“The composer Austin Wintory’s office in Burbank, Calif., contains a desk, a chair and a life-size model of R2-D2,” writes Laura Parker in Sunday’s (12/5) New York Times. “A year ago, Mr. Wintory’s soundtrack for ‘Journey’ became the first video game score to be nominated for a Grammy Award, alongside film work by John Williams, Howard Shore and Hans Zimmer.… The recognition was evidence of growing mainstream appreciation for video game music and its composers. In its 30-year evolution, game music has progressed from background bleeps and bloops to sweeping orchestral scores with cinematic aspirations.… Mr. Wintory considers his next project … for the role-playing video game ‘The Banner Saga’ … a step in this direction. The score incorporates dynamic cues that react to the player’s actions during a battle scene. If a player starts to win or lose a fight, the music will subtly shift between tense and triumphant.… ‘At its best,’ Mr. Wintory said, ‘game music turns the player into a co-storyteller.’ … In addition to writing music, Mr. Wintory travels frequently for speaking and conducting engagements—at one point, he conducted the ‘Journey’ score with the Colorado Symphony before flying to Australia to conduct a video game music concert with the Queensland Symphony Orchestra.” Symphony magazine reported on video-game music and Wintory’s score for “Journey” in its issue of Fall 2012.
Posted January 7, 2014
