MARK GRISKEY SCORES THE PRINCE CASPIAN GAME


Composer Mark Griskey has been a busy man lately, having composed scores for the game versions of Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk and Disney/Walden's The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian. You can get a taste of the music he composed for the latter when you visit the game's official website at http://www.disney.co.uk/disneyinteractivestudios/princecaspian/, where you can find more information on the game, the characters and world of Narnia, as well as watch trailers.
Mark of course scored the Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe game and, as a long time fan of the writings of C.S.Lewis, is naturally delighted to be part of the team working on these games. For Prince Caspian, he called upon the services of the Slovak National Symphony Orchestra and the 100-minute score was recorded in December 2007 at the Slovak Radio Concert Hall in Bratislava. You can read a lavishly illustrated report on the sessions at http://www.music4games.net/Features_Display.aspx?id=255.
The Prince Caspian game, like the film, is a darker affair than The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe and, naturally, Mark's score reflects this, whilst still retaining much of the nobility of the original. Although, unfortunately, there doesn't appear to be any plans for a soundtrack release, Mark was kind enough to allow me to sample the music and, as with his LTWATW music, I was much impressed.
The Eastern European orchestras have had their share of critics in the past, but it's fair to say that everyone learns by experience and any deficiencies in standards that may have existed have long been left behind. Certainly, the orchestra and choir's performance on this soundtrack is as good as anything you will hear from any top orchestra in the world.
As for the music itself, the core of it is naturally of the action variety, propelling the player through the various levels of the game, and the composer generates much power and excitement with his writing for the likes of "The Battle of Beruna" "Assault on the Castle" and "Defend CairParavel" but, as previously mentioned, there are also moments of great nobility, no doubt representing the great lion Aslan, as well as Prince Caspian himself, often featuring the majestic sound of horns; with the highs and lows of the story also receiving suitable emotional comment. In short, it's a fine score, so play the game and check it out.
The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian video game is available now on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, the Wii system, PlayStation 2, Nintendo DS and PC.
Shortly, I hope to be able to bring you coverage of Mark Griskey's other recent scores for the Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk games, with the upcoming Star Wars: The Force Unleashed to follow at the end of the summer. In the meantime, visit the composer's website at www.griskey.com, where you can find out more about the composer and his work, listen to samples from past scores, as well as view trailers.
My thanks to Eric Wein of Disney Interactive Studios, and of course to Mark Griskey, for making this item possible.