Category: Battlestar Galactica

BSG Music is Finally on iTunes!

November 7, 2009

Finally… Finally… Finally!

I’ve been teasing you loyal blog readers about a big announcement for weeks, and here it is: NBC Universal and Apple have finally worked out their issues and, at long last, my scores for Battlestar Galactica are available on iTunes.

This has been an annoyingly arduous process for me.  Seeing the episodes in the top downloads on iTunes every week for years while my scores were relegated to physicals discs was a drag.  So, this is a big step.  But we’re still only halfway there. There’s a bunch of material that’s supposed to be there still missing (like Season 1 for example!). The Eureka soundtrack will also be on iTunes soon.

Best of all, there is (and will be even more) exclusive iTunes content available.  First up, the world premiere music video and single of “Apocalypse (Theme from ‘The Plan’)” performed live by the Battlestar Galactica Orchestra in concert are now on iTunes.


Raya Yarbrough sings the Gayatri Mantra in the “Apocalypse” video.

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Battlestar Galactica: The Plan

October 27, 2009

SPOILERS ARE PLANNED: My score for Battlestar Galactica evolved dramatically over the 4 seasons. Character themes were introduced, developed and occasionally abandoned as various instrumentalists and soloists expanded the sonic palette of the music. The score progressively became more expansive, richer, and wildly varied with each episode. While this approach was musically inventive, it did result in certain musical threads being left incomplete.

The Plan, the newly-released straight-to-DVD movie and final swan song of the series afforded me a unique opportunity to return to the roots of the story arcs in the first two seasons and complete them with the thematic, instrumental and melodic material I had developed in Seasons 3 and 4.  “Retconning” is a term I’ve heard used to describe reinterpreting or re-envisioning past events.  Well, The Plan gave me the rare opportunity for some musical retconning, and I took it!

After a clever visual pun with the Universal logo (the planet in the background is Caprica, not Earth!), The Plan opens with a reprise of the opening title text, recited by the cylons themselves.  Over this sequence, the electric violin, duduk and yialli tanbur play in unison the first statement of the only new theme I wrote for this film, The Plan Theme:

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BSG Suite in Symphonic Orchestra Concert, Oct. 24!

October 7, 2009

ONE NIGHT ONLY: On October 24th, the Golden State Pops Orchestra will perform a special tribute to composer Stu Phillips to commemorate his 80th birthday.  He will conduct his scores from the original Battlestar Galactica, as well as several other projects.  Richard Hatch and other new and original BSG alums will be there, and I will be there as a special guest, conducting my new arrangement of Stu’s classic theme!

My piece will be a combination of the various moments in my scores in which I quoted Stu’s timeless melody, drawing from “Colonial Anthem” from Season 2, “Husker in Combat” from Razor and, of course, “The Heart of the Sun” from the final episode.  Some of my own, original BSG themes will weave in there as well.

If you missed the summer concerts in downtown Los Angeles, San Diego, or my ballet, Prelude to War, in Germany last spring, this is your last chance this year to hear my Galactica score performed live in concert.  Since the concert program also includes Stu’s “Theme from Battlestar Galactica,” I want my “Colonial Anthem” to have all the unique qualities and sounds that set my score apart.  So, the orchestra will be joined on stage by BSG Orchestra superstars Paul Cartwright on electric violin, Chris Bleth on duduk and M.B. Gordy on taikos and ethnic percussion. (UPDATE: The line-up has changed.  See the bottom of this entry).

And even if you did see any of the previous shows, this one will be entirely different, since it involves a full orchestra!  This concert will truly be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to experience the classic and re-imagined Galactica scores together on one program.  There will also be a drawing to win CDs and other goodies signed by me and Stu.

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“BSG Season 4” CD Signing This Sunday!

September 6, 2009

I will be signing copies of the Battlestar Galactica Season 4 soundtrack this Sunday, September 13th, at 1pm at Dark Delicacies in Burbank, CA.  Also present will be Nathan Barr (True Blood) and composing duo Nicole Buetti and Dirk Montapert (Dead of Night).

I will also be signing Caprica, Eureka, Rest Stop: Don’t Look Back, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles and the first three Battlestar Galactica CDs.

DARK DELICACIES
4213 W. Burbank Blvd., Burbank, CA 91505
Sunday, September 13th, 2008, 1pm
 www.darkdel.com

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BSG BluRay Documentaries

August 22, 2009

Lame. Today I finally got my BSG Complete Series BluRay Box Set from Amazon (yes, I had to buy my own, which is surprisingly not the “lame” part).  To ship it to me, Amazon basically threw it in a cardboard box without additional packing material.  And since the box set packaging itself is essentially another cardboard box, it was all smashed up by the time it got here…

… resulting in a hilariously ironic memento of my years working on this series.  I was going to bitch to Amazon and make them send me a new one, but the more I look at this pathetically lopsided cube-turned-trapezoid that I paid over $200.00 for, the more it makes me laugh.  🙂

Ok, complaints about packaging aside, there are actually a lot things about this release I’m genuinely excited about.  I’ve seen a handful of episodes in high-definition, at various screenings and press events, and the picture quality was always amazing.  The VFX in particular are incredibly detailed.  So, I’m looking forward to watching the whole series again from the beginning in high def, especially because I’ve never watched an episode again after its original air date with only a few exceptions.

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