Russo did some really good work on season 2 of Discovery.
The only interesting work I've heard from Russo was in Umbrella Academy. Most of what I heard in various seasons of Discovery was nothing special. The show is great but the music not so much.
Disappointing. Russo's work is horribly bland. I'm sure he's just giving the producers what they want, though.
To think we once considered Dennis McCarthy "horribly bland" (he wasn't, of course). By comparison to Russo he was given the most amazing free reign and was allowed to write anything he wanted!
Disappointing. Russo's work is horribly bland. I'm sure he's just giving the producers what they want, though.
His fine work on TV's Fargo (and, I have heard, Legion) would seem to indicate this. It's probably the case that not all the producers who have a say over the music, too...I'm sure if Nicholas Meyer had substantial say over the music it would be better than it is. It was he who originally suggested Cliff Eidelman for consideration...but the demos Eidelman (one of my favorite living film composers) produced felt similarly disappointing and bland to Russo's work, overall. I mean, I guess if this was the main title music it might be considered a bit of an improvement, but it's a far cry from Cliff's score to Star Trek VI:
And it's not a matter of him losing his touch or something, because he was composing an absolutely fantastic symphony (and chamber orchestra work), around the same time: https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/cliffeidelman12
Austin Wintory's demos for consideration on Star Trek: Discovery sound considerably better IMO, but then he did those totally unprompted on his own, with absolutely zero input from anyone in charge of Discovery. So yeah, I think there's a feeling of "too many cooks in the kitchen" when it comes to how many producers Discovery has, and one way or another that has led to Blandsville. I heard a sixth season TNG episode score last night (after the scoring for that show had been well and truly blandified) and even that stood out to me more than most of the scoring in Discovery.
Producers: "Okay, so who do we hire as the composer?" Director "Well, we're appealing to the fanbase; Riker and Troi will appear, Data will be there, the guy who played that Borg in one episode, the Borg are back, Seven of Nine is back, and other things we can't fess up to right now, so..." Producers: "Ah, so something obvious and sensible, like Jay Chattaway? David Bell? Ron Jones? How about Dennis McCarthy -- he can bring back the 'Picard theme'; imagine how fans will react when they hear t--" Director "Jeff Russo!" Producers: "LOL, WTF?"
Well, producers usually make the composer decisions - not the director. And in reality, I'm guessing the producers went with Russo because they liked what he did on DISCOVERY, and they were comfortable collaborating with him and giving him notes, etc. That's always preferable to going with an unknown quantity.
Bringing back a bunch of older composers like McCarty or Chattaway (both in their 70s) or Bell or Jones (both in their mid-60s), none of whom the producers have ever worked with, seems neither obvious nor sensible to me. In the case of Jones in particular, I suspect it would end much like his stints on TNG, Family Guy, and Lukas Kendall's recent short did... and Alex Kurtzman and company would be crazy to go down that path.
Also, I really don't think the choice of composer will either gain or lose CBS All Access a single subscription in the grand scheme of things. I felt the music for DISCOVERY season 1 kinda missed the mark in some ways, but season 2 seemed a lot more solid to me overall. Or maybe I was just used to Russo's approach by then! In any case, I'm not unhappy with him getting the job at all, and am looking forward to hearing what he does with the show.
Okay, so I switched the words around, still you took joke so seriously...
Do we know who really made the composer choice?
So what if he/they never worked with any of the composers from the previous series; all composers are new to a director or producer at some point; you got to start somewhere.
Russo is the biggest composer disappointment in Trek I can think of. Say what ever you guys want to about Rosenman, who people rip the TOS film score of, his score was season professional craftsmanship through and through on any level I can think of; the same cannot be said of Russo.
At a certain point, one should move on and find another musical voice(s).
Um... yes. Jeff Russo was hired by the producers of Star Trek: Picard to write music for the show. They were likely fully aware that they had just worked with him for two years on Star Trek: Discovery when they did so.
At a certain point, one should move on and find another musical voice(s).
I don't think you're wrong. I think it would be exciting if they brought in someone new who might offer a different take on the material. But they didn't! And who is to say that Jeff Russo won't provide a totally different sort of music for this series than he did for Discovery? Fargo and Legion are very different from one another and very different from what we've heard him do with Trek thus far.
Personally Im disappointed. I found the Discovery music to be even more bland then the show itself. I was hoping for Brian Tyler or someone else who has Trek passion. But we’ll see what happens. Just bored of the Russo Reign as it is.
