Top Score Podcast

Composer Lennie Moore on Top Score from Classical MPR

There are plenty of games on the market simulating droves of different military wars. Each of those games has a soundtrack, too.

Many of those soundtracks focus on the intensity of war, as well as the idiosyncratic sounds of war-time music. Sounds such as military drums (lots of snare drums), heavy brass and even electric guitar at times.

Composer Lennie Moore eschewed those choices for his new music to Red Orchestra 2: Rising Storm, encouraged by developer Tripwire to explore the styles of American composers Aaron Copland and Charles Ives.

Specifically, Lennie studied Copland’s A Lincoln Portrait (1942) and Ives’s The Unanswered Question (1906, pub. 1940).

The result is unbelievably pleasing to the ear. Just about the only “expected” nuance is a trumpet solo. But rather than hire a trumpet player with a polished orchestral sound, Lennie called up friend Tim Larkin for a little bit grittier of a tone.

The first game Lennie ever scored was Outcast. The Moscow Symphony Orchestra and Chorus recorded that score, one of the first game soundtracks to use a live orchestra.

Hear Lennie talk about Red Orchestra 2: Rising Storm and Outcast on the new episode of Top Score, also available on iTunes.

The new episode of Top Score from Classical Minnesota Public Radio features an interview with BioShock Infinite composer Garry Schyman.

BioShock Infinite takes place in 1912, in an American city in the sky.

Yes, in the sky.

Quite a change from the previous two BioShock games, which were in the underwater city named “Rapture.” The city of Columbia, however, has sunshine. And clearly, the sky.

Composer Garry Schyman and Creative Director of Irrational Games, Ken Levine, knew the score needed to sound different.

Garry accomplished the changes by using a much smaller ensemble — basically, a small string section and some percussion.

The year 1912 was an interesting time in American classical music, most notably because there wasn’t much yet. Many American composers of the time still sounded quite European, although Charles Ives certainly stood out.

Garry considered Ives’s influence, but rather turned to other American icons in Stephen Foster (think “Camptown Races” or “Oh Susanna!” or “Swanee River”), and American folk music in general.

He asked the string players to keep a “fiddle” sound in mind (fiddlers tend to play with less vibrato than traditional classical violinists), and to occasionally play aggressively.

There are so many great tracks on the album, but definitely check out Elizabeth’s Theme, AD (which Garry thinks of as Booker’s theme)…. 

Or just buy the soundtrack. I encourage it!!

There have been several Tomb Raider games since the first came out in 1996, and several composers wrote music for the series.

But when developer Crystal Dynamics approached composer Jason Graves for their newest Tomb Raider game, they told him to start from scratch.

So Jason got to write a brand new theme for the series.

In the new episode of Top Score, Jason talks about writing protagonist Lara Croft’s theme. He used the notes from her melody to write themes for other characters in the game; even the island on which the game takes place has its own theme.

Much like the way Richard Wagner placed his leimotifs throughout his operas, Jason did so with his Tomb Raider themes.

Thematic writing, as it’s referred, isn’t a new concept in entertainment - not even in video games. But it’s not always an appropriate method for composing a score, either.

Jason mentions that thematic scores don’t often work in the horror genre, like his previous music for the Dead Space trilogy.

We also talk about my favorite scene, one in which Lara is climbing a radio tower to send a signal. The scene stood out not only for Jason’s music, but also for the, well, “cinematography” of it. 

Even cooler, Jason and Crystal Dynamics ended up commissioning a new instrument (simply called, The Instrument) for Tomb Raider. Sculptor and artist Matt McConnell’s creation allowed for the island to have a unique sound.

Jason uses only The Instrument for the first 15 minutes of the game.

Hear my conversation with composer Jason Graves on the new episode of Top Score from Classical MPR. Subscribe on iTunes.

What happens when a composer writes a great score for a not-so-great game? Kevin Riepl talks about his music for Aliens: Colonial Marines.

Composer Kevin Riepl’s score for Aliens: Colonial Marines fits perfectly into the canon of great soundtracks in the Alien franchise.

And this is one of those times I feel fortunate that my focus is on the music, as the game itself wasn’t warmly embraced.

But where the game fell short of expectations, Kevin’s music captures the sound, and silence, of the Alien series.

That silence is a hallmark of the first film in particular, in which Jerry Goldsmith’s music frequently simply whispers in your ear.

Goldsmith’s influence (and Horner’s as well) is occasionally in the foreground, but Kevin’s own voice is clear.

Sadly, Sega doesn’t plan to release the soundtrack to Aliens: Colonial Marines, making Kevin’s music a casualty of the project. Kevin has five tracks on his website (listen to “Sulaco Explore” in particular), and hopes to post additional music in the future.

Catch my conversation with Kevin on the new episode of Top Score. We’ll discuss his other projects, including Gears of War and Resistance: Burning Skies. You can also listen to Top Score on iTunes.

No one’s ever used Kickstarter to fund a symphony. I can’t hardly believe it. But it’s true, and it makes me think that Kickstarter would’ve been pretty helpful for Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

No one until Jeremy Soule, that is. Launched on Kickstarter on March 13, he’ll call his Symphony No. 1 The Northerner.

Jeremy’s written scores for some three dozen games, including The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim and its two predecessors, as well as Guild Wars and its successors.

Why use Kickstarter for a symphony?

Well, writing a symphony is hard. Really hard. And time-consuming, unless you’re Haydn or Mozart. Honestly, though, a person could write one on a set of napkins. But who plays it, and once you find an ensemble to play it, where will they play? If you’re fortunate enough to line up those things, what about a recording?

This is when Kickstarter ends up being incredibly helpful. With Jeremy’s initial $10,000 goal already met, the additional funds (called a “stretch goal”) are used for all of those other less-obvious considerations… human performers, a performing venue, recording sessions and special offers for contributors.

Through the site, Jeremy is able to get direct feedback from fans and contributors. In his first update on the site, he posed a question close to many of our hearts, “What does it mean to go north?”

Turns out, people from all around the world know exactly what it means. For some, it means home. For others, it means adventure. One comment simply said, “I’m Australian; pretty much everything is north for me.”

Jeremy is a classical music nut, right at home discussing Bach’s seemingly alien abilities with counterpoint, Beethoven’s humanism and Mozart’s predictable cadences.

You can listen to my conversation with Jeremy Soule on a special episode of Top Score from Classical MPR. Subscribe on iTunes.

For 24 days in early 2011, my life and the lives of about 77 million others around the world were marginally affected by a massive outage to the PlayStation Network, preventing us from using the online network to game with our friends.

Additionally, the games released during that window suffered a huge hit in sales, particularly if they included multiplayer features in their games.

When it was all said and done, Sony offered gamers two free PlayStation 3 games and two free PlayStation Portable games. The package had some truly wonderful titles in it, including one called Infamous from Sucker Punch Productions.

I fell in love with it, and then with its sequel.

One of the successes of a soundtrack is how well it fits, or reflects, the environment. Both Infamous games take place in the fictional Empire City, quarantined from the rest of the country due to a plague. It’s bleak. People everywhere are sick and confused. And there are different weapon-wielding gangs controlling areas of the city, some of which have special powers like the main character, Cole MacGrath.

Composer Jim Dooley’s score fits the city quite well. His music for the game is often thinly scored, allowing room for interaction with the sounds of Cole and the city.

Dooley also wrote the score to Pushing Daisies, a show that fell victim to the Writer’s Guild Strike in late 2007 into 2008. Dooley won an Emmy for that score, and despite its untimely cancellation, Pushing Daisies maintained a strong enough fan-base that the show is back on the air.

Jim Dooley and Emily Reese talk about these projects and others on the newest episode of Top Score from Classical MPR. Also on iTunes.