Monday 30 July 2012

"The Power Of Dreams" - Epic Symphonic Music




I composed, orchestrated and programmed this music using Logic Pro. Please comment, like, subscribe and share. Thanks for your support.

The Power Of Dreams - Epic Symphonic Music.

For additional information or more music, please visit my website: www.jonbrooks.co.uk

Youtube Channel: www.youtube.com/user/jonbrookscomposer

This music is subject to copyright and is provided for demonstration purposes only. © 2011 Jon Brooks.

Video footage: www.motionbackgroundsforfree.com

Sunday 22 July 2012

"Movie Magic" - Disney Pixar Promo Music




Walt Disney Pixar "Movie Magic"

Music composed and produced in Logic Pro by Jon Brooks. Guitars: Raymund Wee. Please comment, like, share and subscribe. Thank you for your support.

I altered the middle of the video edit. I used a still frame of the Movie Magic animation; originally there should be movie footage. I didn't want to infringe copyright.

For additional information or more music, please visit my website: http://www.jonbrooks.co.uk

Feel free to check out my YouTube channel too: http://www.youtube.com/user/jonbrookscomposer

This video and its soundtrack are subject to copyright and are provided for demonstration purposes only. © 2010 Disney/Pixar, WASP Studios, Jon Brooks.

(As cited on Wikipedia)
DISNEY: The Walt Disney Company (NYSE: DIS), commonly referred to as Disney, is an American multinational diversified mass media company headquartered in Walt Disney Studios, Burbank, California, United States. It is the largest media conglomerate in the world in terms of revenue. Founded on October 16, 1923, by Walt and Roy Disney as the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio, Walt Disney Productions established itself as a leader in the American animation industry before diversifying into live-action film production, television, and travel. Taking on its current name in 1986, The Walt Disney Company expanded its existing operations and also started divisions focused upon theatre, radio, music, publishing, and online media. In addition, it has created new divisions of the company in order to market more mature content than it typically associates with its flagship family-oriented brands.

(As cited on Wikipedia)
PIXAR: Pixar Animation Studios, or simply Pixar, is an American computer animation film studio based in Emeryville, California. The studio is best known for its CGI-animated feature films created with PhotoRealistic RenderMan, its own implementation of the industry-standard RenderMan image-rendering application programming interface used to generate high-quality images. Pixar began in 1979 as the Graphics Group, part of the computer division of Lucasfilm before its spinout as a corporation in 1986 with funding by Apple Inc. co-founder Steve Jobs who became its majority shareholder. The Walt Disney Company bought Pixar in 2006 at a valuation of $7.4 billion, which transaction made Jobs Disney's largest shareholder.

Saturday 30 June 2012

Till Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks Op.28 - Richard Strauss (1864 - 1949)


German Composer - Richard Strauss

Notes by: Jon Brooks

Till Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks was written in 1894-95. In this tone poem, Strauss uses the pranks of a 15th Century legendary medieval North German rapscallion as a vehicle for mocking the musical conservatives who criticised his radicalism. Its once-upon-a-time introduction is followed by scenes in which Till upsets bourgeois propriety and is hanged for his bad behavior. In the end, his mocking ghost prevails.

‘Till Eulenspiegel’ actually narrates in music several adventures of the medieval troublemaker, right up to his trial and execution. Till Eulenspiegel is the most famous German folk hero, a roving jester whose exploits translated into dozens of languages, and influenced composers such as Richard Strauss, have fascinated and delighted millions for nearly five hundred years.

‘Till’ is written in Rondo form. Not in the classical sense, but rondo-like in that the two ‘Till’ themes keep recurring in a variety of guises, enlivened by shrewd touches of instrumentation. Strauss applies these themes to an endless cascade of variations and arabesques to depict the situation or mood of the character during seven ‘episodes’ e.g. the ‘new pranks’, ‘masquerade’ and ‘flight’. Several secondary themes such as the ‘street song’ are also intertwined within the structure. The overall structure includes prologue and epilogue sections to accommodate the unfolding story.

The prologue is a musical statement of the ‘Once-upon-a-time’ found in fairy-tales as mentioned earlier. Although this is only four bars long, the phrase adopts a form of what is later to be the second of the two principal themes.

‘Till’ is introduced with one of the main themes on horn, characterised by the use of accents, chromatic notes, staccato and a slightly syncopated feel. This brilliantly captures the scampish nature of ‘Till’. Others have also suggested that this primary theme on the horn promotes ‘Tills’ heroism. (Strauss regularly turns to the horns to portray heroism in his music). This theme then characterises itself among several unfolding episodes, the moods of which are varied in several ways, noticeably by orchestration, e.g. the transition from the lyrical string writing of the ‘love’ episode through to the ‘vengeance’ episode with its enlarged theme and extended brass scoring, remarkably rich in the pedal register of the bass trombone. After hearing this motif, we frequently hear ‘Till’s legendary society’ frowning upon him, e.g. when he’s sentenced.

The epilogue takes the second principal theme into a huge coda which employs all the themes whilst summarising the nature of the joker in a warm and witty manner.

The overall melodic scheme features the themes and variations as well as programmatic effects such as the clarinet playing the part of ‘Till’ interjecting briefly between phrases, and the famous high note following ‘Till’s’ execution.

The first performance of Till Eulenspiegel was on 5th November 1895 under the baton of Franz Wullner.

Instrumentation:

 - Piccolo
- 3 Flutes
- 3 Oboes
- English Horn
- 2 Clarinets in B-flat
- D Clarinet (Ref. 1)
- Bass Clarinet
- 3 Bassoons
- Contrabassoon
- 4 Horns in F and E
- 4 Horns in D (ad libitum) (Ref. 2)
- 3 Trumpets in F and C
- 3 Trumpets in D (ad libitum) (Ref. 2)
- 3 Trombones
- Tuba
- Timpani
- Bass Drum
- Snare Drum
- Cymbals
- Triangle
- Large Ratchet
- Violins I
- Violins II
- Violas
- Violoncellos
- Double Basses

References:

(Ref. 1) Original score calls for a Clarinet in D, the part is usually played on Clarinet in E-flat due to the former being rendered obsolete during the twentieth century.

(Ref. 2) Strauss indicates four and three extra horns and trumpets respectively to be added ad libitum. The parts are to be played by separate players from the original four horns and three trumpets.

Bibliography:

Enclosed booklet in jewel CD case: Deutsche Grammophon, Berlin Philharmonic: Karl Böhm

Internet:

http://www.richard-strauss.com/biography.html (Content expired)
http://www.classical.net/music/comp.1st/straussr.html (Content expired)

Textbooks:

The New Grove Dictionary of Music
A History of Western Music: Donald Jay Grout / Claude V. Palisca