Intrada Soundtrack Forum

INTRADA Announces:



KILLING SEASON
Composed by CHRISTOPHER YOUNG
Conducted by ALLAN WILSON
INTRADA Special Collection Vol. 323

I must say I’m probably more excited about the Killing Season CD than any other music I’ve
released in a while because it marks a new approach to the way in which I’m presenting a score.
-- Christopher Young

For composer Christopher Young, the album premiere of the soundtrack to the 2013 film Killing Season represents more than a film score. It is the “realization of an obsession.” The album delivers a musical experience that transcends the film which inspired it. Having begun as a series of discrete cues, the score has been reconceived and reworked into an extended meditation on the film’s narrative threads—hard men in a remote wilderness, the memory of haunted battlefields, the pain of isolation and the catharsis of confession. Much of this music has not merely been rearranged but rewritten and newly performed. The resulting composition respects its roots as a film score, but would be at home on the concert stage:

“So many movies sort of fall by the wayside, and their scores vanish,” Young notes. “What I’m trying to do is revitalize music that I believe in. I’ve become kind of obsessed with wanting to revisit my old scores, to see if I can modify them in a manner that would make them a more exciting listen. Killing Season is really the first fully orchestral score where I’ve been able to go back and say, ‘What can I do with this score to make it more digestible in a concert performance situation?’ I’m not saying that opportunity will ever arise—but this is how I would prefer to have the music presented.”

The score features cello as the dominant color, joined by an ensemble that includes piano, bagpipes and the dulcimer-like strains of a wirestrung Irish harp. Though the score was recorded overseas, cellist Ben Sollee recorded his solos in the United States. This allowed Young to exercise precise control over the mix—and also opened the door to an ambitious reconstruction when it came time to produce the album arrangement. Young perceives the score as a concerto for cello and orchestra, divided into three movements. The end result is an album that plays as an artistic work unto itself and gives the listener a musical journey more powerful than the usual presentation of a film score.

The film stars Robert DeNiro as a U.S. veteran and John Travolta as a former Serbian soldier playing cat-and-mouse games in the remote wilderness.

INTRADA Special Collection Vol. 323
Retail Price: $19.99
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For track listing and sound samples, please visit
http://store.intrada.com/s.nl/it.A/id.9618/.f

I was not familiar with this score but the clips sound gorgeous. It looks like another "must have" score from Chris Young who never disapoints.

So curious here. Did Young record the score this way or was this concerto-like format an editing job?

He recorded it as normal film cues for the film, and chose to edit them together in this manner for his album configuration.

Great news!

Hopefully MONKEY KING and SPIDERMAN 3 will be finally saved one day too.

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Hear, hear!

Excellent!!

I have always adored Young's scores - from "Hellraiser" to his more recent ones. "Fly II", "Flowers in the Attic", "Hellraiser II", and "Species" are among my faves. The man can do no wrong with me. I have even met him - jolly good fellow, he is!

Thank you to Intrada. My prayers have been heard... in my opinion one of Chris' best scores comes in stunning concert form! Great!

Excellent album, presented as a concert piece. True, not that close to the original score, that I adore so much, but this one is a real listening experience! Thanks again, Intrada. Hope, we see some more Christopher Young scores in the near future. Probably a cd of Deliver us from Evil????

The first name I noticed the name of "Christopher Young" was in the opening credit sequence of INVADERS FROM MARS. I have been a big fan of Christopher Young ever since. I've never seen the movie KILLING SEASON, I just bought the disc because A) I find the concept of re-forming the film music into a more cohesive "concert" work very intriguing, and B), well, it's Christopher Young.

I have to this day not seen THE CORE either, but the Intrada release revealed a spectacular score. I know it's no longer available, I hope it sold well, because it's sure worth being out there.

This concert version is great, but is there a chance for a release of the original score too some day?

It's a pity that this score doesn't get the recognition it deserves. I hope that at least, it sells well enough, so Chris is going to create future scores in the same manner as Killing Season. Probably and hopefully some of his older scores are treated as well. How about Murder ar 1600 or the long out of print Flowers in the Attic?