Michael Kamen

[Bessinnox]

Hi I'm the first one to post in this topic hehe

So I want to know your opinion about the scores of our dear lost friend Michael KAMEN.

my prefered score is ROBIN HOOD, the intro is amazing,with this staccati strings that give a powerfull ambiance.

so who's next ??

[LEX]

Michael is great. I was at his house a month before he pasted.

Nick Glennie-Smith - We Were Soldiers

John Powell - Bourne Identity

Harry Gregson Williams - Phone Booth

Bernard Herrmann - Anything

LEX

[ToddK]

:D
Anybody ever check out the movie "The Game" with Alec Baldwin and Anthony Hopkins?

Goldsmith scored it. LOVE that flick, and the music.

Great Trombone slides and effects during the Bear chase scenes. Brilliant!!!:eek:

Very tough if not impossible with samples.

TK

[Neilfactory]

Harry Gregson Williams - Phone Booth

HGW, my "MASTER"!

>Neil.

[ShinyPenny]

Cue the John Williams lovefest.

BTW, I do too. :)

[shnurgle]

Herrmann was such a sick writer, and what a stubborn bastard too! My kind of guy all the way.

Aside from the usual cast of characters (Bernstien, Steiner, Waxman, Morricone, Williams et al...) all of whom can write their kaintzes off, I'm really into Thomas Newman right now. I keep hearing stuff by him that makes me jealous. REALLY jealous.

[dcoscina]

I've been listening to WIlliams' War of the Worlds score quite a bit. There's so much going on in those cues.

Recently, I've been going through an Akira Ifukube renaissance (prior to hearing of his sad passing this week) and really like his Majin scores.

Still fuming about Shore's removal from King Kong and hope to someday hear that.

As for tried and true scores, I'll take:

Papillon (Goldsmith)
Fahrenheit 451 (Herrmann)
King Kong (Steiner)
Star Wars (Williams)
Alexander Nevsky (Prokofiev)
Ivan the Terrible (Prokofiev)
Dragonslayer (North)
Cobb (Goldenthal)
Alien3 (Goldenthal but not for the weak of heart)
Angela's Ashes (Williams)

and a whole slew more.....

[james hansson]

So I want to know your opinion about the scores of our dear lost friend Michael KAMEN.


i like ambiance from dead zone , very interesting !
but a very good work from DIE HARD soundtrack

IMO , the best is jerry goldsmith
very amazing composer !

[Ecliptic]

IMO , the best is jerry goldsmith
very amazing composer !

Another part of the music history, I love his music and I miss him now that he's gone, like other our lost teachers Elmer Bernstein and Michael Kamen.

They'll live forever in their music.

[Ecliptic]

I'm really into Thomas Newman right now. I keep hearing stuff by him that makes me jealous. REALLY jealous.

Who can tell not being into Thomas Newman ?
He is the best.
Did you hear the great scores of Meet Joe Black, Green Mile or Road to perdition (this is absolutely the best).

I get touched when listening to Thomas Newman's music.

[LEX]

Who can tell not being into Thomas Newman ?
He is the best.
Did you hear the great scores of Meet Joe Black, Green Mile or Road to perdition (this is absolutely the best).

I get touched when listening to Thomas Newman's music.
Cinderella Man

[chocothrax]

I'd say Meet Joe Black is Newman's best so far.

[james hansson]

Another part of the music history, I love his music and I miss him now that he's gone, like other our lost teachers Elmer Bernstein and Michael Kamen.

yes elmer bernstein and michael kamen
or bernard herrmann ;)


http://www.uib.no/herrmann/articles/bio/pict/p_vertigo.jpg

[Ecliptic]

yes elmer bernstein and michael kamen
or bernard herrmann ;)


http://www.uib.no/herrmann/articles/bio/pict/p_vertigo.jpg

He died more than 30 years ago so I don't remember him, but I remember very well his great music within the great moviest of the greatest master Sir Alfred.

[james hansson]

He died more than 30 years ago so I don't remember him, but I remember very well his great music within the great moviest of the greatest master Sir Alfred.

yes it's true ecliptic , that given pleasure of seeing that some do not have to forget the great talent of Mr. herrmann

others composers for my top 10

eliot goldenthal from alien 3 soundtrack
very impressive work

[Ecliptic]

yes it's true ecliptic , that given pleasure of seeing that some do not have to forget the great talent of Mr. herrmann

others composers for my top 10

eliot goldenthal from alien 3 soundtrack
very impressive work

Within many current movies scores I notice the influence of the Herrmann's scores.

[james hansson]

Within many current movies scores I notice the influence of the Herrmann's scores.


absolutely ecliptic

herrmann is a master for romantic scoring and thriller soundtrack

remember the beautiful TAXI DRIVER (very great )

[dcoscina]

For those Herrmann lovers, I suggest Fahrenheit 451. It's scored for strings, percussion, celeste and harp, (almost the same configuration as Bartok's seminal work) and is one of the most beautiful scores I've heard. Although I think Vertigo is Herrmann's finest score in pure cinematic terms, my fave of his is F451.

As for Kamen, he was a great composer. His last score, OPEN RANGE is quite melodic and very atypical for a western. My favorite Kamen score probably is The Iron Giant which has got one of most moving climactic cues I've ever heard ("No Following"). It's a fine score and a great film too.

Other Kamen works to check out are:

Dead Zone
Highlander
Die Hard
Last Action Hero
Robin Hood (although thet really need to re-record this score as the performance was horrid on the original)
Lethal Weapon
Last Boy Scout (currently not available)
Mr. Holland's Opus

[james hansson]

I suggest Fahrenheit 451

very great !

OPEN RANGE

i view recently this movie very emotional soundtrack
when I saw it I am a little sad because I knew that it stil one of its last score for Kamen :(

[Moonchilde]

I really enjoyed Kamen's work on What Dreams May Come.

I also like Elliot Goldenthal, Michael Giacchino, Jerry Goldsmith, and Danny Elfman.

[shnurgle]

Speaking of Herrmann, PBS was playing North by Northwest yesterday. Classic Herrmann score blending the ugly and the pretty. Like he'll be all over the stacato in some quirky rhythm and then boom, hit a fat sus or minor nine chord, then back to the stac. HE did a great job with tension. Also when they do the reveal oif M.t Rushmore it's so over the top. Really great stuff.

[PaulR]

absolutely ecliptic

herrmann is a master for romantic scoring and thriller soundtrack

remember the beautiful TAXI DRIVER (very great )

Never thought of Taxi Driver's score as being romantic - I suppose it could be described as that in some ways. It's more menacing jazz actually.

Although Herrmann was capable of romantic writing - for example, later on in Vertigo (after the incredible opening title scoring) or The Ghost and Mrs Muir (his personal favourite score that he ever wrote btw). Generally though, Herrmann didn't bother himself with things like leit motifs - mostly rhythmical, percussive stuff. Also, he did some truly innovative things with the way he miced an orchestra - so that instruments would come to the fore that generally would have been drowned out in a live performance. Things he learnt to do from his radio days in New York working with Orson Welles.
Muted strings with no vibrato for that cold menace in Psycho. The whole score is just strings. No one scoring before or after would have come up with that when sitting in front of a locked film for the first time. No one.

The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951) is a template for anything sci-fi - even in some ways Forbidden Planet and Psycho has been copied over and over again.

Not just the greatest film score writer of all time - but one of the greatest 20th century writers of all time. The writing of North by North West is actually quite insane to me. It's just too good.

Not a guy you would want to get on the wrong side of.

:D