# Mulan Soundtrack by Harry Gregson Williams



## muziksculp (Sep 5, 2020)

Hi,

The new* Mulan *Soundtrack by *Harry Gregson-Williams*. Loving this soundtrack.

I'm a fan of HGW, and Chinese/Asian music in general. This makes it very special to me.


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## dcoscina (Sep 5, 2020)

I'm spinning it now and does anyone else hear the RVW The Lark Ascending in the Ancestor theme? 

I do like the activity and energy of the music however. And it's quite varied. It makes a compelling listening on its own too which is a tall feat these days when the mandate is often "blend in, don't distract" to composers. Lots of key changes, tempi shifts, section changes. The electronic work is tasteful. 

A good score even if it's almost impossible to compare it to Goldsmith's which I think it one of his best from the late 90s. Should have garnered him an Oscar but the Academy had something against Jerry... clearly.


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## I like music (Sep 5, 2020)

OOOOOO. Given that Goldsmith is my favourite composer by far, and Mulan is one of my favourite scores of his, I'm really curious about this! Will listen tonight (no, I'm not paying 30 quid on Disney+ to watch the film so will unfortunately have to listen to this without context).


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## dcoscina (Sep 5, 2020)

I like music said:


> OOOOOO. Given that Goldsmith is my favourite composer by far, and Mulan is one of my favourite scores of his, I'm really curious about this! Will listen tonight (no, I'm not paying 30 quid on Disney+ to watch the film so will unfortunately have to listen to this without context).


Give it a whirl. I think it's actually pretty solid.


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## I like music (Sep 5, 2020)

dcoscina said:


> Give it a whirl. I think it's actually pretty solid.



Absolutely! I tend to think that the music that comes out of these kinds of Disney films is generally pretty good. I haven't followed HGW for a while so am not sure what he's been doing. I do remember listening to a couple of scores a while back and thinking they were decent.


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## Rory (Sep 5, 2020)

At US$7/month for a Disney subscription plus $30 for access to the film, I'm curious to see how the box-office is. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a positive rating from 73% of "top critics", and from 56% of people (currently 3,000) who have seen the film.


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## dcoscina (Sep 5, 2020)

I like music said:


> Absolutely! I tend to think that the music that comes out of these kinds of Disney films is generally pretty good. I haven't followed HGW for a while so am not sure what he's been doing. I do remember listening to a couple of scores a while back and thinking they were decent.


I only know some of his stuff. The Equalizer and things of that ilk. 

He also quotes Reflections from the original Mulan song (not Goldsmith's by the way- that was written by Matthew Wilder). Except he re-harmonizes it so that the penultimate chord is not that lovely Min9b5 on the IV chord to the tonic.. it's more triadic. But hey, probably some studio exec said "get rid of all those notes, they sound too schmalzty"... or something to that effect.


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## I like music (Sep 5, 2020)

dcoscina said:


> I'm spinning it now and does anyone else hear the RVW The Lark Ascending in the Ancestor theme?
> 
> I do like the activity and energy of the music however. And it's quite varied. It makes a compelling listening on its own too which is a tall feat these days when the mandate is often "blend in, don't distract" to composers. Lots of key changes, tempi shifts, section changes. The electronic work is tasteful.
> 
> A good score even if it's almost impossible to compare it to Goldsmith's which I think it one of his best from the late 90s. Should have garnered him an Oscar but the Academy had something against Jerry... clearly.



I hear it too! In fact, I can't unhear it, now! Agreed with all else you wrote.


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## dcoscina (Sep 5, 2020)

I like music said:


> I hear it too! In fact, I can't unhear it, now! Agreed with all else you wrote.


My work is done here. LOL. Just kidding.


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## muziksculp (Sep 6, 2020)

After listening to the whole Mulan soundtrack, I was a bit disappointed that there wasn't many tracks with a Chinese flavor, there were very few, and most of the tracks were kind of a generic Hollywood style action music. Maybe that was the influence of Disney, which tends to be very conservative when it comes to having some more fresh and creative music.


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## Jimmy Hellfire (Sep 6, 2020)

One can really hear the heart and passion and how he clearly nearly killed himself writing this.


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## muziksculp (Sep 6, 2020)

Jimmy Hellfire said:


> heart and passion



Yup... The two crucial, yet missing elements from many tracks I heard in this soundtrack.


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## muziksculp (Sep 6, 2020)

Harry Gregson-Williams had so many great soundtrack in the past. I'm a fan of his soundracks like:

i.e. Narnia, Narnia 2, Spy Games, Sinbad Legend of the Seven Seas, Prince of Persia, The Equalizer, The Taking of Pelham 123, Penguins (Disney), Phone Booth, The Martian, .....


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## gsilbers (Sep 6, 2020)

meh... like naria but with chinese instruments. 

Im a huge fan but not of his pure orchestral stuff. His total recall score is amazing. and i think his phone booth score was some sort of historic-music chainging score.


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## muziksculp (Sep 6, 2020)

gsilbers said:


> meh... like naria but with chinese instruments.



I think Narnia is still much better than what I hear in Mulan. 

Regarding his pure orchestral works, I liked his Penguins Soundtrack, it has some rich orchestrations, also some very good writing for woodwinds.


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## Rory (Sep 6, 2020)

Maybe if you actually want Chinese music you hire someone like Tan Dun. He seems to have done OK with _Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon_, which _Mulan 2_ apparently tries to emulate


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## MaxOctane (Sep 12, 2020)

Im actually surprised they didn’t hire a chinese composer and even a Chinese director. In fact, the score sounded purely western to me, indistinguishable in spirit from any other modern film score, except for the occasional chinese instrument prominent in the mix.


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## ProfoundSilence (Sep 13, 2020)

So I kinda wanted to save the experience for the movie - but I did want to point out the common theme I'm seeing here.

1.) People think he put a lot into it
2.) Doesn't sound like Chinese music

I think western music(he's a western composer) with eastern textures(instrumentation) is fine... it's art and probably a choice he made. Disney isn't making a documentary, they are making entertainment. Thinking back to when I was younger, would be really weird to care if the anime I watched had Japanese music. Shouldn't Hans Zimmer know that organs don't work in space before making the interstellar soundtrack? What will matter to me when I see the film, is going to based on how well does it enchance the film, and how well does it stand on it's own. 




MaxOctane said:


> Im actually surprised they didn’t hire a chinese composer and even a Chinese director.


I'm fairly sure Disney hired plenty of consultants, but in the end it's for the better... Disney's target audience isn't china, and if they planned for it to be; they'd have absolutely lost money









Disney’s ‘Mulan’ Makes Soft Start at China Box Office


Disney’s Chinese-themed “Mulan” got off to a soft start on its debut in mainland China theaters on Friday. On opening day, the Niki Caro-directed film clocked up $8.05 million (RMB55.0 million), ac…




variety.com





With how strict the chinese government is with what kind of media is accessible, it would be insanely foolish to hedge on that bet, and try to please a foreign market.


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## dcoscina (Sep 13, 2020)

Rory said:


> Maybe if you actually want Chinese music you hire someone like Tan Dun. He seems to have done OK with _Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon_, which _Mulan 2_ apparently tries to emulate


Did you know that Rachel Portman was supposed to score Mulan? Her work on Joy Luck Club is amazing. Wish she got the job. No disrespect to HGW. I like what he wrote largely.


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## JyTy (Sep 13, 2020)

The movie is good! I liked it, but the soundtrack is amazing! I have it on repeat for the last couple of days. Really beautifully composed music 👌


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## classified_the_x (Sep 14, 2020)

Watched the movie Saturday...it like defines "meh" (according to my wife who's a Mulan fan)

tbh I don't remember any tracks, but the sound was coming from an old Samsung TV so who knows.

will listen to the soundtrack when I can. a bit puzzled on why the movie industry ppl don't actually use the tracks in the movies. in the meantime, I recommend Pinocchio by Dario Marianelli.


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## BubbaMc (Sep 14, 2020)

Woah thanks! HGW is my favourite, ever since I heard the Metal Gear Solid 2 OST.


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