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Planet Twist from The SG Sound
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The Planet Twist album is well named since its has its roots in the swinging 60s when "The Twist" was the latest dance craze. This is a modern but nostalgic look back at some of the music of those days, and is a fusion of many influences from the period, with classic electric guitar sounds meeting period jazz bands. The SG Sound is the unique creation of composer Stephen Greaves, and if you remember hearing music from those days, these tracks will instantly transport you back to the 60s and those old vinyl discs turning at 45 rpm. This music is lively and evocative, but most of all it is fun, fun, fun. More...
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The Doctor Who Prom Concert by Murray Gold
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Two British institutions come together for the first time this month, with a special Doctor Who Prom Concert in the Royal Albert Hall which features a mix of Classical and Doctor Who Music. The music of composer Murray Gold will feature alongside that of Copland, Holst, Wagner, Prokofiev and Turnage. The show will be presented by Freema Agyeman (who plays Martha Jones in the series) with Daleks and Cybermen, and a specially filmed scene written by departing producer Russell T Davies, starring David Tennant as the Doctor. For more about the music from the series, see our reviews of the two Doctor Who CDs covering music from Series 1 and 2 and from Series 3.
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The Kite Runner by Alberto Iglesias
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In light of his previous score for Pedro Almodovar's "Volver" in 2006, Alberto Iglesias' music for The Kite Runner marks a change from the sensual Spanish vibes of Flamenco dance music to traditional Afghan styles. The story is a very personal one but set amidst a series of tumultuous political changes in Afghanistan, from the fall of the country's monarchy and the Soviet invasion, to the dominance of the Taliban. For capturing the unique perspective of this story in such a beautiful way, the composer's score received nominations for many awards, including a Golden Globe, a BAFTA and an Oscar. More...
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Brick Lane by Jocelyn Pook
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Jocelyn Pook is an experienced viola player with a varied background as a performer. She has composed extensively for the theatre and concert hall, with her first major film score being "Eyes Wide Shut" for the late Stanley Kubrick in 1999. Her latest film score Brick Lane depicts a Bangladeshi woman who moved to an arranged marriage in London. With the film's emphasis on how people adapt to circumstances in different cultures, and filled with flashbacks to life in Bangladesh, Pook's authentic Eastern music is at the heart of this story and mixes seemlessly with elements of Western style underscore. More...
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Ratatouille by Michael Giacchino
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On paper, Ratatouille is a distinctly strange proposition even for an animated movie: a rat working in a kitchen who turns out to have talents as a gourmet chef! Yet the movie was by the same team who created "The Incredibles", and "Ratatouille" turned out to be equally entertaining and fun for all the family, winning many awards while composer Michael Giacchino rightfully received an oscar nomination for his contribution to the experience. The music is upbeat, wild, dizzy, spectacular and original, one of the best scores of 2007, and should be on the music lover's list. More...
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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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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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Airwolf Themes - Sylvester Levay, Udi Harpaz and Mark J Cairns
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Do you remember "Airwolf" the TV series from the 80s with its super-sophisticated helicopter and exciting theme tune. The theme tune was written by Sylvester Levay who with Udi Harpaz wrote most of the series' incidental music. This music could have fallen into obscurity if it wasn't for fan Mark J Cairns who recreated their music in a double album. This was a limitied edition release and its cult rarity value meant that at one time the album was trading on eBay for many times its original value. The music has now been presented as a special online release and all the tracks can be downloaded in mp3 format. Check out our review of this rather special release, and relive the infectious electonic sounds of the 1980s. More...
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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 (e.g. the film Atonement and Chanel No.5 adverts). 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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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 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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Erik Satie - Gymnopédie No. 1 arrangements
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The Gymnopédie No. 1 by French composer Erik Satie is a familiar piece of music in its original format for Piano solo. We have now added a number of arrangements of this piece to the mfiles catlogue:
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Amélie Sheet Music reprinted:
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The piano Sheet Music by Yann Tiersen from the film Amelie was a major hit, but it soon sold out its initial print runs leaving fans disappointed. Well, the book has now been reprinted and a number of stores have it available in their catalogues. Try these links at Di-Arezzo.com and MusicRoom.com. The full title of the book is "Six pièces pour Piano volume 2 - Le fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain" and it consists of the following pieces: "Comptine d'un autre ete: l'apres-midi", "Le moulin", "La Dispute", "Sur le fil", "La valse d'Amelie" and "Comptine d'ete no.2". If you missed the original publication, now's your chance - highly recommended.
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