Even More Great Film Scoring: The Genius of Joe Hisaishi

I suppose I've been on this movie music kick for a few weeks now, but I couldn't stop without making mention of Joe Hisaishi.

One of the soundtracks that most moved me as a child, one whose melodies have stuck with me, and one that adds so much nostalgia to the film itself is Hisaishi's score for Hayao Miyazaki's Spirited Away.

Hisaishi is a Japanase composer, and his style is naturally different than the American sound of John Williams and the like. Hisaishi's score for Spirited Away is much more introspective - and honestly, much more delicately gorgeous - than a lot of American film scores. In fact, the movie opens with the isolated notes of a sole piano, and while the music rises and develops throughout the film, the returning use of piano remains a consistent motif. 

The use of delicate piano in this way seems to tell the tale of the film through the eyes of the protagonist, a young girl named Chihiro. The melodies mirror her experiences: when she feels alone, the piano, too, is solitary. When she's frightened, the piano plays in a low register and exudes the same anxiety. The piano almost seems to have a voice of innocence, wordlessly relating the inner thoughts and feelings of a young girl far from home.

The score is genius in many other ways. Hisaishi's themes paint Spirited Away with lush brushstrokes of sound, adding so much depth and emotion to what is an already beautiful work of art. 

His score is truly a triumph.