Brian (b. 1977) began to play trombone in 1989; though he enjoyed performing, it wasn’t until later that he would consider music as a career option. In 1995, Brian- already an admirer of film music- heard James Horner’s score for “Braveheart”; this was the score that inspired him to want to compose for film. The other key score he heard during this time was Hans Zimmer’s music for 1996’s “Broken Arrow,” which inspired Brian to consider the possibilities of electronic music for the first time. Brian graduated from Lassiter High School- and a rewarding four years in their acclaimed band program- later in ’96, headed to Georgia State University to major in Sound Recording Technology in their Music Industry program. From the Fall of 1996 until he graduated in the Spring of 2001 with a B.M. in Music Industry, Brian- who studied recording, MIDI applications, and Csound synthesis under Dr. Robert Scott Thompson from Fall 1998-Spring 2000, and composition and orchestration under Dr. Nick Demos from Fall 2000-Spring 2001- composed about 20 pieces employing both electronics and acoustic instruments played by friends/fellow musicians, with performances at GSU’s New Music Festival and Spring Brass Ensemble concert in 2001. He also belonged to the University’s student chapters of the Music Industry Association and the Society of Composers. While he wouldn’t compose his first film score until 2005 (written for a series of hand-made short films by a friend of his), this valuable experience at GSU served him well in creating an aesthetic quality to his music that is capable of standing alone as concert works, but also retaining the same sense of mood and emotion he found in the best film music he listened to during this time. In 1999, Listen.com said of Brian’s music, “At times these compositions can get downright spooky, first lulling you and then raising the hairs on your neck with eerie, minimalist rhythms and synthesized reverberations.” Since 1999, Brian’s music has been available online at sites such as MP3.com, BeSonic.com, IUMA.com, and MySpace. Currently, Brian’s compositions can be found on two CDs he’s released via CDBaby.com- “Creative Beginnings” and “Dark Experiments”- and online @ www.sonic-cinema.com, Brian’s personal website that also includes many movie reviews, essays, and fan commentaries he’s done over the years. After a 2 ½ year span of not composing regularly, Brian began anew, inspired by a friend’s short film, culminating in an album of Western-inspired pieces to be released on CDBaby and various other pieces composed along the way, many of which are also available on Sonic Cinema. In May 2006, Brian became a member of the Society of Composers. In addition to his musical projects, Brian is currently working on a short film of his own, with the intention of creating a soundtrack for it that is layered and ambitious while serving the underlying purpose of film music. |
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Compositions | |||
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Ethereal Atmospheres |
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| Ethereal Atmospheres.mp3 - complete | |||
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Written in 1999, this early electroacoustic piece is a work inspired- musically and in orchestration- by the music of film composer Hans Zimmer, in particular "The Thin Red Line," a personal favorite of mine from the composer. Zimmer's score for "Beyond Rangoon" and- in the repeating piano figure- James Horner's score for the thriller "Ransom" also inspired elements within the piece. The piece is featured on Brian's CD "Creative Beginnings," released in 2000 on CDBaby. | |||
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Ballad for the Beloved Departed |
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| Ballad for the Beloved Departed.mp3 - complete | |||
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Composed in 2004, "Ballad"- a work for solo piano- is part of a concept album of mine entitled "Sonic Visions of a New Old West." The album was inspired by the Spaghetti Western scores of Ennio Morricone for films like "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly" and "Once Upon a Time in the West." Each piece of "Sonic Visions" was inspired by archetypal themes and scenes seen in Western movies, depicted with some of the same variety of instrumentation found in Morricone's work. The confrontations between good and bad guys. The peace found after a hard journey. The difficult journey across heat-saturated plains. In "Ballad" (performed in this recording by a good friend of mine who's played on many pieces of mine), the goal was to write a sort of lament for a loved one taken from their family through violent means out of their control. A brief "Reprise" of the piece was also written when it was realized- in conceiving the album- that some sort of emotional resolution might be needed. Ultimately, that was the goal of "Ballad"- to provide a musical expression of solace and catharsis for those difficult times. | |||
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In a Lonely Place |
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Written in 1999, "In a Lonely Place" was a composition where its' musical development began one place and ended in another place, yet achieved what I had aimed for in the first place better in the end than when it began. "Place" was my attempt to pay musical tribute to my favorite film of all-time, "The Crow," and its' haunting musical score by Graeme Revell, whose score for the sequel- "The Crow: City of Angels"- would also play as an influence on the work as well (in particular the track "Lament for a Lost Son"). The title is taken from the title of the Introduction (written by James Bergin) to James O'Barr's graphic novel, which was the basis for the original film. O'Barr's graphic novel was his expression of the anger and pain he felt when his fiancee was killed by a drunk driver in the early '80s; this was mirrored in the 1994 film adaptation, which saw its' own tragedy in the death of its' star Brandon Lee in an on-set accident- the final film (though as violent and fast-paced as an action film, keeping with O'Barr's original story) has moments of pure cinematic poetry that pay tribute to the cathartic spirit of O'Barr's original film, which I also tried to capture in this composition. My original hope with this piece was to not only capture the spirit of the story, but also the unique musical voice Revell achieved in his scores for the first two films. As I recorded the piece in its' original incarnation- which I saved for posterity's sake (as I did two "middle points" in the film's development)- I found I was far from it. Gradually, I rebuilt it from scratch; the end result you hear was everything I hoped it would be without consciously trying to be. I was so pleased with the end result I chose to arrange the piece for trombone quartet, which was performed at the 2001 Georgia State University Brass Ensemble concert in March of that year. The electronic version of "In a Lonely Place" is also available on Brian's CD "Dark Experiments," released in 2000 on CDBaby.com; the trombone quartet version will be available on Brian's forthcoming CD "'Five Stages'...and other pieces from the heart." | |||
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Gothic Twilight |
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| Gothic Twilight.mp3 - complete | |||
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Composed in 2005, the second of Brian’s “Macabre October” compositions is more in keeping with the classical tradition of “gothic” music than “Otherworldly March,” the first piece in the “trilogy.” The archetypal organ and harpsichord are the featured instruments as other tonalities- be they electronic, percussive, or orchestral- color the musical landscape as the piece moves towards its’ rather abrupt conclusion. Available for download at sonic-cinema.com and to be included on the forthcoming CD “Storytelling Through Sound.” | |||
©2005 by Brian Skutle
All Rights Reserved
Brian Skutle is a member of Society of Composers, Inc. SCI is dedicated to the promotion of composition, performance, understanding and dissemination of new and contemporary music.