Playlist Impressions de France [Score]


mmmfan

Member
Re: Help me identify Impressions de France

I hope they never stop showing this film,but they probably will.(look at Canada and China)I still think this is the only thing that hasn't been changed since Epcot opened.Buddy Baker did a great job on this.Tycho-I don't think you'll find anything like this on any other recordings because he actually rearranged the music so it's unlike the original composition.This is one of Epcot's best.
 

David S.

Member
Re: Help me identify Impressions de France
Am I the only one who tears up during Impressions de France? Depending on how long it has been since I last visited the attraction, there is at least a 40% chance that I will tear up at some point. I've had visiting family and friends give me an odd look when they notice me moving to wipe a streaming tear from my face. It is the beautiful music that does it to me, and Claire de Lune is one of the trigger spots. :oops:

Oh, ABSOLUTELY!

That's about the percentage for me, too. I guess it depends on mood and how much I can "lose myself" in the film, which is more likely to happen in a relatively private screening - or at least one in which Joe and Jane Sixpack aren't blabbering away on their cellphones or talking amongst themselves drowning out the soundtrack - or another WDW tradition - a baby bawling at a deafining volume and the parents REFUSING to walk them out of the show so as not to ruin the experience for everyone else! But I digress...

Yes, the Claire De Lune/Alps sequence has indeed at times moved me that much. If not always tears, usually always at least goosebumps. Something about the music itself, the specific Baker arrangement, and the visual of the snow-covered mountains peaking up above the clouds, transcending the earth itself - is unforgettable.

I'll tell you another scene that always gets me, and this is all scored with Baker original music or possibly traditional French folk music...

After the wedding scene we see the reception and a gathering of people happily celebrating together at the reception, scored to the aforementioned folk music.

This cuts to a shot of an elderly couple walking along the cliffs, theoretically in the twilight of their lives. The sky is grey and the wind is blowing. They are walking a little dog who seems distracted and has much more energy than they have, but otherwise they are alone...

This scene is skillfully linked to the reception scene which preceeded it because the same music which scored the reception scene is now hauntingly echoed in the background, at a much lower volume, before transitioning to the original score for this scene.

This seems to be painting a picture of how time can pass by so quickly, and the fleetingness of life, in a very poignant way...

Impressions de France is nothing short of a sublime, poetic masterpiece that deserves to stay in its current form forever. It was always my favorite of the WS Epcot films, even before the others got changed. I make it a point to clap very passionately at the end, *before* the CM even solicits our applause. ;)
 

Magic Music

Administrator
Playlist Author
Re: Help me identify Impressions de France
I'll tell you another scene that always gets me ... a shot of an elderly couple walking along the cliffs, theoretically in the twilight of their lives.
Same here.
Impressions de France is nothing short of a sublime, poetic masterpiece that deserves to stay in its current form forever.
Yup.

If Disney had any sense, they'd be selling Impressions de France on DVD in the gift shop that they force you to walk through on the way out. They can pan and scan to fit the 200° presentation into the confines of a slightly letterboxed 16 x 9 screen, I don't care, as the music is more important than losing a bit of the picture.
 

almandot

Member
Re: Help me identify Impressions de France

me too and it always seems to happen right as the doors open for me to enter the theater so i'm forced to hurry to the doors on the other side and get out of there before something embarrassing happens but then it miraculously goes away
 

Magic Music

Administrator
Playlist Author
Re: Help me identify Impressions de France
I love the Norway film o_O

I would love it a whole lot more if they'd stop wasting time with that darned boat and show me some of those beautiful Norwegian women.

I used to have a Norwegian family as neighbors about 12-13 years ago. They had a son, Tormod, who looked EXACTLY like the front-and-center young boy in Norway's loading area mural. And they had two teenage daughters who were so beautiful it nearly hurt to look at them.

Off to find my autographed picture of Marta Kristen...
 

Tycho55

New Member
Re: Help me identify Impressions de France

Thanks to everyone for their comments! Silly me didn't know that Baker conducted the LSO for Impressions. Rather, I though it was simply a compilation of different pieces that had been mixed together.

I guess that little 20 second snippet will always be my favorite... :)
 

thx99

Real-life Harry Caul
Moderator
Playlist Author
Re: Help me identify Impressions de France

I've taken the Wiki listing and added a timing breakdown for the selections featured in the the OA track:

Scene 1
"Syrinx" *(0:00-0:33)
by Claude Debussy
Solo for Flute by Eddie Beckett of the London Symphony Orchestra

Scenes 2 - 4
"Aquarium" from Carnival of the Animals *(0:33-1:52)
by Camille Saint-Saens

Scenes 5 - 6
"Rondeau (Allegro agitato)" from Concerto in C for Harp and Orchestra *(1:52-2:52)
by Francois-Adrien Boieldieu

Scenes 18 - 20
"Ouverture" from Gaite Parisienne *(2:52-3:38)
by Jacques Offenbach
original 6 second introduction by Buddy Baker

Scenes 23 & 24
"Claire de Lune" from Suite bergamasque (Orchestral Arrangement) *(3:38-4:51)
by Claude Debussy

Scene 25
"Trois Gymnopedies #1" *(4:51-5:25)
by Erik Satie
orchestrated by Debussy

Scenes 38 & 39
"Finale" from Carnival of the Animals *(5:25-6:25)
by Camille Saint-Saens

Scenes 40 & 41
original music *(6:25-7:07)
by Buddy Baker

Scene 42
"Allegro moderato" from Gaite Parisienne *(7:07-7:22)
by Jacques Offenbach

Scene 43
"Fanfare" from La Peri *(7:22-7:59)
by Paul A. Dukas

Scene 44 - 49
"Maestoso-Allegro-Piu allegro-Molto allegro" from the 2nd movement of Symphony #3 in C minor *(7:59-9:53)
by Camille Saint-Saens
 

Tycho55

New Member
Re: Help me identify Impressions de France

Yay for THX! (Both the person and the sound system, the latter which unfortunately hardly anyone uses anymore...)
 

mmmfan

Member
Re: Help me identify Impressions de France

Also I love Baker's music for the palace at Versailles.Wish it was on the OA.

David- I always wonder what happened to the wedding couple.If they're still together,they just had their silver wedding anniversary. :)

THX-Thanks for that timing breakdown.On another topic-was looking for your Soarin area loop for which you posted a download link.Can't find it.Did you remove the link? ???
 

thx99

Real-life Harry Caul
Moderator
Playlist Author
Re: Help me identify Impressions de France
Yay for THX! (Both the person and the sound system, the latter which unfortunately hardly anyone uses anymore...)

;)

Regrettably, the last "THX certified" theater I was in here in VA was an incredible disappointment. Blown speakers, poor visual quality... you name it. Interestingly enough, the usual THX promo didn't play before the film started, so I'm guessing that the certification had lapsed, though no one felt the need to remove the "THX certified" lighted sign out front.

Being the geek that I am, I attempted to notify THX of this situation, in false hopes that they would come down hard on the theater, but I was met with outdated, pre-recorded nonsense on their end, so I gave up.

Oh well...
 

thx99

Real-life Harry Caul
Moderator
Playlist Author
Re: Help me identify Impressions de France
Also I love Baker's music for the palace at Versailles.Wish it was on the OA.

Yes, Baker's original contributions are outstanding and sadly missing from the OA, save for the boat ride down the Seine/Notre Dame at night scene, which somehow snuck through. ;) Beyond the excellent examples already mentioned, let me add the vineyard/"cognac cave" music that leads into Versailles! And next time you see the film, note the two glasses in the cellar but only one person. A private tryst, perhaps, or one for the audience...
THX-Thanks for that timing breakdown.

My pleasure!
 

BLM07

Member
Re: Help me identify Impressions de France

You guys know that the complete score in lossless format was included in Walt Disney World Forever on MB right?
I love the Norway film o_O

I do too, it's short and yet powerful. Nobody takes it seriously though, people are either bored or laughing. I guess that can be said about any of the films that aren't full horrible Celine Deon jokes. :LOL:

If only Japan had a film....
 

Tycho55

New Member
Re: Help me identify Impressions de France
Regrettably, the last "THX certified" theater I was in here in VA was an incredible disappointment. Blown speakers, poor visual quality... you name it. Interestingly enough, the usual THX promo didn't play before the film started, so I'm guessing that the certification had lapsed, though no one felt the need to remove the "THX certified" lighted sign out front.

Ah yes, so true...I asked a manger once why the theater was no longer being listed as THX certified, and he said the licensing fees they paid to LucasFilm were exorbitant. Something like $10k per screen per year!! Nuts...

I so dearly miss those awesome THX trailers. Good thing I managed to find a DVD with all of them available... :)
 

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