REVIEW:

Set to a rich orchestral score, JANE the film offers an unprecedented, intimate portrait of Jane Goodall — a trailblazer who defied the odds to become one of the world’s most admired conservationists.

“Serengeti,” one of the score's most joyful cues, is a celebration of optimism, the piano rolls and the flute and horn section carrying it even higher. It’s a spectacular piece that shows the endless imagination of the composer.

– Soundtrack Dreams

Masterworks Broadway will release the New York City Center Encores! Cast recording of Lerner & Loewe's Paint Your Wagon starring Keith Carradine, Justin Guarini and Alexandra Socha, on May 27, 2016. Filled with gorgeous standards such as "They Call the Wind Maria, " "I Talk to the Trees, " and "Wand'rin' Star, " Paint Your Wagon is Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe's sweepingly ambitious and surprisingly realistic take on freedom, family, and racism in the Gold Rush-happy America of 1853. The outstanding March 2015 production by Encores! #brought the almost-forgotten show back to New York's mainstream stage for the first time since the original Broadway production closed in 1952. And because the original cast album - an early limited capacity monaural LP - had omitted so much of the music, the score was ripe for rediscovery and a brand new recording. Helping to capture the spirit of the original Broadway production were the full handwritten scores used in 1951 by Franz Allers (Loewe's favorite musical director) and discovered accidentally by Rodgers & Hammerstein musicologist Bruce Pomahac at the bottom of a musty Warner Chappell trunk stored, curiously, at the R&H offices in New York. Album co-producer and Encores! Music Director Rob Berman leads the thirty member cast and thirty-one piece Encores! Orchestra, in the 2015 stereo cast album that celebrates the scope and riches of Lerner & Loewe's exceptional score. Much of the original dance music orchestrated by Trude Rittmann, created in close collaboration with both Loewe and choreographer Agnes de Mille, appears on this recording for the first time. Also recorded for the first time on this album is the bonus track "What Do Other Folks Do?" which was dropped from the original production before the show reached New York and whose historical importance is clear: Lerner and Loewe would later recycle the concept for Camelot's "What Do the Simple Folk Do?"

This collection features serene piano arrangements of Joe Hisaishi's iconic scores from the Studio Ghibli masterpieces Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away. It offers a minimalist and intimate listening experience that highlights the emotional depth of these legendary cinematic themes.

PASSENGERS Starring Chris Pratt, Jennifer Lawrence  as star-crossed lovers in space Original Motion Picture Soundtrack Music by multi-awarded composer Thomas Newman ABOUT THE FILMThe Sci-Fi Adventure follows the spaceship “Starship Avalon” in its 120-year voyage to a distant colony planet known as the "Homestead Colony" when malfunctions occur in two of its sleep chambers. Jennifer Lawrence and Chris Pratt are two passengers onboard a spaceship transporting them to a new life on the new planet. The trip takes a deadly turn when their hibernation pods mysteriously wake them 90 years before they reach their destination.As their characters Jim and Aurora try to unravel the mystery behind the malfunction, they begin to fall for each other, unable to deny their intense attraction only to be threatened by the imminent collapse of the ship and the discovery of the truth behind why they woke up. Passengers, from the excellent Norwegian director of The Imitation Game, Morten Tyldum, has the look of a glossy 21st-century update of classic 70s space movies such as Dark Star, Silent Runningand Solaris, all from that era in which sci-fi film-makers loved to riff on the endless boredom of travel between the stars and imagine madness taking root in the cosmos like cholera in dirty water.“You will laugh and cry and hold your breath and be at the edge of your seat. It has chills. It also will make you smile and laugh a lot. We wanted a playful movie. In this day of sequels and reboots I think it’s refreshing that it is a completely original story with two of the best movie stars in the world. I’m very, very happy with the movie.” (Director Morten Tyldum)ABOUT THOMAS NEWMANThomas Newman is an American film score composer and a member of a family who established a film-scoring dynasty in Hollywood.He was born in Los Angeles, California, the youngest son of composer Alfred Newman (1901-1970). Newman has received a total of twelve ©Academy Award nominations. He has won two BAFTAs, six ©Grammys and an Emmy, and has been nominated for three Golden Globes. Newman was honored with the Richard Kirk award at the 2000 BMI Film and TV Awards. The award is given annually to a composer who has made significant contributions to film and television music.One of the most interesting things about Newman is his change of styles, beginning with his score for American Beauty, which received critical acclaim. Before this, Newman gravitated more towards the orchestra for his music, like in most other film music. However, in American Beauty his fans witnessed his take on a minimalistic score with an array of odd instruments and a rhythmic style. Since then Newman has alternated and mixed in both his traditional sweeping orchestral scores along with his new, creative style. He is notorious among score listeners for using plenty of instruments the average listener would never have heard of.Among his most recent compositions are James Bond 007: Skyfall (2012), Side Effects (2013), Bridge of Spies (2015), and James Bond 007: Spectre (2015).TRACKLIST1.         The Starship Avalon (Main Title)  2.         Hibernation Pod 16253.         Command Ring4.         Rate 2 Mechanic5.         Awake for 7 Days6.         Crystalline 7.         Precious Metals8.         Aurora9.         Robot Questions10.      The Sleeping Girl                                                     11.      Build a House and Live In It12.      I Tried Not To…13.      Spacewalk                                     14.      Passengers                                                                     15.      50% of Light Speed16.      Cascade Failure17.      Zero-Gravity18.      Never Happy Here19.      Red Giant20.      Looking for Wrong                                                  21.      Chrysler Bldg.22.      Untethered23.      You Brought Me Back24.      Starlit25.      Accidental Happiness26.      Sugarcoat the Galaxy (End Title)

A while ago, when commenting on Michael Nyman's "The Piano," I spoke (or pontificated, rather) to some colleagues regarding my dismay over Nyman's 'art.' I mention guilty pleasures on occasion, but a greater potential irrationality of criticism is the personal determination of whether one should praise certain scores or composers for daring to be abstract, or lambaste them for not getting their points across. I have done both, with disliked emphasis on the latter, when listening to Nyman's compositions. It is with "The End of the Affair," performed by the Michael Nyman Orchestra, that I realize I ought to place my views firmly, diplomatically in the middle.

The music really depends on how the listener feels, as opposed to being the sort of film score that alters how he feels. Reliant on the mood and the focus of attention, the score delights as confidently as it bores. It stands precariously on the divide between art and self-importance. Its incessant, top heavy strings play ad nauseam -- will they never end? -- but the themes they play indulge in the attention. It is exceedingly predictable, just as a fair deal of minimalist music is. And compared to the film scores of minimalist Philip Glass it is neither technically brilliant nor dramatically solid. It is challenging primarily to the amplitude of one's attempt to fall in love with its tedium. Cinematic evolution gets thrown out of the window for a beginning, middle, and end that are practically unidentifiable from one another. As I am not a huge supporter of the minimalist music movement I may be missing some key thought, others may see this score far differently, but to my ears it reaches a point of despotic annoyance. Call me unfashionable. Yet I cannot help praising "The End of the Affair" for its abstract grandeur. The scope, though minimal, gets the most out of the repeating elements, and the cues, taken individually as small concert works rather than part of a theatrical whole, become fascinating essays in contemporary classical music. Nyman has an unconventional way with counterpoint (and lack thereof) that is lush and thoroughly amazing, and the themes are memorable and inhabit the soundscape aggressively well. When these ideas stick out from the common backdrop, it is mesmerizing.

What fascinates me most personally is that this is one of the few soundtracks I know of featuring such a strong dichotomy... I am not sure I appreciate it...

-- Jeffrey Wheeler, MusicWeb International

Based on Charles Dickens' 1843 classic novella, A Christmas Carol was presented annually at New York City's Paramount Theatre in Madison Square Garden from 1994 through 2003. Over its nine years, A Christmas Carol featured a slew of notable actors as “Scrooge” including F. Murray Abraham, Tim Curry, Tony Randall, Roddy McDowall (in his final role), Frank Langella, Tony Roberts, Jim Dale, and Roger Daltrey. A Christmas Carol featured a creative team of Broadway’s heavy hitters: Alan Menken, Music; Lynn Ahrens, Book and Lyrics; Mike Ockrent, Book and Direction and Susan Stroman, Choreography.

Vinyl LP pressing. Original soundtrack to the 2017 motion picture. The Greatest Showman is a bold and original musical that celebrates the birth of show business and the sense of wonder we feel when dreams come to life. Inspired by the ambition and imagination of P. T. Barnum, The Greatest Showman tells the story of a visionary who rose from nothing to create a mesmerizing spectacle that became a worldwide sensation. The Greatest Showman is directed by exciting new filmmaker Michael Gracey, with songs by Academy Award winners Benj Pasek and Justin Paul (La La Land) and starring Academy Award nominee Hugh Jackman. Jackman is joined by Academy Award nominee Michelle Williams, Zendaya, Zac Efron and Rebecca Ferguson.

Pelé's meteoric rise from the slums of São Paulo to leading Brazil to its first World Cup victory at the age of 17 is chronicled in this biographical drama, Pelé. A name known around the world, a sports legend who changed soccer forever and a national hero who carried the hopes and dreams of a country on his back. But before he was an icon, he was a kid from the slums of São Paulo, Brazil, so poor that he couldn't afford a real soccer ball. A.R. Rahman is an Indian composer, singer-songwriter, music producer, musician, multi-instrumentalist and philanthropist. Rahman has been described as the world's most prominent and prolific film composer by Time Magazine. His works are notable for integrating Eastern classical music with electronic music sounds, world music and traditional orchestral arrangements.

This first reissue in 25 years of a classic Original Cast Recording is a must-have for discriminating lovers of musical theater. Written by Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidt (THE FANTASTICKS, 110 IN THE SHADE and I DO! I DO!), CELEBRATION was produced on Broadway in 1969 and is considered one of the most provocative and entertaining musicals of the decade. Says Jones (now 92 and still writing for the stage): “CELEBRATION, along with HAIR, was one of the 1960s shows that sought to reinvent our musical theater...The score is rich and varied, the premise interesting and the characters and scenes funny and touching. I’m so grateful to Harbinger Records for wanting to share it with at least three generations!” In this battle between the Old Year and the New, Jones & Schmidt mixed symbolic figures with then-current prototypes. “Thus the Old Man typifies all the misgivings that the youth culture of the time had about the previous generation,” says Jones. “The Young Boy is the ultimate flower child. The Narrator is a sixties dropout who’s into booze and drugs. And the Girl is a teenybopper dreaming of being a celebrity.” The package contains a 24-album booklet with extensive notes by author Tom Jones; memories from two original-cast members, Susan Watson and Michael Glenn-Smith; and many recently unearthed photos of the original production. The album has been remastered by multiple Grammy Award winner Alan Silverman.

Who on this planet has never seen KING KONG and heard Max Steiner’s powerful innovative music more than once? Here’s a treasure trove of classic scary music that these 20th-century composers gave their best and probably never thought would ever be heard again and especially newly recorded! Film fans and scholars in every future century will continue to discover and study this music art form and give the composers their unexpected and rightful immortality!
— Craig Spaulding, Screen Archives Entertainment

About this Release GHOSTBUSTERS: AFTERLIFE (ORIGINAL MOTION PICTURE SOUNDTRACK) features score music written by Rob Simonsen for the latest chapter in the original Ghostbusters universe. The film marks the third collaboration between Simonsen and Ghostbusters: Afterlife co-writer and director Jason Reitman, the duo working closely to reimagine the iconic soundscape crafted by Elmer Bernstein for director Ivan Reitman's original 1984 film, which was written by Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis. Of the soundtrack, composer ROB SIMONSEN says, "Working with Jason Reitman on Ghostbusters: Afterlife has been a career highlight for me and my twelve-year-old Ghostbusters-loving self. To reflect the idea of passing the torch from old Ghostbusters to new, from Ivan Reitman to his son Jason, we integrated and reimagined Elmer Bernstein's classic original score into something for a new generation." Simonsen has reprised familiar themes and expanded upon them, ultimately crafting a nostalgia-tinged score that both pays homage to Bernstein's muchloved music and establishes an entirely new sound for the new chapter. ABOUT GHOSTBUSTERS: AFTERLIFE From director Jason Reitman and producer Ivan Reitman, comes the next chapter in the original Ghostbusters universe. In Ghostbusters: Afterlife, when a single mom and her two kids arrive in a small town, they begin to discover their connection to the original ghostbusters and the secret legacy their grandfather left behind. Based on the 1984 film "Ghostbusters" an Ivan Reitman film written by Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis. The film stars Carrie Coon, Finn Wolfhard, McKenna Grace, Annie Potts and Paul Rudd.

'Just Dance the Steps' is a personal portrait of the Dutch choreographer Hans Van Manen in the run-up to his 90th birthday. For over five years director Willem Aerts followed and observed this internationally acclaimed master of contemporary ballet during his life and work at Dutch National Ballet in Amsterdam, in the studio of the Ballett am Rhein in Du¨sseldorf and at Nederlands Dans Theater in The Hague. This powerful tribute and inspirational portrayal looks back at van Manen's remarkable artistic legacy, and documents a life that remains inseparable from dance and choreography.

Following the success of last year's release of Rodgers & Hammerstein's Oklahoma!, John Wilson and Sinfonia of London turn their attention to Rodgers & Hammerstein's Carousel. As in the case of the previous release in the series, this world premiere recording of the complete score features every note of music played at the first Broadway performance, here in the full thirty-five-piece orchestration made by Don Walker for the original production. The outstanding cast, led by Nathaniel Hackmann (Billy Bigelow), Mikaela Bennett (Julie Jordan), Sierra Boggess (Carrie Pipperidge), and Julian Ovenden (Enoch Snow), also features Francesca Chiejina (Nettie Fowler) and David Seadon-Young (Jigger Craigin). The extensive chorus material is sung by the 'Carousel' Ensemble - twenty-four young singers all currently working on stage across London's West End. John Wilson comments: 'Carousel is Rodgers & Hammerstein's greatest achievement. In it, Rodgers manages to create a score with operatic aspirations and dimensions. Everything in the score serves a dramatic purpose. Even in it's texture you can hear orchestral effects that are there to underline the drama's emotions, whether that's unease or joy or whatever. The drama is amplified by what's happening in the music.' Recorded in Surround Sound and Dolby Atmos, Rodgers & Hammerstein's Carousel will be available on Hybrid SACD and in spatial audio.

2018 release. Get ready to experience Joshua Henry's soul-stirring "Soliloquy" on repeat. The Tony-nominated revival of Rodgers & Hammerstein's Carousel has announced an original Broadway cast recording. Henry leads the cast in a Tony-nominated turn as Billy Bigelow alongside Jessie Mueller in a Tony-nominated performance as Julie Jordan. The principal company also includes Tony nominee and Broadway. Com vlogger Lindsay Mendez as Carrie Pipperidge, Tony nominee Alexander Gemignani as Enoch Snow, Tony nominee Renee Fleming as Nettie Fowler, Tony nominee John Douglas Thompson as the Starkeeper, Amar Ramasar as Jigger, Brittany Pollack as Louise and Margaret Colin as Mrs. Mullin. Tony winner Jack O'Brien directs the revival with choreography by Tony nominee Justin Peck.

John Barry started his career in the most British manner possible - as a film composer in the service of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth. The characteristic "Bond Theme" for Dr. No, with it's mysterious, clacking guitar trailer supported by powerful brass, was indispensable for all following films and rang in the ears of the villains and their henchmen for all time. Alongside the fully orchestrated numbers from the James Bond films, the album offers a wealth of very different music, such as the collage-like "The Chase" with it's intense 'walking' sound and the melancholy theme from "King Rat". Barry let's the flutes rise up with airy and and subtle clouds of dissonant chords ("S'ance On A Wet Afternoon"), creates barbed motives out of gentle sounds ("The Ipcress File") and rolls out a warm carpet of strings for the programmatic terrain of "Born Free", a true adventure story set in a game ward in Africa.