Game of Thrones composer announced

An oscar winner today is not worth much if you look at the recent composers who got an oscar. It’s more politics in Hollywood than anything else.

Concerning this composer it looks quite dissapointing to get such a strange no name composer nowadays for a potential hit show. It will probably hurt GOT not to have chosen someone with experience and knowledge how to create a thematical driven, soaring medieval fantasy score.

Additionally they chose a 62 year old man, who probably has not much fire and patos left (he did his last project in 2007)

Why in the hell did they chose this guy, one of the worst possible choices

I would gladly take any young, new composer who wants to prove himself rather than an old guy with his last project years away, and his last success even longer than that

:(

Ok , i was wrong concerning his age and projects. he is a little younger (57) and did some projects in the recent three years.

But it doesnt change my opinion on him.

Fara did overreact a bit. It seems he/she is so dissapointed about the choice to have fallen into using bad language

Fara,

Wow. Composer-gate already?

Geezmaleez Fara, how the heck can you react to someone with credits like that. I personally don’t know any composer in Hollywood except for John Williams and Howard Shore. So who the heck is Bear McReary? I believe he is a good composer, but I never heard of him (ok, I started hearing of him since his name popped up at this site). My guess is you are trolling us big time.

I think the producers had lots of composers to choose from (as GRRM stated in his notablog) and this guy impressed them the most, what you think they hired him because of resume?

David Drake,

No kidding! Just because he hasn’t done work on a bunch of projects with swords and dragons doesn’t mean he can’t adapt. The guy has worked on far more projects than Bear McCreary. I don’t see why HBO is obligated to hire some guy because… what? some fans wanted him and he did Battlestar Galatica? I don’t know?

Maybe lets watch and listen a couple episodes before declaring it the worst thing ever on this project.

Knurk,

I looked up Bear McCreary, he did Battle Star Galactica, Sarah Conner, and other Sci Fi stuff.

But, yowza, on the Warbeck hating. I listened to the samples of Warbeck’s work and hey, I liked it. I also liked watching Shakespeare in Love, (even though I’m usually more an epic action film kinda girl) and I thought the score added to the film, not detracted. And HBO has done a pretty good job most of their choices thus far IMHO, so I’m just going to wait to see what he can do. I do hope we end up with a memorable theme for the opening credits.

OhDanyBoy,

me either! HBO has never dissapointed in those opening themes, although most of them are pre-made songs they always deliver on those opening minutes, no matter what show it’s for.

I too was hoping for Bear, but I have to assume this guy provided sample music that D&D loved, so hopefully it will be good.

Knurk,

I agree, I think Rome’s opening was my favorite of all time. Of course we all ready have an a idea of what the opening will look like if not sound like since the pilot script had a discription of what the writer wanted.

For those of you who didn’t read the pilot from what I recall You see an old pare of hands give a raven a messeage then take it and release it out a window. Then the bird gains altitude and we see a top down veiw of a map of Westeros starting at Castle Black then going down all the way to Kings Landing. Along the way points of interest are shown like Winterfell, the Vale, the Riverlands etc, and the raven occupationally dips in altitude to give views a chance to see these places. I think it would help to have some way to inform the viewing audience where everything is relative to each other. Also it would be really smart of them to inclued maps in the DVD sets, both paper and as digital extras.

Jeremy Soule please :(

HBO is taking this pretty seriously and I wouldn’t be surprised if they not only asked for samples but also for some of the finalist composers to writing some new sample scores specifically for the GoT to showcase what they could bring to the show and how they envision the score sounding.

Like most, I am not familiar with this composer, but I am sure he is up to snuff. Everything HBO has done up to this point gives no reason to think they didn’t find the best possible fit for the composer as well.

BTW, if you listen to the end of the Shakespeare in Love clip on Westeros, the last song featured has a very medieval sound. It is still “lighter” than what I envision for GoT but he might actually have a lot of experience with that style of music, who knows.

I love how most people wouldn’t know bear mccreary from peter dinklage before BSG. Now he’s the only hirable composer around. Thankfully the producers have more vision than many here. I’d like GOT to be known for more than that half rate Syfy shows sloppy seconds. How’s caprica treating ya?

I’m a huge freakin huge Terminator: the Sarah Connor Chronicles fan (Lena Headey getting the Cersei part is the reason I picked up the series in the fist place.)

and I can tell you that Bear McCreary is good at what he does, but in my opinion he would be the wrong choice for this series. Bear isn’t one for the sweeping threatrical style scores that this series is in need of.

(trust me I have the T:SCC Soundtrack)

He’s more of an understated music blends into the scene … which is good, but I think there are times, especally toward the end of AGOT

for example: When Robb is crowned King of the North …

You need a sweeping Heroic theme to overlay that scene and I just don’t see Bear being able to pull that off.

and Plus it’s not like there playing duck, duck, Goose here with composers … Like the actors the composers had to audition for the gigs … most likely “Old Man Rivers” sent a Demo to the show runners and they were like “YES!!”

So be careful, because there is a processes peeps.

God you people.

I feel for HBO, I really do.

Fara,

You people are all jokes you know that? If the producers listened to the lot of you, this show would be one of the most embarrassing and laughable spectacles in television. You have no imagination, you seem to think that someone named “Bear” that scored a video game, can do better than a classically trained musician. Just because the series is fantasy does not mean that the score needs to be done by a sci-fi nerd. ABSURD!
Although I really shouldn’t be surprised at the cheap suggestions of second-rate “composers” and actors, you are the same people that actually thought Daniel Day-Lewis would deign to play Ned, or even better, let’s cast Liam Neeson as Ned because that’s not obvious or anything. It’s people like you that make me ashamed of being a fantasy and sci-fi fan.

Sensuki,

Yeah, you’re right. Sometimes I just get so tired with all these “gates”, you know. Even if this isn’t quite on that level yet. When I saw that news I was just really happy and impressed. And then one of the first comments I read here is downright bashing.

Everyone is entitled to their opinion, of course. But I think you get what I’m after.

That was harsh,I apologize to the rest of you, my rant was aimed at Fara. I just get so tired of the instant negativity that abounds when a new cast or crew member is announced. I guess I got trolled.

If it was trolling it’s not funny. If it was real it’s pathetic. Bring on a little censorship please. I used to read this site avidly. now I cringe when I read the tripe that pollutes it.

Personally, I hated Bear McCreary as a choice and I’m ecstatic about this. Fuck him, Warbeck will be great.

wow…now I’m close to stop reading the comments here. Be it true or trolling, it’s not fun reading anymore and it’s pathetic.

Wic, I think this will not be the last time it happens. What about regristering here to post? I guess that would make it easier to identify trolling members?
As much I want to watch the pilot, the more I’m afraid of the comments here. Even if it will be a very good show as a whole with good story-telling, there wil be people here who’ll bash every little detail. urrg…because HBO did not take their mental image and let it magically appear on the screen. oh …or an actor placed emphasis on the wrong word. disastrous…But it’s the Internet. you can’t do much about it.

I searched a little bit for some of this guys work and found a beatiful little piece from Quills.

Though i think mostly the music for GOT should be understated and atmospheric, it would be fitting with some more memorable melodic and pompous stuff in certain scenes.

I might not have put this in GOT, but i think it shows that he can pull of memorable, goosebumps-inducing stuff that would work in fantasy. It also has a somewhat folkish sound which would be nice for GOT.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zAZGg-tCaJ0&feature=related

Oh know, what TERRIBLE news, it goes without saying that the only fitting choice for the score would have been Ennio Morricone! :-) (imagining the The Good, The Bad and The Ugly main theme in Westeros just makes me laugh insanely)

Joking aside, although Captain Corellis Mandolin is in my opinion one of the worst movies I’ve ever seen (due to the story and the horrible main actor, not so much the score), I trust HBO in their judgement enough to be excited about this news. For any composer, this must be a dream project, composing probably a number of different styles to emphasis the different corners of Westeros. I wish Mr Warbeck lots of joy with this possibly Emmy Award delivering work!

They should’ve hired whoever it was that scored The Wire.

Oh shit, sorry, I forgot. NO ONE scored The Wire. Aside from the theme song (btw, why has Tom Waits never played Coachella!?! grrr), and a song/montage as the very last scene of each season, all other music in the series was incipient (i.e. scenes in Orlando’s club, Herc’s famous scene playin the Shaft theme song in his car while chasing some yo, etc). Yet it remains The Greatest Television Show of All Time (until March, anyway).

I know some scores are iconic (Psycho, Godfather, Jaws, Star Wars, etc), and GoT HAD to have one, but I just hope they keep it as low-key as possible.

As far as Warbeck goes, dude does have an Oscar (although that reminds me that Saving Private Ryan got robbed). I’m sure he can create the necessary number of eighth notes, in the necessary order.

Any story that is told using moving pictures depends upon the writing to be effective. The direction, cinematography, acting, set design, costumes, stunts, effects, editing, sound and score are all just functions of the medium. At their absolute best, can they improve the story? Sure, but their true goal is to simply convey the story, and they more often than not detract from it. I have faith that Warbeck’s score will do the former.

Brude,

I respectfully disagree. There are vast differences between the OST of the Pilot and the OST of the series, and only the ´cylon theme´ has actually re appeared in the series. A lot of other things (Kobol / Sadness theme, final five theme, Sharon´s theme, worthy of survival, Razor, etc.) Are all by his hand and are quite awesome.

We also would’ve accepted Angelo Badalamenti, but that’s just Bob talking.

Well, this is good – I have fond memories of “Shakespeare in Love” and “Corelli” scores.
Yes, a teensy tiny irrational horse-crazy part of my brain was praying for Hans Zimmer suddenly scoring something for TV – yeah, right, as if that could happen.
But let’s see – or better, let’s hear – what he’ll wind up with for GOT before any definitive judgement.

sjwenings: I might not have put this in GOT, but i think it shows that he can pull of memorable, goosebumps-inducing stuff that would work in fantasy. It also has a somewhat folkish sound which would be nice for GOT.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zAZGg-tCaJ0&feature=related    

OH my lordilord that was amazing! I am excited!

the goat,

I think we’re closing in on the “gate-gate”. Someone actually predicted that back in the bright and beautiful days of costume-gate or thereabouts.

I really hope they’ll manage to use the wrong kind of water at some point, then this is going to get weird :D

agor,

wait’ll we get to curtain time. That shit’s gonna make “snow-gate” look like “costume-gate”. multiplied by one-thousand. Hopefully.

“A girl forgets” he said quietly. “Two she has had, three were owed. If a guard must die, she needs only speak his name.”

“But ONE guard won’t be enough, we need to kill them all to open the cell.” Arya bit her lip hard to keep from crying. “I want you to save the northmen like I saved you.”

He looked down at her pitilessly. “Three lives were snatched from a god. Three lives must be repaid. The gods are not mocked.” His voice was silk and steel.

I know nothing about this composer, I recognize some of the films, but please why mention Shakespeare in Love, I have hate for that film, not because I didn’t like it, it was entertaining but because it stole the Oscar from Saving Private Ryan (a far superior film). I was really hoping for Loreena McKennitt, I so wanted her to create a theme song similar to “The Old Ways” for GoT opening and the music rocks concerning her style of Celtic and Medieval, it would have been interesting and refreshing. Maybe Mr. Warbeck will hire her to help write and sing the opening title sequence, if not, our loss then.
I also am disgusted with the hate from Fara and others, they should listen to Warbeck’s music before judging him, which I will proceed to do upon exiting this post. My assumption is they want epic with someone experienced with character themes, Warbeck has experience in all those areas. So off I go to listen to his scores before I pass judgement.

Well I don’t know him as well but after hearing some of his scores I must say it sounds really good to me. This is really exciting though I have to admit I’m already hungry for more (a lot more!) I’m longing for a real trailer with dialogue, music, special effects etc.

I BEG YOU HBO PLEASE HURRY! (but take your time as well!)

Warbeck’s resume is far more appropriate for this show than McCreary’s, I must say. And frankly, I was never very impressed with BSG’s score. It wasn’t bad, it just wasn’t particularly memorable. Glad to have Warbeck on board. The music was really the only good part of Captain Corelli’s Mandolin.

Winter Is Coming,

But if somebody starts using different account names to give his opinions more weight and spread, some more drastic measures have to be taken, agree?

Is it not what FaB pointed? That 2 posts with different names came from the same person?
It’s bad enough if someuse uses this tactic to express adoration for the show. It is even worse whe he uses it to express complaints, critics and general badmouthing. because clarly the intention is not to express a valid opinion or concern, but to create controversy. And that’s trolling in my book.

what to do:
http://www.trollshop.net/trolls/werensk_s.gif

Steve B,

FaB is a moderator

Ok guys, sorry for trolling but at least it lead to a discussion…my apologizes
(i wont do it again)

First of all i was very dissapointed that they didnt chose a proven bigger name composer (and i would have liked Bear McCreary in this) and in my opinion Warbeck offers quite an big resume but i’m constantly asking myself why he wasn’t more successful after his oscar win if he is so good.

So there is big doubt in me that he can pull it of like this show deserves it. In my opinion GOT deserves Howard Shore like thematical treatment.

The different regions have to be recognizable by themes/motives and/or instrumental diversity. Of course i also have a certain trust to the GOT producers and i really hope they made the right choice.

And i have to also admit that Howard Shore (before he did LotR) wasn’t known to write very thematically, so Warbeck may do great.
It’s just that i have no security that he will. He may also do it in a very artsy way just scoring for emotion and that would be so utterly wrong for this show.
You need the themes, the different motives and you need epic music too. Shakespeare in Love may have medieval style music (which is nice) but offers nothing like rousing fanfares (for tournament scenes, king’s landing) or very memorable melodies (needed for example for a possible House Stark Theme, Targyaren theme, Nightswatch motif, Title theme)
You need this thematic approach to get the mainstream viewer hooked who doesnt know the books. It will make following the story easier to hear the same melodies connected to the same characters, locations. It helps in regards to the whole experience.
The power of the music in shows and films is often not really acknowledged.

If Warbeck scores for emotion instead a thematical approach it will Hurt the show very, very much. Then you won’t have the right enhancement of the scenes, musci will get confusing and out of place.
That’s my biggest fear.

Why i wanted McCreary:

First of all he cares for every show he works on. He has a blog where he even listens and responds to suggestions and critic fans may have and even uses them for his next scores.
For example for the finale of Battlestar Galactica he brought back suggested melodies and themes from other seasons and it turned out better than you could have imagined (even like a film score)

He also posted lenghty blog posts deatailling his reasons and his developmenet process on his website.
I have never seen a composer care more for the fans and all the people with interest in movies.

He also understands the importance of themes and motives throughout the shows he worked on. He is classically trained by Elmer Bernstein and understands the whole process better than most other TV composers.

Is Stephen Warbeck seeking contact with the fans of the show? Does he have an own website where we can talk with him, write him suggestions?
Will he care for the show as much as GOT earns to be cared for?

If someone from HBO reads this or if you miltos know Warbeck pls tell him that a thematic , leitmotific approach to such a massive, confusing show is the only way to go. The viewers need ceratin anchors they can identify with apart from the picture and this function has to be done by the musical score

Here you go: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzlfGoImBeM

Plus, it’s extremely obvious they were the same poster from their writing style…

Regarding Warbeck: I’ve only seen one of his films, Quills. Don’t remember the score at all, so probably not brilliant – but I also really liked the film, so the score can’t have been too bad, either. Likewise with the parts of Mrs Brown that I’ve seen.

We’ve rightly condemned the first poster, but one bit of what they said may deserve a little more rebuttal: the age. He’s 57, so he can’t be a good composer anymore?

Philip Glass is ~73. He was ~61 at the time of the Truman Show, but some of the music came from his films from the eighties. He gained further Oscar nominations at ~65 (The Hours) and ~69 (Notes on a Scandal). If they’re hired him, nobody would complain he was too old for the job.

John Williams is ~78. He has had 45 Oscar nominations – between 1967 (Valley of the Dolls) and 2005 (Munich, and Memoirs of a Geisha). Sure, he’s past his best – but he was ~61 when he wrote Schindler’s List! And Jurassic Park! When he was the age Warbeck is now, he was getting double Oscar nominated, for Indiana Jones and for Born on the Fourth of July.

Alfred Newman had an Oscar nomination every year for twenty years in a row, ending at the age of… 57.

But hey, none of these a great composers!

Whereas 57 was an important age for Ludwig van Beethoven – he died just before reaching it. In his last five or six years, he wrote, among other things, the Late String Quartets, the Diabelli Variations, the last three Piano Sonatas, the Missa Solemnis, and the Ninth Symphony – all not only works of genius, but works of incredible innovation.

One – he’s won an Oscar for composing (and awards for his theatre composing too), and Fara hasn’t. So if they disagree on composing method, I’ll take the professional’s view over the internet troll’s.

Two – I’m not sure why Fara thinks that using “themes” is something you need apostolic succession from Elmer Bernstein to do. We live two centuries after Weber, it’s not like the leitmotif is a recondite technique that is rarely seen.

Three – please god can he be better at using them than Bear “whack you over the head with an anvil to remind you who the character you’re seeing is no matter how inappropriate it is musically” McCreary. He has good points as a composer, but subtlety is not one of them…

Four – being au fait with internet communication techniques has nothing to do with being a great composer. Nor does being nice, nor listening to fans. Beethoven was an incorrigible wanker.

Well Wastrel, your post is not really better than my first troll post. You dont discuss things you just diss McCreary and didnt get my point at all. :(
It’s a incredible sad and immature response from you and a troll in itself.

And in some points you are just plainly wrong. Mc Creary only rarely used the in your head thematic approach. He has his themes but they dont appear all the time. You would know that if you would have the least interest in his work (which you don’t obviously)

I never said that using themes requires a succession to Elmer Bernstein. You interpreted that in a very wrong way.

An oscar means not so much today anymore. John Williams for example lost his earned oscar for Prizoner of Azkaban to Brokeback Mountain ( hollywood politics, it was just in to give oscars to the successful movie with the two gay cowboys)

If you don’t care for internet presence that’s your cup of tea, i saw it as a very positive sign on his side. Well maybe are you too conservative if you compare that to Beethoven.

I’m glad they took someone serious and who is willing to dive in the past and take inspiration from medieval music. I think the fact that HBO took Corvus Corax for the first pilot is proof that they listened to the fans (hope they’ll still be here in final version)

Shoulda got John Williamssssssssss!!1111 one one….. one.

Im not going to watch this whole series now because I have not heard of the composer of it’s music! so there!

I don’t have a strong opinion on this topic, but I’ll note that in addition to all the above, he did the score for the Prime Suspect series with Helen Mirren, which was excellent.

Nigel Bradley,

Gah, link didn’t post. Let’s try it again: http://www.youtube.com/user/SkyLynx4#p/u/17/ZnScYAaC2oo

I haven’t posted here in a while, but I just want to make a couple of things heard.

First of all it’s incredibly arrogant to start flaming HBO because they made a different choice to you – despite whatever experience you have I suspect that the people who made the decision are in a much better position to decide than you. They know the guys, they knows their capabilities and their dispositions – you only know their work.

More importantly though I think the rest of you need to stop rising up! If every time there’s a bit of opposition it gets dozens of angry replies you’re just inviting trolls and making every shred of news into a scandalous affair. Once the criticism has been answered just drop the topic, and return to sensible discussion.

Anyways, having had a listen to his previous work I think he looks promising. I like it and – more importantly – it seems really appropriate to the film it was made for. If, as Miltos Yerolemou says, he does have such a great deal of musical knowledge, I don’t think we have anything to worry about. At all.

:)!

Steve B,

Three different arrangements of “The Bear and the Maiden Fair” & Stephen Moyer vocals = Win!
I smell Top 40!

It seems that Ran of Westeros forums has a pretty busy Sunday.
He just found on the net a new VFX company for Thrones with the hell of credits behind it.
Very excited!

Troll`s …….ugly little b*****ds ,that live in the dark. Warbeck is cool by me,and I think subtle celtic and medieval influence`s in the score will suit parts of the show. Shouldn`t be long now until we get a full trailer.

The Rabbit: It seems that Ran of Westeros forums has a pretty busy Sunday.He just found on the net a new VFX company for Thrones with the hell of credits behind it.Very excited!  Quote  Reply

Well spotted Rabbit. Having Paddy Kelly and Bluebolt on board is brilliant news.Avatar is my favourite effects movie. This has really made my day.

After listening to some of Warbeck’s music today, I now have a feeling in which direction they might be going scorewise, and I hope my assumptions are proved correct. Stephen Warbeck appears to be a master of themes ala Williams, and even though most of his scores have been for intimate films and serious drama, he has done a remarkable job in creating themes attached to a particular character or situation. This bodes well for Games and the characters that inhabit Westeros. I can see him attaching a theme to each major character and even the major minor ones. He more than likely will also create a theme for each House, the Wall and maybe even one to represent the various cities. Of course many of the themes will more than likely be under a minute in length, but perhaps he will create a full piece arrangement for the major parts and Houses. I haven’t seen an action scene yet with his accompanied score, to see how well he handles bravado, but I am sure D&D wouldn’t have selected him if they felt he couldn’t create the swelling and cresendo music that builds up before, during after after an important action set piece.
Deep down though I hope he collaborates with Loreena or another musician like her in creating a memorable title score and end credit song that will set it apart from even the more well known scores and place it among the classics.

Like this…

Very, very dissapointing to not get Bear McCreary. They didnt listen to the fans of the show at all.

Very dissapointed

Much better yes?

Great news! This man has done some brilliant things, amazing to have him on board!

I’m glad they didn’t go with McCreary. Never really liked his work that much (though I haven’t heard too much of it, just bits of BSG, Human Target and Caprica) and he didn’t seem like a good fit for GoT to me.

the goat,
Don’t worry, Goatie.
HBO likes troll posts; reasoned, educated posts; posts from the most twisted of obsessed and outraged halfmen—all equally. Posts from the residents of Planet Neptune? Bring them on!
What it doesn’t like is a dearth of posts, such as it is experiencing with BOARDWALK EMPIRE. Its own boards for that series give a whole new meaning to the word “dead.”

FlayedandDisplayed,

i think we all understand that there are alot of people who have opinions and we are far too thick skinned to worry about peoples obvious ‘passion’ for this series. we are not in the job to try and please everyone but to do something we all love and have great admiration for the justice it deserves and to make something special and that will be remembered for a long time to come. maybe even raise the bar when it comes to anyone else making TV or film.

When McCreary was asked about the project, he didn’t seem over enthused by it and even said he wasn’t a fan of medieval-style music. At that point it seemed unlikely he’d get or even apply for the gig. Given his workload is insane (in addition to the projects Ran mentioned upthread, he’s also doing the second BSG spin-off and a bunch of computer games and movies), him not getting it was not surprising. This choice appears to be a good one.

Adam Whitehead,

I meant to mention this in my post as well, but forgot.
It is definitely much better to have someone working on a project who WANTS to be there, and who has ideas to bring to the table.

Lord Ned’s Head,

Yes, I think devotees of the series are delighted and devoted in their own way, but ominously silent in the digital environment. Either that or they haven’t found any topic worth fighting over. (Of an anemic five pages of topics started on the HBO Boardwalk boards, three pages’ worth have no posts whatsoever—zero—in response.)
Most of the sturm und drang created on the hugely popular TB boards (HBO and others, of which there are many) can be characterized as “books versus show” controversy, something GOT will no doubt see as well. After all, such anguish is a form of love and fanatical commitment. We will want to see as much of it as possible, here or there, even if it drives some W-i-C oldtimers around the bend.

This song is about the Black Watch. “Prepare yourself for life on the Wall!”

This next link is an acoustic version of To Take the Black. This would be awesome to hear in a tavern somewhere in the series!

Here’s a link to another Song of Ice and Fire track called Maiden, Mother & Crone. With someone who could be Dany!

This next video looks like it takes place around Winterfell. It’s called Winter’s Wolves.

I just thought that someone might like some of this Song of Ice and Fire related music.

Link test.

To Take the Black.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-OX1FSHbDU&

How does linking work if the link button doesn’t work?To Take the Black Acoustic.

Brude: The funny thing about Bear McCreary, he didn’t even compose the original main title theme to Battlestar Galactica, which I think most people seem to give him credit for.That was composed by Richard Gibbs and in fact Gibbs composed most of the music for the mini-series.McCreary took over on the series, itself, because Gibbs opted out so he could devote his time and energies to theatrical films.McCreary is okay, but I think he’s vastly overrated.The whole motif and sound for BSG’s music was created by Gibbs.

Couldn’t agree more. Gibbs’ music for BSG was the really original and interesting work in my opinion. McCreary’s great, don’t get me wrong. He had a couple of really amazing tracks in seasons 3 and 4, especially, but people far too quickly forget Richard Gibbs’ contributions to the series.

Really!??! I liked Bear Mcreary’s sound for BSG and Caprica well enough and although I also like that he sometimes infuses his music with celtic bits, I still don’t think his sound would be appropriate for a show like AGOT. It’s moody enough, don’t get me wrong, but it just sounds waaaay too modern, and tiring after a while. Kudo’s to HBO for their choice on Stephen Warbeck. I think he knows what he’s doing, c’mon.

I was also disappointed. I wanted Basil Poledouris to rise from death and do the score. I’m actually impressed by Stephen Warbeck’s work collection and hope something as epic and sweeping as Conan the Barbarian score.

Thanks a lot Rhiannon, you made my day, adressing clear words to all the wisenheimers.

Rhiannon Jung: You people are all jokes you know that? If the producers listened to the lot of you, this show would be one of the most embarrassing and laughable spectacles in television. You have no imagination, you seem to think that someone named “Bear” that scored a video game, can do better than a classically trained musician.

Bear and Warbeck are equally able to score GOT. Sure, I would have loved to see Bear score, if only to see him grow beyond the sci-fi label he’s gotten. Still, after hearing what Warbeck has to offer, I’m content with HBO’s choice.

Warbeck sample with bagpipes and stuff. From Mrs. Brown soundtrack.

Sounds good to me.

miltos yerolemou,

Just wanted to say thank you for participating in the discussion on this site; it is always interesting to see actors so actively involved!

Yuhuu! Finally some more trolling in the house…
It’s like the “Lena Heady hasn’t read the book” debate…

It is this composer’s job to make music for a film.
He’ll be told be the producers what kind of stuff they want, he’ll propose SEVERAL variations of which one will be chosen or a tendency will be favoured.
In this job you don’t need to be a genius, you need to be a good craftsman.
You need to know where to get your inspirations etc.
Most dramatic film music today is leaning on the great symphonies of the late romantic early modern composers (Wagner, Mahler, Bruckner…). Listen to their stuff and you’ll find it’s all been there before.
Now, this guy has proven he knows his “metier”, so let’s just not even think about him and wait for the total package in the end.

Life-long musician and former public radio classical music announcer here.

I’m thrilled with the choice HBO has made for composer. I think this is entirely consistent with other choices they’ve made for this production– it’s all about getting excellent personnel, NOT the obvious genre flavor-of-the-year choices. I’m very happy that we have a mature composer, known primarily for work in cinema, to score the comings and goings of Ned, Jaime, Tyrion and all the rest.

Wastrel, as with the “chair” post a little while back, I found your post here to be interesting.

Also, another thanks to Miltos for taking part in the discussion! Your first-hand account of working with Warbeck is awesome.

Dom,
Zimmer scored The Pacific.

Heh, I knew they didn’t go with Bear, because when it was announced that he will score The Walking Dead, there was also a note which said that he had to give up scoring some other show because of his new gig.

About Warbeck, well, to be honest when I watched his movies I was like 15 years old and I didn’t pay attention to that. My opinion is that it’s the same story as with screenwriters and actors. You can be as good as channel/show/script lets you.
People saying that McCreary’s soundtrack for TSCC or for example Eureka sucks are unfair. Why? Well, because these shows are not focusing on music aspect and just want the music play in background. Same with Warbeck, lets see his work and then judge.

I thought that they will give gig to Jeff Beal, considering theirs past and a lot of Rome connects to GoT. You have to also remember that HBO did casting for music, so if Warbeck won it got to be good.

Well this sucks major ass! Not really enthralled with the choice, since I would have preferred Bear McCreary. I love his work, and I always visit his website and listen to the audiosamples available there…man oh man I always get goosebumps when I hear his music!

But obviously this decision ultimately belongs to HBO as they are the ones cutting the checks and even though there are legions of fans outhere, we still haven’t proven our loyalty with our wallets, not until the series comes out and we contribute to it, then perhaps we will have more clout. So I will give HBO and this dude the benefit of the doubt, thinking back at the fact that HBO usually makes good choices and does not dissapoint…

As for other composers I would have thought appropiate or interesting for this series, well they range from Harry Gregson-Williams (“Kingdom Of Heaven”), Rob Lane and Joseph Vitarelli (“John Adams”), Alexander Desplat (“Syriana”), Clif Martinez (“Traffic”, “Solaris”, “Narc”) to Jeff Beal (“Rome”, “Carnivale”, “Ugly Betty”), Alan Silvestri (“Contact”), Antonio Pinto (“Lord Of War”), Eric Serra (“The Fifth Element”) etc.

There is plenty of talent outhere that could have taken on this job, but I guess HBO saw it differently…we’ll have to wait and see!

Did I mention though, that this sucks donkey balls!

Fire And Blood,

Ever since HBO hired Emilia Clarke, and ever since the early AGOT community stopped regularly mentioning actors from X-Files (Gillian Anderson), Star Trek Next Generation (Patrick Stewart), etc, etc, I haven’t had a need to post anything (or much). Because there isn’t anything to complain about anymore, and because it was rarely pleasant to post here since it’s like being part of a newly converted communist state. I used names like Davey, Steve, Sarah ha ha, Whiney the Poo, bardamu, even once as “Winter Is Coming” singing a Bruce Springsteen song, and dozens more. I was quite the rascal. But please don’t attribute me past genius troll guerrilla strategies to new trollish reactions coz this kid doesn’t like an Oscar winning composer. Personally I would have hoped for no music at’all in this series since it dulls the senses and cheaply heightens emotional response.

Muff, Davey et al… Your time has passed. Your attempts to be funny were always commendable but mostly a fat failure. I hope you can live with yourselves with that knowledge. Now fly back to the hole from whence you came!

Anonymuff,

heh, too many Steves around here. You’re no sourcenator though.

Gerrald,

when is the soundtrack coming out for game of thrones ? just asking!? Thanks Elizabeth Osborne
elizagadute@hotmail.com