His work on blade runner just has this timeless magic to it. The sequel ends on his motif (tears in rain) for a reason too.
I also forgot to mention that chariots of fire is truly great too.
Some parts of his music haven't aged too well, but the stuff that hasn't is sorely missed in today's film scores. Even if Zimmer is brilliant he's not a poet.
Seriously, I can always tell a Hans Zimmer score without even having preknowledge that a film had hired him. Big, orchestral, boring score that repeats the same motifs he's been using for the last 50 years? Dude has one act.
That's more due to how movie scores are produced these days. Every Frame A Painting explains it really well in this video on why you can't remember any music from Marvel movies:
Thanks for posting this, I always wondered why I couldn't be bothered with the whole Marvel franchise and this whole playing it safe, cookie cutting of film scores between movies makes the whole thing massively less memorable than say Blade Runner etc. Though I did lol at the spiderman bit at the end.
It ties in with a running discussion I have with a mate of mine about the state of music, compare the top 40 nowadays with 40 years ago and the variety of genres and styles on display back then feels much more unique and varied than now or maybe I'm just being nostalgic or maybe that's the whole problem with the need to recoup massive budgetry outlays and post the highest grossing box office yadda yadda (tangential tie in with the recent conversation about OKRs)?
P.S. RIP I still have fond memories of listening to Albeido 0.39 whilst playing Elite on my BBC eons ago and going round to my mates and listening to Jon and Vangelis that we'd borrowed from the library.
The way he blends 3 separate timelines of 1 hour, 1 day, 1 week into Dunkirk is brilliant. This also sounds like someone critique Gene Rodenberry for only writing space themed stories. Nolan's use of time as a theme is been unique in each one.
I do not watch a film to be blown away by how brilliant another person is, I watch a film to experience a story. If the story is any good, he will not need all these convoluted technicalities. I like other films of his like Insomnia or The Prestige
The fun thing about Dunkirk is that the story doesn't need the viewer to understand that there is a bit of magic with the timeline. It's just a good story, but for those so inclined, it is fun/neat/impressive how the time was manipulated to tell the story.
We all like different things, but just because there's something you don't like doesn't mean that it is not impressive to others.
No one does it like him though, or rather his team.
I thought his work on no time to die was pretty boring, but the work he did with Pfister on 2049 and on Dune are almost genre defining, I feel.
His ability to integrate the score into the sound design of the movie is something I don't think anyone can do. Maybe no one else has the budget for it.
I think Dune is probably his best work, it's the perfect blend of atmosphere, evocations of a strange new world, but also thematic and structural rigour that has let down previous adaptations.
I definitely get tired of him sometimes, but equally I never feel like I need more deliberate choices from his work. When I listened to Giacchino's mostly fairly good score to The Batman, I felt myself thinking "This motif's entropy is too low", I very very rarely feel that in Zimmer's more modern work.
That being said I think Zimmer gets more credit than he deserves because I think more than many other names he is the director of the music. There's genius in sitting back, too, but I doubt he composed all the trills and melodies in the dune soundtrack.
He did some of his best (and worst) work while collaborating with Jon Anderson in my opinion. "Short Stories" was a great, quirky album in the late 70s. "Friends of Mr. Cairo" was dreck in the 80s.
He did know and was friends with the composer (also very talented), my guess is Vangelis just heard it at some point and picked up the theme's feel and basic style, and subconsciously copied it. It happens. His version is better imho.
I love Soil Festivities, still decades after hearing it for the first time. Amazing album. Not to diminish his other work, but that one really stands out for me.
Also, if you don't know about it yet, check out his collaborations with Jon Anderson, as Jon & Vangelis, two awesome musicians at their peak.
Yes what remarkable, 'organic' sound. Also 'l'apocalypse des animaux' and his other early albums really. Despite being old synths, they still sound classic
Indeed, for the last two decades the first movement of Soil Festivities has been my go-to track to get me in the zone when I have to get any serious writing going. It just flows so nicely.
This is very sad, his music has been an inspiration for me for a large part of my life. This is one of those days you knew were coming but hoped they didn't.
My first introduction to Vangelis was a vinyl of the album Spiral when I was younger ... I didn't even know he did Blade Runner until years later, but I really liked that album. Sad to hear he passed away though.
Oh no. I own all of his albums, including many bootleg issues. He was productive right up to the end, though; his last album came out in July of last year.
There used to be some forum posts detailing the custom MIDI controllers and setup more, but it looks like a lot of it has been deleted or removed. I found this though:
Thank you for sharing those links! If Vangelis were a coder, he would have taken a Space Cadet Keyboard and extended it. 17 pedals...and on top of that, what appears to be a very broad custom notation / shorthand system. I can't tell if that notation acted more like keyboard macros or even more modifier keys.
Loved the guy's work for many years. Inspired so many other artists. I listen to his work and variations inspired by him, on YouTube while working. Rest in Peace.
When I was an online editor (video) in SF, I got to work with Hal Riney on several occasions. There was this joke among his agency staffers that, no matter what commercial he screened, if he hadn't voiced it himself, he always said (something like), "That's great. I'll re-voice it tomorrow."
I'm sure it was a different experience up close, but as far as I'm concerned from a distance, he could only elevate a voiceover track.
He did Subway sandwiches for God's sake.
"We aspire to know all our customers by name... or at least by sandwich."
Or airport car rentals.
"There are over a million miles of roads in Alamo territory. And only Alamo gives you all those miles for free."
Agreed. His was one of the best voices out there. There are folks who think Reagan's 1984 landslide was propelled, at least in significant part, by Riney penned and voiced political ads, especially, "Prouder, Stronger, Better" (It's Morning Again in America).
Aha... Here's one.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jPpFWxKPOyQ
I forgot the ending of those ads... always a variation on... 'Roads that run through America... to a place.. we call home."
RIP. He had some memorable soundtracks during the 80s: Blade Runner, Chariots of Fire. Also scores for the TV series Cosmos w/ Carl Sagan. I used to own the cassette tape for "China" which I remember enjoying many years ago.
That track was almost impossible to get hold of back in the day. I had heard of it, but never heard it. After years of asking around in record stores I finally found a really scratchy sounding cassette tape (no doubt a pirated copy) in a German record shop in East Frisia the summer of 1985.
RIP Maestro, your works are timeless! I firstly heared Vangelis from Ariston commercial w/ Ask The Mountains track promice to add a link to YT when I can
"State of Independence" by Jon [Anderson of Yes] and Vangelis. Also features the wonderful Dick Morrissey (who, amongst other things with Vangelis, plays saxophone on the Blade Runner soundtrack).
Damn, I wasn't the only one!
Two days ago, just out of the blues I started listening to his music on spotify (i like no-vocals music while coding). He dies 1 later :(
Massive, epic talent. Did everything by ear and instinct, never learned to read or write music. Incredible feel for timbre, melody, and structure.
The DX7 synth used to have a ridiculous "chuff chuff chuff DING!" comedy steam train preset. It sounded terrible and was utterly useless except as a 10 second novelty.
He used it in one of his soundtracks - and somehow made it perfectly musical in that setting.
I guess especially with synths you may also need to incorporate not just the notes, but also the synth settings. I'm not sure there's much support for that in traditional notation.
This was sad news indeed. I have just listened to his works again for the first time in years, after a random encounter with a guy wearing a faded Chariots of Fire T-shirt - next thing I knew, I spent several hours in my hotel room, listening to several albums to kill time and rekindle my on-and-off love affair with his music.
Today, as I flew home from working overseas for a few weeks, I listened to Opera Sauvage over and over again - then landing at my destination to see news of his passing.
I don't know much about Vangelis other than Chariots of Fire, he's Greek, and my neighbor when I was a kid loved the shit out of him. I assumed for a very long time Vangelis was an entire band and not just one person.
So Long Ago, So Clear, in our headphones, on a foggy night, on the Pont au Double, when the Bateau-Mouche passed under, searchlights setting the air on fire. Pure, pure magic. Thanking you.
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[ 4.0 ms ] story [ 165 ms ] threadHis work on blade runner just has this timeless magic to it. The sequel ends on his motif (tears in rain) for a reason too.
I also forgot to mention that chariots of fire is truly great too.
Some parts of his music haven't aged too well, but the stuff that hasn't is sorely missed in today's film scores. Even if Zimmer is brilliant he's not a poet.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7vfqkvwW2fs
(well, up until they made that video, at least)
It ties in with a running discussion I have with a mate of mine about the state of music, compare the top 40 nowadays with 40 years ago and the variety of genres and styles on display back then feels much more unique and varied than now or maybe I'm just being nostalgic or maybe that's the whole problem with the need to recoup massive budgetry outlays and post the highest grossing box office yadda yadda (tangential tie in with the recent conversation about OKRs)?
P.S. RIP I still have fond memories of listening to Albeido 0.39 whilst playing Elite on my BBC eons ago and going round to my mates and listening to Jon and Vangelis that we'd borrowed from the library.
[1] - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxabLA7UQ9k
Edit: It is one of my favorite pieces of music so not boring to me. I'm sure others have different opinion.
We all like different things, but just because there's something you don't like doesn't mean that it is not impressive to others.
- True Romance: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=BA7WTbzqp2o
- Interstellar: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=zE-qxNVoUSo
- Little Prince: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=PKG_EVEs0Ck
- The Dark Night: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=1zyhQjJ5UgY
- Dune: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=BdtiYwSP9ko
He’s very prolific (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_Zimmer_discography). Is it possible that you recognize just one style of soundtracks that he composes?
"True Romance" -> "Badlands" slash Carl Orff "Grassenhauer":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-tEgzGnzojc
I thought his work on no time to die was pretty boring, but the work he did with Pfister on 2049 and on Dune are almost genre defining, I feel.
His ability to integrate the score into the sound design of the movie is something I don't think anyone can do. Maybe no one else has the budget for it.
I think Dune is probably his best work, it's the perfect blend of atmosphere, evocations of a strange new world, but also thematic and structural rigour that has let down previous adaptations.
I definitely get tired of him sometimes, but equally I never feel like I need more deliberate choices from his work. When I listened to Giacchino's mostly fairly good score to The Batman, I felt myself thinking "This motif's entropy is too low", I very very rarely feel that in Zimmer's more modern work.
That being said I think Zimmer gets more credit than he deserves because I think more than many other names he is the director of the music. There's genius in sitting back, too, but I doubt he composed all the trills and melodies in the dune soundtrack.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Oti6lkzgH0
He did know and was friends with the composer (also very talented), my guess is Vangelis just heard it at some point and picked up the theme's feel and basic style, and subconsciously copied it. It happens. His version is better imho.
Also, if you don't know about it yet, check out his collaborations with Jon Anderson, as Jon & Vangelis, two awesome musicians at their peak.
What a pity...
He will be missed.
https://youtu.be/GWggDMDhwIA
There used to be some forum posts detailing the custom MIDI controllers and setup more, but it looks like a lot of it has been deleted or removed. I found this though:
https://www.synthevolution.net/blog/2017/5/22/the-devils-wor...
I think my first encounter with his music was the Ernest & Julio Gallo wine commercials. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mES7lzR9uFE
Seems he should have been considerably older than 79.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_lnwNIlJUo
- Chariots of Fire
- Cosmos
- 1492
and the list goes on. Pretty impressive.
Αναπαύσου εν ειρήνη θρύλε, Rest in peace legend.
Καλό ταξίδι γίγαντα μου https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nd-DlMOLCY4
The DX7 synth used to have a ridiculous "chuff chuff chuff DING!" comedy steam train preset. It sounded terrible and was utterly useless except as a 10 second novelty.
He used it in one of his soundtracks - and somehow made it perfectly musical in that setting.
He seems to have had his own musical notation, of a sort. You can see him using it at the beginning of this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3b1xJYCrKDU
Today, as I flew home from working overseas for a few weeks, I listened to Opera Sauvage over and over again - then landing at my destination to see news of his passing.
Sigh.
Got a copy from Germany sometime between '00 and '03.
Amazing album, especially for someone that had only known him for Blade Runner at the time.
His stuff with Jon Anderson is also fairly good. The Friends of Mr. Cairo is one of my favorites.
RIP amongst so many others, lately.
He had an album based on Greek folk music (Odes, 1979). This is a cretan dance: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hc9_qVAflzk