Ten Tracks Today – 22nd September 2011
Posted by Alan Rogers on September 22, 2011
I have been spending so much time reviewing recently that I haven’t been listening to much else other than the titles for review. But here’s a selection of tracks I have been listening to this evening:
01 – “Flucht” – Held Der Gladiatoren – Carsten Rocker
Bold and brassy this track. Sounds like quite an action track with the solid driving rhythm underneath the swirling strings and the blaring brass statements. A hint of Middle Eastern ethnicity for a second or two, but mostly generic action scoring.
02 – “Mountain Rescue” – Britain From Above – David Schweitzer
A regal horn statement is very Lord-of-the-Rings-y to get things started. Suggests that we are seeing grand mountain vistas – maybe even snow-covered? Nice though. Then we are into a string ostinato and stabbing brass for the meat of the rescue. This is from a BBC documentary, though I can’t remember much about this sequence.
03 – “Frozen Wasteland” – Captain America: The First Avenger – Alan Silvestri
An ominous cue this one that’s quite and bare but at the same time exhibits quite a lot of Silvestri’s “mannerisms”. Quite a non-event cue really until the final string and brass swells at the end.
04 – “Eftertext” – Saltön – Magnus Strömberg
A lovely cue this one: the woodwind melody is such a beautiful piece. This is a cue where the ostinato phrase can become tiresome by the end of the track. Very much a baroque feel to the whole thing.
05 – “Casino” – Loft – Wolfram De Marco
Now this is just pure bliss – 12 minutes of it. This track is all ostinato but the composer weaves an interesting listening experience around it. The ostinato undergoes interesting developments (in orchestration) too. It’s quite an ominous and tense piece of music. It all makes the time just fly by. I just love it!
06 – “Tangiers” – The Bourne Ultimatum – John Powell
An energetic mix of pursuit scoring with an ethnic flavour, particularly in the percussion. There’s something quite appealing with a Powell score when he’s got the strings playing as they play in this track.
07 – “Andina” – Lord of War – Antonio Pinto
I find the guitars/mandolins used in this cue lovely. A very delicate sound. Most of the rest of the score I don’t really enjoy but the couple of tracks like this one are firm favourites.
08 – “Un Diario d’Amore” – L’Amore non Basta – Piernicola Di Muro
This score is a lovely little score that has some very memorable tracks. The mix of guitar and string ostinato is what’s memorable about this track. And the addition of the woodwind melody just adds to the appeal of the cue.
09 – “Morirás en Chafarinas” – Morirás en Chafarinas – Bernardo Bonezzi
A beguiling track this one: sounds like it should accompany some sort of Middle Eastern exotic dancer or perhaps be used by an Indian snake charmer. A mix of orchestra and ethnic orchestration.
10 – “Theme” – Earthquake – John Williams
This version if off Geoff Love’s Big Terror Movie Themes album and is a version I grew up with. This compilation is one of my earliest film music purchases and I was so pleased to see it released on CD and twinned with Love’s Super Heroes compilation (one that I had not heard before).
