If the number of recent CD releases is any indication, and I certainly think it is, Michael Giacchino is surely one of the busiest composers working today and perhaps ever. In between scoring Lost’s 5th season, he juggled three major summer movies which were released within weeks of each other. The volume of music is impressive enough, but let’s not forget that each work bears no resemblance to its 2009 siblings. Compare the rousing Star Trek with Pixar’s modern fairytale Up, throw in adventurous without taking itself too seriously The Land of the Lost and we have one very busy and versatile composer. No wonder he’s taking a break as he gears up to score Lost’s 6th and final season.

Lost’s season 4 disc is the 5th disc of Lost music released by Varese Sarabande. Season 1 and 2 received single CDs each, with season 3 generously represented on a 2-CD set, the second disc featuring the score to the two-hour season finale. Season 4, at 14 episodes, was shorter than previous seasons due to the writer’s strike. No 2-disc set this time, but what has been released certainly catalogues the most notable and memorable of Giacchino’s music. Old and familiar themes get new arrangements and workouts, while new themes are introduced into the Lost musical canon adding to the growing array of themes and motives.

I’ve enjoyed all previous releases, but this season 4 disc is fast becoming my favorite. Granted I’m not as familiar as the previous two releases as I should be, but this disc strikes me as the most coherent listening experience of the recent releases….

To start things off, if this score interests you and you haven’t already seen Bear’s blog entry detailing his themes and approaches, then you really should check out his blog ASAP. Here’s the link: The themes of Caprica by composer Bear McCreary.

I first became aware of this Bear McCreary creature after season 1 of Battlestar Galactica (BSG) aired. I hadn’t caught the show at that time, but kept coming across glowing reviews of Bear’s music. Learning that he was a protege of famed composer Elmer Bernstein sparked my interest further. I bought the soundtrack and it quickly became my favorite score and CD of the year. I became an instant fan and was hungry for more. More arrived a couple of days ago in the form of Bear’s new score to the BSG spin-off prequel pilot Caprica.

I’ll quote without permission a comment posted on the Film Score Monthly forums that to me hit the nail right on the head: “I felt like I was sitting in a beach house in winter looking out the window at the gray, misty sea with no one on the beach and contemplating life.” Haunting is another word that comes to mind. This is after all, not a happy tale.

The end is nigh, but this is a piece about present grief. A father mourns a daughter; a husband mourns a wife. It’s a story about their loss and how they cope with it. That’s what the music describes: loss and pain. Mixed in with the loss is a desperate hope that life can be returned. Frankenstein has a plan; a plan that will result in his planet getting nuked 58 years later. Good plan, muhaha! Pretty bad plan actually, the worst in fact, but this isn’t a doomsday score, its a very personal and intimate score exploring the themes of loss, denial, grief, and desperation.

Bear created two main themes for his score, a theme for the Graystone family – that name always reminds me of Tarzan – and a theme for the Tauron culture that the other main character, Admiral Adama’s father, belongs to. Bear was kind enough to post those melodies on his blog and I have sheepishly copied them here hoping I won’t get in toruble:

Those two main themes pop up in most tracks and have done nothing but grow on me more and more these past few days. If I didn’t know Bear was a young 30 years old, I would assume this was music written by a grey-haired maestro at the height of his powers with decades of experience. (For some reason I have trouble understanding the fact that young people can write music – yes I know Mozart died in his 30s.) I can’t do what they do, and that leads me to believe they are either very old and wizened ala Dumbledore and Gandalf, or aliens. In all seriousness, I do firmly believe that Bear’s writing exhibits a maturity and sophistication well beyond his years.

For fans of Bear’s BSG music this new and very different music does point forward to Caprica’s future survivors. The pounding percussion of BSG’s action scenes is present in the tracks “Terrorism on the Lev”, “Cybernetic Life-Form Node”, and “Zoe Awakens”. We are after all, witnessing the latest birth of a race of Cylons.
And one prominent BSG theme, the theme for the Adama family, does make a brief appearance receiving a lovely rendition on the strings. That’s one of my favorite themes from BSG and I hope its appearance means it’ll be used in the upcoming first season, also to be scored by Bear McCreary.

5 stars!

Bear giving a sneak peak of the Caprica (Graystone) Theme on piano prior to the DVD release:

Why will this succeed where all previous attempts have failed?

The honest answer is it probably won’t, but I do have some hope. It might succeed, it might. And by succeed I don’t mean become famous or popular, I simply mean that I will find time to update it every now and then.

In my mind’s eye this blog is already filled with hundreds and hundreds of posts, each one describing a CD that has given me joy and made me feel lucky to be alive in this day and age.

I think therein lies the difference between this blog and its failed predecessors: this blog has a specific purpose and I already have hundreds of CDs lined up that I’d like to explore further and share my thoughts on.

This blog is for me really. I hope it’ll drive me to sit down, forget about nutty cults and signing horny female gorillas, and simply listen to music. Really listen. My life had been pretty hectic lately with the only time I’ve had to listen to music has been while travelling,  studying, or sleeping and that last one doesn’t really count. That actually is quite a lot of listening, but it isn’t real listening. It’s background music. I want to find more time for foreground music.

I’m hungry for some real listening, and am relishing the thought of revisiting and getting to know better some of the CDs that I couldn’t bear to live without.

It may be of interest to you, or it may not be. It will be of interest to me, and that is – I think – all the motivation I need. This post marks the beginning and this simple act of writing this first post has already increased my urge to really get started. I’ve made a promise, if not to anyone else then to myself. I hate breaking promises and I hate letting people down, especially myself.

I don’t have a lot of musical training, so my posts will be pretty laymanish. I won’t be analyzing the music with any real sophistication, just sharing what I like and why I like it. If music makes you smile, then perhaps you’ll discover something beautiful here. This is the blog I would have liked to read years ago when I was discovering such music. Of course there are others out there written by more qualified individuals, but there is something appealing about adding my own voice to what’s already out there. And again this blog is more for me than anyone else.

Give me a couple of days and the first few posts should be online. First up, a newbie: Bear McCreary’s score for Caprica. I’m going to listen to it now, really listen to it.

Sincerely

CaptPorridge Esq.

CaptPorridge.Com