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Topic: Choirs

Probable

Oscar® Winner

I really love good classical-style choral stuff. For example, I thought 'Duel Of The Fates' was the best part of the TPM score, very remniscient of Orff and Verdi, and I loved Silvestri's Abyss stuff, which was so remniscient of Samuel Barber's 'Agnus Dei'. Even so, I'm sure there must be tons of great choral music in movie scores out there that I'm just not aware of, either because I don't know the score has choral stuff in it, or I don't know about the score at all. Could anyone offer any suggestions of where I might find some?
posted 10-21-2000 03:35 PM PT (US) 
JJH

Oscar® Winner

The Omen is a prime example.there are TONS more.
NP -- Pitch Black, Graeme Revell
posted 10-21-2000 03:42 PM PT (US) 
Probable

Oscar® Winner

Yes, good one. I have The Omen
There's also The Hunt For Red October, which includes the Hymn to Red October. These I have and love. There must be more!

posted 10-21-2000 03:45 PM PT (US) 
Marian Schedenig

Oscar® Winner

Not just THE Omen, all 3 Omen scores!Conan the Barbarian, but although I really like the choir stuff here, I like the rest of the score even more.
One of the best choral pieces in film music is "Helm's Deep" from Leonard Rosenman's Lord of the Rings score. Don't buy it unheard, though, many people seem to hate it.
NP: RVW: A London Symphony (London Philharmonic Orchestra, Sir Adrian Boult)
posted 10-21-2000 06:07 PM PT (US) 
Timmer

Oscar® Winner

Try Georges Delerue's absolutely gorgeous Agnes Of God, John Barry's The Lion In Winter, Jerry Goldsmith's Secret Of Nimh/Legend, Christopher Young's Hellraiser II Hellbound, James Horner's Krull/Brainstorm...that's just some of my favorites theres loads more!
posted 10-21-2000 07:10 PM PT (US) 
Swashbuckler

Oscar® Winner

Actually, there is a CD put out be Silva that has a nice cross-section of choral film music on it called "Cinema Choral Classics." The performances are actually quite good, and if many of the tracks also appear on other Silva albums, the sequencing is first-rate.A sequel album "Cinema Choral Classics 2" was released, and if it is not as good as its predecessor, it is not for a lack of trying.
posted 10-22-2000 01:45 AM PT (US) 
H Rocco
Oscar® Winner

The first "Cinema Choral Classics" would be a good introduction to a cross-section of the kind of thing you're loooking for. It's one of the better Silva rerecording jobs.John Barry's THE LION IN WINTER has some impeccable stuff. Ennio Morricone's THE MISSION, ditto. Akira Ifukube's GODZILLA VS. MECHAGODZILLA (1993) boasts some wonderful choral stuff, but not a whole lot, and that's liable to be a pricey import. On the other hand his insanely beautiful BUDDHA is usually available for non-import prices from Tower Records (they have it billed simply as "Symphonic Ode." At least that's what I'm pretty sure it is, since they don't show us the cover, but I know the formal English title to be "Symphonic Ode to Gautama the Buddha." A concert version of his 1961 score. The disc includes "Symphonic Fantasia #1," a fun suite of themes from various Godzilla and other of his fantasy films.)
NP: THE OMEN complete, just to spite Marian. Oh, those creepy voices!
posted 10-22-2000 08:37 AM PT (US) 
Camillu

Oscar® Winner

Try -Glory by Horner
Empire of the Sun by Williams
Some parts of M:I-2 by Zimmerand there's some wacky choir singing in Mars Attacks! by Elfman
However, you might as well give up trying to beat the Agnus Dei based on Barber's Adagio for strings.
posted 10-22-2000 12:20 PM PT (US) 
JJH

Oscar® Winner

How the West Was Won has some choral stuff in it right?
and I can't believe I almost forgot about Danny Elfman's beautiful Edward Scissorhands.posted 10-22-2000 01:29 PM PT (US) 
Probable

Oscar® Winner

Many thanks for all your replies and for all the music that has been suggested! While some of it I already had, much of it I hadn't looked at before, and almost all of it I liked when sampling. Now I can sleep easy knowing that I'll have no problem blowing my next paycheck surplus on music
posted 10-22-2000 06:04 PM PT (US) 
JJH

Oscar® Winner

wow, can't believe I just now remembered What Dreams May Come, the rejected score.
jeez...
NP -- Hollow Manposted 10-22-2000 06:10 PM PT (US) 
Camillu

Oscar® Winner

quote:
Originally posted by JJH:and I can't believe I almost forgot about Danny Elfman's beautiful Edward Scissorhands.
Wow, shame on me too. What a miss.
[Message edited by Camillu on 10-23-2000]
posted 10-23-2000 04:45 AM PT (US) 
Probable

Oscar® Winner

Yeah, shame on both of you
But then I'm a die-hard Elfman fan, so I have it anyway.

posted 10-23-2000 08:15 AM PT (US) 
Racerprose

Oscar® Winner

Here are some choral scores: (in no order)The Omen
First Knight
House of Frankenstein (New)
House on Haunted Hill
Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire
Needful Things
Star Wars: Episode I
Mission To Mars
Stargate
Mighty Joe Young
Glory
End Of Days
The Abyss
Edward Scissorhands
Conan: The Barbarian
Final Fantasy VIII
Bram Stoker's DraculaThose are just a few

-Racerprose
posted 10-23-2000 05:03 PM PT (US) 
James

Oscar® Winner

I'd just like to throw in Richard Band's somewhat Omen-like The Pit and the Pendulum. Just be aware before you get it (if you find it; it's out of print) that both the choir and the orchestra are quite small compared to the (epic) style the music was written in. It's a shame the movie was so low-budget, this score would be great with a larger choir and orchestra.James
[Message edited by James on 10-23-2000]
posted 10-23-2000 06:20 PM PT (US) 
H Rocco
Oscar® Winner

jeez, Captain, do ya like Richard Band? I hadn't noticed ...
I was told by a co-worker of Mr. Band's that he was actually severely ill with the flu when the time came to record THE PIT AND THE PENDULUM, but he was such a pro that he managed to finish it anyway. Spent some time in a Roman hospital as well afterwards, I think, but fortunately he's still among us. (I was told this story almost nine years ago, and the details are fuzzy.)
If you count yodeling as choral music, there's always Carter Burwell's wonderful RAISING ARIZONA.
posted 10-23-2000 06:37 PM PT (US) 
Probable

Oscar® Winner

No, yodelling doesn't count.
posted 10-23-2000 09:25 PM PT (US) 
joan hue

Oscar® Winner

Buy Patrick Doyle for choirs. Henry V is the greatest. Check out Needful Things.NP Red Sonja
posted 10-23-2000 09:35 PM PT (US) 
James

Oscar® Winner

Right you are, H'ness. Stuart Gordon's insert notes (at least the inserts claim that Gordon wrote them) say that Mr. Band had a fever of 102 while working on this score.
posted 10-24-2000 01:56 PM PT (US) 
SBD
Oscar® Winner

James - 102?! Thank goodness he survived.I'm surprised that no one has mentioned:
John Debney - Cutthroat Island (track 5 should be required listening for any and all admirers of choral music) & Hocus Pocus
Shirley Walker - Batman: Mask of the Phantasm
(if you go to the review at www.cinemusic.net, you'll find, IMHO, a hilarious anecdote about the choir used in the Main Title
Richard Gibbs - First Kid (it's really more of a synth chorale in track 6) and Amos & Andrew (just men and women "bom-bom"-ing along with the music, but it's a lot of fun)Is it just me, or should Marc Shaiman (South Park: B, L & U) use a choir more often?
posted 10-25-2000 05:47 AM PT (US) 
SBD
Oscar® Winner

Let me correct that; the address is
www.cinemusic.net
posted 10-25-2000 05:49 AM PT (US) 
Marian Schedenig

Oscar® Winner

quote:
Originally posted by SBD:
John Debney - Cutthroat IslandI nearly did mention it, but was too lazy to write a reply.
But initially, I thought we're only talking scores with text for the choir. As this is not the case, I also must add Jurassic Park.NP: Bless the Child (Christopher Young) - Thanks Mark! (also choir here)
posted 10-25-2000 04:04 PM PT (US) 
Probable

Oscar® Winner

Batman: MOTP is great, yeah.'Nother question, related: in The Big Lebowski there is a scene where Big Lebowski is in his mansion brooding in front of a mammoth fireplace listening to a classical choral piece. It's a very angry sounding piece, I think it might be Verdi's Dies Irae but I'm not sure. Any idea?
NP: Music For A Darkened Theatre, Volume 2(Elfman) ****/*****
[Message edited by Probable on 10-25-2000]
posted 10-25-2000 08:29 PM PT (US) 
Rang
Oscar® Winner

On "The Dude,” nope, though I remember that scene, too, Probable. I wonder if it's the Korngold opera cut “Gluck Das Mir Verblieb” from DIE TOTE STANDT (which is on the soundtrack)?
posted 10-25-2000 10:15 PM PT (US) Old Infopop Software by UBB
