Today I'm here to talk about one of her fellow countrywomen - The insanely talented, diverse and prolific composer named Yoko Kanno. Her ability to craft incredibly Williams-ian themes, sumptuous orchestrations in the best Ravelian/French impressionistic tradition and thunderous, large-scale action is nothing short of remarkable and breathtaking.
Enjoy a few samples of her work:
The opening of this one owes a debt to John Adams' Fast Ride and a Short Machine, but stick with it...
Most breathtaking 1:15 second cue I think I've ever heard. And here's it gorgeous reprise from the final cue of the score:
Amazing Williams-ian flying theme that segues into beautiful misterioso choral music.
1:15 onward. That amazing theme of flight! Good grief!
This one is one of her most tragic, stunning themes. ANY of the "usual suspects" around here (Goldsmith, Williams etc.) would be proud to call this one their own...
Below are excerpts from her STUNNING new score to the NHK drama Onna Joushu Naotora. If this isn't a shoe in for best score of the year, I don't know what is...
This one evokes ET, Ravel, Gershwin all at once... Amazing music. NO ONE is writing stuff this good in 2017 elsewhere in the world.
The ravishing middle portion of this one is gorgeous!
Enjoy. There's SO much more to explore with Yoko Kanno. Go digging around!
I was taken with Kanno immediately and I'm only really familiar with what she wrote for Cowboy Bebop and Ghost In The Shell, and a Macross mini-series.
Clearly I have been depriving myself and I need to look further into her other work.
Kanno is also a master at writing songs for talented vocalists using words that are basically gibberish - but it just sounds lovely - basically a universal language - "music" She also writes several songs in various languages - and is an accomplished song writer as well. Macross Frontier had incredible symphonic and vocal music.
Her score to the recent series, Terror in Resonance is simply astounding. Below is "von" with lyrices in English and Icelandic.
Also she also for years SUNG many of her own songs under the name Gabriela Robin and in 2009 came out during a performance of her music letting everyone know she was also Gabriela.
Also she also for years SUNG many of her own songs under the name Gabriela Robin and in 2009 came out during a performance of her music letting everyone know she was also Gabriela.
Last comment - if I could meet one living composer today, it would be Kanno. No contest.
Yoko Kanno is closer to Horner: the many lifts from classical music are obvious to those who have ears.
Still enjoy her, but Williams she ain't.
I'd at LEAST put her on par with Horner's capabilities, but definitely wouldn't call her anywhere near as derivative when it comes to aping or quoting the music of others. This woman really knows what she's doing when it comes to writing for orchestra - and UNLIKE just about every Western film composer, as far as I know she does all her own orchestrations as well.
Just one point about Horner and orchestrations. Horner used orchestrators -- as does/did almost every composer working on Hollywood productions -- for time reasons. When I helped out on Intrada's Wolfen CD I examined the written scores at Warner Bros. The full orchestrations are in Horner's hand, and that was a replacement score hastily written and recorded. There should be no doubt about his abilities as an orchestrator.
I love Yoko Kanno and thank you for the links in this thread!
A few really fantastic scores in her work for sure. And Naotora is lovely. But I also find that many of her scores need a lot of trimming to find the really good stuff. Escaflowne is one of her better early works.
A few really fantastic scores in her work for sure. And Naotora is lovely. But I also find that many of her scores need a lot of trimming to find the really good stuff. Escaflowne is one of her better early works.
Agreed, but I feel one could say this of many (or even most) composers.
For the past four or five years I've taken scores I like and compile suites of music that for me are highlights, resulting in "symphonic suites" or tone poems running between 12 and 20 mins (and sometime, in the case of tremendous epics with just too many highlights i.e. Ben-Hur, Conan, Krull etc., I'll create multiple movements).
But actually listening to a single score all the way through? Doesn't happen much in these woods anymore.
A few really fantastic scores in her work for sure. And Naotora is lovely. But I also find that many of her scores need a lot of trimming to find the really good stuff. Escaflowne is one of her better early works.
On Escaflowne and for the film, Kanno also worked with Hajime Mizoguchi (also known for his work as a cellist), he was her husband during the TV series, and ex-spouse during the film. So some of Escaflowne's music is Hajime's work like the heavy cello piece "Shadow of Doubt" which I really love - all the sweeping gorgeous orchestral stuff is mostly Kanno's.
Although written by Mizoguchi, Kanno plays Piano on the score and sings (as Gabriela Robin) for the stunning and haunting ending theme to Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade
I love Kanno, but even I'm willing to admit she's a bit guilty of lifting a little too much from Prokofiev (see Escaflowne: A Girl in Gaea), Rimsky-Korsakov (Macross Frontier), and Aaron Copland (Macross Plus, Turn A Gundam). And in all honesty her synth/jazz band-SEATBELTS stuff has always been far superior to her orchestral compositions in most people's minds. Hence why Cowboy Bebop is to this considered her masterwork. Especially...
And in all honesty her synth/jazz band-SEATBELTS stuff has always been far superior to her orchestral compositions in most people's minds. Hence why Cowboy Bebop is to this considered her masterwork. Especially...
Ugh, I have to disagree respectfully but very fully. Synths and sax are the musical equivalent of drinking bleach while getting bamboo slivers jammed under fingernails to me. I'd consider any of those symphonic pieces in my original post just as good as anything Horner, Williams, Broughton or Goldsmith did at the top of their games.
I can forgive her "borrowings" just as I can forgive Horner's, because like him, all of her original music around that stuff is SO freaking good: Gorgeous melodies, inventive counterpoint, incredibly lush orchestrations, tons of heart, passion, vitality... And a whole lots of CRAFT.
I wouldn't ascribe any of those adjectives to that above piece from Cowboy Bebop.
I'd at LEAST put her on par with Horner's capabilities, but definitely wouldn't call her anywhere near as derivative when it comes to aping or quoting the music of others.
I dunno. I was first made aware of some, er, "cribbing" with the "Black Escaflowne" cue from the movie - which pretty much note for note swipes from J. Peter Robinson's Highlander 3 finale (start around 1:55).
Then the cue "Arcadia" is really... really... *really* close to the first movement of Gorecki's Symphony No. 3.
Theres also another cue that I can't remember off-hand that was REALLY close to Prokofiev. (Epistle? Chain?)
Now I know this is the nature of the film scoring beast and I'm not trying to be a dick and detract from enjoyment (I own all the Escaflowne CDs myself) but a spade is a spade is a spade. To compare her to Williams would be a disservice to more than one person (nor should we compare anyone to Williams... or Williams to anyone else. Williams doesn't measure up to Mozart, either. Shoulders of giants and all that.)
Theres also another cue that I can't remember off-hand that was REALLY close to Prokofiev. (Epistle? Chain?)
Its "Into Gaea" from the movie soundtrack. It pretty blantantly turns into Battle on the Ice from Alexander Nevsky @ the 2:15 mark.
Also "Horse Ride" is obviously lifted from the first movement of the Scythian Suite. And don't get me started on Macross Frontier, there's a track on there called "The Target" that is so plagiarized from David Arnold it ain't funny.
A few really fantastic scores in her work for sure. And Naotora is lovely. But I also find that many of her scores need a lot of trimming to find the really good stuff. Escaflowne is one of her better early works.
Agreed, but I feel one could say this of many (or even most) composers.
Yes but also I think with Anime scores the amount of highlights is much lower. Thus why I've made my own compilation of the most interesting cues from a variety of sources.
Take for example Brain Powered which has a few really excellent orchestral pieces and a lot of strange synth all together in the same score. Or Macross Frontier, which has a ton of Japanese Pop tracks, synth tracks, and then a few really excellent orchestral tracks. The ratio of less interesting cues to more interesting cues is much different than the standard soundtrack by the golden age composers. Some of it has to do with the source material which sometimes calls for it.
Well anime scores (particularly for tv series) are usually more along the lines of library tracks employed to convey specific moods as opposed to being scene driven. So naturally they aren't going to hold up on cd. Kanno's are no exception.
Also I don't think anyone who's been working since at least 1985 is the Modern Day John Williams.
