Top picks on MP3 downloads

With our new M3 Price Comparison system, here are our top picks for mp3 downloads:

• Shirley Bassey - Performance
• Absolute Greatest - Queen
• Sunny Side Up - Paolo Nutini
• Holst: The Planets - LSO
• You Are Not Alone - X-Factor Finalists Michael Jackson's hit with proceeds to the Great Ormond Street Hospital

Christmas Carols on mfiles

If you are looking for Traditional Christmas Carols, mfiles has a wide range of free downloads. We have Sheet Music for a wide range of instruments, plus midi and mp3 files:

• Once in Royal David's City
• Deck the Halls
• Away in a Manger
• Silent Night
• The First Nowell
• A Coventry Carol
• Joy to the World
• The Holly and the Ivy
• It Came Upon a Midnight Clear
• What Child is This? (Greensleeves)
• Oh Little Town of Bethlehem
• Cradled in a Manger Meanly
• While Shepherds Watched their Flocks by Night
• Hark! The Herald Angels Sing
• Good Christian Men Rejoice
• God rest you Merry Gentlemen

Piano music - as heard by Brahms!

Brahms was an excellent pianist, and a number of the pianos he used are preserved in museums. This double album consists of a number of Brahms' piano pieces played on the same instruments which he used. So we can hear his music as Brahms himself would have heard it. Jeffrey Dane's review of these recordings highlights the historical context of the pianos featured and, with a number of photographs, brings to life the history and the personality of the composer More...

Grieg Piano Concerto - making history

This album is a modern recording using the latest techniques, though the performances were laid down a century ago! The Grieg Piano Concerto was recorded by Percy Grainger in 1921 on piano rolls which have been used to play a steinway concert grand and recreate the historic performance. Also included on the album are similar recordings of a number of solo piano works made by Edvard Grieg himself in 1906, and his Violin Sonata No.3 in Cm. It is remarkable to hear historic recordings with such clarity and definition More...

Frederic Chopin - Preludes Op.28

Chopin's 24 Preludes make great study pieces for pianists of all abilities. But why should piano players have all the fun? Here is an arrangement of Chopin's Prelude No.6 for Woodwind Quartet, where the Bassoon plays the main theme (with a little help from the Clarinet) while the Flute and the Oboe have supporting roles:

• Prelude No. 6 for Woodwind Quartet (play)
• Prelude No. 6 for Woodwind Quartet Print Score
• Prelude No. 6 for Woodwind Quartet - parts for Flute, Oboe, Clarinet in Bb and Bassoon

"Waltz with Bashir" by Max Richter

Waltz with Bashir is a wonderfully warm, romantic, but also harrowing film by Ari Folman. Equally the soundtrack is a very moving piece of work by composer Max Richter which complements the film perfectly. With this score the composer has finally obtained proper worldwide exposure, winning the hearts of music critics and musicians around the globe. The score was nominated for an Annie Award for Best Music in an Animated Feature and, most importantly, won the European Film Awards for Best Composer in 2008. More...

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Laurent Korcia's "Cinema"

Laurent Korcia is a French violinist with a loyal following. His latest album is called Cinema and contains 20 tracks from a wide range of different films. Although some tracks are decidedly cinematic, they spring from many different decades from the silent era up to the 21st century. Some of the tracks although used in films have come from a classical or a jazz composer, and this broad range really defines the collection as a modern cross-over album. The selection is guaranteed to entertain and surprise you and the artist is very much at home in all these genres. More...

"The Reel World" (2nd Ed.) by Jeff Rona

Hal Leonard Books has just published a new and completely revised second edition of The Reel World by composer Jeff Rona. The book details the technical, business, and creative aspects of becoming a successful film scorer. Based upon his significant experience in the field, the author shows how to work with the many different professionals involved in filmmaking without diluting the essential element of creativity. This revised edition includes a wealth of new interviews with some of Hollywood’s top film scorers including John Williams, Carter Burwell, James Newton Howard, Hans Zimmer, Mark Isham, Wendy and Lisa and more. Check out an extract of the book, and receive a 20% discount on online purchases. More...

Star Trek: The Music

With a new Star Trek movie hitting theatres soon, we take a look at the music of Star Trek. Over the past 40-plus years, the Star Trek Universe has brought us 11 major movies and 5 television series (not to mention the animated series, video games and some song singles), and that is a lot of music! Many composers have played a part in creating this music. In the "Star Trek" movies, Jerry Goldsmith has dominated, with James Horner, Leonard Rosenman, Cliff Eidelman, and Dennis McCarthy providing very able support. The Television Series have employed many more composers with Dennis McCarthy and Jay Chattaway playing major roles, following in the footsteps of the father of Star Trek music Alexander Courage who started it all off in 1966. More...

Scott Joplin: Bethena - A Concert Waltz

We add a new ragtime piece to our catalogue of Scott Joplin's piano rags. "Bethena" is a ragtime waltz and offers a neat tie-in with last week's review of the soundtrack to "Benjamin Button" since it is the final track in the film.

• Bethena - scorch sheet music and video
• Bethena - PDF sheet music to download
• Bethena - MIDI file
• Bethena - MP3 file

Restoration by James Newton Howard

Restoration is a Period Drama released in 1995 with an excellent score from James Newton Howard which deserves a closer look. Not only has the composer captured the period feel and blended beautifully with music by Henry Purcell, but he also heightens the film's dramatic flow to great effect. More...

Hellraiser The Chronicles

Although some of the images in the Hellraiser Trilogy may be disturbing to some, the soundtracks are a good demonstration of how music can enhance film. Christopher Young set the standard for the original dark movie, and then turned it up a notch for the sequel Hellbound: Hellraiser 2. Randy Miller took over when the franchise was beginning to run out of steam, but this Limited Edition Box Set brings all 3 scores together in a superb package. More...

How Music Works

Giles Swayne (composer-in-residence, Clare College, Cambridge) is to present a series of sessions to tell us "How Music Works". These will take place in London, with the first event on November 9th. Each session consists of a 60-minute talk with musical illustrations, followed by an uplifting drink and 45 minutes of open discussion. This PDF contains More Information.

Vic Mizzy (1916-2009)

We sadly report the passing of composer Vic Mizzy. Though most famous for the iconic themes to the TV programmes "The Addams Family" and "Green Acres", his career was much broader than this. His early career saw several chart hits as a song-writer, before he made the transition into television and film music. A common feature of his music seemed to characterise the man himself - full of good-natured humour. We have collected the best examples of his work on youtube. More...

Franz Waxman by Jeffrey Dane

In the early days of Hollywood, many film scores were written by conservatory trained composers from Europe. They may have been tempted by the financial rewards of a career in film music, or in some cases they were looking to escape from the troubles brewing in 1930s Europe. Franz Waxman was one of those immigrants who became a very successful composer in his adopted country. Jeffrey Dane gives us an overview of this remarkable man with some very revealing insights. More...

Ryuichi Sakamoto

As a film composer Ryuichi Sakamoto is probably best known for two exceptional scores, and curiously he starred in both films. In "Merry Christmas Mr.Lawrence" in 1983 he played the onscreen part of Capt. Yonoi and 4 years later in "The Last Emperor" he played the role of Amakasu. Though both scores used a wide instrumental mix, the earlier film concentrated more on synthesiser sounds, while in the later film (for which he shared the best score oscar) Sakamoto concentrated on the orchestral tracks while David Byrne and Cong Su provided most of the traditional Chinese music. More...

Indiana Jones: Soundtracks Collection

The combination of director Steven Spielberg and composer John Williams have been entertaining us for years, and the Indiana Jones film series exemplifies the great story-telling collaboration. The most definitive versions of all the Indiana Jones Soundtracks have now been released in a fantastic box set called Indiana Jones: The Soundtracks Collection. The set consists of the four film soundtracks, with many of these containing previously unreleased tracks, a 5th bonus CD featuring yet more music from the films and an interview with the film makers, plus a substantial booklet with further information and behind-the-scenes photos. More...

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

French composer Alexandre Desplat is a good choice for a quirky film like The Curious Case of Benjamin Button where the main character ages backwards. Desplat rightly treats this as a magical fairytale but with an element of involving realism. The music is light and delicate in texture with a number of recurring themes, but never repetitive as they are always evolving. Harp and strings are quite prominent throughout but many other instruments have a say, including a saxophone which blends well with the film's source music of jazz tracks which are included on CD2 of the double album. More...

Brahms' Intermezzo in A Op.118 No.2

We have to admit that we weren't familiar with this gem for piano by Brahms until it appeared on the audition playlist for the Youtube Symphony. Now that we've discovered it, we've completely fallen in love with the piece, and here it is for our visitors in our usual variety of formats:

• Brahms' Intermezzo in A (Op.118 No.2) - scorch sheet music and video
• Brahms' Intermezzo in A (Op.118 No.2) - PDF sheet music to download
• Brahms' Intermezzo in A (Op.118 No.2) - MIDI file
• Brahms' Intermezzo in A (Op.118 No.2) - MP3 file

Requiem for a Dream by Clint Mansell

Requiem for a Dream is composer Clint Mansell's Magnum Opus. It won the Online Film Critics Society Award in 2001 for Best Original Score and should have won a whole lot more. But perhaps this was a slow burner - it was only when the music was picked up and used elsewhere that people started to recognise it and respond to it. And it has been reused many times including the trailer for "Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers". We now review the original soundtrack. When music is made to perfectly match a film as intense as Requiem for a Dream, you know you are in for quite a surreal experience. More...

Grieg's "Wedding Day at Troldhaugen"

The composer Edvard Grieg had a house built for him near Bergen in Norway. Though this is now a museum dedicated to Grieg, he and his family lived there for many years and they called the house "Troldhaugen" which means "Troll's Hill". Among his "Lyric Pieces" for piano there is a popular piece called "Wedding Day at Troldhaugen" whose happy mood seems to suggest the Grieg family enjoyed life to the full in this house. At mfiles we now have 3 Lyric Pieces and one arrangement available as sheet music and audio files:

• Wedding Day at Troldhaugen (Op.65 No.6) - for piano
• Arietta (Op.12 No.1) - for piano
• Notturno (Op.54 No.4) - for piano
• Notturno (Op.54 No.4) - arranged for violin and piano

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