Keep in touch with what's new on mfiles. Jim's Blog has the latest music news. Follow us on Twitter, Facebook or Google+ to be notified of music news and new content on mfiles, or Subscribe to mfiles feed. Follow us on Pinterest to see our latest Pins, or on YouTube to see our latest videos.
"House of Guinness" is the new Netflix TV Series dramatising the famous Guinness family and set in Dublin and New York. The music is by the composer Ilan Eshkeri who last year picked up the "Hollywood Music in Media Award" for Best Documentary Score for "Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story". His approach for House of Guinness starts with Irish folk music at the centre, depicting not just the period and the setting but also the eccentric individual characters involved in the Guinness story. Around this folk core Eshkeri has incorporated a range of more modern instrumentation and scoring techniques, with electric guitars, and electronics and various vocal textures cemented with the power of a full orchestra. The result is musically as genre-bending as the story-telling and characterisation. The score is available now across music streaming services via this link netflixmusic.ffm.to/houseofguinness.
To most people Mark Kermode probably needs no introduction. He has been a film critic for many years across a raft of different media, from newspapers and books to radio, television and blogs. He also has a keen interest in film music presenting a film music show on Scala Radio, and his latest book on this topic will be released on 11th September (Link: Amazon.co.uk). Called "Mark Kermode's Surround Sound" and subtitled "The Stories of Movie Music" this book is a collaboration with Jenny Nelson who was previously an Executive Producer at Classic FM. The book examines the emotional impact of film music, and its evolution from the days of silent cinema. The book includes interviews with a number of film composers, considers how directors and composers work together, and also examines in greater depth some of the authors' favourite film scores. The book was presented at the Edinburgh International Book Festival last month, and the authors will also be presenting it at a number of other festivals and events across the country. See the full List of Events.
Two film soundtracks released this month are based on rebooted or reimagined movies, and those soundtracks both pay homage to their previous scores. The Naked Gun soundtrack is scored by Lorne Balfe and has a lot crammed into its short 30 minute run-time. It is jazzy in places (like the original) with some Bond-like suspense and some tongue-in-cheek Zimmeresque action sequences. There is a droll song sung by Liam Neeson, and a more inventive scat-like song featuring the voice of Pamela Anderson, while the homage to the Ira Newborn original theme (from the TV series Police Squad) is kept to the end. In contrast the new Superman score (by John Murphy and David Fleming) is much longer and integrates the original John Williams theme throughout the movie in really inventive ways such as changing the chord sequence. The scoring feels like a new take on the superhero score, with perhaps a bit more guitar than previous examples of the genre. It's certainly not wall-to-wall action, so there is space for the score to breathe, and it all makes for a very satisfying listen. Here are streaming links for The Naked Gun and for Superman.
Mike Batt (famous for "The Wombles") has launched his latest project. He is composing a "Ukraine Symphony" to support Ukraine as it continues to struggle in a war of survival. The aim is to record the Symphony in Kyiv, directly supporting Ukrainian musicians and studios. The symphony is still a work in progress but its structure is mapped out and the target date for the recording is October or November 2025. A CrowdFunder has been set up so anyone can support the project, raising funds for the recording - see crowdfunder.co.uk/p/a-ukraine-symphony . You can subscribe to the Crowd Funder at different levels to receive various items of merchandise, including a signed limited edition sketch of Orinoco conducting. Batt is also creating a video series to give people regular progress updates on the Symphony and overall project. The latest in the video series is Episode 4 which you can watch here on youtube - Episode 4 (short version).
On mfiles we track the main media music awards including the music awards from the Oscars, Golden Globes and BAFTAs. But occasionally there are other awards of interest to music fans. "The Only Girl in the Orchestra" is a short Netflix documentary film which won the "Best Documentary Short Film" at this year's Oscars. Directed by Molly O'Brien, the film was about her aunt Orin O'Brien, a double-bass player who in 1966 was hired by Leonard Bernstein for the New York Philharmonic. That appointment made her the orchestra's first female player, and she went on to have a successful career there and as a music teacher at the Juilliard School and other music colleges. She stayed with the New York Philharmonic until she retired in 2021, and some of the film's footage dates from this period. The film also shows Orin with a number of her current and past students, and there are some domestic scenes of Orin with Molly while the soundtrack features plenty of double bass music with Beethoven, Mahler and others. The film has been screened at a number of festivals and is still available on Netflix if you search for "only girl".
Mark Snow (whose real name was Martin Fulterman) died on Friday at the age of 78. He is best known for his music (and particularly the main theme) for the series "The X-Files" which ran for a total of 9 seasons with a number of spin-off movies and series. Snow created scores for a number of theatrical films, but it was as a prolific and hard-working television composer that he made his name. In that respect Snow contributed to many other US TV series, mini-series and TV movies, including "Starsky & Hutch", "Hart to Hart", "Dynasty", "Cagney & Lacey", "T. J. Hooker", "Crazy Like a Fox", "Falcon Crest", "Dark Justice", "Millennium" (an X-Files spinoff starring Lance Henriksen), "Smallville", "Ghost Whisperer", "Blue Bloods" as well as revivals of the series "The Twilight Zone" and "Kojak".
Alastair Penman is Professor of Saxophone at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, among other roles. Penman has touched upon climate change in his music before, but the whole of "The Last Tree" album is about this topic. It was released on 5th June 2025 to coincide with World Environment Day, but climate change is very much in the news at the moment with meetings taking place under the auspices of the UNFCCC in the lead-up to COP30 in Brazil later this year. The British Antartic Survey are also reporting from the Antartic continent this week and noting the remarkable cumulation of climate changes affecting sea ice and glaciers even in winter. Penman's "The Last Tree" is a suite of 8 movements for saxophone orchestra, with each of the eight movements named after a quote made about climate change. For the studio album Penman himself has multitracked all the saxophone parts, recorded with absolute precision and clarity. The suite is largely accessible and melodic and feels optimistic overall, though there are moments of melancholy and dischord. There are jazzy episodes, some blues progressions, lyrical slow movements, a jazzy swing style scherzo and there's a certain affinity with the mission impossible 3322 syncopation (perhaps a rueful jest) plus a sly reference to "Rule Britannia". It's a fine album notable for its superb music as well as its message. The Release Website Alastair Penman: The Last Tree presents the music in a plethora of different formats including audio, visual, video and sheet music, with much supporting material to peruse at leisure.
"Tom Daley: 1.6 Seconds" is a 90 minute documentary looking at the career of Olympic diving legend Tom Daley, from boyhood to the 14 year old representing his country at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, through to retirement at the age of 30. It is called 1.6 seconds because this is how long it takes for a diver to hit the water from the 10m diving platform, so the entire performance of rolls, flips and twists is all compressed into that brief time period. You can watch the documentary on Olympics.com or Discovery Plus. More information including the trailer and details for how to view the documentary can be found at this link on the Olympics website. The music is by composer Ceiri Torjussen. Parts of the score are quietly understated and thoughtful, following the ups and downs of Daley's personal struggles, as well as the ups and downs of his career. But it does rise nicely to highlight the incredible dedication and work-ethic required by athletes at this level to hone their craft despite the struggles and setbacks. You can hear the film score on the usual streaming platforms via this link: Ceiri Torjussen: Tom Daley 1.6 Seconds OST.
Long time composer for "The Simpsons" Alf Clausen has died at the age of 84. While Danny Elfman composed the theme music, it was Alf Clausen who provided the show's incidental music and occasional songs for show after show. Every week he introduced different genres and wonderful pastiches of various composers and film styles, with halloween horror being an annual event. His last Simpsons episode was in 2017 after 27 years in the job, though he occasionally contributed to later scores. He worked on many other TV shows (from "Donny and Marie" and "The Mary Tyler Moore Hour" in the 1970s through "Moonlighting" and "Bette" to "The Simpsons" and "ALF" - no relation) and a number of films as Composer, Orchestrator, Conductor, Musical Director and Additional Music. His Simpsons music was also released on several albums.
Season 2 of "The Last of Us" (based on the post-apocalyptic zombie video game of the same name) has recently finished, and the film soundtrack released, with the same composing team as Season 1 consisting of Gustavo Santaolalla and David Fleming. The Argentine composer Santaolalla needs no introduction with his extensive career, including back-to-back oscars for "Brokeback Mountain" and "Babel" and further awards for "The Motorcycle Diaries". Fleming has worked with Hans Zimmer on the likes of "Blue Planet II", the 2 "Dune" films and "Top Gun: Maverick" and we've previously mentioned his score for Netflix's "Damsel". Santaolalla tends to focus on the moody atmospheric tracks, mostly featuring his signature guitar sound, while Fleming seems to focus on the narrative tracks with plenty of dystopian action. The soundtrack also includes some songs from the series including A-ha's song "Take on Me" sung by Bella Ramsey who plays Ellie in the series. You can listen to the soundtrack on the main streaming channels via this link thelastofus.lnk.to/HBOSeason2 and yes, The Last of Us has been renewed for Season 3!
"Morricone Segreto" (or Secret Morricone) is an album of selected tracks from Ennio Morricone's film scores. These are not the well-known tracks from his best loved films, but rather tracks apparently selected for their weirdness. This is Morricone at his most outlandish, uncompromising and psychedelic. The strange thing is that despite the selectivity, the music is all recognisably Morricone. You can expect to hear lots of 70s electronic organ sounds, with latin beats, effects guitar riffs, unlikely instrumentation, unnatural voices, bits of avant garde, jazz, lounge & world music, and some grotesque comic turns, with scoring that would sound completely at home in genres as diverse as horror, sci-fi, noir, drug-related, crime, thriller, and psychological. As the sleeve notes state "an eccentric underground genius who used his refined education to implant cultured materials in a daily, popular context". The only track that was thematically familiar to me was the Sicilian Clan theme, and I suspect some of the movies represented were not released in English versions, but the album simply underlines how eccentric and revolutionary was Morricone's approach to film music. The album is available on streaming services, and in CD form from Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk where you can also see a full track listing.
Releasing today is the latest album "Souvenance" by Canadian pianist Jennifer King. Most tracks are "nocturnes" with some "romances" and a "meditation" and King's playing flows beautifully, shining a light on the melodic lines without swamping other layers. The album opens with 2 tracks by Mel Bonis, the prolific and largely self-taught French composer. The Soirées Musicales by the famous Clara Schumann (muse to both Schumann and Brahms) is very much in the mold of Chopin and her husband Robert. A shorter nocturne by Dame Ethel Smyth leads to another Nocturne by Felix's sister Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel with its delightful cadenza-like middle section. The next 3 tracks by Cécile Chaminade are the heart of the album, providing both the title track "Souvenance" and the one released as a single, the hymn-like Meditation. The final 3 tracks stretch us from the Romantic era, towards impressionism with the talented composer/pianist Sophie-Carmen Eckhardt-Gramatté or towards jazz with the Gershwin-like Jazz Nocturne, one of the better known works by the American composer Dana Suesse. The album concludes with the pianist's own arrangement of "Blue" by Joni Mitchell. Yes, all the composers on the album are women and often unfairly neglected, but they are composers of the highest calibre. The album (and single) is available from the usual online services including Apple Music and Spotify, and is highly recommended. King's website is at jenniferkingpiano.com.
Live to Screen Concerts are becoming a lot more popular than they once were. The Royal Scottish National Orchestra (RSNO) have announced that they will be performing a series of 5 such concerts during their 2025-2026 Season in both Edinburgh and Glasgow, as follows:
Music by John Williams, RSNO conducted by Robert Ziegler
Music by Elmer Bernstein, RSNO conducted by Anthony Parnther
Music by John Williams, RSNO conducted by Ben Palmer
Music by John Powell, RSNO conducted by Ben Palmer
Music by Hans Zimmer & Lisa Gerrard, RSNO Chorus directed by Stephen Doughty
For details of dates and times see the RSNO What's On page.
"Exotic Themes for the Silver Screen" features music from Michael Giacchino's Film, TV and Game scores but with a distinctive Hawaiian vibe. We know Giacchino's animation scores like "The Incredibles", "Ratatouille" and "Up" feature some easy listening and jazz, so it's not too surprising to see the composer get involved in a project like this. Exotica emerged as a music genre in the 1950s with a dreamy concoction of tropical islands, jungles, and far-off places, using various world instruments. It was never authentic but a convenient "exotic" fantasy. This is the world which Giacchino inhabits with this album. "Volume One" features tracks in chronological order from "The Lost World: Jurassic Park" in 1997 to "Super 8 Suite" in 2011. So we can surely expect Volume Two to pick up from here! The themes are recognisable but the scores sound completely different on Vibraphone, Marimba, Hawaiian Slide Guitar, Latin Percussion, Piano, Guitars, Bass, etc.. Play the CD the old-fashioned way in a CD player, and the album is called "Live From Honolulu" with each track prefixed "LFH"! Either it's an error or a leg-pull easter egg! The album is available on Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk or on music streaming services such as Spotify or Youtube.
"Chaos: The Manson Murders" is now released on Netflix. It's a documentary film directed by Errol Morris which re-examines information and mis-information surrounding the infamous Manson Murders which took place back in the 1960s. Manson was a cult leader who used LSD among other methods to assist his mind control techniques. The documentary asks were there also multiple layers of conspiracy involving shadowy figures and the CIA? The score was composed by Paul Leonard-Morgan, whose collaboration with Philip Glass "Tales from the Loop" I am familar with. There's certainly a minimalist element to the documentary score, but the commonality ends there. The documentary score has a certain edgy tension with plenty of electronic sounds and a certain rock-vibe augmenting orchestral strings. Manson himself was a musician and the score also features spooky connections to Manson. It uses music written and recorded by Charles Manson himself, and it also uses the sounds of a pump organ that once belonged to Dennis Wilson of the Beach Boys, who collaborated with Manson before the murders. The score can be found on streaming channels via this link.
Ludwig is a TV series starring David Mitchell. "Ludwig" is the nickname of Mitchell's character, who lives alone and sets crossword puzzles for a living. When his twin brother disappears, he adopts his twin's identity to investigate, but the brothers seem like polar opposites - a major challenge for the reclusive Ludwig. With this nickname the series is just calling out for some Beethoven, and this is exactly what series composers Nathan Klein and Finn Keane have done. Themes from Beethoven's Symphonies, Piano Sonatas and other works are scattered liberally throughout the score. The soundtrack album starts off in full quirky manner, reflecting the humour of Ludwig adopting his brother's identity. It then becomes more convenional as Ludwig turns detective putting his puzzle skills into the task of solving the mystery disappearance, before the music returns to quirky mode. The score is available to download at Silva Screen Records. Whether or not you recognise the music, this is an enjoyable listen and it feels like the composers had a lot of fun with it. Does anyone remember a children's TV series from the 70s called "Ludwig" which also used Beethoven's music?
John Caps has recently published a new book called "Overhearing Film Music" and subtitled "Conversations with Screen Composers". John is a film music expert, who has written several books on the topic and contributed many articles about film music to a range of publications. He has known, corresponded with and interviewed many film music composers as part of his information gathering and research. If the name John Caps is familiar to regular mfiles visitors, this is because John is a regular contributor to mfiles, and certain chapters of this book are in fact greatly expanded versions of articles which were previously published on the mfiles website. The book has been published by SUNY Press and the Publishers Overview Page provides more information about the book. You can also find the book at Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com, where it is available in both hardcover and kindle editions. Note that the Hardcover edition is priced as a text book for University Libraries, Conservatories and Foundations. A more affordable paperback will come out in six months time. I am proud to have played a small non-contributory part in the genesis of this book and gratified to have received a mention.
We are pleased to report that Winifred Phillips won a Grammy this year for her Game Score "Wizardry: Proving Ground of the Mad Overlord" (which we reported on last June). This success was in a category with many distinguished composers, so many congratulations are due to Winifred! Moving on to 2025 Winifred's latest score to be released is for the swashbuckling pirate game "Flint: Treasure of Oblivion". This has a great mix of action and atmosphere, which oozes with everything you would expect from a pirate score. The music is rooted in the traditional with period folk instruments, nautical folk melodies and some regional influences. Yet it is also a modern take on the pirate tale with rock guitar, weird ghostly vocalisations and atmospheric sound effects, and all this is held together with some infectiously rhythmic percussive beats. The score for "Flint: Treasure of Oblivion" is a great follow-up score, and could just as successful as "Wizardry". Stream or download the score from all good music apps.
The first ever London Soundtrack Festival is taking place 19th-26th March 2025, and it looks set to become an annual event. It will feature concerts, panel discussions, composer Q&A sessions, screenings, masterclasses, etc. The Event was conceived when the widow of film/tv composer Christopher Gunning spoke to musician and broadcaster Tommy Pearson. The festival will also have an associated award, the LSF Gunning Inspiration Award, to be presented this year to Howard Shore and his music will be featured in the Gala Concert to take place on Saturday 22nd, and during a screening of "The Silence of the Lambs" live in concert. Other concerts will include "State of the Art: Games Music Concert" and "Great Movie Songs". For more information as it becomes available, check out the Festival Website.
We're into 2025 now, and I'm still catching up with 2024 films, series and soundtracks. The original Beetlejuice has turned into something of a franchise: an animated series followed, a Broadway Musical has been launched and there's plenty of merchandise around. Now the sequel "Beetlejuice Beetlejuice" with most of the original film cast is a celebration, and it ticks all the right boxes to reference memorable moments and ideas from the original movie. The music also pulls off this trick but succeeds better in enhancing the original with some extra spice. Make sure you check out the Danny Elfman score (which has extended tracks not heard fully in the movie - Amazon.co.uk) rather than the soundtrack album. Elfman gives us Beetlejuice on steroids and there's a nice version of Harry Belafonte's "Day-O".
The guitarist Vic Flick passed away last month at the age of 87. He was a session musician with an extraordinary array of credits starting in the 1950s. He played on songs for artists including Petula Clark, Tom Jones, Herman's Mermits, Cliff Richard, Dusty Springfield, Eric Clapman, Englebert Humperdinck and Shirley Bassey. But there was one role which cemented his fame. He had joined the John Barry Seven in the late 1950s and when John Barry came to arrange Monty Norman's James Bond Theme for "Dr. No" in 1962, it was Vic Flick who played the distinctive guitar riff that has been used on every Bond film since then, and is recognised across the globe. Barry and Flick tried various options to get the sound required for Bond - guitar, plectrum, pickup type/position, amp and playing style before settling on the final formula including a "Clifford Essex Paragon De Luxe" and a very hard plectrum.
Mufasa: The Lion King is now on general release. Excluding various spinoffs, Mufasa is the prequel and spiritual successor to The Lion King. Music is of course central to the new film as it was with the original. The unmistakeable voice of Lebo M. again provides the foundation, but apart from this and various thematic callbacks we have a largely new team of musicians and songwriters. For the songs, the ubiquitous Lin-Manuel Miranda and Mark Mancina take over from Elton John and Tim Rice. The score has been written by Dave Metzger replacing Hans Zimmer on the original's score. There are two main music releases whose covers are both shown here: Lin-Manuel Miranda's songtrack is available on CD and download (Amazon.co.uk & Amazon.com) and the "Original Motion Picture Soundtrack/Deluxe Edition" featuring the songs and score though for streaming/download only with a total of 38 tracks lasting 1 hour 23 mins (Amazon Music, Apple Music & Spotify). I've only heard the new album once compared with the familiarity of the original, but Mufasa comes close to matching the original movie in the music department, and it has a stronger African feel in the vocals and drumming.
On this occasion I bring you some local news - local to me that is! Edinburgh has a new orchestra called "Capella Edina" which has been launched, announcing a series of concerts in 2025. A new orchestra is something to celebrate in its own right, but a look at the programme for 2025 shows a distinct synergy with the ethos of mfiles. All four concerts in 2025 contain elements of both classical music and film music. While that is not totally new, to feature this genre combination over an entire season of concerts is rare yet very welcome. Their inaugural concert will be on 16th January, featuring Bruckner's 6th Symphony, a new commission from James Clay called "Orbit / Adrift" (an intriguing title suggesting a certain song about Major Tom), John Williams' Star Wars Suite and Erich Korngold's Main Title from the movie "Kings Row". See the Capella Edina website for more information. Best wishes to Capella Edina and I hope to provide further coverage of their music in due course.
The music of composer Debbie Wiseman is receiving plenty of attention at the moment. First we have the long-awaited return of Wolf Hall to our TV screens. It is almost 10 years since the first season was broadcast, but now season 2 called "Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light" is underway, with most of the original cast and crew. That returning crew includes Debbie Wiseman with a lot of new music as the story unfolds and we see the fate of Thomas Cromwell as played by Mark Rylance. The album will be released on 13th December, and launched the same day with a special concert performed by The Locrian Ensemble conducted by the composer herself. The live event will include a Q&A session and signing at Rough Trade East in London. More about this event at Dice.
"Jack Frost: A Winter Story" will get an even earlier release. This is Alan Titchmarsh's version of the Jack Frost tale. This is presented as a theatrical/audio dramatisation with narration by the author himself, and plenty of music interludes composed by Wiseman. This will have an album release on November 22nd in plenty of time for Christmas! Pre-order this album at Silva Screen Records.
Now available on Disney+ is "Music by John Williams" - the definitive documentary of the composer John Williams and his music career. The story is told through the words of many of the people who have worked with John Williams or been influenced by him, including directors, producers, filmmakers, conductors, fellow composers and musicians, from the likes of Steven Spielberg (of course, given their special partnership) through to Chris Martin from Coldplay. There is much about his personal life including his wives and his children, but most of all this is about his music and the way he has single-handedly redefined what film music is all about. Naturally much of the documentary is underscored using extracts from the incredibly rich collection of music from Williams' many film scores. To whet your appetite, view the trailer here on YouTube.
Cliff Eidelman is known as a film composer, with credits such as "Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country" with a notably darker tone than previous movies in the series. Other Eidelman film scores include "Crazy People", "Christopher Columbus: The Discovery", "Free Willy 3: The Rescue", "My Girl 2" and "The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants". In fact at one point he was to score the TV series "Star Trek: Discovery" too. His career has another branch dedicated to concert music, including an orchestral suite inspired by Shakespeare's "The Tempest" in 1997. His most recent release is his Symphony No.2 which like "The Tempest" has been recorded by the Royal Scottish National Orchestra (RSNO) conducted by the composer. The music will appeal to film music fans as it is dramatic and melodic, with notable parts for piano and mezzo-soprano. It is available to stream (e.g. on YouTube) and here is Cliff Eidelman introducing the Symphony on the same platform. His first "Symphony for Orchestra and Two Pianos" was recorded by the London Symphony Orchestra.
Beethoven's Triple Concerto is unique in classical music, essentially a Concerto for Piano Trio and Orchestra, rather than a single Soloist and Orchestra. And this recording brings together a star team consisting of Nicola Benedetti (violin), Benjamin Grosvenor (piano), Sheku Kanneh-Mason (cello). Perfect casting, you might say, since all three first made an impact as finalists in the BBC Young Musician competition. Although accustomed to play as soloists, the 3 instrumentalists come together beautifully as a coherent group, ably accompanied by the Philharmonia Orchestra conducted by Santtu-Matias Rouvali. Following the Concerto itself on the album, the instrumentalists then accompany Bass-Baratone Gerald Finley in selected songs from Beethoven's various collections of Scottish, Welsh and Irish Folk Songs. Finally the Trio perform an instrumental version of the Londonderry Air (aka. Oh Danny Boy aka. Farewell to Cucullain) arranged by the brothers Fritz & Hugo Kreisler, violinist & cellist respectively. This final track was released earlier this year as a teaser single. The album was presumably recorded before Nicola got too busy on 2024's Edinburgh Festival, and it is available at Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com.
Twilight Time is a documentary film about Australian security and surveillance expert Des Ball, who was described by president Jimmy Carter as "the man who saved the world" when he advised the US against nuclear escalation in the 1970s. The film by John Hughes uses a wealth of archive footage, and composer Brett Aplin weaves his musical magic around the film to create a thought-provoking experience. He employs a piano jazz combo to underline the period in the opening and at key moments and, though he sometimes uses traditional orchestration, much of the remaining soundtrack underscores the drama of the geopolitical situation with a range of sonic effects and ambient atmospherics. I am also reminded at times of some of the period electronics heard on the series "Stranger Things". The film premieres at the "Melbourne International Film Festival" this month, and the soundtrack album is available here on streaming services. Definitely worth a listen!
The Dutch composer/pianist Jeroen Elfferich has released an album called "Infinito" of music for piano duet, which he plays along with the Bulgarian pianist Ivan Pavlov. Elfferich compares his music to Dutch artists such as Mondrian and Escher, and the comparison is easy to understand though most would describe his music as minimalist, based on repeating and modifying patterns. With two pianos there are at least two simultaneous patterns, and the way these combine can be surprising. "Infinito" is also the name of the title track, and shows listeners what to expect. The music is always soothing and relaxing, and strangely hypnotic. There is a winding down towards the end of the track, initially barely perceptible. "21 emotional combinations" uses even simpler 2-note figures, seemingly quite stark on a single piano until the 2nd piano joins in. The pianos can combine in different ways. Sometimes the notes fit together nicely and sometimes they are dischordant, so there is variety even with this basic structure. It is surprising how simple concepts can generate variety and have an emotional impact. The album can be found on major streaming platforms via this link Jeroen Elfferich: Infinito.
The original "Wizardry" video game series started in the 1980s but initially had no music. The game which started it all, "Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord" has been given a modern 3D makeover with a full score by acclaimed game composer Winifred Phillips, and it has been released for free streaming on Spotify and streaming and download on Bandcamp. But don't expect a Harry Potter rip-off, the gameplay and music are more complex than that. Some tracks have looked to different ethnic and period styles for inspiration, and these might be thought of as scene-setting source music for the different game locations. But the score's kernel concerns the story's exciting fantasy adventures and its overall emotional journey. This reaches its climax in the penultimate track called "Wrath of the Wizard" which is a truly rousing orchestral and choral battle anthem, like a dark medieval "Duel of the Fates". The march-like final track then follows with fanfares galore.
The film composer Jan A. P. Kaczmarek (1953-2024) died in May at the age of 71 after battling with an ongoing terminal illness. Born in Poland the composer moved to hollywood where he scored many movies, and he won an oscar in 2004 for his music to Finding Neverland. He also scored "Total Eclipse", "Washington Square", a remake of "Quo Vadis?", "Unfaithful", "Passchendaele" and "Hachiko: A Dog's Story". Kaczmarek also maintained connections with his native Poland and wrote music for various Polish movies and events.
Richard M. Sherman (1928–2024) also died last month. He was the brother and songwriting partner of Robert B. Sherman (1925–2012), the pair usually known as the "Sherman Brothers". Together they were responsible for the songs of many Disney musicals including Mary Poppins, The Jungle Book, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, The Sword in the Stone, Bedknobs and Broomsticks, The Happiest Millionaire, The AristoCats, The Slipper and the Rose and various Winnie the Pooh films.
I've previously mentioned "Tales from the Loop", the quirky sci-fi series based on the art of Swede Simon Stålenhag and its original soundtrack by Philip Glass and Paul Leonard-Morgan. A new release sees the music from the series find its spiritual home on piano solo, courtesy of Paul Leonard-Morgan. I say "spiritual home" since much of Glass' early music was for piano, and I'm sure most of his later compositions are also worked out on the instrument. The original TV soundtrack was for piano and strings, so it feels like a short step to piano solo where the music reaches its own minimal essence. The new piano solo album can be found on various streaming platforms via the album link Tales from the Loop and maybe we can hope for a sheet music release in the near future.
Shardlake is a new 4-part drama starting on Disney+ (UK) and Hulu (US), based on the first novel in C.J. Sansom's murder mystery series set in Tudor times. The titular character is the investigating lawyer Matthew Shardlake (played by Arthur Hughs) and the composer is the award-winning Alex Heffes (The Regime, The Last King of Scotland, Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom). Shardlake is disabled and to reflect his disability, the composer's music is performed by the Paraorchestra consisting of disabled and non-disabled professional musicians. There is a lot of choral music (performed by the choir Tenebrae) sometimes with a religious flavour given that the murder took place in a monastery. But the music also has a raw earthy quality which sits perfectly with the period, but with some modern touches reflecting the machinations uncovered as the central mystery is investigated. Here's the series Shardlake trailer and the Shardlake score on youtube.
"The First Omen" is a prequel of the original "The Omen", Richard Donner's original movie from 1976, and is set before the birth of Damien (the Antichrist) who features in "The Omen" and sequels. In "The First Omen" a devote young American woman moves to Italy in the service of the church, but she encounters unexplained dark manifestations and a conspiracy in the church. The film score is by Mark Korven who has recently been making a name for himself in the Horror/Mystery/Sci-fi genres, with film such as "The Witch", "The Lighthouse" and "The Black Phone". His score for "The First Omen" makes great use of voices - both for some off-kilter religious singing and for some suberbly creepy sound effects. The voices are accompanied by distressed strings, low brass, percussion and other sounds, making for a modern deliciously uncomfortable horror score which charts the growing unease of the young woman. Korven even has time to reference Jerry Goldsmith's original oscar-winning score with a touch of his "Ave Satani". The score album is available to stream and download from services such as Youtube.
You may have seen the extraordinary movie "Poor Things". It won 4 oscars and is currently streaming on Disney+. It was directed by Yorgos Lanthimos, with fantastic central performances from Emma Stone and Willem Dafoe. The music score from English composer Jerskin Fendrix (real name: Joscelin Dent-Pooley) was nominated for an oscar, a bafta and a golden globe. It stands out from typical film music with its feeling of something broken, often transparent of purpose but decidedly off kilter. The magnificent score seems doubly surprising, given that "Poor Things" is the composer's first feature film, and Fendrix got the gig when director Lanthimos heard his debut album "Winterreise". The composer has an on-screen cameo part as a "Lisbon Restaurant Musician". The Poor Things score is available to stream and download. The same team (Director Yorgos Lanthimos, Stars Emma Stone and Willem Dafoe, and composer Jerskin Fendrix) well be reunited in the movie "Kinds of Kindness" due to be released in June this year. The Kinds of Kindness trailer is also now available on youtube.
We really enjoyed the score for Armando Iannucci's "The Death of Stalin" by Christopher Willis, so it's good to report that this Original Motion Picture Soundtrack is to be performed live to screen by the BBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by Matt Dunkley. The live orchestra screening will take place at the Barbican in London on 27th March, and the event will be followed by a Q&A featuring director Armando Iannucci, composer Christopher Willis, producer Kevin Loader and stars of the film Jason Isaacs and Michael Palin. The screening will also feature additional soundtrack music composed by Willis especially for the event. The score will also be released in Dolby Atmos format for a truly immersive experience and as a hi-res digital master. For more information about the new audio releases see The Death of Stalin and for the live orchestral concert to screen event, see Barbican: The Death of Stalin Live.
Recently released on Netflix is the movie "Damsel". This is a Fairy Tale with a difference - it has all the expected fantasy tropes, but in this modern re-imaging the Damsel fights back. The film stars Millie Bobby Brown, Ray Winston and Angela Bassett, and the music is by David Fleming. Fleming has recent credits for "Mr & Mrs Smith", co-credits with Hans Zimmer for "Blue Planet II" and Additional Music Credits for "Dune", "Dune: II", "Chicago Fire" and "The Last of Us". The composer is on the cusp of an A-list career and "Damsel" will propel it further. The score makes much use of voices, often as wordless effects or whispering but maybe in some ancient language. Some of the scene setting has a magical/mystical sound and there's a great feeling of adventure, but soon the threat motifs turn into pure darkess, and the score morphs into all-out action with some horror-type scares. For the Dragon Fleming uses the horn sound of an ancient carnyx. Both movie and score can be recommended - see these links for the movie trailer and for Fleming's film score.
Alexander Melnikov is the famous Russian pianist, who is well-known for playing period keyboards and found fame playing and contrasting the Bach and Shostakovich Preludes and Fugues. "Fantasie" is a double-concept album which matches Melnikov's strengths and interests. As the album cover suggests, not only does it showcase how 7 different composers have interpreted the free-form musical concept of a "Fantasy", but it also demonstrates their Fantasies on 7 different instruments that were available to those composers in their own time periods. So the pianist/harpsichordist performs Fantasies by Bach (father J.S. and son C.P.E.), Mozart (2 examples), Mendelssohn (the 3 movement Fantasia in F# minor), Chopin, Busoni and Schnittke and squeezes in 2 fugues (by J.S.Bach and Schnittke) whose chosen Fantasies are each followed by a Fugue. Wonderfully performed, the album highlights the compositional variety we can hear from a single concept, and the sonic variety from the parallel evolution of keyboard instruments. The album is available from these links at Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com.
With the Oscar nominations announced yesterday and the Golden Globes presented earlier this month, award season is now well under way. The composer Ludwig Göransson has a Golden Globe so far for "Oppenheimer", and is also nominated for a BAFTA and an Oscar. Sadly Robbie Robertson passed away last year, but has still received nominations for all 3 main awards. "Barbie" is doing well in the Song categories with 2 Oscar and 3 Golden Globe nominations. In "She Came to Me" Peter Dinklage plays a fictional opera composer, and in "Maestro" Bradley Cooper plays the real life composer-conductor Leonard Bernstein. Composer John Williams will be 92 next month, and "Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny" is his 54th oscar nomination. He is the most oscar-nominated living person and the oldest ever nominee. For film-music awards so far see our page: Film Music Awards 2024.
News reports today have intimated that the composer Laurie Johnson died last week at the age of 96. He started out as a bandleader and provided music for the stage musical "Lock Up Your Daughters" with lyrics by Lionel Bart. However he is best known as a composer for film and television, and in that role he excelled at capturing a wide range of moods and styles, always able to move with the times as musical tastes evolved. His wide range of film scores included memorable examples such as "Tiger Bay", "Dr. Strangelove", "First Men in the Moon", "Captain Kronos – Vampire Hunter", and "It Shouldn't Happen to a Vet" (film sequel to "All Creatures Great and Small"). He also scored many television series, and his TV themes were known to millions of viewers, particularly during the 1960s and 1970s with shows such as "Top Secret", "Animal Magic", "The Avengers", "This Is Your Life", "Shirley's World" (American series with Shirley MacLaine), "Jason King", "Thriller" (long-running anthology series), "The New Avengers" and "The Professionals".
We are saddened to report the death this week of composer Peter Schickele at the age of 88. Although he wrote some serious music, he is best known as a comedic musician and performer - see our mfiles article Humour in Music. His most famous creation, in many ways his alter ego, is the fictional composer P.D.Q. Bach who is supposed to be a son of J.S. Bach. Schickele released a number of albums of music by P.D.Q. Bach (see these representative albums on Amazon for example), and he also gave regular performances taking the mickey out of lots of musical conventions and using terrible puns and wordplay. Among his more serious work is the score for the cult sci-fi movie "Silent Running". Two final examples in memory of the composer are his own words "P.D.Q Bach was a man who was ahead of his time, but he couldn't have died a moment too soon" and the video Tribute to Peter Schickele from the P.D.Q. Bach Fan Channel on youtube.
A lot has happened on Doctor Who over the past couple of months, with several music-related events and news items. Murray Gold has now returned as the series composer, scoring a Children in Need minisode and three 60th Anniversary Specials reuniting David Tennant and Catherine Tate. A Musical Celebration Concert (available on iPlayer) was held in Cardiff featuring music and composers from the classic series, and also from the new series in the shape of Murray Gold and Segun Akinola. The concert introduced us to Murray's new themes for the 15th Doctor and for keyboardist companion Ruby Sunday. Two more classic scores have been released, including "Revenge of the Cybermen" by Carey Blyton and "Time and the Rani" by Jeff McCulloch, and there was even a charity single release of the "Goblin Song" from the Christmas Special. And this is just the tip of the iceberg! Our article on Doctor Who Music has now been updated to reflect these events and a lot more, with the New Series in the Spring promising a lot more musical inspiration.
For current and recent new items, see Jim's Blog.
For older posts, the archive pages are Jim's Blog 2023, Jim's Blog 2022, Jim's Blog 2021, Jim's Blog 2020, Jim's Blog 2019, Jim's Blog 2018, Jim's Blog 2017, Jim's Blog 2016, Jim's Blog 2015, Jim's Blog 2014, Jim's Blog 2013, Jim's Blog 2012, Jim's Blog 2011, Jim's Blog 2010, and Jim's Blog 2009.
mfiles home