I hope some of you have read that article posted by filmscorecomposer. Very interesting. Here are the parts I found interesting. (Direct quotes.)
"I think Martin has quite a lot of knowledge about film music. There are some composers that he truly admires and of which he expressed an interest in wanting to use them some day. Ennio Morricone, John Murphy (28 Days Later) and quite a few others are on top of his list. With Brimstone he had thought of hiring the Canadian composer Howard Shore, because Martin admires his work on Cronenberg's films very much. This was someone who he was very sure of, while still wanting to revisit some of his specific scores. The director also had his eye on some other composers. He wanted to find out a bit more about their music and their capacities. In addition to the ones he talked about I had offered him to take some other composers into consideration.
Around the same period of brainstorming on the choice of a composer, he asked me about composers who could (still) write distinctive and striking melodies for a film. As examples he referred to Michael Nymans The Piano and composer Morricone. He really wanted music with memorable melodies that worked for a film, unaffraid to be noticed and that could be whistled as you walked out of the cinema. In the process of considering some composers weighed heavily into making a choice."
Here is hoping that when I see the movie, I can "whistle" the melodies.
Don't count on a melody you can whistle from Holkenburg. I'd doubt it ever happens but certainly not here. This is more of the same style of Black Mass, droning underscore with the occasional attempts at melody scattered throughout in the most amateur style imaginable. How this passes for being "more classical" is beyond me.
Don't count on a melody you can whistle from Holkenburg. I'd doubt it ever happens but certainly not here. This is more of the same style of Black Mass, droning underscore with the occasional attempts at melody scattered throughout in the most amateur style imaginable. How this passes for being "more classical" is beyond me.
And how you can so easily dimiss a great score like this is also beyond me.
And it is a terrific score. The movie, a baroque horror Western now on VOD (and home video next month) may be a matter of taste (I went for it, as I went for BONE TOMAHAWK), but the lush, moody music really captivated me. Very much worth a listen.
Yes, I heard a melody in this score, but I doubt that I could whistle it. It is dark, moody score. I felt like I was listening to a dirge throughout most of the movie, and sometimes I thought that the music did not fit the visuals; during other scenes, the music seemed to work. This isn't a score that I want to buy as a stand alone listening experience.
Silverado and Tombstone are big, rousing thematic scores. I love those scores too as well as many other western scores by Bernstein, Goldsmith and others. I would never use the word "dirge" to describe those scores. Brimstone's music was dark and gloomy. It also had some religious overtones in places and was not at all like the Broughton scores you mentioned. It isn't one I want to own.
Yes, I heard a melody in this score, but I doubt that I could whistle it. It is dark, moody score. I felt like I was listening to a dirge throughout most of the movie, and sometimes I thought that the music did not fit the visuals; during other scenes, the music seemed to work. This isn't a score that I want to buy as a stand alone listening experience.
Wow, that's very different from my experience. I haven't seen the film yet (it's on my 'to watch' list), but the score is IMO the best of the year so far as a pure listening experience. Barber or no Barber; it's exquisitely beautiful on album (I weeded out a couple of tracks to make it a more even 60-minute presentation).
