Composer Thomas Newman is widely known for his soundtracks used in such awesome movies as American Dream and Finding Nemo, and series like Six Feet Under. His music is great not only because it ties beautifully to the actual visuals and story, but because you can also listen to them as they are. It’s simply wonderful music to listen to.
But there’s another composer who deserves to be added to the same (rare) category as Newman. And that is Bear McCreary. His most notable work is in the completely awesome Sci Fi series Battlestar Galactica, ie the remake of it. If you haven’t seen an episode from BSG yet them it’s you I’m sorry for. Do yourself a favor and watch it as soon as you can. If for nothing else, then for the music - because the music in BSG, composed bu McCreary is unheard of in television history.
Besides the visuals, the score was one of the first things that struck me as very original in BSG. I’d simply never heard anything like it. It ranges from Japanese style taiko percussions to middle eastern style flute and rythms to to classical scores on par with some of the greatest composers in classical music history.
Here follows a selection of Bear McCreary’s more classically themed tunes
[audio:bearmccreary_passacaglia.mp3,bearmccreary_roslinconfesses.mp3,bearmccreary_worthyofsurvival.mp3,bearmccreary_theshapeofthingstocome.mp3]
Playlist: Passacaglia | Rosslin Confesses | Worthy of Survival | The Shape of Things to Come
Hint: to skip forward, move the slider to the very end of the track
Passacaglia accompanies the opening scenes to one BSG eposide, something many have called “one of the greatest moments in television history“. Well that’s a little over hyped, but certainly one of the best scored pieces in television series history.
Rosslin Confesses is a great example of McReary’s ability to compose very emotional music. Although more ordinary in a soundtrack sense, this is a very beautiful piece from when the president, Laura Rosslin confesses that she rigged the election because she sincerely thinkgs her opponent will lead humaity towards it’s doom.
Worthy of Survival is both an example of the very reflective an unbiased nature of Battlestar Galactica as a series, and en example of how McCreary can combine classical strings and taiko drums to create a very dark and unsettling atmosphere. This piece accompanies a scene where the commander of the Battlestar Galactica, Adama, reflects on whether humanity, being such a destructive, greedy and sometimes evil race is worthy of survival at all. What makes humanity so much better than the enemy they’re fighting?
The Shape of Things To Come is yet another very classical theme with a lot of strings. This could very well be the grand finale of any ensemble.
Check out McCreary’s blog for more info about his compositions.
Credits go to 1 Pixel Out for the MP3 Player plugin.
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