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About the Program
Host Emily Reese takes an in-depth listen to video game music and talks with the people who make it. Read more about Emily and the story behind Top Score.
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Top Score Questions/Comments
About Emily Reese (hi-res photo)
Top Score Event with Jesper Kyd
Top Score welcomed composer Jesper Kyd to talk about his latest game release at the UBS Forum at Minnesota Public Radio. Stay tuned for the full episode recorded live at the event. Until then, review the live twitter coverage, or MPR News' Euan Kerr's recap.
Best Video Game Soundtracks of 2011
Here are my personal nominations for game soundtrack of the year, and my reasons behind doing so.
Recent Episodes
Jesper Kyd on Top Score
Composer Jesper Kyd visited MPR headquarters in November for Top Score's first live event. Check out the audio and video from the night!
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8- and 16-Bit Music on Top Score
Host of The Legacy Music Hour podcast, Brent Weinbach, joins Top Score to talk about his passion for the 8- and 16-bit era of video game music.
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Top Score: Inon Zur
Inon Zur returns to Top Score from Classical MPR to talk about his new score to Lord of the Rings: War in the North.
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Top Score: Jesper Kyd
Composer Jesper Kyd has written music for all four games in the Assassin's Creed series. Hear him talk about the experience in the new episode of Top Score from Classical MPR.
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Top Score: Greg Edmonson
Greg Edmonson talks about his music for the Uncharted trilogy on Top Score from Classical Minnesota Public Radio.
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Top Score: Brian Tyler
Brian Tyler talks about his score for one of the most anticipated games of the year: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 on the new episode of Top Score from Classical Minnesota Public Radio.
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Top Score: Bear McCreary
Composer Bear McCreary is our guest on Top Score this week from Classical MPR. I first became interested in his music through my adoration of the relaunched "Battlestar Galactica" series on SyFy. Lucky for me, Bear also scored two video games. Capcom's "Dark Void" from 2010, and Sony's "SOCOM 4: U.S. Navy SEALs."
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Top Score: Tom Salta
Composer Tom Salta applied a multifaceted musical background to create an immersive and highly interactive soundtrack for Eric Chahi's new game, "From Dust."
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Top Score: Boris Salchow
The latest installment of Top Score features an interview with Boris Salchow, who composed the score for the recently released sci-fi shooter "Resistance 3."
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Top Score: Martin O'Donnell (Part 2)
Veteran video game composer Martin O'Donnell talks about writing scores for ten years of Halo on the first episode of season 2 from Top Score on Classical Minnesota Public Radio.
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Top Score: Martin O'Donnell
Veteran video game composer Martin O'Donnell talks about writing scores for ten years of Halo on the first episode of season 2 from Top Score on Classical Minnesota Public Radio.
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Top Score: Season 2 Challenge
The second season of Top Score is going to be great, and it's too great to just tell you who will be on the show.
Instead, Top Score, in true game fashion, has a challenge for you!
Listen to the audio, and see if you can determine who the composers are of the seven musical examples.
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Top Score: Laura Karpman
What does 20th-century American composer Milton Babbitt (1916-2011) have to do with video game music? A lot, as it turns out.
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Top Score: Normand Corbeil / "Heavy Rain"
The game "Heavy Rain" was released in 2010 by Quantic Dream. Composer Normand Corbeil wrote the music and is the guest on Top Score from Classical Minnesota Public Radio.
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Top Score: Bill Elm / "Red Dead Redemption"
Rockstar Games turned to Bill Elm and Woody Jackson to create the music for "Red Dead Redemption." On this episode of Top Score from Classical MPR, Elm discusses he and Jackson's background in the alt-country scene, his admiration for Italian film composer Ennio Morricone and more.
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Top Score: Sean Murray / "Call of Duty: Black Ops"
Composer Sean Murray talks about his music for Call of Duty: Black Ops in the fifth episode of Top Score from Classical Minnesota Public Radio. His music successfully captures an environment fueled by war, undercover Cold War CIA operations and the emotional trauma and tension that must accompany such a life.
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Top Score: Garry Schyman
Composer Garry Schyman talks to Top Score about his music for BioShock, BioShock 2 and Dante's Inferno.
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Top Score: Jason Graves / Dead Space
Episode Three of Top Score features composer Jason Graves, who created a gorgeous but terrifying score for Dead Space and Dead Space 2.
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Top Score: Stacking
Episode Two of Top Score is all about Stacking, a delightful game with a classical soundtrack. Join Emily Reese for a conversation with Game Designer Lee Petty, Audio Director Brian Min and Composer Peter McConnell.
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Top Score: Dragon Age II Composer Inon Zur
Award-winning composer Inon Zur writes music for video games like Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age II, and the two most recent games in the Fallout series. He talks about his journey and his job on Top Score from Classical Minnesota Public Radio.
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Top Score blog on Tumblr
Host Emily Reese blogs about what's going on in the video game world at topscorepodcast.tumblr.com. Here are the most recent entries:
This boss. This frickin’ boss. It took me a while to find the right spot to throw the final cakes. It’s cool now, though; he’s dead.
More posts at topscorepodcast.tumblr.com»
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