budafulmusic

Recently, I’ve been seeing a few top 10 favorites lists so I’m going to give it a go. OST stands for Original Soundtrack, that is, a soundtrack to a film. Parameters for this list are as foll0ws: 1 best score from 10 of the best film composers, no repeats of composers.

1. Signs by James Newton Howard, more about how one family copes with pain and trouble than about aliens, this OST is not for the faint of heart. It quite possible could be one of the most unnerving soundtracks I’ve heard but the final two tracks are worth the dissonance (aka set theory). Continue reading

Shadow of the Cross

This past May I had the privilege to work with Ron and Shelly Hamilton to put together some new music for a new choral project they were doing. It was a short ride in a fast couple of weeks but I thoroughly enjoyed it. After getting the arrangements done they were sent off to the orchestrators and were speedily recorded and mixed at Air Borne Studios in the middle of June, just in time for the annual Majesty Musicollege seminar that was held this past week up in PA and IN. Looking back, I wonder how we got it all done in so little time.

Shadow of the Cross is a new sacred choral book featuring a new Easter musical entitled Lift Him Up. There is much variety in this collection, from the stirring piece called “Through the Eyes of Christ” to the majestic Irish sounds of “Higher Ground” and “Shadow of the Cross” to the more meditative feel of “Beautiful Hands.”  Get a copy of the book and CD here.

Here are two samples from the recording:

Beautiful Hands

Search Me, O God

It’s been a while. Here is an mp3 for your listening enjoyment. This was the closing piece for my recital and was, I think, the most endearing piece in the program. Several people came up to me after wards in tears because of the powerful text and the effective musical setting.

While it may be easy to say that this was the most accessible piece, what made it that way? Was it because it had more “diatonic triads” than that of the rest of the program? or perhaps it was what came before it that made it so effective. Recently, I attended a recital which featured several modern pieces in the program. At first, the sounds were atmospheric and gradually they became more tense and more dissonant, to the point of being  annoying to even the trained ear! Then, after over 10 minutes, out of the blue came this gorgeous melody that closed the piece. It brought tears to my eyes. It was the journey that made it so memorable and effective.

In some small way, that is what I intended to happen for my recital. Here is the song:

It Is Not Death