(3 reviews)

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Recording dates: 25-28 january and 2,3,5,6,9,12 february 1988

Studio: EMI Abbey Road, Londres

Orchestra: London Symphony Orchestra

Choir: The King's College Choir, Wimbledon

Music editor: Jim Henrikson

Ethnic woodwinds: Tony Hinnigan, Mike Taylor

Shakuhachi: Kazu Matsui

Orchestrator: Greig McRitchie

Score mixer: Shawn Murphy

Fairlight synthesizer: Ian Underwood

Celtic harp and bagpipes: Robin Williamson

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WILLOW EXPANDED EDITION: OUR EXCLUSIVE REVIEW

Thirty-four years after the release of Virgin Records’ original soundtrack album, Intrada treats us to an expanded version of Willow. This marks the end of a notedly long wait for all of us whose only access to the music omitted from that release was via the film, or by turning to The Story of Willow, a narration of the story (including sound effects, dialogue and music) released in 1988 by Buena Vista on vinyl, audio cassette and CD. Now at long last, this new edition allows fans to discover the wealth of previously unreleased cues in stellar sound quality. While there[...]

BSX PIANO COMPILATION: INTERVIEW WITH DAN REDFELD

Whenever we stumble across new recordings of James Horner music, we wonder: why bother? If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Re-recordings have invariably been a mixed bag, ranging from the good (Collage: The Last Work) to the not-so-good (the 2011 Silva Screen album). Now Dan Redfeld and BSX bring us a new compilation for solo piano. Right off the bat, it is impossible to compare full symphonic recordings and interpretations for solo piano. No fewer than 15 of the Maestro’s scores are on tap here, and as explained by Dan Redfeld, it was obviously necessary to set aside such luxuries[...]

NEW HORNER COMPILATION CD FOR SOLO PIANO ANNOUNCED

A new album titled Braveheart: The Film Music of James Horner for Solo Piano has been published by BuySoundtrax Records (BSX), the label that brought us Humanoids from the Deep and Battle Beyond the Stars in 2011. Arranged and performed by Dan Redfeld, the album features selections from some of Horner’s best-loved scores, including The Wedding from Deep Impact, The Ludlows from Legends of the Fall, and Rocketeer to the Rescue from The Rocketeer. It also features some less prominent pieces, such as the love themes from Krull and Battle Beyond the Stars, and Darby’s Theme from The Pelican Brief.[...]

STANDOUT SET PIECES #2: ELORA DANAN FROM WILLOW

“It is a time of dread... Seers have foretold the birth of a child who will bring about the downfall of the powerful queen Bavmorda. Seizing all pregnant women in the realm, the evil queen vows to destroy the child when it is born...” 1 Bringing you up to speed For his second collaboration with Ron Howard (after Cocoon), James Horner was tasked with composing the then-longest score of his career. The fantasy film, produced by George Lucas, is about a diminutive Elwyn who rises from his humble peasant origins to become the sorcerer-hero who defeats the evil queen Bavmorda and her[...]

DUBLIN 2015: A TRIBUTE TO JAMES HORNER

In the months that have passed since James Horner’s tragic death last June, already several tribute concerts have been performed around the world. These events serve both to preserve the composer’s legacy and also remind us that Horner’s body of work now fully belongs to the history books of music. One of the first concerts that was announced and performed took place in Dublin in September. Performed by the RTE Concert Orchestra, conducted by the well known conductor David Brophy, the concert offered several highlights from Horner’s career. We were fortunate enough to be invited to one of the rehearsals,[...]

OMNI PUBLISHING’S STUNNING RELEASE OF HORNER’S WILLOW

Omni Publishing’s release of James Horner’s full score to Willow is absolutely magnificent. It is over 350 pages full of music transcribed from Horner’s own original handwritten manuscript, as well as detailed analyses of the themes and motives from the film. After the dedication, which simply says “for James,” the book dives right in to the analysis of the themes and motives. Each theme is picked out and isolated from the score and also shows the harmonies present with the melodic notes. The analysis also talks about incomplete nature of several of the themes and goes on to explain why[...]

INTERVIEW WITH JIM HENRIKSON

There are names you will often run into on James Horner’s album covers: Ian Underwood, Tony Hinnigan, Simon Rhodes ... For 25 years one of them has been present almost every time, proof of a collaborator who has become indispensable. James Horner speaks of him thus in the liner notes to the soundtrack album for Troy: "my wonderful friend without whose guidance and wise counsel I would be lost." This close and faithful staff member is the legendary music editor, Jim Henrikson. Prior to working with James Horner, he participated in projects for television (Star Trek: The Original Series) and classic[...]

WILLOW: BETWEEN QUOTES

Willow was released 25 years ago and comes this year with a completely restored Blu-ray version. One of the main advantages of this rejuvenation is the quality of the sound mixing in DTS HD, which gives even more size, energy and accuracy to the music. It literally fills the sound space and helps create an epic dimension for the adventures of Willow Ufgood, Elora Danan and Madmartigan. "I am a musicologist, a doctor of music. Therefore I listened to, studied and analysed a lot of music. I also enjoy metaphors, the art of quoting and of cycles. The harmonic draft of[...]

ABBEY ROAD STUDIOS

Oxyman [CC-BY-SA-2.0], via Wikimedia Commons Abbey Road Studios (formerly EMI studios) are recording studios in London,England, founded in the year 1931. Their current name is a tribute to the eponymous album of The Beatles who recorded most of their songs there in the 1960s. Several famous bands have recorded there, such as Pink Floyd, and more recently, Oasis and Radiohead. Legendary music composers like John Williams used the studios to record the scores for five films of Star Wars starting with ‘The Empire Strikes Back’ in 1980, and composer James Horner has used Abbey Road Studios many times as his recording[...]

WIMBLEDON KING'S COLLEGE CHOIR

Wimbledon King's College Choir Official site: Ksc.org.uk Peter Trimming [CC-BY-SA-2.0], via Wikimedia Commons [...]

KAZU MATSUI

Kazu Matsui (born in Tokyo June 5, 1954) is a master of the shakuhachi (traditional Japanese bamboo flute). After traveling through Europe and India, he studied ethnic arts at UCLA before returning to Tokyo to teach. Meanwhile he participated in the music of Willow, Legends of the Fall and Jumanji. He also produced recordings of his wife, keyboardist Keiko Matsui and has published many solo albums. Official site: kazumatsui.com Source: Artistdirect.com [...]

LONDON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

RichTea [CC-BY-SA-2.0], via Wikimedia Commons The London Symhony Orchestra is one of the main symphony orchestras in England and was founded in 1904. Enormous movie scores were recorded with this orchestra like Harry Potter, Star Wars and Superman. Source : wikipedia [...]

GEORGE LUCAS

By nicolas genin from Paris, France [CC-BY-SA-2.0], via Wikimedia Commons George Walton Lucas, Jr. (born May 14, 1944) is an American film producer, screenwriter, director, and entrepreneur. He is the founder of Lucasfilm Limited, and he is also the chairman and chief executive of his company. However, in 2012, precisely on 30 October, he sold it to The Walt Disney Company . He is well-known as the creator of the space-saga Star Wars and the archeologist character Indiana Jones. He is one of Hollywood’s most successful filmmakers. He is currently the second largest single shareholder of Disney. Source: Wikipedia James Horner worked on George Lucas' attraction[...]

RON HOWARD

Par David Shankbone (Travail personnel) [CC-BY-3.0], via Wikimedia Commons Ron Howard (born in Duncan, Oklahoma, USA, on March 1, 1954) is a renowned American film director and producer. In 1977, he directed his first film Grand Theft Auto (he starred and also wrote the script). The film was successful and it was a good start for his directorial career. He went on to direct many successful films in later years, including Cocoon, Willow, Backdraft, Apollo 13, A Beautiful Mind, Cinderella Man, The Da Vinci Code and Frost/Nixon. He received his first Best Director of the Year award from the DGA for[...]