JULIUS DOBOS

First off, Transitions is definitely not a rock album, so it might easily not be the first choice of my fellow members here at progarchives.com. However as a progressive electronic music album, it is phenomenal.

As explained in the booklet, the twenty tracks follow the composer through his musical transitions chronologically, through eight years of his musical journey, up to the year of this release (2010). This means that you will find the best of both worlds, symphonic film music and progressive, melodic, intelligent electronic music from Julius Dobos here on one album. The album is filled with energy, great melodies, unique sounds and top-notch instrumentation throughout, regardless of the variances among the styles of the many tracks it features. From the big orchestral, very filmscore-like intro (The Comeback) through Fly Away (a track clearly evolved from his now classic "Mountain Flying", but with a modern instrumentation), to the ambient electronic titles towards the end of the disc (Microworld and Hymn to Progression), Transitions is an entertaining, stylistically very diverse yet coherent concept album, that has even higher level of details, both compositional and sound design, than what we were already used to hearing on earlier Julius Dobos albums.

Transitions is one of those albums that the more you listen to, the more you appreciate. Every listening session brings new details, nuances to your attention and leaves you wondering how you missed them the first time. I can therefore sincerely say that the album does really contain eight years of the life- and musical experiences of the composer.

On one interesting note, the evolution of music throughout the 20 tracks, following the composer's career, goes in a reversed stylistic direction than what we are used to seeing with the majority of artists: it *starts* with the more orchestral, filmscore-type of pieces (as Julius scored many movies and tv show at the time these pieces were written) travels through some surprising stylistic transitions (no pun intended), evolving into complex, ambient-electronic music that, as the composer has announced, will be the basis of his future works. A very interesting metamorphoses, as this is not your typical "former band artist goes orchestral" scenario. While according to Julius Dobos, his "not always enjoyable experiences with the industry part of the film- and music industry made [him] progress into the challenging new direction of purely original, complex electronic music", the diversity and quantity of ideas put into this one album give me the feeling that Transitions is only the very strong beginning of a new era.

After falling in love with Julius Dobos' Hymn to the Fukushima 50 on YouTube and downloading the composer's new album, Transitions, I purchased Mountain Flying last week and have had the chance to listen to the album three times since.

I already feel that this album is going to be one of the gems in my strict collection of instrumental music. The melodies are wonderful, the instrumentation is unique and often monumental, but most of all the details and complexity of various parts are mind-blowing.

My instant favorite is New Pangea - It's one of those piece of music that you could not possible add anything to, it has symphonic orchestral, various word music instruments, a famous singer's voice, hige percussion, many synth parts and even some sound effects. It's just huge. Inspirational is not the right word to characterize it, I would rather say "adrenalin-boosting":)

There are three Mountain Flying titles on the album. I am yet to figure out the thematic link between them, but Mountain Flying I. is also amazing. It completely takes you to another level of emotions.

The Last Millennium is the most electronic piece on the album, features a repeating melody but again, even at the third listen, I knew that I haven't discovered even half of the background melody parts and "hidden" sounds yet.

The closing piece, Life, is a beautiful vocal-piano-synthesizer track that clearly shows the composer's film scoring past.

It is the powerful sound, the very concentrated emotions and the amount of details that make Mountain Flying a must have, and certainly a 5* album for me. The only frustrating thing is that I have just discovered this album - 12 years after it was released!

I am looking forward to listen to previous other works from Mr. Dobos.

Apparently Julius is well-known in Hungary for his compositions, and this recording with the North Hungarian Symphony Orchestra plus extra musicians, the Budapest Monteverdi Choir and Marta Sebastyen (the latter was on 'The English Patient' soundtrack), is a revised version of his first collection of demos, which were all performed on a synthesiser.

I don't listen to nearly as much classical music as I should, so in all honesty find that I can't really review it. I know I like it, with the melodies and interplay between synths and traditional orchestra working well, and finding that it is very easy to listen to (as opposed to easy-listening).

Mountain Flying is one of my few CDs that I listen to over and over again and find new details every time. It's even better than Julius Dobos' Connecting Images which was also a masterpiece. Jurriaan Hage says: "A perfect marriage between classical music and electronic music in the style of Vangelis. Much better in my opinion than what I've heard of the Greek in recent years. The combination of the two styles really works well on this album that should appeal to lovers of Vangelis, filmscores (Morricone) and possibly also classical composers of the more melodic variety (Dvorak), but, of course, also lovers of After Crying are invited to take a listen." I think Mountain Flying is a work that musicians and composers of today should learn from and anyone with musical interest should appreciate. As the composer says "it's a musical journey" and surely, listening to this music takes your mind on a journey. I highly recommend this album to everyone who likes orchestral filmscores and electronic music.

"Connecting Images" is a rather unusual CD. The Hungarian composer Julius DOBOS wrote the music in 1998, at the request of Nokia Ltd. The CD was distributed with mobile phones and it reached 60.000 people in Hungary alone. Through the music, Julius is trying to explain the difference among the various models of Nokia's mobile phones. Of course you can always question the artistic freedom and integrity with such commercial projects, but the music is however very atmospheric, sometimes quiet and beautiful and sometimes bombastic, although I can't say whether Julius succeeded in picturing the different Nokia models. The music is very varied, so obviously there are many differences between the models. Julius plays the main part, but there are also some additional musicians, such as the Grammy Award winner Márta Sebestyén who sings traditional Hungarian vocal, as well as The Budapest Monteverdi Choir. The album was mixed on 92 channels, so you can imagine the musical richness. Sometimes the music is reminiscent to the Hungarian composer Attila HÉGER, aka under the pseudonym Al NORDER and LAREN D'OR. "Connecting Images" is like a soundtrack for Nokia. The CD-booklet is like a product catalogue for Nokia but without images. Instead the music does the talking.

— First review of this album —

On "Selected Works of Julius Dobos" the Hungarian composer sums up his musical career. The reason seems to be promotion for Film Industry Professionals, probably to gain some compositional works. It contains songs from his two albums "Connecting Images" (1998) and "Mountain Flying" (1999), and selected pieces from his three movie soundtracks: "Europe Express", "Black Strawberries" and "Thend". The CD is very professional with a Multimedia Section where Julius describes in his own words his thoughts when writing the soundtracks. When you have read his presentation you can watch a movie clip where you can hear the music together with the film. In the CD-booklet the musical contents of every track on the album is described. Brilliant! This is a true goodie for someone like me who is interested in both music and movies.

The Hungarian composer Julius DOBOS started playing piano in 1976 at the age of five. His first album "Connecting Images" was a Nokia only release, and as far as I know this is his first official CD, released on the same label as AFTER CRYING and SOLARIS: Periferic label. His music is melodic and movie soundtrack-like and it ranges between beautiful and quiet to bombastic. It's a blend of classical, electronic, ethnic and symphonic music. There are reminiscences to the Hungarian composer Attila HÉGER (aka under the pseudonym Al NORDER and LAREN D'OR), MIKE OLDFIELD, VANGELIS and John WILLIAMS. "Mountain Flying" was broadcasted on Hungarian radio and television in 1995. The CD was recorded in 1999 with the 80-piece North Hungarian Symphony Orchestra, the 50-voice Monteverdi Choir, and several guest musicians including the Grammy Award winner Martha Sebestyén. This is definitely worth checking out if you're into soundtrack-like electronic and symphonic music.