Sunday 25 December 2011

James Horner



James Roy Horner (born August 14, 1953) is an American composer, orchestrator and conductor of orchestral and film music. He is noted for the integration of choral and electronic elements in many of his film scores, and for frequent use of Celtic musical elements. His score to the 1997 film Titanic remains the best selling orchestral film soundtrack of all time.

In addition, Horner has scored over 100 films, frequently collaborating with acclaimed directors such as Mel Gibson, James Cameron and Ron Howard. Other scores he worked on include those of Braveheart, Willow, Apollo 13, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, Legends of the Fall, Aliens, Glory, The Mask of Zorro, Field of Dreams, Enemy at the Gates, The Missing, Sneakers, Casper, Troy, An American Tail, The Land Before Time, The Rocketeer, A Beautiful Mind, Mighty Joe Young, The Perfect Storm, Avatar, and most recently, The Karate Kid.

His body of work is notable for including the scores to the two highest-grossing films of all time; Titanic and Avatar, both of which were directed by James Cameron.

Horner is a two-time Academy Award-winner, and has received a total of 10 Oscar nominations. He has won numerous other awards, including the Golden Globe Award and the Grammy Award.

Source: Wikipedia.


James Horner - Braveheart



James Horner - A Gift of a Thistle



James Horner - Avatar (piano)



James Horner - Legends of the Fall



James Horner - Titanic (piano)



James Horner - Hymn to the sea

Tuesday 20 December 2011

John Powell


John Powell (born 18 September 1963) is a British composer, best known for his scores to motion pictures. He has been based in the United States since 1997 and has composed the scores to over fifty feature films. He rose to fame in the late 1990s and 2000s, scoring numerous animated films, and collaborating with directors Doug Liman and Paul Greengrass. His 2010 score for the film How to Train Your Dragon earned him his first Academy Awardnomination at the 83rd Academy Awards. He was a member of Hans Zimmer's music studio, Remote Control Productions, and collaborates frequently with other composers from the studio, including Harry Gregson-Williams and Zimmer himself.

Source: Wikipedia.



John Powell - How to Train Your Dragon Suite



John Powell & Hans Zimmer - Oogway ascends



John Powell - How to train Your Dragon (Drive Test)

Alan Silvestri


Alan Anthony Silvestri (born March 26, 1950) is an American film composer and conductor.

Silvestri is best known for his collaborations with director Robert Zemeckis, having scored Romancing the Stone (1984), the Back to the Future trilogy(1985, 1989, 1990), Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988), Death Becomes Her (1992), Forrest Gump (1994), Contact (1997), Cast Away (2000), The Polar Express (2004), Beowulf (2007) and A Christmas Carol (2009).

Silvestri is also known for his work on Predator (1987) and Predator 2 (1990), both of which are considered preeminent examples of action/science fiction film scores. He has also begun a collaboration with director Stephen Sommers, scoring the films The Mummy Returns in 2001, Van Helsing in 2004 andG.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra in 2009.

Silvestri has also composed music for television shows, including TJ Hooker (one episode), Starsky & Hutch (three episodes), CHiPs, and Manimal (all but one episode).


Silvestri was 21 years old when he started his film/television composing career. His early style is marked by a strong use of the octatonic scale, as well as an eclectic use of different notes and instruments.

Source: Wikipedia


Alan Silvestri - Back to the future



Alan Silvestri - Forrest Gump



Alan Silvestri - The mummy returns



Alan Silvestri - Forrest Gump (piano)



Alan Silvestri - Forrest Gump (piano 2)



Alan Silvestri - Predator



Alan Silvestri - Predator

Wednesday 14 December 2011

Brian Crain


Brian was born in Hollywood, California. He has been composing music as long as he can remember. Family members tell him that when he was very young he began whistling nearly all the time. When someone would ask what he was whistling, Brian would usually answer something like, "I don't know. I just made it up."

He was only six years old when his parents bought a baby grand piano, thinking that Brian's musical talents could use a more polished medium. But Brian continued to whistle his songs. He was not drawn to the keyboard.

When he was ten years old, Brian began taking piano lessons, but he soon became bored with the lessons. Besides, the piano took time away from his new passion, baseball. So he gave up the piano. His need to compose, however, would not be stopped. His friends would often hear him whistling his newest compositions during practice or games on the baseball diamond. At this young age, Brian was dreaming of becoming a professional baseball player while whistling his own songs.

When Brian was fifteen years old he began editing award-winning educational films. While he was still a teenager, he began doing sound on Hollywood films. At nineteen years of age, he built his own sound studio to complete the first feature-length film in Hollywood to be finished in R-DAT digital audio. Some of his technical innovations in post-production sound became standard Hollywood practice.

During this time Brian would occasionally sit down at that nearly forgotten piano. He would improvise at the keyboard, just as he had always improvised with his whistling, playing with the notes until something started sounding just right. He was, without realizing it, teaching himself to play the piano.

Also without intending to do it, Brian was training himself to compose at the piano. By his early twenties, he was composing songs for award-winning children's films. He was also still nurturing his dream of playing professional baseball, but after unsuccessful tryouts with professional teams, he sadly let that dream slip away.

It was during this time that his family suggested he record his personal piano works and release them on CD. He had never seriously considered recording for CD release, but when he recorded the first album, it was so well received that he now spends all his time composing and recording his own works. He continues to be encouraged by loyal fans who frequently tell him that his music has changed their lives. Now he jokes that the best thing that ever happened to him was not becoming a professional baseball player.

Brian's compositions Butterfly Waltz, Northern Lights, A Walk in the Forest and Lavender Hills are used as theme music and background music for television dramas and commercials in Asia. The use of Brian's music in this fashion has made him very popular in all of Asia.

In 2005 Brian composed his first two symphonies, entitled Spring Symphonies, which were recorded with the Czech Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra. Brian debuted these symphonies with the Dakota Symphony Orchestra on Oct 8th 2005. He also performs regular piano concerts in Asia and the U.S. and is currently working on his eleventh album.

Despite all the success Brian has enjoyed because of his many wonderful and loyal fans, he still lives a simple life.


Sunrise by Brian Crain


A Walk in the Forest - Brian Crain


Brian Crain - A new day


Northern Lights - Brian Crain


Moonrise: Brian Crain


Sunrise by Brian Crain


Butterfly Waltz - Brian Crain


Brian Crain - Wind


Brian Crain - Dream of Flying

Sunday 11 December 2011

Clint Mansell


Clinton Darryl "Clint" Mansell, (born 7 January 1963) is an English musician, composer, and former lead singer and guitarist of the band Pop Will Eat Itself.
After the disbanding of Pop Will Eat Itself in 1996, Mansell was introduced to film scoring when director Darren Aronofsky, hired him to score his debut film, π.Mansell then wrote the score for the next Aronofsky film, Requiem for a Dream, which has been well received.Its main composition "Lux Æterna" has become extremely popular, appearing in a wide variety of advertisements and film trailers.
Mansell's composition for The Fountain was nominated for Best Original Score at the 64th Annual Golden Globe Awards. His other notable film scores include Moon, Smokin' Aces, The Wrestler, and Black Swan.

Source: Wikipedia.

Requiem for a Dream - Clint Mansell



Clint Mansell - Dead Reckoning



Clint Mansell - The Last Man



Clint Mansell - Together We Will Live Forever



"Moon" Soundtrack - Welcome to Lunar Industries by Clint Mansell

Michael Giacchino


Michael Giacchino (Italian pronunciation: [dʒakˈkiːno]; born October 10, 1967) is an American composer who has composed scores for movies, television series and video games. Some of his most notable works include the scores to television series such as Lost, Alias and Fringe, games such as the Medal of Honor and Call of Duty series, and films such as Mission: Impossible III, The Incredibles, Star Trek, Cloverfield, Ratatouille, Up, Super 8 and Cars 2. Giacchino has received numerous awards for his work, including an Emmy, multiple Grammys, and an Academy Award.

Source: Wikipedia.

Michael Giacchino - The Elie Badge



Carl & Ellie by Michael Giacchino



Michael Giacchino - There's no place like home



Lost 'Life and Death' cover on guitar.



Life & Death - Lost Soundtrack



LOST - The Oceanic 6 Theme

Isaac Albeniz


Isaac Manuel Francisco Albéniz y Pascual (Spanish pronunciation: [iˈsak alˈβeniθ]) (29 May 1860, Camprodon – 18 May 1909, Cambo-les-Bains) was a Spanish Catalan pianist and composer best known for his piano works based on folk music idioms (many of which have been transcribed by others for guitar).

Albéniz’s influence on the future of Spanish music was profound. His activities as conductor, performer and composer significantly raised the profile of Spanish music abroad and encouraged Spanish music and musicians in his own country.
In transcription, Albéniz's works have become an important part of the repertoire of the classical guitar. Asturias in particular is heard most often on the guitar, as are Granada, Sevilla, Cadiz, Cordoba and the Tango in D. Gordon Crosskey and Cuban-born guitarist Manuel Barrueco have both made solo guitar arrangements of the full eight-movement Suite espanola. Selections from Iberia have rarely been attempted on solo guitar but have been very effectively performed by guitar ensembles, such as the performance by John Williams and Julian Bream of Iberia's opening "Evocation." The Doors incorporated "Asturias" into their song "Spanish Caravan"; also, Iron Maiden's To Tame a Land uses the introduction of the piece for the song bridge; and more recently, a guitar version of Granada functions as something of a love theme in Woody Allen's 2008 film Vicky Cristina Barcelona
In 1997 the Fundación Isaac Albéniz was founded in his name to promote Spanish music and musicians and to act as a research centre for Albéniz and Spanish music in general.

Source: Wikipedia.


Asturias - Isaac Albeniz



Albéniz: Preludio (Asturias) (op.232 nº1)



Aldo Ciccolini - Isaac Albeniz - (Càdiz)



John Williams - I. Albeniz - Sevilla