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  • Take a look/listen!


    Some real film music; simply stunning... It's all arranged for strings and there is not a single spiccato to be found(!!) - if I remember right. This music was not composed with the "help" of any software, no 'arpeggiator' or 'generate pattern' buttons to be found anywhere (how does he do it...)

    Plus, there is more harmony and sophistication than all the soundtracks composed in the last 10 years put together (save for Williams). In short, a real composer did those ones. Learn something, the talented ones!


  • Beautiful. Thanks for sharing. I havent heard much of Takemitsu before.

    Just after I typed this I learn that he scored for Kurosawa's "Ran". One of the most powerful movies Ive seen and the score was memorable as well.

    Wow, I learnt something new today. Thanks.


  • Indeed, most amazing music, very sophisticated and full of harmonic surprises. What a wealth! It could be an advanced learner's course in harmony.

    As to music writing: not so long ago most of us were quite satisfied with paper and pencil, with a litlle help of the piano to test some harmonic experiment. All the rest was experience and education, craftmanship, talent... And that way, millions of exquisite pages of music have been filled and executed without any button or digital help. But I wouldn't dare to say that computer 'writers' aren't real composers. It's just another way to proceed. I've said this many times before: What if Bach, Haydn or Mozart would have known the technical means we dispose of nowadays...? Quality of a composition doesn't depend on the way it has been written, it's all in the composers mind and his skills. No computer or sample library can ever create a rich and original work by itself.

    Thanks for sharing!

    Jos


  • You're right Ran is one of the great films and that had a tremendous score. It added a huge amount to Kurosawa's already fantastic work.  ALso it was very wide-ranging in feeling from the epic, tragic battle scenes to the lonely flute theme at the end.  


  • Ran was just one of those few movies that made such an impression on the young Errikos; soundtrack and all... (which I have on vinyl from back then, and was nominated for an Oscar if memory serves)

    As far as technology is concerned, I agree. If Bach, Mozart, et al. were alive today they would all use SIbelius/program of choice - much like writers use Microsoft Word/program of choice - for efficiency; and they would also put ideas down on paper when outside the office (for they could!). My contention is that those composers would never 'ask' the computer to generate their music for them. And not only those titans, but also people like Herrmann, Williams, Jarre, Goldsmith, etc. I mean, what could Morricone do on computer? There is no button for 'sublime melody' is there?...


  • I have often thought that the ability to create a great melody is the mark of true composing, and everything else is just technique.  Though of course some composers emphasize melody less.  Herrmann was often said to avoid melodies but he did create great ones as in Fahrenheit 451 and Citizen Kane.  One of the greatest melodists in film music is John Barry.  For example Somewhere in Time which is a long, rapturously romantic melody so good that it has been repeatedly taken out of the film context and used elsewhere.  Another great one of his is  the little-known Nicholas Roeg film Walkabout which has some fantastic complex harmonies and another beautiful romantic melody ironically contrasting the harsh story of survival in the Australian outback. 


  • PaulP Paul moved this topic from Orchestration & Composition on