For any soundtrack fans of The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance. I just wanted to share this review that was online recently which is well worth checking it out, click on the link below to read more.
The resulting score is, as Pemberton intended, simply magical. There are a few flashes of Trevor Jones’s original Dark Crystal theme – at 2:25 in “Story of The Dark Crystal,” at the very beginning and very end of “The Dark Crystal: The Age of Hope,” and as the opening notes of “The Scientist Engineers” – but, beyond that, everything is new. In terms of the score’s structure, Pemberton and Sim tended to avoid having dozens of leitmotivic melodies, which could have been overwhelming considering the sheer number of main characters and concepts that would have needed to be addressed individually had they gone down that route. Instead, the composers concentrated on a smaller set of core ideas related to the most important characters and story elements, most of which are introduced in the opening cue, “The Dark Crystal: The Age of Resistance”.
An observation I have made with the soundtrack which I’ll probably talk about in future episode of Trial By Stone is that Aughra’s theme (in particular the first four notes) is not only Thra’s theme, not only incorporated into the main theme, but its very familiar sounding, thats because the four notes seem to be inspired by a musical four note motif of sorts called ‘Dies Irae’.
You hear it a lot not only on Age of Resistance but also on a LOT of film music scores. I highly recommend listening to Doom and Gloom episode of The Soundtrack Show by David Collins as he breaks down ‘Dies Irae’ and its uses in film, but just wanted to point that out.
