Varese Sarabande to Release Special Blu-ray featuring James Horner

There is some fantastic news, today, as James Horner fans will be treated to a truly special release from VARESE SARABANDE RECORDS in conjunction with TOMEK PRODUCTIONS.  Come the first anniversary, this June, of the composers tragic death, HOLLYWOOD IN VIENNA: THE WORLD OF JAMES HORNER will be released on blu-ray.

Not only will the magical tribute performance but released, but also an insightful symposium held with James Horner conducted by Robert Townson.

This should a fantastic release and one that, not just James Horner fans should add to their libraries, but any fan of film music.

Below are all of the details:


(April 29, 2016 – Los Angeles, CA) – 

Varèse Sarabande, in partnership with Tomek Productions, will release a very special Blu-ray marking the first anniversary of the passing of Academy Award®-winning composer James Horner (TITANIC, APOLLO 13, BRAVEHEART).  HOLLYWOOD IN VIENNA: THE WORLD OF JAMES HORNER was recorded in Vienna, Austria, as a part of a celebration of his life and music. At the annual film music gala, celebrating the world’s leading film composers and produced by Sandra Tomek, Horner was awarded by the City of Vienna with the “Max Steiner Film Music Achievement Award”.

 “For days following James’ death, while fans of his music were utterly consumed by their grief and understandably inconsolable, I began hearing from many of them how much they were helped by seeing footage of the Vienna concert,” said Varèse Sarabande producer Robert Townson.  “James called the experience ‘the most memorable moment in my life.’ We could see how his eyes were glistening and that the reality of what his music truly meant to people might actually be sinking in for the first time.”
“I am very glad that our concert celebration in Vienna was so special for James - and it’s lovely that we can share this special evening with many more thanks to this Blu-ray release by Varèse Sarabande,” said Tomek.

The ORF Vienna Radio-Symphony Orchestra, conducted by David Newman, paid tribute to Horner on October 3 and 4, 2013, with two concerts at the Vienna Konzerthaus. It was the first time in his career that Horner was an audience member at an orchestral concert of the beloved themes that he wrote.  This setting reinvigorated Horner's love of concert music and opened the composer up to exploring this new frontier in the years before his passing.

The repertoire performed included music from STAR TREK: THE WRATH OF KHAN, AVATAR, TITANIC and THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN.  Featured in a medley were Horner’s themes from WILLOW, A BEAUTIFUL MIND, APOLLO 13, ALIENS, THE MASK OF ZORRO and THE ROCKETEER.  Singer Deborah Cox was joined by pianist and singer Jeremy Schonfeld on a beautiful performance of “Somewhere Out There” from AN AMERICAN TAIL.  Geza Frank performed the Irish bagpipes on the always-riveting music from BRAVEHEART.  No retrospective of Horner’s work would be complete without TITANIC – featuring vocals by soprano Ildikó Raimondi.

This special weekend also included a symposium with Horner. “I cherish the time and opportunity I had with him at Hollywood In Vienna in 2013,” remembered Townson, who conducted the 75-minute discussion, also featured on the Blu-ray release.  “We discussed James’ memories of certain films and the creative process of composing.  He teared up three times during our talk and he told me that the concert tribute to him there was the first time he had heard his film music in a concert hall. The whole trip to Vienna was a very emotional experience for James, who had a special tie to the city through his father because he had spent his youth there.”
“Our symposium was held at the ‘Max Reinhardt Seminar’ of the Vienna University of Music, where James’ father, Harry Horner, studied stage design. It was the first time James came back to these locations. Those days were just magical, for him and for all of us,” Tomek stated.

Varèse Sarabande will release the HOLLYWOOD IN VIENNA: THE WORLD OF JAMES HORNER Blu-ray through major platforms and retailers in June 2016.

Interview: Neil S. Bulk - "From The Blue Max to the Abyss: The Art of Putting It All Together"

INTERVIEW WITH NEIL S. BULK
An exclusive Interview with album producer Neil S. Bulk for Tracksounds.com (Interview moderated by Amer Zahid)

NEIL S. BULK is an independent freelance soundtrack Producer and Editor; who has lent his talents to various soundtrack reissues and expansions from such labels as La La Land Records, Film Score Monthly, Varese Sarabande and Intrada. His most significant output has been the mammoth 15 cd box set of STAR TREK The Original Series Soundtrack Collection. He recently worked on Varese Sarabande’s deluxe expansion 2cd set of The Abyss scored by Alan Silvestri and also the re-mastered re-issue of Jerry Goldsmith’s The Blue Max 2cd set from La Land Records.

READ THE FULL INTERVIEW

Christophe Beck Scores Tower Heist

CHRISTOPHE BECK’S SCORE EXPLORES BOTH THE HILARITY AND SERIOUSNESS OF “TOWER HEIST”

Score album available on Varese Sarabande

LOS ANGELES Award- winning composer Christophe Beck creates a score that explores and extracts the hilarity behind Universal Pictures' “Tower Heist”. Directed by Brett Ratner (“Rush Hour” series), the film follows Queens native Josh Kovacs (Ben Stiller) and a group of hardworking employees at the high rise Columbus Circle, who discover they have fallen victim to the Ponzi scheme by the tenant of the penthouse suite. Kovacs bands together with his fellow employees, bringing in an outside sleight of hand to get the job done before the biggest white collar crime slips under the rug. The film opens November 4th; score album available on Varese Sarabande. Selections from the score can be heard at www.christophebeck.com Additionally, Beck recently scored “The Muppets.”

Christophe Beck, known for his ability to tell the story of the film through music, creates the tone for this movie. He stated in an interview, “It is storytelling through music and collaboration with another storyteller … the function of the music might change scene to scene, which happens a lot with comedies. Music is there to let the audience though that it is ok to laugh”. Brett Ratner said in an interview with the LA Times, “I love the tone of it [“Tower Heist”] - that’s what I’m most proud of” and this tone could be attributed to the environment in which Beck has cast these characters in through his score. .

In 2000, the cheerleading comedy "Bring It On" launched Beck's prolific film scoring career. His credits include "Under the Tuscan Sun," "Red," "Burlesque," "Year of the Dog," "What Happens in Vegas," and "The Hangover," the highest-grossing R-rated comedy of all time. One of the best reviewed films of 2010, “Crazy Stupid Love” was transformed into a heart warming film by Christophe Beck, with his varying tones throughout the film that reflected a spectrum of emotion. The same year, he received the HMMA Award for Best Original Score for the powerful documentary “Waiting for Superman”.

The Montreal native graduated from Yale with a degree in Music before moving to L.A. to attend USC’s prestigious Film scoring program where he studies with notable composers Jerry Goldsmith and Christopher Young. A recommendation from the legendary Buddy Baker, led to his first assignment for the TV series, "White Fang.” Soon thereafter, he was asked to score a new TV series, “Buffy,” based on the movie “Buffy The Vampire Slayer” for which he received the Emmy.

PRE-ORDER THE TOWER HEIST SOUNDTRACK

Win Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs Soundtrack by John Powell

Our new contest for June is up and ready for your 3 most creative captions! This month's edition gives you the chance to win John Powell's upcoming score for ICE AGE: DAWN OF THE DINOSAURS (sponsored by Varese Sarabande).

The winner of May's contest for STAR TREK by Michael Giacchino will be announced soon, too!

Enter the latest contest here!

Star Trek by Michael Giacchino: Autograph Session in Los Angeles

Varese Sarabande records, who will be releasing the original motion picture soundtrack for STAR TREK by MICHAEL GIACCHINO is having a special signature session:

May 5, 2009
Best Buy
West Hollywood CA (Store 393)
1015 N. La Brea Ave
West Hollywood, CA 90038


For more details check the official site here

2008 Music Preview - New Special Feature!

For those wondering why the TOP STUFF FROM 2007 countdown has slowed down, well, this is why! I've just posted our latest special feature and it's a doozy - at least in terms of the amount of work!

Tracksounds with Varese Sarabande present this special preview of this year of soundtracks. Go through this month by month breakdown of the major film and game soundtracks (and some not-so-major) and get a glimpse at what you will want to make sure you see, play, and listen to in 2008.

The feature will cover the entire year of 2008 and to get us started we've posted quarters 1 and 2. (That's January - June.) So head on over and get yourself prepared for the rest of 2008!

Check out the 2008 Music Preview now!