December 2011 Listening Diary!
I began the month by listening to John Williams' 1999 score for the first Star Wars prequel The Phantom Menace. Perhaps one of the most anticipated scores in movie history, which unlike the horrid film it was written for, fulfilled all expectations with several stunning new themes, numerous new motives, and references to much-loved themes written for the original trilogy. Here's Mr. Williams talking about his return to the Star Wars universe 18 years after his last visit:
More Williams followed in the form of his jazzy and perfrectly orchestrated score for Catch Me If You Can (2002):
Bear McCreary's Zom-B Movie
Thursday, December 8: John Scott's score for the 1980 aircraft carrier epic The Final Countdown. There's nothing I like better to listen to on the treadmill than an heroic march written for a WW2 film performed by a symphony orchestra.
Saturday, December 10: I listened to two very-rarely-listened-to scores by Hans Zimmer today while walking to the and from the gym, those being Pearl Harbor (2001) and The Last Samurai (2003). Perhaps not two scores I will turn to frequently in the future, but I enjoyed revisiting them and noticed several passages in both scores that did it for me. On the treadmill at the gym I returned to old reliable John Williams to help pass the time, specifically his score for the Amazing Stories episode "The Mission" about a World War 2 bomber and its miraculous landing without landing gear! Here's the series theme Williams wrote for the show:
Sunday December 11: More Williams in the form of the previously mentioned War Horse (2012), which led me to revisit another recent Williams war score, Saving Private Ryan (1998). And while swimming I my SwimP3 treated me to my favorite Williams pieces while I swam. Later I turned to Williams perfect sublime Oscar-winning score for E.T. (1982). It's been too long since those melodies have sounded from my headphones.
Saturday, December 17: The music of Michael Giacchino music walked me to the gym and kept me company on a spin bike for 35 minutes. Today I listened to the first time to his Mission Impossible 4: Ghost Protocal (2011) score - the Indian flavoured music brought an instant smile to my face - and that led me to revisit parts of his first Mission Impossible score, simply called MI3 as well as more of his earlier spy music from Alias Season 2.
Saturday, December 31: I ended the year by listening (while on the treadmill) to the end of Murray Gold's latest Doctor Who 2-CD set for season 6 (2011), which brings the number of individual CDS released so far from Murray's Doctor Who to 11 (I think). Well if I've counted wrong I'm not far off and either way I have a lot of music to explore. And the Doctor Who 2011 Christmas Special aired last week, which could in the new year (fingers crossed) increase that number by one.
