the brass in the journey begins is so wonderful!! quite envious as i'm still very unsure of how to properly use brass myself. definitely hear the hisaishi on a parting of ways-- the chord movements on the strings for that first half are extremely similar to the legend of ashitaka from princess mononoke
Thank you! Brass can be tough for sure, especially when mixing. French Horns especially have a lot of mud in their lower register.
What's funny is that I haven't watched 'Princess Mononoke' yet and consequently haven't heard the soundtrack haha. Just listened to 'The Legend of Ashitaka' though and can definitely hear the resemblance. I learned about quartal harmony from Hisaishi's work (particularly 'Spirited Away'), he loves that sound and so do I.