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Opening Ceremony Music


mattygs

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Surprised we havent had much talk about the music of the opening ceremony so far, by and large, I thought it was good.

Unfortunately Athens didnt put out a cd soundtrack to their ceremonies, and I guess it doesnt look like Beijing will either. It's a shame, as it means the music will be pretty much unobtainable to the public unless they are released later on individually.

Have managed to find a few titles of some of the pieces...

- *Words* by Guo Wenjing

- *Edge of Horizon, Corner of Seas* (Silk Road segment) by Wu Jun

- *Ritual* by Chen Qigang

- *Starry Nights* by Ye Xiaogang (LanLan piece)

Any views on the music used, or personal favourites.

Gotta say, I really enjoyed the soundtrack to the *Music* segment.

Granted, it started off with the *challenging* traditional soundtrack, but i loved how it evolved into a more sweeping orchestral soundscape - as the ladies came out and the pillars were rising into the sky.

Was a really beautiful piece of music I think.

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Particularly liked the opening drums/chant.

The music for the first hour and a half was good. Wasn't as screeching as I expected. Everything after that was just plain rubbish. I'm still recovering from that horrible athletes parade medley and that crappy pre-cauldron lighting dance with the fluttering hands action.

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I agree with you, Wingspread, on that "fluttering hands/dove" segment and its musical accompaniment. It was cheesy beyond description. I didn't understand anyway why they had to have another dove display after that giant dove during the artistic portion of the opening ceremony. Why do the ceremonial elements always have to appear after the artistic portion and the parade of athletes?

But apart from that, I actually liked everything about the ceremonial music. I even liked the music for the parade of athletes. OK, it was a little bit strange that they didn't play only Chinese music throughout China's entrance (that was done much better with Spain's respectively Greece's entrance in Barcelona and Athens, when both teams had their own special piece of music). But I found the whole concept pretty convincing, even though probably nothing will beat the ingenuity of Kurt Edelhagen's orchestration for Munich's parade of nations.

What I liked most were the theme song (one of the best in Olympic history IMO) and the piece they when the Olympic Rings were lifted.

When were the pieces you listed actually played, Mattygs? I can't relate them.

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Any views on the music used, or personal favourites.

Gotta say, I really enjoyed the soundtrack to the *Music* segment.

Granted, it started off with the *challenging* traditional soundtrack, but i loved how it evolved into a more sweeping orchestral soundscape - as the ladies came out and the pillars were rising into the sky.

Was a really beautiful piece of music I think.

I saw the OC today again and that musical segment is the most beautiful and enthralling. I specifically hold fondly the moment when that music is playing and the camera focus for a long time the face of an "ancient lady" (quite beautiful!) walking steadily towards it :wub:

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