19th July 2002
LARA SCORES WITH LSO
Lara Croft has long been pulling the
heartstrings of video gamers across the world. Yesterday she was pulling other
strings as she conducted the London Symphony Orchestra in the recording of the
soundtrack for her new video game, Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Angel of
Darkness, to be released in November this year.
Arguably the sexiest real life Lara
to date, Jill de Jong brought inspiration to 82 members of the LSO as they
played the score of the new game. Peter Connelly and Martin Iveson of Core
Design – the game’s developers – crafted the music over three months to convey
the darkly beautiful feel of the new game and continue Eidos’ commitment to the
highest production values.
“To bring together one of the
world’s most famous heroines and one of the world’s best orchestras in such a
famous setting as the Abbey Road studios has been incredible,” says Peter
Connelly.
The Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The
Angel of Darkness video game will be released on PlayStation 2 and PC by Eidos
Interactive in November. Fans of the world’s most famous cyber-babe have
something to get really excited about – she can now be seen in 100 times more
detail! The new Lara is made up of over 5,000 polygons as opposed to just 500 in
previous games.
In Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Angel
of Darkness, Lara is both the hunter and the hunted. As a result she will have
to show a new, darker side to herself and has to travel to some nightmarish
places. She will also find herself in situations where choices are no longer
obvious as the traditional demarcations of good and evil become blurred and the
game takes on a new moral dimension. Lara will face more evolved characters and
situations and must traverse an intricately detailed world which takes her from
the back streets of Paris to darkest Prague in her struggle to clear her name
and get revenge on her former mentor’s killers.
To date over 28 million copies of
the Tomb Raider games have been sold worldwide.
Peter Connelly – musician, sound
designer at Core Design
Age: 29
Has worked in the video games
industry for seven years. Classically trained on the cello, guitar and piano at
school, he went on to do an OND and HND in Music Technology. He names John
Williams and Danny Elfman as exceptional soundtrack composers who have
influenced his work.
The Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The
Angel of Darkness soundtrack is the first time he’s composed to the rules of an
orchestra – instrument note ranges and number of players in each instrument
group. He selected the oboe, core anglais, harp and flute to represent Lara.
Martin Iveson – musician, sound
designer at Core Design
Age: 28
Is keen on all types of music from
jazz to good underground house. He cites Schostokovich, Stravinsky, John
Frizzell and John Williams as influencers for the soundtrack.
Outside of work he has a record
label ( www.mantis-recordings.com)
and also enjoys dj’ing around the UK and Europe.
Peter Wraight – external musician
Is used to working with big band
scores and supported the Core team with his full understanding of orchestral
arrangement.
The London Symphony Orchestra
Founded in 1904, it was the UK’s
first independent, self-governing orchestra. It is now the resident orchestra at
the Barbican, London, where it gives around 90 concerts per year. The Orchestra
tours extensively and collaborates with artists of the highest calibre. It is
also noted for its film soundtracks and award-winning education and community
programme, LSO Discovery.
Eidos Interactive
Eidos Interactive is one of the
world’s largest independent publishers and developers of entertainment software.
Eidos develops and publishes a diverse mix of titles for the PC, PlayStation®2
computer entertainment system, Nintendo GameCube™ and the Xbox video game
system from Microsoft. For more information on Eidos and its products visit
http://www.eidos.com.
