I read a very sad news today morning. My long time favourite composer has died today. He was 81. It's possibly the only composer, that I liked 100% (even the recent ones, like "Zemsta"). Unfortunately plenty of his music has never been released on CDs (especially old Polish film music, "Hubal", "Sami swoi"). He certainly will be missed. May he rest in peace!
Sad news. I have seen 4 films scored by Kilar - We Own The Night, The Pianist, Death And The Maiden and Dracula.
I remember being surprised that he scored a "standard" Hollywood movie like We Own The Night.
Also, for the longest time I thought John Williams had composed the music in the Schindler's List trailer, until I found out it was Kilar's Exodus, his most remarkable composition IMO.
As we've all got to go I'm pleased to read he reached the good age of 81 ... however sad any passing is.
I have only a few of his scores - and one album of non-score works - and I'm grateful to my good friend TG for introducing me to his material. I shall certainly acquire more of his works and select one of his scores now to play.
(By the way, I think for some of us it was easy to forget that he was in his 80s - probably because he only came to "our" attention when he was already about 60).
One of a bunch of fantastic Polish composers, all hugely talented and thoroughly schooled in "proper" composition. Had I thought about it for much longer, I'd have included Kilar in my response to "does any composer bat 1000 for you?" (or whatever it was called). I don't have dozens of his scores or other releases, but ALL the ones I do have are wonderful listening.
And I did include Dracula in my list of brilliantly-scored films recently.
A sad event not just in the world of film music, but for music in general.
Rest in peace Maestro. What a great composer. I will be playing some of his wonderful works today for sure. Not only his films scores are great, his classical works are also magnificent. The first track I will play will be the main theme from Konig der letzten Tage (A King for Burning) it takes my breath away each time I hear it. Anyone who is only familiar with his score to DRACULA will have some great stuff to discover!
He was an amazing talent from Europe. Loved his 'Exodus' music also known as the Trailer Music from Schindler's List. His Pan Tadusez is a varied work that is refreshingly rich akin to our own John Barry. A fan favourite being his outlandishly charged dark score for Bram Stoklers Dracula. I hope we get a more complete version of that score some day. RIP!
A very, very sad day! I remember being shocked when he scored We Own the Night (and I feel his subtle and emotional music brought the movie to a whole other level).
