iTunes Exclusive - John Williams & Yo-Yo Ma Live

In this 4-track iTunes Exclusive, John Williams and Yo-Yo Ma perform 3 pieces from "Memoirs Of A Geisha" for piano and cello and then talk about it.

Here are the tracks:

1. Sayuri's Theme (Live Version)
2. A Dream Discarded (Live Version)
3. Going To School (Live Version)
4. Interview with John Williams and Yo-Yo Ma

This should be the reason you've been waiting for to start using iTunes.

Enjoy!

Dario Marianelli Scores V For Vendetta

The soundtrack album to V For Vendetta has a street date of March 21st; here is the track listing:






1. Remember Remember
2. Cry Me A River - JULIE LONDON
3. "...Governments Should Be Afraid Of Their People..."
4. Evey's Story
5. Lust At The Abbey
6. The Red Diary
7. Valerie
8. Evey Reborn
9. I Found A Reason - CAT POWER
10. England Prevails
11. The Dominoes Fall
12. Bird Gerhl - ANTONY & THE JOHNSONS
13. Knives And Bullets (And Cannons Too)

The score is by Dario Marianelli and he previously scored The Brothers Grimm for Terry Gilliam and has been nominated for an Oscar for Pride & Prejudice.

I'm not familiar with Dario's work so I'm interested but not excited about this.

We shall see...

John Williams & Yo-Yo Ma Live!

If for no other reason than to see/hear JW perform on the piano live, you have to check out this footage from the Tonight Show.

Click here and then let me know what you think.

Free Music Friday: Carter Burwell

Composer of choice for the Cohen Brothers, Carter Burwell has made a career out of composing dark and quirky music for dark and quirky films.

I've never been terribly impressed with CB, however I do enjoy the music he did for Three Kings (perhaps because that film is a different kind of dark and quirky).

Decide for yourself after you go to his site here to download music from eight of the films he's worked on. Even though the amount of music is small, it appears that the scores that are available to download samples from are hard-to-find or out-of-print. Kudos to CB for making those available.

Let me know what you think by leaving a comment or sending an email.

And I do remember I still have to review Firewall; I'm on vacation all next week so hopefully I'll have more time to devote to this illness... er... hobby.

Until next time...

iTunes, will you be my valentine?

I love iTunes. There... I said it.

I purchased Alexandre Desplat's score for Firewall at 7:30 this morning without having to leave the house; I will remind you that the soundtrack comes out today. So without having to go to the store, I am listening to Firewall right now on my iPod (and at work no less).

It's a beautiful thing; beautiful and dangerous. The ability to purchase music online and download it right then is a form of consumer instant gratification that my wallet doesn't really need.

But I do love it (although not as much as I love my beautiful wife - good save!).

Oh yeah; I'm enjoying the score so far (I've got through the first two tracks) and I hope to have a review up tonight or tomorrow.

Later.

Free Music Friday: Marco Beltrami

I started to notice Marco Beltrami when he was hired to do the score for Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines. An utterly terrible movie, the score definately falls into line with the first 2 Terminator scores; serviceable in the film but not of much interest outside. However, I was impressed by his arrangement of Brad Fiedel's original Terminator theme.

Then came Hellboy; I like the score to Hellboy. Is it great? No, but it is solid and fun. Next came I, Robot. Another solid score.

His most recent projects include Underworld: Evolution and Three Burials.

Click here to listen to and/or download tracks from 17 of his scores including the ones I just mentioned. And they do swap some out from time to time so be sure to check back.

I'm keeping my ear on Marco Beltrami in the future.

I'm a Slacker...

I know I missed Free Music Friday again; the new baby is really taking a lot out of us right now. However, I still have a composer ready from last week to spotlight this Friday.

Stay Tunned!