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The New Soundtracks: What do we want to hear?

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The New Soundtracks: What do we want to hear?

Postby Cleander » Oct 28, 2018 4:14 pm

Hey everyone! The recent news about the takeover of Narnia by Netflix has created quite a stir on the forum and comment sections. Everybody has their own ideas and requirements for the new Narnia adaptations... of course, this was the case when the Silver Chair was being discussed- for EIGHT YEARS!! (-| One topic that showed up a lot was our desires for the new soundtracks: how they should sound, how much of the old Walden themes should they use, etc. Now it's looking like the old themes will not be used at all! That raises a few questions, like who should Netflix hire to compose, what kind of instruments/ atmosphere should be employed, and if classical music could possibly be worked into the Netflix films/series. (Bit of a personal preference on that last one.) :D Anyway, what does everyone else think?
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Re: The New Soundtracks: What do we want to hear?

Postby Mrs Smooshy » Oct 28, 2018 10:20 pm

I would definitely prefer a traditional orchestral soundtrack. There were elements of the Walden/Disney tracks that I enjoyed but it also sounded overly synthesized and jarred at times.

A part of me thinks I'd like a Celtic flavour but that may be too reminiscent of Lord of the Rings. Hard to avoid though as they're both written by English authors. I do think something lighter, more fairy-tale like would be appropriate. Narnia, at its best, is supposed to be like a kind of paradise for children to want to escape to.

Less like Wagner and more like Vivaldi, perhaps? I don't know. I'll have to think about that some more.
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Re: The New Soundtracks: What do we want to hear?

Postby Cleander » Oct 29, 2018 9:20 am

Mrs Smooshy wrote:I would definitely prefer a traditional orchestral soundtrack. There were elements of the Walden/Disney tracks that I enjoyed but it also sounded overly synthesized and jarred at times.


I definitely agree with your views on the synth elements. I just rewatched Prince Caspian and at times the sound effects were getting ever so slightly annoying (and at others REALLY close to Pirates of the Caribbean.) Full orchestra, please!
As for classical music, I'm actually kind of a fan of Wagner, but then I'm not sure if his style goes well with any Narnia stories. Maybe the Overture for the Flying Dutchman would work for the storm scene(s) in VODT. Maybe something from Vivaldi's "Winter" could be stuck in SOMEWHERE.... :D
One thing I'd love to hear, even though it's not classical, is Eric Whitacre's "Fly to Paradise" when Jill is blown to Narnia in SC. It has a soaring choral sound to it, with a vast, sweeping orchestral backdrop. The perfect thing when one is flying over the Eastern Seas and islands to Narnia.
I'm kind of wary of the "fairy tale-ish" feel. I tend to think of Geoffrey Burgon's horrible music in the BBC series. (sorry BBC fans) :-s It just didn't always fit. Sometimes it was overly silly and just made the poor special effects more noticeable. We don't want the music to make Narnia seem less real, right? Narnia still has a serious side to it, and this needs to be expressed through choirs, full orchestra (instead of misused brass like in the BBC version) and possibly (tho' only for VERY serious/epic moments) pipe organs. I'd also want some mysterious/magical flute parts similar to what we heard in the Walden scores, though perhaps a little more ancient/ethnic sounding. We could also use some medieval instrumentals, like serpent horns and things like that.
It's funny you mentioned Celtic music; I was thinking that would be great for the Faun's dances (which MUST be shown at least once). That and perhaps an Eastern European influences would be interesting to hear in my opinion (I'm part Croatian).
There, I think that's everything... #:-s
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Re: The New Soundtracks: What do we want to hear?

Postby Adeona » Nov 01, 2018 1:32 pm

Mrs Smooshy: Vivaldi - YES! Also, in one of the SC soundtrack discussions someone brought up using Tchaikovsky (or his style), which is an idea I love. It's interesting, I never thought of Wagner when listening to the existing scores but now I sure will. I've never had a problem with the LWW or PC scores though - VDT is the only one that bothers me with it's quite PotC feel.

I'd really like to have some choral pieces too Cleander - the vocal sections of the Walden soundtracks weren't my favorites. What comes to mind for what I'd like is Patrick Doyle's Little Princess soundtrack - an almost stately but emotion-filled sound.
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Re: The New Soundtracks: What do we want to hear?

Postby daughter of the King » Nov 04, 2018 1:11 pm

I would love it if the different worlds and countries all had unique sounds. One of the things I really liked about the Walden LWW soundtrack was the inclusion of a '40s era song. It added some authenticity to the setting, and contrasted nicely with the Narnia music. I would also love more uses of themes like in Star Wars or Lord of the Rings. Part of what makes those scores so great is the way the different themes change and grow over the course of the story.

I also really, really want Bear McReary to be the composer because everything he does is amazing. :p
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Re: The New Soundtracks: What do we want to hear?

Postby fantasia » Nov 04, 2018 1:29 pm

Of all the things, the BBC Narnia music has seared itself into my brain to the point that whenever I hear a piece that's predominantly french horns, I think "oh, it sounds like Narnia!" LOL

My favorite styles include music where every character has a theme, and those themes can be woven together to make one piece.

As for composers, I just prefer someone who isn't too recognizable. :)
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Re: The New Soundtracks: What do we want to hear?

Postby The Rose-Tree Dryad » Nov 04, 2018 2:46 pm

I don't know if he has the experience, but I would love to see what Adam Young (of Owl City fame) could do with Narnia. A couple of years ago he released several conceptual soundtracks, and while many of them use a lot of synth, there are orchestral pieces as well. I love the whimsy and creativity in his music and I'd be so curious to see what he would compose for C.S. Lewis's world. It's always felt like a bit of a pipe dream, but maybe not quite so much now that Narnia is coming to television and will likely have a smaller budget.

As for inspiration from classical music, I've been thinking about Michael Ward's Planet Narnia recently, and that reminded me of Gustav Holst's Planet Suite. Sol (VDT) and Luna (SC) are missing in favor of Neptune and Uranus, but you have Venus (MN), Jupiter (LWW), Mars (PC), Mercury (HHB), and Saturn (LB). It would be interesting to draw inspiration from those... "Venus" could be lovely for some of the scenes during and after the creation of Narnia in MN, and the awful, end-of-the-age uneasiness that gives way to peace and beauty in "Saturn" is quite reminiscent of LB, imo.
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Re: The New Soundtracks: What do we want to hear?

Postby Cleander » Nov 05, 2018 9:00 am

Finally, someone mentioned Holst! Apparently composer John Campbell had similar ideas about Michael Ward's planet concept- if you listen to his score for the FOTF audio drama version of VODT, you can here Holst's Planets in the background throughout the music! I seem to recall he used Mars for the Dark Island, Saturn for the ancient star Ramandu, and Mercury for the Lone Islands, among other things. It might have been cooler if he'd spread those themes out across the whole series. Maybe someone will see to it that we get to hear that in the new series! I love Holst!
I'd love to hear the bizarre, mystical part of Neptune when the Silver Chair is first revealed in the movie- the faint, otherworldly voices could almost represent the seething powers that seethe silently within the chair... ok now I'm getting carried away.
As for composers- if James Horner was still alive, I'd have nominated him :( It would be interesting to have Harry Gregson-Williams return, but I'm not sure that's possible. So who do I want?
I gotta listen to some more soundtracks before I decide...
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Re: The New Soundtracks: What do we want to hear?

Postby The Rose-Tree Dryad » Nov 05, 2018 9:28 pm

Cleander wrote:Finally, someone mentioned Holst! Apparently composer John Campbell had similar ideas about Michael Ward's planet concept- if you listen to his score for the FOTF audio drama version of VODT, you can here Holst's Planets in the background throughout the music! I seem to recall he used Mars for the Dark Island, Saturn for the ancient star Ramandu, and Mercury for the Lone Islands, among other things.


Oh wow, that's so neat! I've totally got to check that out now.

Cleander wrote:I'd love to hear the bizarre, mystical part of Neptune when the Silver Chair is first revealed in the movie- the faint, otherworldly voices could almost represent the seething powers that seethe silently within the chair... ok now I'm getting carried away.


Oooh, that's an inspiration. I actually had considered Neptune = SC and Uranus = VDT, because the moon is associated with the sea and Uranus is named after the deity of the sky (hence the sun). Neptune could definitely work for scenes in Underland. Unfortunately, I don't think that Uranus really suits VDT, unless we're talking the Dufflepuds. ;)) (I can almost see them hopping around in my mind's eye as I'm listening to it now... :)))

As for current composers, I've always really liked what I've heard from Michael Giacchono... his work for Up, Inside Out, and Rogue One especially come to mind, not so much because the music makes me think of Narnia but because it has a lot of heart.
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Re: The New Soundtracks: What do we want to hear?

Postby Cleander » Nov 15, 2018 2:14 pm

Just a random thought- whoever does the new soundtracks definitely has their work cut out for them. As more movies get made, originality gets more difficult. Moreover, I have a hard time trying to imagine a Narnia soundtrack that fits the feel of Narnia but doesn't resemble Harry Gregson-Williams' themes for the Walden series. The music is probably going to be totally reinvented. This could very well go in one of two distasteful directions- it could be original but not fit (for example, sounding too cold or sci-fi-ish, or too dreamy and sparkly like David Arnold's soundtrack for VODT), OR it could fit but sound like a rip-off of HGW's music or even other fantasy film themes.
They need a unique, extremely creative composer for these projects. (And yes, Rose, someone with a heavy dose of "heart.")Someone who can take the scores to places we couldn't have imagined before, but still keep them faithful to and harmonious with the world of Narnia.
I know that's kind of intuitive, but anyway... what composers does everybody know who match that criteria?
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Re: The New Soundtracks: What do we want to hear?

Postby Cleander » Jan 29, 2019 4:08 pm

I must say that I am a fan of working classical music into film soundtracks. And if the composer of the new Narnia soundtracks is at all of this opinion, I hope he comes across this piece, " Loon Lake Symphony," by Alan Hohavness. The piece is about 20 minutes long, and was inspired by the composer's stay at a lakeside resort in Bohemia. What's great is that there are multiple themes that perfectly fit some characters or aspects of Narnia! It has a solid, majestic strings, bells and brass section that makes me think of Aslan, as well as several semi-medieval flute motifs that seem to evoke a walk through a snowy wood... in company with a faun.
Check it out!
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Re: The New Soundtracks: What do we want to hear?

Postby Cleander » Jan 30, 2019 3:13 pm

I may just be talking to myself here, but here's another idea for the series music: why not play the main theme from the BBC version at some point in at least one of the films/episodes? I was thinking it would be good as the beavers' mini-theme perhaps...
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Re: The New Soundtracks: What do we want to hear?

Postby Cleander » May 15, 2019 2:10 pm

Another cool piece I came across that would make good inspiration for the new Narnia soundtracks is Dan Forrest's Requiem for the Living. Just go listen to it. Please. It's gorgeous. And the Dies Irae movement would make an awesome villain theme! B-)
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Re: The New Soundtracks: What do we want to hear?

Postby SirVincentofNarnia » May 20, 2019 4:36 pm

It is in my opinion that it should be an orchestra based soundtrack, I really want to hear some grand themes that we can remember that when we hear that, we think Narnia
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Re: The New Soundtracks: What do we want to hear?

Postby mm1991 » May 22, 2019 7:13 pm

Would it be too much to ask for Ramin Djawadi to be the composer? He might be too far out of budget for Netflix at this point. He might be over fantasy for a while too! But a girl can dream! :p
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Re: The New Soundtracks: What do we want to hear?

Postby JFG II » May 24, 2019 8:37 am

In my opinion for Narnia music on Netflix, I’d take a leaf out of Glumpuddle’s book: He compared Voyage of the Dawn Treader with 2001 A Space Odyssey more than once... Can you imagine Narnia on Netflix opening with an atmospheric coda of music before transforming into the grand & bombastic intro music from 2001 A Space Odyssey? Talk about boldly going where no Narnia score has gone before!
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