May 2011 Listening Diary!
Sunday, May 1: I started the month with some classic Joe Satriani while working out on the treadmill in the form of selections from his Flying In A Blue Dream and The Extremist albums:
Tuesday, May 2: Some new music (at least to my ears) by Alexandre Desplat in the form of his score for Hostage. I'm not sure why I chose that to listen to, but I'm glad I did as I discovered an absolute gem of a piece of music: the second to last track "Talley's Family " which I'm listening to again now as I type this. It's something special alright. That led me to explore two of his more recent scores: The Special Relationship and The King's Speech.
Wednesday & Thursday, May 4 & 5: I listened to Bear McCreary's Battlestar Galactica Season 2 CD while at the gym on both days. I haven't listened to that particular Battlestar score in a while, so it was nice to revisit the CD. The impetus to listen to it came from Bear's recent video of himself playing his own arrangement of the CD's highlight "Prelude To War" from Bear's recently published book of Battlestar piano solos. Here is that performance and wow what a performance it is...
Friday & Saturday, May 6 & 7: While driving my car for the first time in over a month, I continued with the above and put on Bear McCreary's Battlestar Galactica Season 3 CD and then later at night, as I drifted off to sleepy land, I listened to the rest. And the more the next day while travelling to the KOTESL conference and then on the way home after dinner, coffee, and dessert with a new friend^^.
Sunday, May 8: I had more time to listen to music today because of a trip to Seoul to buy a new suit and some T-shirts for Liz's kids. It was an all Desplat affair as I explored two scores I was almost completely unfamiliar with, again discovering some lovely pieces in the process. The two scores were Le Chateau Des Singes (a French animation about French-speaking monkeys) and Girl With A Pearl Earing. And then later at home some more Desplat, this time more familiar music in the form of Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows Part 1.
Monday, May 9: More Desplat as I went to sleep, this time music from his score for the 2006 film The Queen. Although I was unfamiliar with the score, I think I first heard Desplat's name in association with this film. It's only taken me 5 years to finally check it out!
Tuesday, May 10: I went to bed early and listened to two scores. First up was Bruce Broughton's rousing score for the Lost In Space movie followed by Alexandre Desplat's recent Tamara Drewe score. I was reading while "istening so I can't say I listened actively, but I did give Tamara Drewe another listen the next morning and that's when I first began connecting to the music. It reminds me a lot of John Williams' playful and sneaky Catch Me If You Can score.
Wednesday, May 11 - Saturday, May 14: I returned to Michael Giacchino's powerful scores for the Medal Of Honor games to celebrate the release by Lalaland Records of their Medal of Honor box set. Mostly while working out (it's great workout music), I listened to Medal of Honor: Underground, Medal of Honor: Frontline, and Medal of Honor: Allied Assault:
And then back for more Alexandre Desplat in the form for his score for The Twilight Saga: New Moon:
Friday's arrivals:
Sunday, May 15: A lot of music arrived on Friday (see above) and it'll take a me a while to digest all of it. I began the process with Film Score Monthy's recent release of James Horner's score for the fim Testament and fell in love with it immediately. It's not very often I fall in love with a score during a first listen, but this was one of those times and it's wonderful when it happens. Not that I needed reminding, but this score serves as a reminder for me to never abandon my quest to hear everthing written by James Horner. If he writes it I will listen.
Monday, May 16 - Friday, May 20: I was sick all week and that coupled with a particularly hectic week left me little time to enjoy music, but when I did get the chance - usually while going to sleep - I explored further James Horner's Testament score and reacquainted myself with another of his scores, Dad, which is written in the same peaceful vein. Dad features some truly beautiful piano passages which added fuel to my burning desire to learn to play the piano really really well.
Saturday, May 21 - Saturday, May 28: A busier than expected week left me little time to enjoy music, but I did spend quite a lot of time adding music to my new 160GB iPod which I bought on Sunday. Here it is with some musical accompaniment by Danny Elfman and Shirley Walker:
While on the treadmill Iistened to selections from three James Horner scores, those scores being Bicentennial Man, A Beautiful Mind, and the newly released Rascals and Robbers. Later in the week Bear McCreary's new 2-CD set for the game SOCOM 4 arrived and I began the process of getting to know that. His usual extensive blog post detailing the music and its creation will certainly help me with that. Also in my ears a lot this week, especially while drifting off to sleep most nights, was my very large "Relaxing" playlist featuring over 1,400 pieces that I find relaxing.
Sunday, May 29 - I returned to the music of Alexandre Desplat with first listens to his latest score for Terrence Malick's new film The Tree of Life. Since I'm playing the piano a lot these days, I really like the fact this score features the piano in very atmospheric and calm settings. Here's a taste:
Monday, May 30: As I coughed myself to sleep with the sharlest cough I've had in years, I listened to some Philip Glass piano music from his CD simply entitled Solo Piano. The following piece from that CD was used in a season 2 episode of Battlestar Galactica which was where I first heard it and fell in love with it:
Here's a sample of the music from that CD performed by pianist Aleck Karis:
Tuesday, May 31: I ended the month by continuing my exploration of Alexandre Desplat scores I'm as yet not faniliar with. The last hour of the month was spent listening to Desplat's score for the French romantic drama Cheri:
