Music comparison between two works

[wontaek]

This thread is dedicated to comparing the music in two or more works, at least one of which must be an anime. You can ponder on how similar they are, or how different they may be. Various connections should be made, and people should feel free to point out any error in the facts.

[wontaek]

I will start one with comparison of music in the first Legend of Galactic Heroes Movie, My Conquest is the Sea of Stars, against movie '2001: A Space Odyssey'. I will probably get several facts wrong as I'm writing this while taking a break from my thesis defense preparation, thus won't be bothering to check finer details.

1. Opening: Titan <> Superman ??!!

2001 has made the opening from Richard Strauss's Also sprach Zarathustra (or "Thus Spoke Zarathustra" in English) famous. LoGH uses Mahler's 5th symphony 1st movement ( I'm pretty sure it is Mahler, but someone needs to check this out for me ). Mahler's 1st symphony is called 'Titan'. 'Also sprach Zarathustra' was inspired by Nietzche's writing, and Nietzche is known for concepts Übermensch (variously translated as superman, superhuman, or overman) and the eternal return (or eternal recurrence).

2. Music in the beginning: inextinguishable <> eternal light ( both pertaining to something that lasts forever )

The music that accompanies LoGH battle in the Gas giant was Nielsen's Symphonies is Symphony No. 4, "Inextinguishable". This is a surprise choice as I doubt this has ever been performed in Asia. I have never heard this in Korean classical music radio channel and Nielsen is a composer who does not appear in music text books in Korea nor Japan. I only have heard this again in recent NPR broadcast of 'Giants of symphonic composers'.
2001's choice was modern classical composer György Ligeti's work, Requiem (the Kyrie), Atmospheres, Lux Aeterna and (in an altered form) Aventures (though without his permission). Lux Aeterna is most memorable of them as it is used in the scene where people were covering their ears in front of the monolith on the moon. Ligeti is a composer you would know only if you are really hard core choral music buff like me, as he is not someone you hear about even in music schools.
It is interesting both works uses works by rarely heard composers and with theme of something lasting forever.

3. The docking scene: Waltz == Waltz

Both work uses waltz for the docking scene, depicting it as a graceful dance by beautiful white ship. LoGH uses a waltz from Tchaikovsky's Ballet suite, while 2001 uses Johann Strauss II's best known waltz, An der schönen blauen Donau (in English, On The Beautiful Blue Danube). This is too much a coincidence to be overlooked, thus I believe we can safely claim that LoGH's music team did imitate 2001 in many musical ideas.

4. Salon music

Quiet music is used in any movies so any connections are meaningless. LoGH: Chopin's piano work ( needs to be checked )
2001: Aram Khachaturian (Gayane's Adagio from the Gayaneh ballet suite)

5. Finale

Here the similarities end, as 2001 is more silent as it approaches the end, while LoGH uses Ravel's Bolero to its full effectiveness. LoGH ends it with quiet piece as well, and I seriously believe they have adjusted the anime scenes and dialogues to fit the music better.

Please feel free to comment or correct me.

[wontaek]

When time comes, I will try to compare the music between AIR, Sola, Kanon, and/or Clannad. I don't think I need to mention obvious connections between them, but since I will be looking at them with more a classical music theory and history view, I am going to need much help from anyone who can supply J-Pop view and traditional Japanese music view.