Perhaps the best way to express how great a talent Bear McCreary is is to say that Battlestar Galactica, my favourite television show of all time, which concluded its four-year run this year, would not be Battlestar Galactica without Bear McCreary's creation of it's superb scores. His style is like no other, obviously classically trained yet at times tribal-sounding, Bear qualifies the music he composed on Battlestar Galcactica as "ethnic rock-pop-classical soundtrack music."
I could fawn over Bear's signature sound but he has many. Some once you hear them, your ears will alert you to later when hearing an entirely different soundtrack. This happened during an early episode of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, which Bear also scored."That's Bear!," I exclaimed when a hint of one of his amazing compositions seeped a tiny bit into Terminator--just long enough for me to recognize it.
Bear worked last year on scoring a miniseries, "Caprica" that is to air on the SciFi/SyFy network this fall. It has been released in DVD from and on CD it's called appropriately, "Caprica."
I've been listening to it this week and it's good. Yes absolutely, Bear pulled off his stated-upfront mission to "pay tribute to Battlestar Galactica without imitating it."
In an NPR interview with Bear, host Guy Raz said that at times Bear's work is "almost devastating."
I don't think it can be phrased better.
It can touch you that deeply. I admit to tearing up along with some of Bear's best work as well as having had my heart rate seem to pick up as Bear's soundtrack draws me in and along with him.
Bear McCreary has an uncanny sense of matching the score to a scene, though as his sold-out concerts indicate, his music stands on it's own. Many a time I've noticed a theme or two of his running through my head the day after viewing one of his shows and hearing some new pieces of his work. Now the same thing is happening after having given the Caprica soundtrack a couple of listens. It's very beautiful and it tells a story that I'm very excitedly looking forward to.
Bear's music can elevate a scene to the sublime and though he's still a young guy, he has quite a notable body of work building. Bear says in his liner-notes for the Caprica soundtrack that he hopes it will be "a seed from which the the Caprica musical universe will grow."
I'll look forward to hearing more music from Caprica after it debuts and in the meantime "Caprica," the CD will continue to be a new, amazing piece to enjoy.
To my fellow Battlestar Galactica fans, yes there are moments on Caprica where you are transported into BSG territory--usually with a very light touch, though after viewing the miniseries you'll see and hear where some of Bear's trademark sounds are very appropriate and I cannot say it enough, enhance each scene.
Bear McCreary is currently scoring the music for Galactica's series prequel, Caprica, to be aired on the SciFi (SyFy by the time it debut) Channel.
Caprica series and music updates from Bear McCreary
NPR Music on BSG's Bear McCreary and his live, sellout Shows
The Shape of Things to Come (full track)
All Along The Watchtower(BSG) (full track)
More BSG on NPR -How 'Battlestar' Brought Me Home From Iraq
For some fun facts about Bear McCreary and his new Caprica soundtrack as well as the upcoming SyFy Channel miniseries and series, Caprica, click below.
La-La Land Records released the soundtrack for Caprica on June 16, 2009. The two-hour pilot movie, released on DVD on April 21st from Universal Home Entertainment, launches the new series Caprica to air on the SCI FI Channel in early 2010.
Bear McCreary (Battlestar Galactica, Wrong Turn 2) composed the score for the Battlestar Galactica prequel, Caprica. Bear will be appearing in July at The House of Blues in San Diego during Comic Con.
Bear McCreary is one of the top young composers working in Hollywood. His work on the television series Battlestar Galactica has been described as offering “some of the most innovative music on TV today,” by Variety, and his Bear's Battlestar Galactica Blog, which features in-depth inside looks at the process of scoring Battlestar Galactica, was called "one of the best blogs in the business. It's a fascinating look at the process of making music for film and television and the care he takes with aligning the score with the twists and turns of each character's plot lines," by The Hollywood Reporter. Among a handful of select protégés of late film music legend Elmer Bernstein, McCreary is a classically trained composer with degrees in Composition and Recording Arts from the prestigious USC Thornton School of Music. His credits include Wrong Turn 2, the two Rest Stop films, the upcoming Capcom video game Dark Void, the series Eureka, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles and Battlestar Galactica.
About Caprica the series -
Set 50 years before the events that unfolded in Battlestar Galactica, Caprica chronicles an astonishing scientific breakthrough taking shape on the planet Caprica. The rapidly evolving spheres of human and mechanical engineering have collided, along with the fates of two families. Joined by tragedy in an explosive instant of terror, two rival clans led by powerful patriarchs, Joseph Adama (Esai Morales) and Daniel Graystone (Eric Stoltz) duel in an era of questionable ethics, corporate machinations and unbridled personal ambition as the final war for humanity looms.
"The Caprica score, while echoing the spirit of Galactica, is very much its own entity, like the series itself", says McCreary. "This album is the seed from which the musical universe of Caprica will evolve and grow."
Caprica not only introduces new characters and a new spirit to the Battlestar Galactica family, it also welcomes a new director, Jeffrey Reiner. He describes, “Bear sent me very complete demos against picture that worked great, but it wasn't until I sat in the scoring stage at Warner Bros., and heard the maestro conduct his orchestra, that I was blown away."
"My approach for Caprica would be the polar opposite [of Galactica],” explains McCreary. “After all, the events of this series take place in an entirely different environment. Caprica City is a familiar society at its most decadent and opulent peak. The audience knows that doomsday looms on the horizon, but the characters themselves do not."
There will be musical threads that connect the two series. For example, the track “The Adama Name” ends with an understated reprise of the Adama family theme (“Wander My Friends”) to connect the boy of Caprica to the commander of Galactica. Have no fear … the taiko percussion ensemble returns and can be heard on “Cybernetic Life Form Node.”
Caprica is currently available on DVD and will premiere on the SCI FI Channel in early 2010. The Caprica soundtrack is available in stores or from www.lalalandrecords.com/.
The two-CD Battlestar Galactica: Season 4 soundtrack will be released by La-La Land Records on July 21. For information about Bear McCreary’s Battlestar Galactica concert appearances July 23-25 in San Diego during Comic Con, visit www.bearmccreary.com.
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