You Are the Pan - John Williams



In 1991 Steven Spielberg brought a live action Peter Pan movie to the big screen called Hook. The movie tells the story of a grown up Peter Pan named Peter Banning played by Robin Williams who has forgotten his childhood and who he used to be. The movie grossed over 300 million worldwide and was nominated for four Academy Awards. As usual, Steven Spielberg relied on his trusted friend, John Williams, for scoring duties. Although the score was not nominated, John Williams did get a nod for his score to JFK, it is in my opinion one of the most memorable scores of that year and one of the most listenable as a stand alone product. One of the most touching parts of the movie comes when not only the Lost Boys, but Peter himself, recognizes who he is: Peter Pan. The music, "You are the Pan" on album, mirrors the scene perfectly with heroic choir followed up by a moving and tender rendition of Peter's theme. A beautiful cue!

Download: Amazon
Listen to the full score: imeem

2012 is disaster flick from director Roland Emmerich whose prior projects have included The Day After Tomorrow and Independence Day. The movie depicts the catastrophic end of the world happenings when the Mayan Calendar ends on December 21, 2012. Harald Kloser is a frequent collaborator with Emmerich and in fact is a co-producer and co-writer in addition to composer for 2012. Perhaps because of the triple duty Thomas Wander was also brought on to assist with scoring duties. Thomas Wander is probably best known for his work as composer on the TV series "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," but he also recently assisted Harald Kloser with the film score to 10,000 BC in 2008. This brings us to the score for 2012, which unfortunately, on my first listen is very disappointing in its generic qualities and one would hope this is not foreshadowing a generic movie as well. The score is undoubtedly one that serves its purpose in the movie highlighting action, suspense, and dramatic moments, yet in all of these it offers a complete lack of personality. The theme is not one of those you will even remember after leaving the theater. Don't get me wrong the music is not bad, it just fails to be memorable in any way. The score also suffers from the short clip-like presentation. Overall the best cues are the action track "We are Taking the Bentley" and the concluding inspirational track "The End is Only the Beginning." Here are a few of my thoughts as I listened to the score the first time:

Constellation: a brooding piece that really doesn't catch my ear.
Wisconsin: nondescript background music
U.S. Army: nothing new here; generic march music
Ready to Rumble:
Spirit of Santa Monica: the first action track; fairly generic
Great Kid:
Finding Charlie: a suspense cue with some action riffs.
Run Daddy Run: a chase cue, which annoyingly was separated from the prior cue.
Leaving Las Vegas: apparently they left in a hurray.
Nampan Plateau: a slow piece with some low volume choir in the mid section.
We are Taking the Bentley: an action track. This is probably the best track so far---with a little personality.
Ashes in D.C.: not much going on here
Saving Caesar: generic action music
Adrian's Speech: nondescript
Open the Gates!: features a beautiful, brief choral passage, which ends before it can be appreciated. The remainder passes by without much thought.
The Impact: a generic action track
Suicide Mission: this piece is a nice string adagio that made me think of Samuel Barber's Adagio.
2012 the End of the World: a loud chorus piece with some potential, but again cut short.
Collision with Mount Everest: too short of an action piece.
The End is Only the Beginning: this is a serviceable "wow, we've made it through a lot, but there's hope for the future" kind of track.

My overall rating: **1/2 out of *****

Listen to the full score here
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Manta Squadron - Edward Shearmur - Edward Shearmur

2004's Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow was the first feature film shot entirely against a blue screen. This movie also features the first score I ever heard by Edward Shearmur and what a great score it is! No track on the album better represents Shearmur's work than "Manta Squadron." The brass fanfares of this track are thrilling and triumphant. This action track ranks in the top ten of 2004. You can pick this one up at emusic or Amazon. Enjoy!

A few weeks ago I discovered one of the best film scores of 2009, Un Homme et Son Chien by Phillipe Rombi. The story, true to the french name, is about a man and his dog. The man, Charles, a retiree is thrown out on the streets with only his dog for a companion. Charles struggles on the streets, loses his dog for a time, and the film depicts his difficulties in dealing with his situation. I have not seen the film, but I have to say the music is beautiful, tender, and in a romantic style. You can certainly get a sense of the loneliness and dejectedness that Charles must feel under his circumstances and at the same time the music touches the heart and soul. I liken this score to how I felt when I heard Edvard Grieg's piano concerto or Erik Satie's 3 Gymnopedies: complete awe and wonder at how someone could create such beautiful music. Rombi has created a convert in me and I will certainly be taking a look at his other scores in the future. My favorite tracks on album are "Un Homme et Son Chien (Theme), Theme de Charles, Suel, and Bonus: Un Homme et Son Chien (Piano - Violin). Years ago when I first started listening to film scores I would not have even considered a score like this with no action music to speak of. However, I have come to appreciate tender scores such as this because the gentle piano, strings, and guitar are like a balm to the soul and an encourager of inspiration. This score can be downloaded at both emusic and Amazon.com.


Un Homme et Son Chien - Philippe Rombi (2009 Film Score)

The Bridge Of Khazad Dum (Album Version) - Lord Of The Rings Soundtrack

Without a doubt one of the most exciting and heroic cues of the Lord of the Rings Trilogy by Howard Shore is "The Bridge of Khazad Dum" from The Fellowship of the Ring. The track begins in heroic fashion after the fellowship is attacked by a swarm of Orcs and Gandalf, the wizard, urgently warns, "Run!" The fellowship quickly tries to escape, but Orcs, the giant Balrog, an ancient demon of fire and shadow, and various obstacles hinder their way. Finally, the group speeds across a bridge, the bridge of Khazad Dum, and Gandalf stands his ground to fend off the Balrog in order that his friends might escape. In the process, Gandalf and the Balrog take a plummeting fall from the bridge as the remainder of the Fellowship look on in terror as their friend appears to fall to his death. The track concludes in a more subdued manner as the fellowship members finally escape from the Mines of Moria, but deal with the loss of their wizard friend. Both the cue "The Bridge of Khazad Dum" and the score to The Fellowship of the Ring are classics that should find a place in most any film score collection. The score can be purchased at Amazon.com starting at just over $3 used. You can view the exciting bridge of Khazad Dum sequence on Youtube.

Stealing the Enterprise - James Horner

One of the very first scores I heard and certainly one that contributed to my appreciation of film scores in general is James Horner's score to Star Trek III: The Search for Spock. While the score to Star Trek II often takes the lime light, Star Trek III is well deserving of accolades as well. Horner takes the themes he created for the previous movie and works them into some new and exciting variations. The best of these is without a doubt the exciting "Stealing the Enterprise" cue. The piece accompanies one of the best parts of the movie when Captain Kirk and his inner circle of crew mates defy their chain of command in the name of saving their recently deceased friend, Spock (how, you ask do you save someone who is deceased?---see the movie to find out). To save their friend will require stealing a ship in order to travel back to the planet where Spock's remains where jettisoned in the previous film. The piece begins with a playful, fun, fast paced string chorus. The piece then gets more subdued and begins a several minute build up as Captain Kirk and crew prepare to steal the ship. Once the ship starts leaving the dry dock, the cue continues as a sustained, but very listenable action cue, also making use in several instances of the blaster beam. This piece is not only one of the single best Star Trek cues, but also one the best film score pieces period! Unfortunately, the CD is out of print and is presently at a starting price of $45.99 on Amazon.com. With the recent remastering and expansion of Star Trek II by FSM, one can hope that Star Trek III will not be far behind in getting the same treatment.

Extras
Watch the onscreen action with the music, without dialogue sound on youtube.
Watch with dialogue and music (not the complete scene) on youtube.