NEW YORK: A Documentary Film by Brian Keane. Beautiful.
Bless you boy! I interviewed Keane for FSMO about this project.(click my profile) One of the great things about the experience was he sent me his COMPLETE score* which contains some of the best music -sadly missing on the official RCA ost. bruce
* he told me he would do the same for fans who contact him
Several scores have been written over the years for the film that many historians cite as the starting point for documentary, Nanook of the North. The Criterion version I believe uses a score by Timothy Brock, but I've always liked the score composed by Stanley Silverman that is on my old 16mm print (perhaps because that is how I first experienced the film).
As effective as Glass's scores are for the -qatsi films, the downside has been that there now appears to be a whole generation of filmmakers and composers who seem to think that the only way a documentary can be scored is with a minimalist, New Age sound, as though having the music make any kind of comment on the images would violate the sense of reality (even though the choice of camera angle, framing, etc. already puts limitations on what constitutes actuality).
Although it is a bit restrained in it's overall mood (I feel like it just keeps holding back, more than it lets loose), DE NIEUWE WILDERNIS is actually a very pleasant and well developed and performed orchestral score by little known composer Bob Zimmerman. Lots of fanfares, moments of dramatic, boasting brass and sweeping string sections make it a fun listening experience.
Coincidentally, I'm actually offering a copy of the hard to find soundtrack on my FSM Trading Post page. For $13 it's a REAL STEAL and well worth the investigation for anyone looking to discover a rather fun score by a relative newcomer. You can check it out on my page in the "$13" section.(Shameless plug, I know, but very relevant to this topic. ) - http://www.filmscoremonthly.com/board/posts.cfm?threadID=109431&forumID=2&archive=0