New York, NY (Top40 Charts/ Cinemedia Promotions) Moviescore Media (www.moviescoremedia.com) sets sail with the soundtrack of the first episode of the TV documentary Tall Ships: The Privateer Lynx, composed by
David James Nielsen (The
Little Documentary That Couldn't, Reclaiming the Blade). Tall Ships: The Privateer Lynx is one episode of the 13-episode series about America's greatest sailing ships airing on The Sailing Channel.
David James Nielsen earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in music from the University of Calgary. From 1997-2003, Nielsen served as Composer in Residence at Calgary's Pleiades Theatre/Vertigo Mystery Theatre, where he scored numerous theatrical plays. In 2003, Nielsen earned a certificate in Scoring for Motion Pictures and Television from USC where he was honored with the Harry Warren Scholarship Award.
Nielsen has scored or provided music for such films as Reclaiming the Blade, Dated, A Timeless Journey, Tales From Beyond, Haunting Villisca, Overlap, The Big Table, Man vs. Woman and The Little Documentary That Couldn't, as well as for the syndicated television series Animal Exploration with Jarod Miller. As an additional music composer, orchestrator and/or programmer, Nielsen has worked on the popular TV series Star Trek: Enterprise, the National Geographic/PBS special Eden at the End of the World and the television movies The Tenth Circle, Flight 93 and Faith of My Fathers. In 2010, he received a McKnight Visiting Composer Residency in association with the American Composers Forum.
Tall Ships is a unique adventure/history series that takes television and video audiences into the exciting seafaring world of days gone-by, while connecting with today's youth and their growing consciousness about the environment and the perils facing our planet.
"Robert [Margouleff, director] wanted a score that was 'memorable, noble, and majestic,' evoking the feeling of being on the sea with the wind and the waves," described Nielsen. "Overall, the specific requirements of the score were to evoke the romanticism associated with sailing, as well as to provide a sense of the wonder, beauty, and mystery of nature."
The first episode of the Tall Ships series, The Voyages of the Privateer Lynx, features the powerful 122-foot Lynx - an authentic interpretation of an 1812 privateer originally built by a young America that was facing War with England.
The captain and crew of the Lynx take us on an unforgettable adventure on the Pacific, witnessing natural wonders, battling treacherous weather and living the unique lives of sailors. During their journey, the Lynx stops to fulfill one of her proudest missions, when the crew brings aboard a class of inner city school children and gives them the ultimate field trip.
"One of the most enjoyable scenes to score," said Nielsen, "was where the crew encounters heavy weather and large waves. This is The Forces of Nature, where I used heavy drums and Asian percussion to give my heroic theme for the crew a sense of action, suspense, and excitement."
Other themes created included Our Precious Mother Earth, which is used for the more contemplative crew interviews, Learning the Ropes, "in which young people aboard the ship learn about the sailing life," he explained, and The Earth is a Ship, which combines many of the themes Nielsen wrote into one long track.
Though he was not a sailing enthusiast himself prior to composing for the series, Nielsen said that the show's creator, Robert Margouleff, is. "Robert has been sailing most of his life; he is extremely passionate about it and very knowledgeable about boats. One of the joys of working on this project is that is has opened my eyes to a whole new world I otherwise would probably have never known."
Mi Casa Multimedia presents Tall Ships: The Privateer Lynx, the first episode of the 13-episode Tall Ships series, airing on The Sailing Channel (www.sailingchannel.com), and available on DVD and Blu-Ray in 3D. Tall Ships: The Privateer Lynx - Original Soundtrack from Moviescore Media will be available digitally on March 29th and in stores on April 5, 2011.
