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Batman Returns....Returns !!!!

Furthermore, and more to the point, composers, like writers, painters, or film directors, are able to create their art from their instincts, their into ition-their "soul," for lack of a better word something that has never been easily taught. Imagination, our most valuable tool, is not, unfortunately, conferred by a degree.

A musical education, although I never had one, is something for which I have great respect. It can, I'm sure, be a wonderful thing, and provide all kinds of invaluable tools with which to work. It is not, however, the only way to acquire tools, or to learn.

This quote from Elfman's letter is so true, and has always been my argument.
 
This quote from Elfman's letter is so true, and has always been my argument.
There's just no disputing it.

"Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited, whereas imagination embraces the entire world, stimulating progress, giving birth to evolution." -Einstein

To me, knowledge and imagination go hand in hand when it comes to writing music, and compliment eachother perfectly. If i had choose one of the two for the composing process, i would take imagination every time. That's what started music in the first place.
 
The person releasing this has done music prep on quite a few Hollywood scores so he does indeed take great care (he's a good friend of mine.) Not that there won't be mistakes here and there, but unless you plan on the painstaking process of doing it yourself (which will include the way you personally like things laid out which will undoubtedly have detractors), I'd chill out on the criticism saying he doesn't care or take time. Couldn't be further from the truth
 
There's always a tension between academic art and those who are naturally gifted. Look at 19th century French painting! Nothing new under the sun. There's no such thing as bad press anymore. 😀
 
Personally I think it's brilliant that these scores are being made available. Got the Matrix score a while back, which I had been looking for for a while. One of my all time favourites.

Interesting experience watching the movie while following the score. I enjoyed reading the included analysis as well, which at least in part seemed to match my own thoughts on the score. (No wonder i enjoyed it :)).
 
here's the moral of the story

learn from the music you like, who wrote it is just a question of ego. If you follow shirley Walker's works and they have a similar appeal, follow your nose.

that said, I can't help but feel like Elfman has a very specific set of directions for his orchestrations here. Maybe his orchestrators fixed them, but he has a very specific sound that even without the melody sounds like elfman.
 
As a side note, does anyone here actually know where the original Nightmare Before Christmas soundtrack was recorded?
 
Just discovered this had been released and will certainly be ordering it. I actually prefer the original Batman score but this one was by far the more inventive, and more uniquely Elfman-esque, and the string writing in particular is magnificent.

The original Batman scores are available on line - Steve Bartek did the vast majority of the orchestration, as he has done on every Elfman project that I know of. Walker and Smalley have a few cues each. My feeling is their contributions have been overstated over the years. Elfman's association with them was brief, and he continued to produce superior work throughout the 90s.

I am a great admirer of Omni editions and the idea of getting more film music available in manuscript form, but it's a pity they don't credit the orchestrators on the cues. There's no secret to the fact they've been used so this seems a curious decision. Additionally, they make editorial transcriptions without announcing them as such -- the original Batman scores show that parts indicated only with a 'tape' stave are transcribed as percussion parts in the Omni editions. The Total Recall synth parts are also transcriptions I believe.

Anyway, it's easy to nit pick. Hard to believe that one guy alone has taken the initiative to actually formally publish full scores of film music -- nobody else has done this, after all this time. So hats off to him.
 
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Hello All,

For those that are a fan of OMNI's scores I bring some sad news. Tim Rodier (a dear friend of mine) is struggling with serious health issues. Tim started Omni as a passion project and it has grown to be beloved by a lot of us composers.

Tim's family has a Fundraiser page up. Let's all wish Tim a Speedy Recovery as I know he has big plans for future Omni Publishing releases.

 
That's awful. He's a lovely guy. Thanks for the link. Best wishes to him and his family

ed
 
Hello All,

For those that are a fan of OMNI's scores I bring some sad news. Tim Rodier (a dear friend of mine) is struggling with serious health issues. Tim started Omni as a passion project and it has grown to be beloved by a lot of us composers.

Tim's family has a Fundraiser page up. Let's all wish Tim a Speedy Recovery as I know he has big plans for future Omni Publishing releases.

Thanks for making us aware of this. What a terrible thing. Hopefully everything goes well and he heals quickly.
 
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