Music and its Influences
Jan. 16th, 2008 09:34 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tealinYesterday I rediscovered Sunset Boulevard ... It's been more than a year since I listened to it and I've never done so in LA before, which adds an extra dimension of whoa. I drained my iPod batteries on it yesterday. Also of note: the renewed addiction to the title song, which is cut 25 on my special personal recut of the London Cast Recording.* Track order yesterday went something like this:
1, 2, 3, ... 24, 25, 25, 25, 25, 26, 27, ... 42, 43, 44, 25, 25, 25, 1, 2, 3 ... 25, 25, 26, 25, 25, 25, 26, 27 ... 43, 44, 25, 39**, 25, 25, 25, 25 (pause) 25
You get the idea.
Incidentally, if Norma were a powerful witch and she transfigured Joe into a chimp at the end of the play, then it could be a circular story, as long as you leave out the continuity of the swimming pool, but that isn't mentioned in the recording.
*If you haven't listened to the show and are even slightly inclined to, do not listen to the American recording (the one with Glenn Close in it, I think it was the LA cast): it is baaaaaaad. Do your utmost to find the London cast (it's in an orange case) or don't listen at all. I am not kidding. In case you're wondering, I recut it because it had annoying track placement, specifically lumping the Entre-Acte and title song (which opens the second act) into one track, which was just not cool.
**Joe's breakdown scene at the end - I'd started storyboarding this a few years ago and listening to it made me want to finish it, so I listened to it a few times more to remember what I did, with mixed results. Also muy cathartico (that's Spanish, that is).
Then, today, I rediscovered the soundtrack to Pirates 3, which I had semi-intentionally not listened to since I was down here this summer because I associate it so strongly with where I was interning then and working now and didn't want to dilute it. The movie may be so much twaddle but the soundtrack is just fantastic, easily the best part of the film. When I heard it for the first time back in May I was instantly plunged into a Redwall mood the likes of which I haven't known since I was about 15, and a shadow of this came back today, so I did some doodles:
(click to make biggarrr)
I try to find whatever piece of classical music Mr Zimmer has, erm, 'quoted' in each of his scores... Prince of Egypt borrows heavily from 'Procession of the Sardar' by Ippolitov-Ivanov, Muppet Treasure Island starts with three or so bars that are almost identical to the folk tune from 'Folk Tune and Fiddle Dance' by (I think) Peter Warlock (two pieces I happened to have played in Orchestra otherwise I'd never know them at all), and as an astute reader of this blog pointed out last time the topic was raised, Lion King has a nice big chunk of Mozart's 'Ave Verum' in it. I was hard pressed to find one in Pirates 3, however – there's the obvious reference to Once Upon a Time in the West but that's more of a deliberate tribute and it uses a native theme, not one from the other film. Today, though, I found something: If you listen to the track 'Singapore' (I believe it's track 2 on the CD; my playlist is shuffled) at 2:46, you will hear a murmuring in the low strings that sounds a lot like the pre-theme murmuring in Smetana's 'Die Moldau.' I'm sure there are only so many ways to do murmuring strings, and it is really a tiny quote, but I cling ... I cling.
Incidentally, Pirates 3 is out on DVD now, so theoretically I can screencap away in order to post what the writers 'quoted' from Sinbad ... I guess they thought no one saw it so they could get away with using the same ideas twice. WRONG! Hahaa, I shall skewer you on my blade of J-Peg as soon as I get a couple of hours free time all in one go... How does August sound?
So, now I want to finish my Sunset board and draw small furry animals killing each other, with a sprinkling of tortoises and stone cities because I'm trying (unsuccessfully) to read Small Gods, and that Sweeney Todd comic strip I've finally got an idea for ... I suppose this all proves that the crucial ingredient I've been missing over the last few inspirationless months has been an overwhelming workload that precludes any drawing for fun.
Hurrah.
1, 2, 3, ... 24, 25, 25, 25, 25, 26, 27, ... 42, 43, 44, 25, 25, 25, 1, 2, 3 ... 25, 25, 26, 25, 25, 25, 26, 27 ... 43, 44, 25, 39**, 25, 25, 25, 25 (pause) 25
You get the idea.
Incidentally, if Norma were a powerful witch and she transfigured Joe into a chimp at the end of the play, then it could be a circular story, as long as you leave out the continuity of the swimming pool, but that isn't mentioned in the recording.
*If you haven't listened to the show and are even slightly inclined to, do not listen to the American recording (the one with Glenn Close in it, I think it was the LA cast): it is baaaaaaad. Do your utmost to find the London cast (it's in an orange case) or don't listen at all. I am not kidding. In case you're wondering, I recut it because it had annoying track placement, specifically lumping the Entre-Acte and title song (which opens the second act) into one track, which was just not cool.
**Joe's breakdown scene at the end - I'd started storyboarding this a few years ago and listening to it made me want to finish it, so I listened to it a few times more to remember what I did, with mixed results. Also muy cathartico (that's Spanish, that is).
Then, today, I rediscovered the soundtrack to Pirates 3, which I had semi-intentionally not listened to since I was down here this summer because I associate it so strongly with where I was interning then and working now and didn't want to dilute it. The movie may be so much twaddle but the soundtrack is just fantastic, easily the best part of the film. When I heard it for the first time back in May I was instantly plunged into a Redwall mood the likes of which I haven't known since I was about 15, and a shadow of this came back today, so I did some doodles:
(click to make biggarrr)
I try to find whatever piece of classical music Mr Zimmer has, erm, 'quoted' in each of his scores... Prince of Egypt borrows heavily from 'Procession of the Sardar' by Ippolitov-Ivanov, Muppet Treasure Island starts with three or so bars that are almost identical to the folk tune from 'Folk Tune and Fiddle Dance' by (I think) Peter Warlock (two pieces I happened to have played in Orchestra otherwise I'd never know them at all), and as an astute reader of this blog pointed out last time the topic was raised, Lion King has a nice big chunk of Mozart's 'Ave Verum' in it. I was hard pressed to find one in Pirates 3, however – there's the obvious reference to Once Upon a Time in the West but that's more of a deliberate tribute and it uses a native theme, not one from the other film. Today, though, I found something: If you listen to the track 'Singapore' (I believe it's track 2 on the CD; my playlist is shuffled) at 2:46, you will hear a murmuring in the low strings that sounds a lot like the pre-theme murmuring in Smetana's 'Die Moldau.' I'm sure there are only so many ways to do murmuring strings, and it is really a tiny quote, but I cling ... I cling.
Incidentally, Pirates 3 is out on DVD now, so theoretically I can screencap away in order to post what the writers 'quoted' from Sinbad ... I guess they thought no one saw it so they could get away with using the same ideas twice. WRONG! Hahaa, I shall skewer you on my blade of J-Peg as soon as I get a couple of hours free time all in one go... How does August sound?
So, now I want to finish my Sunset board and draw small furry animals killing each other, with a sprinkling of tortoises and stone cities because I'm trying (unsuccessfully) to read Small Gods, and that Sweeney Todd comic strip I've finally got an idea for ... I suppose this all proves that the crucial ingredient I've been missing over the last few inspirationless months has been an overwhelming workload that precludes any drawing for fun.
Hurrah.
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Re: P.S.
Date: 2008-01-21 12:34 am (UTC)Heh, my own Redwall stuff gets its roots from Robin Hood and NIMH too. Perhaps part of the reason I loved and took influence from them was that Redwallesque spark to 'em. Justin, Jenner, and all the rats have just that look I'd like to see somehow translated to other species as well; I see so many searats and foot soldiers in Sullivan. My sister has a mouse and she loved how mouselike Mrs. F/Brisby's movements were. My geek dream has always been to see Don Bluth do Mossflower... just so long as he didn't put any weird magic in it.
It's pained me for years of being a Redwall nerd that there just isn't a lot of good fanart to ogle over, like there is for Harry Potter, Avatar, or other fandoms. Too much of the "this looks like Matthias from the show but he's actually named Joshua and wears a blue habit instead," or oddly, a disturbing number of Cluny clones. Or female beasts with actual hair, termed "headfur," which creeps me out. They're bipedal beasts, yes, but I think they should be built like humans as little as possible... well, without making clothing and the sword in their paw look out of place.