Arachnophonia: Frozen II

Editor’s note: Arachnophonia (“Arachno” = spider / “-phonia” = sound) is a regular feature on our blog where members of the UR community can share their thoughts about resources from the Parsons Music Library‘s collection.

All links included in these posts will take you to either the library catalog record for the item in question or to additional relevant information from around the web.

Today’s installment of Arachnophonia is by student manager Eliana (class of 2024) and features insert title info here. Thanks, Eliana!

Frozen II

Frozen II piano/vocal selections book cover

Is Frozen II (2019) your favorite movie? It should be! While this film has my heart for many reasons, the score is truly what sets it apart from many films of similar caliber.

The piano/vocal selections score, available at Parson’s Music Library, contains all songs from the film. The songs are written by Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez. Fun fact, Kristen Anderson-Lopez grew up in my hometown!

The score includes hits such as “Into the Unknown” and “Show Yourself.” In December of 2019, the soundtrack album reached number one on the US Billboard charts, making it the first soundtrack of an animated film to hit the position since Frozen (2013).

The soundtrack of Frozen II has many of the same elements that the first film had, but with even more depth and nuance. The score’s composer, Christophe Beck, said in an interview that the score matured alongside Anna and Elsa, with new sophisticated musical concepts and themes.

To supplement your listening/playing, I highly recommend watching Into the Unknown: The Making of Frozen II available on Disney+. It’s a 6-part docuseries that dives deep into not only the film’s score, but the cast, animation, and development process. I should warn you, though, it’s a tearjerker!

Arachnophonia: Back to the Future

Editor’s note: Arachnophonia (“Arachno” = spider / “-phonia” = sound) is a regular feature on our blog where members of the UR community can share their thoughts about resources from the Parsons Music Library‘s collection.

All links included in these posts will take you to either the library catalog record for the item in question or to additional relevant information from around the web.

Today’s installment of Arachnophonia is by student manager Marissa (class of 2025) and features the orchestral score for Back to the Future. Thanks, Marissa!

Back to the Future – Alan Silvestri

Back to the Future score

One of the most popular movie trilogies of the 1980s, Back to the Future follows Marty McFly, a boy who travels through time in a time machine made out of a DeLorean by local scientist, Doctor Emmett Brown (better known as “Doc”). In the first film, Marty accidentally goes back in time to 1955, and prevents his parents from falling in love. He finds a younger Doc, and they make a plan to get Marty’s parents back together, and then send him back to the future. Throughout the film, you hear a vibrant soundtrack that adds suspense to the story. The composer for this orchestral score, Alan Silvestri, met Back to the Future’s film director, Robert Zemeckis, when he composed the soundtrack for Romancing the Stone (a 1984 Zemeckis film). After the Back to the Future trilogy, Silvestri went on to work with Zemeckis for many, many more years.

If you’re interested in checking out this orchestral score or the scores to your other favorite movies, you can check out this item by Alan Silvestri and many more at the Parsons Music Library today.