Slow Reviews Soundtracks: A NinSheetMusic Column

[Winter]

After ctrl+f ing my name, I thought you talked about me like fifteen times. But it turns out that winter is just used in normal conversation on every thread. Also your signature xD

And yes.

I ctrl+f my name.

[SlowPokemon]

Well Pokemon Black and White has several songs with "Winter" in their names and one of my songs from Trapped does as well.

[EFitTrainr]

My dad was in a stage production of sweeney todd.

[SlowPokemon]

That's awesome!! What part did he have, a main part or an ensemble or something?

But yeah my school's doing it for the spring musical, a few of my friends are in it...I'mma go see it.

[EFitTrainr]

He was a chorus part... But it was still really cool.

[SlowPokemon]

That is cool! I have three friends in the chorus part. And I know this senior guy, who arranged the Howl's Moving Castle Theme for me to play with the band last year, and also works at my local Gamestop, who is playing Pirelli... he's a great person for that role.

[SlowPokemon]

Soundtrack Review: Hugo by Howard Shore

Hugo was a fantastic film by Scorsese, who often uses the brilliant Howard Shore (the man responsible for the award winning scores to Lord of the Rings) to write the scores for his films. And I can't see how any other score would work better than Mr. Shore's does.

While the orchestra is often present, Shore also uses a smaller ensemble to perform many of the pivotal parts of his score—an ensemble consisting of a highly prominent piano, musette, and guitar, as well as a bass, ondes martenot, and a percussionist.

The best thing about this score for me is either the French-influenced atmosphere or the multitudes of solid themes that Shore establishes and references throughout everything. These themes are everywhere. The first, representing clocks, mystery, and the overarching story, is heard at the very beginning of the first track, "The Thief." It's characterized by winding arpeggios and piano notes dropping octaves at a time. It's quite pretty in waltz form, and in "The Clocks" is arranged into 4/4 time.

The next theme is Hugo's theme, and appears in the first track immediately after the aforementioned motif. It's characterized by a bright waltz, usually with accordion, and overall is quite joyous and represents Hugo well.

The Station Inspector's theme is heard in several tracks, the first being the second one, "The Chase." It's quite French-inspired and this is probably one of the themes you'll carry with you from the soundtrack, it being so catchy and somewhat chaotic.

The theme for Hugo's father is heard in a LOT of the tracks (if only for an instant) but is heard in full in (fittingly enough) "Hugo's Father." It consists of several fast, mysterious notes, usually played on the piano, then repeated in a slightly different manner. In this track Shore goes farther and allows the guitar to build on it, making it more sorrowful and bittersweet.

Another winning theme is first heard in the second half of the soundtrack, in "Papa Georges Made Movies." It's sweet and reminds me of stars, and in the second half of that track is arranged into an uptempo version using the accordion, fun percussion, and piano. The second half is quite similar to the style Ratatouille's "Le Festin."

Finally, the last theme is first heard fleetingly in "The Invention of Dreams" then later in full in "The Magician." It uses sweeping strings before going off on a fun, chaotic rant.

There are some other winners on here, obviously. "Coeur Volant" is the first ending credits song, using many of Shore's motifs, and sung beautifully in French by the artist Zaz. The second end credits song, "Winding it Up," covers several of Shore's themes.

I quite enjoyed Hugo. But it might not be everybody's thing. If French-inspired music is your type of thing, this soundtrack is an absolute must. However, if an accordion in waltz tempo makes you want to cut your ears off, this is probably not the album for you.

Rating: ****

Track listing (excellent tracks in red):
1. The Thief
2. The Chase
3. The Clocks
4. Snowfall
5. Hugo's Father
6. Ashes
7. The Station Inspector
8. Bookstore
9. The Movies
10. The Message
11. The Armoire
12. Purpose
13. The Plan
14. Trains
15. Papa Georges Made Movies
16. The Invention of Dreams
17. A Ghost in the Station
18. A Train Arrives in the Station
19. The Magician
20. Coeur Volant (performed by Zaz)
21. Winding it Up

[Ruto]

Since it's a bit much to ask you to do the entire LOTR soundtrack, what about doing the Cardcaptor Sakura: The Sealed Card one? I won't laugh at you for watching the movie or listening to the songs xD I'm interested in what you think of an old anime soundtrack composed by someone who doesn't even have a Wikipedia page.

[SlowPokemon]

Forget that. I downloaded all three lotr soundtracks.
 

[Ruto]

That's how many hours of music there? XD

I have the first two complete soundtracks actually...attended the first* one of the orchestrated screenings at Radio City, met Howard Shore and got him to autograph something. Looks like we're both obsessed with it, woooo...


*would have went to the others if I had the money. $90+ for an average seat isn't exactly cheap.../poor college student

[SlowPokemon]

That's how many hours of music there? XD

I have the first two complete soundtracks actually...attended the first* one of the orchestrated screenings at Radio City, met Howard Shore and got him to autograph something. Looks like we're both obsessed with it, woooo...


*would have went to the others if I had the money. $90+ for an average seat isn't exactly cheap.../poor college student

Pics please

I loved his score for Hugo so freaking much

[Ruto]

I don't think I took a pic of me and Howard Shore...even if I did, it would be on my old camera and its memory card that I put aside, years ago. I think I have a picture OF him though. Yeah, my friend left me right after the show so I think that's probably why I don't think I had a picture with him. The line for autographs was at least an hour long.

But I'm sure I still have the program he autographed. It might be a bit battered, though. I'll find it and get a pic of it possibly on Friday.

[SlowPokemon]

Soundtrack Review: Whisper of the Heart by Yuji Nomi -- specially ded. to the memory of Yoshifumi Kondo

With Studio Ghibli, you can for the good majority of the time count on one thing: that you are about to see something you've never seen before, something extraordinary. Whisper of the Heart defies this notion, and is in fact the only Ghibli film I have seen that contains no supernatural elements. And yet it is a wonderful film: one that tells of the innocence of young children, and the loss of that innocence, and first love, and all that mess. It is a deeply moving, poignant look at everyday life. It's one of my favorite Ghibli films because of this. It also has a bit of a sad story behind it: the reason its director, Yoshifumi Kondo, Miyazaki's protege, never went on to direct any other films, is because of his untimely tragic death due to a ruptured aneurysm. He was only forty-seven. His death brought Miyazaki out of retirement to direct such masterpieces as Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away--but you have to wonder what kind of films Kondo would have gone on to produce.

The score was done by Yuji Nomi. This was his first job composing for films, and in fact (as far as I know, and his one-sentence Wikipedia entry reads) his only job until seven years later when Studio Ghibli released a spinoff of Whisper of the Heart, entitled The Cat Returns. In my opinion, they are both great scores and Nomi deserves a lot of credit.

The movie features John Denver's "Take Me Home, Country Road" heavily in the story, and Nomi actually wrote alternate lyrics titled "Concrete Road" to be featured in the film. The soundtrack album features a violin version with Yoko Honna (the voice of the main character, Shizuku) singing in a lovely piece, and is also ended by a full orchestrated version, once again with her singing. Both are lovely. The instrumentation is better in the violin version, but the actual song at the end of the album is gorgeous.

The original score is very, very good. The (surprisingly sparse) themes are just lovely. The main thing that sticks with me after listening to the score, though, is the lavish orchestration. Just listen to the opening track, "Hilly Town." It contains what I consider the main theme of the movie (though it only shows up in one other track). It begins slowly with just a piano performing the poignant theme, then moves to some easygoing strings before becoming fast-paced. The strings, woodwinds, piano, just everything about this piece is lovely and really shows Nomi's talent for orchestration. "On the Hill, Breezy" takes a more relaxed version of the theme and they're both extraordinarily pretty in their quiet loveliness.

Another theme which is first heard in small snippets in the all-too-brief "The End of the Summer" is referenced in numerous other tracks but really is intended to be the theme of Baron. It can be heard briefly in "Let's Fly! We'll Catch the Updraft" and beautifully in full in "The Song of Baron." It uses a strange chord structure, but it is pretty great (though that squeaky violin is quite a lot to handle).

A main theme for the second half of the album--a sort of love theme for Shizuku and Seiji--is introduced in a similarly wonderful way in the track "Floating Clouds, Shining Hills," in which a similar orchestration to the opening track is used. It is quite a beautiful theme which is heard in the more upbeat synthesized cue "I've Decided! I Will Write a Story" and a slow violin piece, "Canon." One of the more innocent, poignant tracks is "Recollections," which is orchestrated beautifully as with the aforementioned tracks. It tells of lost love and also a regained sense of hope come from sadness. It's worth grouping "The Elf Queen" with this one. "The Forest of Doubts" is gorgeously uneasy, representing Shizuku's struggle with life.

"A Confidential Talk" is an excellent example of musical humor. The clarinet and other woodwinds lead into a violin and then accordion section that's really cute (if you've seen the movie you can probably understand my opinion of it).

Finally, I really must mention the harpsichord-led "Angel's Room," which has a beautiful string movement of the Baron's theme in the middle. It's a cute sort of track, accompanying Shizuku and Seiji's innocent young love.

There are a lot of cues that use some strange synthesizer instruments, which sound a bit out of place next to the other wonderfully orchestrated tracks. They're good, just not as good as the album's highlights.

All in all, the score is a bit of a mixed bag. The opening track and several others down the road (the COUNTRY road) are beautifully handled, but other simpler tracks seem almost lazy by comparison. I quite enjoyed the album, though, and would recommend a listen for those fans of the film (who will ultimately get the most out of it).

Rating: ****

Track listing (excellent tracks in red):
1. Hilly Town
2. Chasing a Cat
3. The Earth Shop
4. The Elf Queen
5. The End of the Summer
6. A Confidential Talk
7. On the Train
8. On the Hill, Breezy
9. Angel's Room
10. (Violin Tuning)
11. Country Road (Violin Version)
12. The Stars in Heaven
13. Floating Clouds, Shining Hills
14. I've Decided! I Will Write a Story
15. Let's Fly! We'll Catch the Updraft!
16. An Old Windprint
17. Canon
18. The Forest of Doubts
19. Recollections
20. The Song of Baron
21. Daybreak
22. Country Road (Theme Song)

[Ruto]

For Slow: A blurry camera pic!



I have a snap of the cover as well, didn't upload that yet though.

[SlowPokemon]

Wow that is absolutely brilliant!