Dynasty music

Philipe

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"Hopefully some time into the future this may change"
Yes, my Dearest Friend Toni. We need these wonderful scores released on CD... and soon!
We need to be able to enjoy this wonderful Dynasty music at home!
Thank you so much my Dearest Friend for the work you did. It is full of Art, my Dearest Artist Toni!
Please, give us more! Plenty!
And I would be delighted if you could do the Lance Rubin one...
My Dearest Friend, could you tell us all your dearest friends who your 3 favourite Dynasty composers were?
Your Gerald Fried work is spectacular. It is a pity he only scored 3 episodes...
 

Toni

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"Hopefully some time into the future this may change"
Yes, my Dearest Friend Toni. We need these wonderful scores released on CD... and soon!
We need to be able to enjoy this wonderful Dynasty music at home!
Thank you so much my Dearest Friend for the work you did. It is full of Art, my Dearest Artist Toni!
Please, give us more! Plenty!
And I would be delighted if you could do the Lance Rubin one...
My Dearest Friend, could you tell us all your dearest friends who your 3 favourite Dynasty composers were?
Your Gerald Fried work is spectacular. It is a pity he only scored 3 episodes...

Thanks a lot Philipe, though as I said above, I just dowloaded some files from a disappeared mini-site eons ago and kept them. I could only up the volume a bit, I wish I was able to clean them but I'm not. I did record the Dynasty Pilot whole score but YouTube took it off, but it´s available to listen in the "other" site (link at the top of this thread).

Bill Conti´s music was a masterpiece, as was what he wrote for "Falcon Crest" and "North & South". Among the 100 most amazing works for any medium I´d say. Lance Rubin´s sample was "Amanda", which uses all the cues that we "Dallas" fans know by heart after watching "Swan Song" (aka the episode when Bobby "died") which was even previously used for the "Knots Landing" episode with Lilimae running over Chip ("A Kind of Justice", maybe?).

Both (or all 3!) scores are so similar that I thought it would be a disservice to Mr. Rubin to include that score in particular, but I´ll look for a more original one by him. Funnily enough also Richard L. Warren "composed" music for both "Dallas" and "Dynasty" (and many others too), but I think that his work for the latter was more original (though recognizable by diehard fans...the theme I posted here reminds me of an early Season 8 episode of "Dallas" too...).

I don´t think that any of these otherwise inspired composers ever got closer to Conti´s work. What I loved the most in "Dynasty"´s scores was the fact they had a lot of themes for the characters, especially Fallon´s and Claudia´s, and that the main theme was so grand, so "Brideshead", if you know what I mean. The character themes were used multiple times and gave cohesion to some scores that were, ahem, too campy even for the soap opera standards.

Probably my favorite episode score was "Viva Las Vegas", which I recorded on an audio tape and listened to it for years. It was the last episode the Spanish TV aired for 3 years, and I do love it! The characters´ themes are in it and the music is very atmospheric (the raining scenes, the night ones...). Peter Myers wrote it, so I´d choose him as my favorite composer. Though I´m not a megafan of "Dynasty" and the first 3 or 4 seasons are the only ones I watched several times. The worst scores of all, from Season 7 onwards, but because they were hardly audible.

Season 8 had "rumors of score" instead, and the music for the two last scenes (Sean´s fight with Dex, and Blake´s concern over Krystle) are simply cringeworthy, though the themes themselves might have worked, but they sounded like crazy cats...if you know what I mean. It´s like listening to a radio set the characters have in the room.

About Gerald Fried and Angela Morley, I think they were a different kind of musicians, maybe not as TV-oriented as the others (though I know they did work for several shows). Fried´s theme for "Flamingo Road" was very original and set the atmosphere of the series since minute 1. Too bad they forgot the concept of giving the show a jazz-oriented vibe because it would have done good to the series (which needed all the help they could get, honestly).

Morley´s work was more classic and romantic, maybe even too much, and there is that infamous "red couch scene" theme she used for that Season 7 episode when Bobby and Pam are attracted to each other again. I was a bit disappointed when I heard it on "Dynasty" and "Falcon Crest" too, and also for Bobby and Jenna again on "Dallas"!! which almost made faint...lol.

I´ll try to expand the list of samples but I´ll need some time because I´ll record the themes myself. I´ll keep you updated and thanks for your interest (I hope you are safe and strong, Philipe, I´m writing from Barcelona).
 
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Toni

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I just remembered that I found this interview with Mr. Warren by a Justin Boggan. This is all he says of his "Dynasty" work:

Another long-running TV series was "Dynasty", which you ended up only doing one episode of; why didn't you end up scoring more episodes?


I actually think I did 3 in total but I only worked on that when the regular composer couldn't as a favor to help him out...often we would jump in for each other on shows, especially when the producers already knew us so they wouldn't have to worry that we would be getting something completely different. We'd tailor it to the style of the main composer for the series so there would be continuity for the shows' producers...I did that on a number of shows...

http://rejectedfilmscores.125mb.com/richardlewiswarreninterview.html
 

Michael Torrance

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I don´t think that any of these otherwise inspired composers ever got closer to Conti´s work. What I loved the most in "Dynasty"´s scores was the fact they had a lot of themes for the characters, especially Fallon´s and Claudia´s, and that the main theme was so grand, so "Brideshead", if you know what I mean. The character themes were used multiple times and gave cohesion to some scores that were, ahem, too campy even for the soap opera standards.

Probably my favorite episode score was "Viva Las Vegas", which I recorded on an audio tape and listened to it for years. It was the last episode the Spanish TV aired for 3 years, and I do love it! The characters´ themes are in it and the music is very atmospheric (the raining scenes, the night ones...). Peter Myers wrote it, so I´d choose him as my favorite composer. Though I´m not a megafan of "Dynasty" and the first 3 or 4 seasons are the only ones I watched several times. The worst scores of all, from Season 7 onwards, but because they were hardly audible.

I think DYNASTY, even in season 1, had a self-aware sense of grandeur to which music contributed greatly. The show was lucky to have a genius like Conti, but also someone (Shapiro? someone else?) must have given the order for the character leitmotifs and scene tonal accompaniments to be written. Of course, all of this amazing synergy of the early seasons did not keep on.
 

Michael Torrance

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I know the quality of the sound is low, but I hope somebody finds them useful.

Even with the low quality, I love listening to them as background music when reading. They do remind me of the wondrous and immersive experience my first time watching DYNASTY (at least the first few seasons) as a teen was. Thank you very much for compiling and posting these!
 

Snarky Oracle!

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DYNASTY's scores mostly missed the rarefied, high society tone the show needed, the rambling woodwindy scores they were told to write, and the old static acting directive, just enhancing the series' lack of focus -- its not quite knowing what it wants to be.

The musical scores need more oboe, more cello, more harp, more spinet.
 
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Luke_Krebbs_Ewing

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Well if anyone is interested there is a soundtrack CD available for Return To Eden, as I've several copies I got off eBay. :)
 

Snarky Oracle!

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DYNASTY's scores mostly missed the rarefied, high society tone the show needed, the rambling woodwindy scores they were told to write, and the old static acting directive, just enhancing the series' lack of focus -- its not quite knowing what it wants to be.

The musical scores need more oboe, more cello, more harp, more spinet.

More bassoon -- and less flute...like this!

 

Laurie Marr

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Kudos to Dynasty for featuring Bach as the musical backdrop to Blake and Krystle’s S9 wedding. As for the rest of the music on the show? I found it by turns bombastic and kitsch and largely forgettable.
 

Artur

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The one thing, the original Dynasty didn't do (but definitely should) was NOT using current music. Aside from fake samples of "Thriller”, "Girls just wanna have fun" and „Danger zone" there is hardly anything that could be associated with the 80's. That's why I liked when the new Dynasty started referring to the decade by using hits from the period when the original show was broadcasted.
 
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