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...
Beethoven's "Ode to Joy" from the 9th (Choral) Symphony
Let's celebrate the Christmas and New Year holiday period with Beethoven's "Ode to Joy". Though it was written almost 2 centuries ago, the theme is one of the most recognisable pieces of Classical Music. It comes from his 9th Symphony - the first from a major composer to feature voices. The orchestra is augmented by a choir plus Soprano, Alto, Tenor and Bass soloists, who in the final movement sing verses from a poem by Schiller called the "Ode to Joy". Beethoven's music is a set of variations on this theme, which is now the Anthem for the European Union.
Beethoven's "Ode to Joy" - Sheet Music arranged for Solo Piano
Beethoven's "Ode to Joy" - Sheet Music arranged for Bassoon and Piano (includes alternative sheet music for Flute, Oboe, Cor Anglais, Clarinet in Bb, Clarinet in A, Bassoon, Trumpet, French Horn, Trombone, Tuba, Violin, Viola, Cello, Double Bass)
Beethoven's "Ode to Joy" - (bassoon and piano) MIDI file and MP3 file
John Williams' music in Star Wars: A Musical Journey
John Williams has recently re-crafted his Star Wars music from all six films to fit a show called "STAR WARS: A Musical Journey". This is a live two-hour musical event with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and chorus, with scenes from the movies and live narration. The show will premier in London's "O2 arena" (previously called the Millennium Dome) on 10th April 2009 before launching a European Tour. The venue will also host an exhibition of models, props, costumes and artwork from the Lucasfilm Archives. Tickets will go on sale on 15th December 2008 - see The O2 site for further information.
Tan Dun and YouTube's Symphony Orchestra
Composer Tan Dun recently conducted the London Symphony Orchestra in an exclusive performance for YouTube of a new symphony. You can watch and listen to the music at this location on YouTube. The performance is a prelude for a unique event organised by YouTube, in which everyone has the chance to participate. Musicians are invited to submit audition videos to the website, and following the closing date at the end of January 2009 these will be edited into a single Cyber-Performance of the music. The next stage in the selection process will then select musicians to play at a live performance in the New York's Carnegie Hall in April 2009. More information about the project and instructions on how to enter can be found at uk.youtube.com/symphonyuk (UK participants), www.youtube.com/symphony (US), and similarly for other YouTube sites across the world.
New Sheet Music for Christmas Carols
As Winter rapidly approaches and we start to think about Christmas preparations, it is time to practice your favourite Christmas Carols again. Firstly our regular contributor Glenn Jarrett has provided another guitar arrangement, this time for "Once in Royal David's City". Here is the complete set of his Christmas Carol arrangements:
And here you can access our arrangements for piano and other instruments including violin, viola, cello, double bass, oboe, flute, piccolo, recorder, bassoon, clarinet, cor anglais, saxophone, trumpet, trombone, french horn, bass tuba, guitar and tuned percussion. Open up the "play" (piano) version of the sheet music to access the "print" versions for different instruments.
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Songs of the Sea: The Regatta Suite - by Jeff Rona
The Sea has always been a great source of inspiration for all types or creative people, whether artists, story-tellers, poets or composers. Jeff Rona was commissioned to compose music for the nautical events held at this year's Olympic Games in China. The music was performed in a number of Chinese cities, and the composer has now adapted and recorded the music so that it can be experienced more widely. The resulting album is called Songs of the Sea: The Regatta Suite and clearly illustrates how good a composer Rona is. The music is varied - in places heroic and majestic, but at other times impressionistic and evocative. More...
The music of James Bond 007
With new Bond film "Quantum of Solace" on general release, we take a look at the Music of James Bond. Two new CD releases have taken differing approaches to celebrating the last 45+ years of James Bond music. The Best of Bond has been superbly crafted by conductor Carl Davis with a mixture of Bond Songs and incidental tracks. In contrast James Bond: The Gold Edition is purely instrumental but comes on 2 CDs with a comprehensive booklet on the history of James Bond music.
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Mozart's Symphony No.40 in G minor
Mozart's last 3 Symphonies are among the finest in the repertoire and, through their influence on later composers, helped to bring about a revolution in the art form. His Symphony No.40 is one of very few he composed in a minor key, and the stark single-minded mood of its opening movement with its relentless momentum was a particular influence on Beethoven and music scholars over the past 200 years. We present this movement in its original orchestral format including downloadable PDFs of the full score and all instrumental parts, and also as a (fairly difficult) piano transcription:
Earlier this year the world lost a major contributor to film and television music, when Alexander Courage passed away at the age of 88. He worked as an orchestrator on major musicals such as "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers", "Guys and Dolls", "Porgy and Bess", "My Fair Lady", "Doctor Dolittle", "Hello Dolly", and "Fiddler on the Roof", and movies such as "The Island of Dr. Moreau", "Basic Instinct", "Jurassic Park", "First Knight", and "The Mummy". He composed music for many television series including "Lassie", "Lost in Space", "Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea" and for many years on "The Waltons". He is most remember for creating the original "Star Trek" theme which has been quoted on most subsequent "Star Trek" series and films. More...
Torchwood - music by Ben Foster and Murray Gold
Newly released, this album covers music from the first two seasons of Torchwood the post-watershed spin-off from the nation's favourite "Doctor Who". Most of the incidental music has come from Ben Foster who acted as orchestrator and conductor for "Doctor Who" with the parent series' resident composer Murray Gold providing the "Torchwood" main theme and one or two episodes. The style is similar in some ways, with some of the orchestral sections being recorded by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales in Cardiff, but Torchwood veers off into the kind of dark adult territory that is out of bounds for "Doctor Who". More...
Javier Navarrete - Pan's Labyrinth
2006 was a very exiting year for film soundtracks, and gave the award committees a lot of excellent material to choose from. Javier Naverrete's score for Pan's Labyrinth stood out as a deserving entry among many notable scores from well-established hollywood composers. The music of "Pan's Labyrinth" has the focus and simplicity of traditional story-telling, and therefore stands very well on its own, even away from the outstanding film for which it was created. Although all the music is based upon a simple melody, a lullaby in waltz tempo, the complete soundtrack is surprising varied and transports the listener into a child's fantasy world inhabited by strange creatures. More...
Bernard Herrmann - Taxi Driver
This week we revisit a favourite film score when we find it in an unusual format. "The Vinyl Classics" series has re-released a number of classic soundtracks in a format which looks exactly like a small but perfectly formed LP. Although black in colour and unlike any other CD, it will play on your CD player, and Taxi Driver is a soundtrack which needs to be revisited from time to time. It was composer Bernard Herrmann's last soundtrack but, among a whole career of superlative scores, this is one of his best and fully matches the performances we see on screen. In central position there is a jazz feel with a wonderful sax solo, which sums up the view of New York as witnessed by the Taxi Driver. More...
New Film Sheet Music
Compared with a few years ago, there is now a staggering amount of film sheet music available, both song-based and instrumental soundtrack and typically arranged for piano. The trend is now to release Sheet Music at the same time as movie soundtracks, to tie in with the movie's theatrical and/or DVD release. Not all movies have sufficient playable music to fill a sheet music book, but even these movies are still catered for. The "Essential Film Themes" series is now up to number 6 containing the finest music from today's outstanding films. For those who also have an interest in older film music, there is also the continuing "Collection" Series with music from different film genres, now adding "Adventure", "Animation" and "Costume Drama" to the existing themes. Check out our survey of recent Film Sheet Music.
Edvard 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:
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...
The Doctor Who Prom Concert by Murray Gold
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.
The Kite Runner by Alberto Iglesias
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...
Brick Lane by Jocelyn Pook
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...
Ratatouille by Michael Giacchino
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...
Camille Saint-Saens - The Elephant and Film Music
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...
The Elephant- original score for double-bass and piano
The Blob (and other Creepy Sounds) - Ralph Carmichael and others
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...
Airwolf Themes - Sylvester Levay, Udi Harpaz and Mark J Cairns
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...
Claude Debussy - Clair de Lune
"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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