currently going insane about the httyd film score again. It’s amazing how you can tell exactly what’s going on just by listening to the music.
Currently listening to the score for the second film score and it got to a battle scene and at first you have hiccup and toothless’ themes mixed together while they’re fighting and then things go wrong and you hear it in the music. Then his dad’s motif plays as the scene focuses on him, then his mum’s motif as she leads out the dragons. And then their marriage motif plays as they help Hiccup together.
I really hope Spiderverse wins for best original score at the Oscars. I feel like it should win best Animated feature, but I just love the way they did the music in both the Spiderverse movies. The first one deserved a win there, but Across the Spiderverse does too. I know Miyazaki has a huge foot in rhe game, i just still feel like Spiderverse did more.
Richard Rodney Bennet was an English composer for film, TV and concerts, and he also performed as a jazz pianist. He received his musical education in England but by 1979, he felt frustrated with life in Britain and he moved to New York. Both Steven Sondheim and Leonard Bernstein wrote in support his application for a US green card.
Bennett produced over 200 works for the concerts, and 50 scores for film and television, including Far from the Madding Crowd (1967); Equus (1977); Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994). And of course by personal favorite, the wonderful score for Murder on the Orient Express (1974) where he was nominated for an Oscar and won a BAFTA.
In 1995, Gay Times nominated him as one of the most influential gay people in music. Three years later Bennett was knighted by Queen Elizabeth.
When asked what was the first thing he did each morning, Bennett replied:
I cuddle my cats, because they always sleep with me.
the relationship I have developed with the How to Train your Dragon movie is actually concerning….been at this too since I was 5….but honestly that movie holds one of the best scores of the generation
Still remember crying in theaters when I thought Hiccup and Toothless were dead and my Aunt had to calm me down
So obviously the soundtrack and score are incredible. For the last few days it's pretty much been the only thing I've listened to, and God, I have to give it to Justin Hurwitz for just how well he did with this. Most fans are probably familiar with Whiplash and Caravan (not by Hurwitz, for clarification), but I implore you to listen to the other pieces featured in the movie, like Too Hip To Retire and Upswingin' (both by Tim Simonec, but also Intoit by Stan Getz).
OKAY ABOUT THE ACTUAL SCORE BY HURWITZ + SYMBOLISM WITH ANDREW AND FLETCHER
Alright, listen to the whole album, please. Just... do that for yourself.
Hurwitz uses drumset as the primary instrument for most of the score (the score, not the soundtrack), which is very obviously representing/referencing Andrew Neiman, the protagonist. While there are a few songs that aren't built on drumset, I think something important to note is that there are specifically only three that are built instead on piano.
The first is Fletcher's Song In Club. Fletcher plays the piano. I don't think it's a stretch to consider it his thematic instrument; not so much because Fletcher's character reminds us of piano--definitely not--but because it's associated with him.
The only other pieces in the score that use piano so prominently--actually, in these cases, it's the only instrument used--are Hug From Dad and Dismissed, which are actually the same piece with very minor changes to the effects. These tracks play when Andrew is at his lowest. It's so interesting to me that Hurwitz made this compositional decision, especially because it was totally unnecessary. He didn't pick piano because it's commonly associated with melancholy; there are other tracks that accomplish the same mood/tone that don't use piano at all. But he chose for Andrew's lowest moments to be accompanied exclusively by Fletcher's instrument: the piano.
Remembing the one time I got aux in my friend’s car and played dawn, another day of sun, flaming red hair, test drive, and across the stars. ‘Twas truly an interesting car ride on our quest to acquire pillsbury pumpkin sugar cookies