Continuing with our catch-up of weekly recommended scores, here’s another round-up of scores that caught my attention over the week ending, 16th February 2024.
Empire Queen: The Golden Age of Magic (2024) – Nicolás Repetto (MovieScore Media)
Empire Queen: The Golden Age of Magic (dirs. Christopher Dane Owens, Jason Schulz) is a fantasy action-adventure comedy. Magic is forbidden in the kingdom, and a group of adventurers set out on a dangerous quest to overthrow an evil queen and restore magic for everyone. Argentinian-American composer Nicolás Repetto’s score harkens back to the epic orchestral fantasy adventure scoring of the likes of John Williams. Thematic in nature, Repetto’s music shifts effortless between various musical genres: swashbuckling adventure, lyrically romantic, mischievous. With a running time of over 2 hours, the music for Empire Queen: The Golden Age of Magic carries the listener on a magical, exciting journey that never lets up.
I diafanoidi vengono de Marte (1966) – Angelo Francesco Lavagnino (Creazioni Artistiche Musicali C.A.M.)
I diafanoidi vengono de Marte (The War of the Planets) (dir. Antonio Margheriti) is the second film in the Gamma 1 series of Italian science fiction films and precedes Il Pianeta Errante. Earth faces an alien threat as humanity is possessed by a diaphonous green mist turning people into slaves of a collective alien mind. Gamma 1 space station command must save the world. Again. Angelo Francesco Lavagnino’s music is very much in a similar vein to his music for another one of the Gamma 1 quadrilogy of movies, Il Pianeta Errante. Foreboding low-register orchestra sits alongside eerie electronics for much of the 20-minute playing time. There are a couple of times when the mood is lightened (including some “Space Age Swing”). It’s a nice little example of sixties genre film music.
Reel Music 