R.I.P. Shirley Walker (1945-2006)

Sad news from the Film Score Monthly discussion board : Shirley Walker passed away last night due to a brain aneurism from which she could not recover.

Usual orchestrator for composers as Danny Elfman (Batman and Batman Returns scores), she also composed by herself such remarkable scores as "Batman: Mask of the Phantom", "Memoirs of an Invisible Man", "Final Destination" and "Willard". And do not forget her contributions in TV series as "Batman: The Animated Series", "The Flash" and "Space: Above and Beyond".

Shirley Walker passed away on this fateful November, after Basil Poledouris's decease at the beginning of the month. This way, it seems that year 2006 could be another "annus horribilis" for film music, after the disastrous 2004.

Rest in peace, Shirley. At least, we have your rich legacy to remember you.

New Confirmed Guest for the III Ubeda Conference: David Arnold

It?s a great pleasure for us the announcement of the next confirmed guest attending the coming III International Film Music Conference ?City of Úbeda?. And his name is Arnold, David Arnold.

The composer for the last James Bond movie, Casino Royale, is also responsible of such amazing scores as Stargate, Independence Day, Godzilla, as well as previous Bond movies as Die Another Day, The World is Not Enough and Tomorrow Never Dies. With such a curriculum, it is not trivial talking of David Arnold as one of the best professionals in this area.

Selected filmography:
007: Casino Royale (2006) ? Too Fast Too Furious (2003) - 007: Die Another Day (2002) ? Shaft (2000) - 007: The World is Not Enough (1999) - Godzilla (1998) - 007: Tomorrow Never Dies (1997) ? Independence Day (1996) - Stargate (1994).

You can find additional information here, at http://congreso.bsospirit.com. But, first of all, enjoy the trailer...

FAREWELL, BASIL!

After a long fight against the adversity, Basil Poledouris passed away last November, 8th. Rest in peace.

Here in BSOSpirit.com we miss him enormously, as it is, absolutely, our saddest moment since this website was born. Together with his skills as a legendary composer, there is his enormous category as a person. All who attended the past International Film Music Conference "Ciudad de Úbeda" could witness this in one way or another. Basil was special. He had a gift, that of his tremendous music, but he also had other which left an indelible track wherever he went.

Now, in these hard times, our only relief is to think that maybe we could further contribute to making him a little bit more happy in his final days. But it is nothing compared to the numberless moments of happiness he and his music gave and still are giving us.

Rest in peace.

Updated: Official communicate from his dearest fellows:

On a given day, blood is thicker than water;
on another occasion blood must be denied in order for
the Water of Life to flow and clear the way for the next adventure.

from The Water of Life by Michael Meade

Our dearest friend Basil passed away today, November 8th, 2006 in Los
Angeles, CA.
Basil fought really hard for the last 6 months with his illness and now
he has decided to go on some adventures in the other world.

With deepest gratitude and love.

With Honor,
Suni

New online release by Soundtracks.pl: Sweet Music

Soundtracks.pl released its third on-line music album, "Sweet Music". This time it contains light jazz compositions of Andrzej Korzynski, created for German movies: "Spielergeschichten" and "Florian". Henryk Miskiewicz, a great saxophone player, is among the performers.

Andrzej Korzynski is one of the most popular Polish film composers. Creating music for 40 years, he offen works with directors like: Andrzej Wajda or Andrzej Zulawski.

Our new release is offered in 2 formats: MP3 and APE, which is a lossless audio compression format. The album price is $3,60 and it can be downloaded right after making the payment. The album also contains high quality covers, ready for printing.

More info about the release and extensive music samples can be found at: http://soundtracks.pl/musicshop.php?change_lang=en