soundtrack heaven: Oliver Stone

Showing posts with label Oliver Stone. Show all posts

Monday, September 12, 2022

Craig Armstrong – World Trade Center (Original Motion Picture Score)

World Trade Center is a 2006 American docudrama disaster film directed by Oliver Stone, based on the experience of a few police officers during the September 11 attacks, in which they were trapped in the rubble of the collapsed World Trade Center. It stars Nicolas Cage, Maria Bello, Michael Peña, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Stephen Dorff, and Michael Shannon. The film was shot between October 2005 and February 2006, and theatrically released in the United States on August 9, 2006. The film was met with generally positive reviews from critics and grossed $163 million worldwide.

The score is by Scottish composer Craig Armstrong.

World Trade Center Cello Theme 3:43

World Trade Center Piano Theme 4:01

New York Awakes 2:30

The Drive Downtown 3:52

Rise Above The Towers 2:26

World Trade Center Choral Piece 2:41

John & Donna Talk About Their Family 1:25

Ethereal 5:25

John's Woodshed 1:39

Marine Arrives At Ground Zero 2:57

Will And Allison In The Hospital 1:54

Allison At The Stoplight 1:08

Jimeno Sees Jesus 1:43

John And Will Found/Will Ascends 5:05

John's Apparition 2:30

John Rescued/Resolution 2:30

Elegy 7:46

Ethereal Piano Coda 2:09

World Trade Center

Tuesday, July 12, 2016

Heaven and Earth...Original Motion Picture Soundtrack...music by Kitaro

While regarded as one of the pioneers of the new age music genre, Kitaro is also no stranger to scoring for film and television. His music for the ‘Silk Road’ series by NHK in the early 1980's yielded four astonishing albums. A decade on, he would compose the music for Heaven and Earth (1993), the final picture of Oliver Stone’s unofficial ‘Vietnam War’ trilogy.

Kitaro won the Golden Globe for Best Original Score, which came rather unexpectedly, especially in a year that saw John Williams produced what was arguably his finest score for Schindler’s List (1993). His work for Heaven and Earth remains to be one of the most accomplished endeavours of his illustrious career.

Building from the symphonic sound of his massively-popular 1990 album Kojiki, his music here shows both dynamism and sensitivity as the melodies and arrangements echo the style of a traditional film score, yet are uniquely elevated by his penchant for using Asian instruments—our ears bear witness to the exquisite if sad sounds of the huqin (a kind of Chinese violin) in several tracks, and the powerful Taiko drums in ‘Arvn’ and ‘Village Attack/The Arrest’.

The synthesised sounds of what seem like the Japanese koto and flute are also brilliantly integrated with the orchestra, particularly in the stunning first track, ‘Heaven and Earth (Land Theme)’.