This young, classically trained composer from the U.K has so far only scored a few films, two of which have been released on the MSM label (Dear Wendy and The Escapist). He's also had a collection of his concert works released by Quartz on a CD called Escape Velocity. Many film score fans will have seen his name on the soundtracks of Dario Marianelli as orchestrator or conductor. He's still probably only about 30, but from what I've heard by him so far, he could be a real 'light' for the future of film music, especially if producers and directors start moving beyond the boring 'programmed' sound that is all the rage these days. Anyone else been following this young composer?
Sure! I've actually met him about a month ago when he conducted a concert of classical music in Prague. I visited him in the backstage as he agreed to meet and sign his The Escapist for me. Very cool guy and a great conductor! I am certainly interested in hearing more of his music in the future and still need to check his classical works. I've heard both Dear Wendy and The Escapist and liked both of those... Dear Wendy probably even more than The Escapist, although both are very interesting scores... Glad to know he has got to work with more composers...
I enjoyed The Escapist a lot and hoped he would follow the director of that film onto Rise of the Planet of the Apes. I guess the producers wanted a more known name for that expensive and possible franchise rejuvenator. Looking forward to what Benjamin does next.
The Escapist was a great film with an even better score. I will be looking forward to hearing more more from the composer. It's a shame he didn't get to work on Rise of the Planet of the Apes - I think he would have handed in an exceptional score - he's got the chops IMHO.
I've been playing his classical works collection (Escape Velocity) and the best compliment I can pay it is it reminds me of similar CD's I have by John Williams, Elliot Goldenthal and Don Davis. I'm no authority of classical music, old style or modern and I'm always going to prefer film scores over classical works, mainly because classical music CD's come at me like all form and structure and theory, lacking that 'immediate' pleasure I get from film scores. Anyway, my musical ignorance aside, there are pieces on this CD that are amazing. From the performances to the structure and building blocks on display. I'm not 'musically literate' enough to describe what's going on in the tracks, but my ears sure know there's a helluva musical talent behind them. He sounds way too talented to get many gigs for films these days. This CD is well worth checking out if you like that kind of thing.
It's a mighty shame no CD has been released for his score to J.M Barrie's PETER PAN (2010). It is available for download only at amazon.com or can be heard on spotify. It runs 42 minutes and features some exciting and ethereal moments. I'd love a real CD of it (hell, I'd take an on-demand one!)
really? I have it ;-) Flying to Neverland cue is simply amazing!
actually it seems there are in fact two versions available in the "hard" form - one with 17 tracks, the other with 19. Not sure how much they have in common or if each of them was composed speficially for the stage production of a different theatre company but they do have a few tracks in common and their (those tracks) playing time matches.
I have the 17-track version which is a pressed CD in digipack packaging. I have also seen there 19-track version, which seems to be most likely CD-R but that one was a bit too expensive for me at that moment so I had to pass.
From the samples, the music appears, at least in part, to be blatantly derivative of Bernard Herrmann, as in the main "theme" and "Tony Killed" (Psycho) and "Lacey is Free" (Fahrenheit 451). Too close for comfort, a bit like Richard Band's "hommage" to Herrmann in Re-Animator.
As in "CONQUEST 1453", samples(!) seem to indicate Wallfisch is often merely cloning other people's music.
From the samples, the music appears, at least in part, to be blatantly derivative of Bernard Herrmann, as in the main "theme" and "Tony Killed" (Psycho) and "Lacey is Free" (Fahrenheit 451). Too close for comfort, a bit like Richard Band's "hommage" to Herrmann in Re-Animator.
As in "CONQUEST 1453", samples(!) seem to indicate Wallfisch is often merely cloning other people's music.
I'm sorry but I think this is just picking for picking's sake. I loved his score for THE ESCAPIST (still often play it) and to say its just a Herrmann rip-off effort is frankly ridiculous. Haven't managed to hear DEAR WENDY yet but i would have high hopes for it on the strength of THE ESCAPIST. Any other fans of Mr Wallfisch care to rush to his defence with me?
I'm sorry but I think this is just picking for picking's sake. I loved his score for THE ESCAPIST (still often play it) and to say its just a Herrmann rip-off effort is frankly ridiculous.
That's seriously simplistic thinking. I said "at least in part", named the parts where I heard it - and, frankly, those are drearily obvious Herrmann "hommages".
"Any other fans of Mr Wallfisch care to rush to his defence with me?" --------------------------------------- Yes, I will. Dear Wendy is VERY good. Some great orchestral scoring in that one. I enjoy The Escapist and his classical CD (Escape Velocity) is worth checking out. However, it's disappointing to see such a well-trained classical musician having to score his last two features in the (already dated?) modern sound. That Turkish epic one (1453?) had the potential to be a real blood n thunder epic score! I haven't picked up those two recent scores (in fact, the newer one isn't out until June) as the samples left me feeling underwhelmed. Such a shame composers have to dumb down to score a film these days
I do enjoy Conquest 1453 which had, I thought, enough to lift it above the average RCP sound that they were obviously going for. The samples for Hammer of the Gods do seem to be a tougher sell though. I know we're not going to return to the Rozsa epic score for these sort of films but do they all have to sound like 300? I'll still buy as I like Wallfisch and I like to support Moviescore Media who really do release music for the little films that others would miss.
Thanks for sharing dave. A truly fascinating read. I visited Auschwitz last November. Chilling! Macabre. Almost unreal!
----One recurring theme in her lectures is an exhortation: "Talk to each other before you kill each other, go drink a cup of coffee together. Celebrate your differences!"-----
