Not everyone is familiar with the installment of the Star Wars franchise titled Shadows of the Empire, but that’s mostly because it was a video game and never made it to the big screen. Nonetheless, it deserves some recognition among video games for its use of a fully orchestrated, studio recorded, original soundtrack composed by film and TV composer Joel McNeely. read more…
I bought my tickets for last night’s concert with the San Francisco Symphony last fall when I was under the spell of an almost child-like excitement over this season’s programming of popular masterworks. In particular, the 2009-2010 season has seen the symphonies of Tchaikovsky, Mahler, and Rachmaninoff, as well as a few other big names from the middle Romantic era. read more…
From a distance, Rachmaninoff and Tchaikovsky look much the same. Fact is, one name rarely ever surfaces without some mention of the other, and if you like music by one, chances are you also enjoy music by the other (convenient given the sheer number of classical albums that pair their works together). read more…