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Top 20 Composers for April
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Leonard Rosenman
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Earlier this year the composer Leonard Rosenman passed away. Early in his long career he created scores for two 1955 films starring James Dean, "East of Eden" and "Rebel Without a Cause". Then in the mid 70s he won two consecutive oscars for score adaptations, Stanley Kubrick's "Barry Lyndon" and Hal Ashby's "Bound for Glory". In the music industry Rosenman is widely recognised for introducing 20th Century classical music styles into film scores, particularly the use of 12-tone techniques. Here at mfiles we particularly enjoy the composer's contribution to the Science Fiction and Fantasy genres, including "Fantasic Voyage" in 1966, the animated version of "Lord of the Rings" in 1978, the exciting score for "Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home" in 1986, and many more. More...
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The Golden Compass by Alexandre Desplat
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Alexandre Desplat has made quite a name for himself in recent years, receiving much critical acclaim and winning a number of awards. He has certainly demonstrated his skills at incorporating ethnic influences in his scores such as "The Painted Veil" and "Syriana", but for the most part his films have been character-driven or even eccentric which seems to suit his style very well indeed. However with The Golden Compass we get to hear the composer take on a big budget mainstream film adaptation of a fantasy children's novel, and Desplat crafts some suitably full orchestral tracks and action accompaniment, while still retaining elements of his more intimate style for the characterisation. More...
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Camille Saint-Saens - The Elephant and Film Music
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Regular visitors to mfiles will know that we cover both Classical and Film Music. The French Composer Camille Saint-Saens is the first well-known composer to compose music in both these camps. This year marks the 100th anniversary of the film "L'Assassinat du Duc de Guise" which is considered to be the first film for which music was specially commissioned. Among the composer's most famous concert pieces is "The Carnival of the Animals" which is a fun suite which depicts (and sometimes caricatures) various members of the animal kingdom. One of its movements is called "The Elephant" where a double-bass plays a ponderous but witty waltz. More...
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Lalo Schifrin at London's Barbican
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Composer Lalo Schifrin is famous for his film music such as "Bullitt" and "Mission Impossible", and also as an arranger and a Jazz Pianist. He will be making a rare appearance in London at the Barbican Hall as part of its La Linea Festival. The programme is called "Jazz Meets the Symphony" and Schifrin and his Jazz Band will be joined by 89 members of the London Symphony Orchestra, playing symphonic variations on Latin Jazz numbers and performing some of the composer's film compositions including music from "The Fox", "Enter the Dragon" and the "Dirty Harry" films. More information and box office booking facilities can be found on the LSO website.
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The Blob (and other Creepy Sounds) - Ralph Carmichael and others
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Many people have a fondness for early Monster and Sci-Fi movies and soundtracks and "Monstrous Movie Music" caters directly for that market. Often they must resort to re-creating soundtracks when the music is no longer available. However original recordings of The Blob were carefully preserved, and have been remastered for this latest release. Written by Jazz and Film composer Ralph Carmichael, the score is full of suspense with suitably scary moments and a love theme for Steve McQueen and his girlfriend. When the film was released the Main Title was replaced with a light hearted but catchy theme song by Burt Bacharach. Both these tracks are presented on this superb album - it is great to rediscover gems like this. More...
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Atonement soundtrack heads this year's Awards
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This year's Awards season comes to a close with Atonement winning the Original Score Oscar (and Golden Globe a few weeks ago) among some strong contenders:
Winners and nominees for this year's main awards are listed under Film Music Awards 2007 and the full set of Oscar winners in the music categories is listed under Film Music Oscars.
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Frederic Chopin - Etude Op.10 No.4
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It is fair to say that Frederic Chopin revolutionised the art of piano composition and playing in many ways. As the name suggests, the Etudes were "Studies" intended to stretch and develop the piano student, each study having a focus on particular techniques or technical challenges. However more than any other composer, Chopin's studies were also very musical, melodic and structurally sound so that they are also pleasant to listen to. Because of the often dazzling virtuosity required to play them, they can be played as encores at piano recitals, so you can readily assume that they are very difficult pieces to master. However, even if you can't master them completely, their practice can help to develop your piano playing. So for advanced players only here is Chopin's Etude Op.10 No.4 in C-sharp minor:
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Zirkus by Cary Chow - playing works by Robert Schumann
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The publicity photos of Cary Chow with his dark t-shirt and tatoos may deviate from the traditional image of a concert pianist's bow tie and tails, but there is no mistaking the technical and interpretative skills evident in his latest album called Zirkus. This is the German word for Circus and the album consists of two major works ("Carnaval" and "Kreisleriana") from the significant piano solo output of composer Robert Schumann, who poured intensely personal messages into his creative output. Chow effortlessly flits between the many sides of the composer's nature, from the playfulness of "Carnaval" to the more intense virtuoso facets of "Kreisleriana". If you want to delve into Schumann's fascinating world, this album is an excellent place to start. More...
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Blade Runner 25th Anniversary - by Vangelis
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It is now 25 years since "Blade Runner" first hit our screens, and the movie and its music have had a remarkable impact on subsequent films and soundtracks. To mark the anniversary, director Ridley Scott has released his definitive version of the film called "The Final Cut", and composer Vangelis has released a 3 CD celebration of the music. CD1 of this Trilogy is the original soundtrack release, CD2 contains previously unreleased music from the film including some tracks which weren't used in the movie, and CD3 is all new material by Vangelis inspired by the music and mood of the Blade Runner score. Further details and a short interview with Vangelis can be found on our review page. More...
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Beowulf - by Alan Silvestri
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The film composer Alan Silvestri has long been associated with director Robert Zemeckis, having scored many of his films from the "Back to the Future" trilogy, "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?" and "Forrest Gump" through to the more recent "Polar Express". Their latest film Beowulf uses the same Performance Capture process as "Polar Express" which essential turns a live action movie into a kind of computer animation with added special effects. Much of the music is definitely very "Macho" with loud drums and brass, with limited synth effects helping to establish the ancient mythical setting. However these moments and their associated main theme don't dominate the movie, and are well balanced by the mysterious seduction tracks and a couple of songs sung by Robin Wright-Penn in the movie. More...
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Classical Composers Poster - latest updates
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The Classical Composer Poster has been newly updated by Carissimi. If you've not come across this item before, the poster is highly informative and a beautiful work of art in itself, illustrating more than 1500 years of musical development. The full size version of this poster is 40 x 27 inches, printed on high-quality art stock and now featuring 959 different composers, their country of origin, major compositions and dates. 45 new composers have been added including Rutter and Turnage, and film composers Morricone, Theodorakis and Tan Dun. Some recently deceased composers such as Ligeti have also required updates and there have also been amendments to the lists of major works. This poster is an ideal gift for anyone interested in classical music. Please check our more detailed images to get a feel for what this poster has to offer.
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Claude Debussy - Clair de Lune
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"Clair de Lune" is on the play list of most piano students reaching a certain standard. It is also very familiar from its use as evovative mood music on advertising or programmes for film, television and radio. It comes the "Suite Bergamasque" by French composer Claude Debussy. Here are the sheet music and audio files for this delightful piece:
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Silence, Night & Dreams - Zbigniew Preisner
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A unique concert called Silence, Night & Dreams will be held in London's Barbican Centre on December 2nd. This features the UK Premiere of the latest composition by Polish composer Zbigniew Preisner. This is a large scale work for orchestra, chorus and soloists, and the composer will conduct the London Symphony Orchestra with the Crouch End Festival Chorus and soloists led by special guest Teresa Salgueiro. The programme also includes music from "The Double Life of Veronique" and the "Three Colours" trilogy, films which the composer scored for the late Polish director Krzysztof Kieslowski. More...
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Atonement - by Dario Marianelli
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In some ways the music to Atonement is a return to the world of "Pride and Prejudice" for composer Dario Marianelli, with its piano theme taking central place and performed once again by French pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet. On closer inspection however, this is a very different soundtrack with greater emotional depth and a central duet between Thibaudet's Piano and the Cello of Caroline Dale. There are other solo moments for Clarinet, Oboe and even Harmonica but the score has some unusual tricks up its sleeve. In places it carefully blends underscore with some period choral music, but most unusual of all it features an old-fashioned typewriter as a musical instrument! More...
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Music by Gabriel Yared - documentary film of the composer
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Music by Gabriel Yared is a documentary made by Rani Khanna about the composer Gabriel Yared. Although active as a composer for French cinema for many years, Yared first came to Hollywood prominence with "The English Patient" and quickly follwed this with "City of Angels", "The Talented Mr Ripley", "Sylvia" and "Cold Mountain". The film follows the composer to various events in several countries, with film clips showing highlights of those events and the whole cemented by a series of interviews with the composer himself. Those clips and conversations give a unique insight into the composer, his musical development and his approach to film scoring. The competition has now closed with winners notified and DVDs despatched. More...
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The Simpsons Movie - by Hans Zimmer
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With his soundtrack to The Simpsons Movie, composer Hans Zimmer had a lot to live up to. The Simpsons TV series has always maintained a high reputation for its music, from its delightful theme tune by Danny Elfman to Alf Clausen's wonderful in-show music which over the years has brought us some cunning pastiches of just about every genre imaginable. There have also been numerous albums of collected songs from the series. So all these ingredients have been very carefully laid down as part of the Simpsons musical tradition and with his cinematic score, Zimmer has stuck very closely to this tradition while demonstrating his versatility. More...
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The Queen - by Alexandre Desplat
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French composer Alexandre Desplat, with a lot of soundtrack experience working on French and European films, has only recently turned to English language films in the Hollywood tradition. There he has been quietly building a new reputation for subtle or unusual film scores such as "Girl with a Pearl Earring", "Birth", "Hostage" and "Syriana". 2006 was his breakthrough year in terms of formal recognition, winning a Golden Globe for "The Painted Veil" and Academy nominations on both sides of the Atlantic for The Queen. Despite the story for "The Queen" covering affairs of state and the aftermath of a tragic death, manages to bring a certain lightness of touch and therefore warmth to the subject matter. More...
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The Sea Hawk and Deception - by Erich Wolfgang Korngold
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In the early days of the film industry Hollywood didn't have sufficient home-grown talent and sought to attract composers from Europe. The supreme example of this is Erich Wolfgang Korngold who had grown from a child prodigy to become a very successful classical composer in Vienna, before being tempted by work in Hollywood. This substantial release restores and recaptures two of the scores he created there in their entirety. "The Sea Hawk" and "Deception" are very different film scores but between them they demonstrate some of the very best film music ever created. This double album is the culmination of an enormous project and has been put together with great care and attention. More...
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Edvard Grieg's "Lyric Pieces" for Piano
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The composer Edvard Grieg was born in Norway of Scottish descent, and is best known for the way he incorporated the styles of Norwegian folk music into his works. Among those works are orchestral pieces such as "Peer Gynt" and the "Piano Concerto", but he also composed a number of smaller scale works for a variety of instruments. Grieg himself was a pianist, and among his shorter works is a large collection of "Lyric Pieces" for piano. The following of Grieg's Lyric Pieces are now avilable on mfiles in a range of formats for immediate download:
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Notes on a Scandal - by Philip Glass
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Alongside "The Illusionist", Notes on a Scandal was the second film soundtrack created by Philip Glass last year, and this one was to receive an Oscar nomination (the composer's third after "Kundun" and "The Hours"). Very much like "The Hours", "Notes on a Scandal" is an intense character-driven film whose music suggests the mental state of the main characters. In the CD's sleeve-notes, Glass tells us that he approached the score from the point of view of Barbara (the older teacher, played by Judi Dench). While the obvious scandal of the story concerns a younger teacher played by Cate Blanchett, the score begins and ends with the manipulative character of Barbara. More...
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"Minuet in G" by Ludwig van Beethoven
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Much easier than a lot of his piano music, the "Minuet in G" by Beethoven is another favourite piece played by most piano students as part of their studies. Although the original piece is for Piano Solo, we have also created an arrangement for Flute and Piano - all the parts for printing are contained within the "Sheet Music" pages below:
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The Illusionist - by Philip Glass
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Philip Glass has an unusual style which has had a significant influence on film composers, though the composer himself has not scored that many films. His involvement in traditional movies has grown in recent years firstly with "The Hours" and then in the past year with both "Notes on a Scandal" and The Illusionist. The latter film takes the composer away from dark, intense dramas and allows him to expand musically into new directions. The contrast is such that a number of tracks seem unlike the composer's normal style. Yet it quickly becomes apparent that his unique style and genius has merely been shaped and adapted for the subject matter, and the relevance of that style to film music is equally obvious. More...
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The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes - by Miklós Rózsa
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This year celebrates the centenary of the birth of composer Miklos Rozsa and among other commemorative items there is a new release of a suberb collector's album of The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes. The film score also gives an insight into the private life of the composer, because at the request of director Billy Wilder it uses some of the haunting melodies from Rozsa's Violin Concerto. The album is a wonderful package with a comprehensive booklet about the film and music and their creation, and it also features a full 20 minutes of music written for the film but not used in the finished cut, which gives yet another insight into the creative process. More...
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The Fountain - by Clint Mansell
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The history of electronica-infused soundtracks is far from being illustrious, maybe because many of them are tired clones, awkwardly edited into uninspired movies. However, you are pretty much guaranteed a masterpiece when composer Clint Mansell scores a film, especially one directed by the inspired Darren Aronofsky. The soundtrack to The Fountain has managed to stir-up more interest than the film (and that's saying something!), and has been nominated for Best Score at the Broadcast Film Critics Association in addition to the U.S Golden Globes, and has won the Chicago Film Critics Association as well as the Online Film Critics Society. More...
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More from Bach's Preludes & Fugues - the "Well-Tempered Clavier"
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Centuries after its composition, Bach's music continues to be an endless source of fascination, providing inspiration to music lovers, piano students and both serious and popular composers. Of all his works it is the collection known as the "Well-Tempered Clavier" that exemplifies this the most. Otherwise known as the "48 preludes and fugues", this collection of works is split over two books of 24 where each book has a prelude and a fugue in each major and minor key. Here is the final Prelude and Fugue from Book 1 (in the key of B minor) including a special arrangement of the Fugue for String Quartet complete with parts:
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Miklós Rózsa - remembering the composer
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This year marks the centenary of the birth of the film composer Miklós Rózsa, and a unique book about the composer has been published to mark the occasion. Author Jeffrey Dane knew Rozsa well, having met the him on several occasions and corresponded with the composer over a period of more than 20 years. This wealth of private correspondence and Dane's various meetings with the composer serve as the core of the book and provides a unique insight into the man and his thoughts about music and how it should be approached. The book is called "A Composer's Notes: Remembering Miklós Rózsa", and we are pleased to present extracts and illustrations from the book as a sample of its fascinating content. More...
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Casino Royale by David Arnold
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With Casino Royale composer David Arnold largely ditches the techno used increasingly on his previous Bond releases, and instead invites in fresh material and new ideas. Dark, confident, mysterious, and adventurous, the score is a welcome entry in the Bond series, coming close to the atmosphere and charm of the good old-fashioned compositions by John Barry. Though it would be hard to beat classics such as "Goldfinger", Arnold has nevertheless managed to release the best Bond film score since the late 80’s. Casino Royale was among the scores nominated at the recent BAFTA awards, though it lost out to Gustavo Santaolalla's "Babel". More...
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Miss Potter by Nigel Westlake
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The movie Miss Potter has now opened in cinemas across the UK and tells the story of Beatrix Potter, the children's author and illustrator. This movie features a warm and magical soundtrack by Australian composer Nigel Westlake with additional music by Rachel Portman, plus a song sung by Katie Melua (to lyrics adapted by Mike Batt). Nigel Westlake spoke to mfiles about his music for the film, and the resulting in-depth interview is a fascinating account of how all these musical elements came together in the film's soundtrack. More...
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George Martin - Live and Let Die
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George Martin is intimately associated with the Beatles, and his "Love" Album is hotly tipped to be one of the best selling of the Christmas Season. As well as his creative input in steering the Fab Four (and other artists) towards stardom he has also composed the soundtracks for a number of films. Here we take a look at his sole contribution to the Bond franchise Live and Let Die. Even here he was able to call upon his friendship with Paul McCartney to create the title song, but his incidental music is a great contribution to the Bond canon with its fusion of styles from jazz and rock to caribbean and african rhythms. More...
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