jones, Randy Edelman, Clannad - Last Of The Mohicans, The
|
| On my list of all time favorites |
|
|
This is simply one of my favorite STs of all time. The sweeping themes and the clever use of drums for motion gets me every time. The Elk Hunt, The Glade, and Promontory are my personal favorites. I could listen to them all day long.
-tg/akm
|
2 of 3 found this review helpful |
|
|
