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************************************************************** EDITOR'S CHOICE - New Score April 2000 **************************************************************

Ennio MORRICONE Mission to Mars OST    Hollywood/edel HR 62257-2 [62:16]
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Robin Hood, Columbus, Wyatt Earp, volcanoes, meteors, animated insects, every year now it seems Hollywood is contractually obliged to deliver twined potential-blockbusters. For 2000 we are being offered two separated-at-birth journeys to our nearest planetary neighbour, and as usual half the fun is in speculating before-hand about the relative chances of each movie. The remaining half too-often comes from being wise-after-the-event, and from comparing tales of enduring the latest celluloid atrocity.

Mission to Mars is first off the launch pad - Red Planet doesn't clear mission control until the Autumn - and both concern the first manned (peopled?) voyages to the titular globe. The story involves the attempts of the crew of the second peopled spaceship to Mars to rescue the sole survivor of the first. Apparently there are mysterious discoveries to be made, and a finale which is being compared to the end of 2001: A Space Odyssey. Calling the shots is Brian De Palma, the most frustrating of the really interesting Hollywood directors, here in mainstream audience friendly mode. De Palma's films are always shot with wonderful style and lavishly imaginative visuals - Carrie, Scarface, Mission: Impossible, Carlito's Way - and he has far more awareness of the value of music than virtually any other Hollywood director currently working - from hiring Bernard Herrmann for Sisters and Obsession, through John Williams for The Fury, Patrick Doyle for Carlito's Way and Ennio Morricone for The Untouchables, Casualties of War, and now Mission to Mars. De Palma films almost always have first-rate scores from some of the finest composers in the buisness. Additionally, it may be that only Spielberg, Cameron and Woo can craft a set-piece with the enthralling power of De Palma at his best, so if he can over-come his recent tendency to give his films terrible endings, Mission to Mars could be the best science fiction film in a long time.

Morricone's score is most promising, both because it makes for an engrossing listen in its own right, and because it promises something different from the usual idiotic explosion-a-minute approach to science fiction currently beloved of Hollywood. What we appear to have is a romantic thriller in space-suits. The first thing to note about the score is that, as realised on CD, the music plays in unusually lengthy sequences. There are just 11 pieces in over an hour. Whether this means that cues have been combined, or that the film features several extensive scenes requiring such accompaniment can not be determined from the promo packaging, but the latter is to be hoped for.

Morricone throws everything into the mix - orchestra, choir, synthesisers - including an arpeggiated harpsichord-like figure very reminiscent of Wolf, solo trumpet, electric guitar, and block organ chords which inevitably bring to mind the brooding power of Herrmann's writing for Obsession. There are none of the big action showpieces typically expected of the SF genre today, but rather more romantic melody echoing Once Upon A Time in America, and dark brooding suspense - particularly in 'Sacrifice of a Hero' - which evokes the composer's work on The Thing. Interspersed are several moments of triumphal uplift, so we can expect the day to be dramatically saved. The arrangements are most imaginative, with fine Morricone string writing, a pulsating heartbeat introducing 'A Heart Beats in Space', the opening track which blends trumpet and electric guitar to good effect. 'A Martian' evokes a very old fashioned Hollywood romanticism, while elsewhere idiosyncratic, though only occasionally overblown effects abound. This is both the best Morricone CD, and the most enjoyable soundtrack from a De Palma I have heard in some time. Whatever the end result, this album bodes well. Oh, and yes, there is a moment which appear to be a homage to, in quick succession, Richard Strauss and Gyorgy Ligeti.

Reviewer

Gary S. Dalkin

Ian Lace is even more enthusiatic:-

Yes, the influence of Ligeti (as in 2001- A Space Odyssey) is very evident. There is also a subtle influence of John Williams in Close Encounters mode (in fact at one point one can almost hear that famous Close Encounter's 5-note alien theme and the associated tuba figure is similar too). All of which leads one to hope that at long last we have another intelligent and sympathetic mayhem monster-free space film, (not forgetting Contact, of course - and isn't it interesting how the best science fiction films attract the best scores?).

The inclusion of fewer but longer cues was an intelligent decision because it allows the music to breathe and blossom. One cue 'Sacrifice of a Hero', is over 12 minutes long and as such almost assumes the proportions of a symphonic poem. The music is multi-textured and harmonically rich. Its orchestrations are very imaginative and the synths, for once, really feel a natural part of the music. As Gary has pointed out, there is a typical Morricone warm-hearted even nostalgic Romantic melody. It imbues the score with a heart-warming optimism. We hear it in the opening cue 'A Heart Beats in Space' another extended 7+ minute cue that contains a wealth of ideas and material including electric guitar, most imaginatively employed, distant women's voices and synth effects to produce an atmosphere of awe and wonder and the vastness and beauty of space. This atmosphere is heightened in 'A Martian' that also introduces a Handelian trumpet to add to its air of mysticism. 'A world which searches' is redolent of old Hollywood sentimental yearnings building up to a passionate climax. Then in 'And afterwards' we meet with some mysterious entities suggested by the Ligetti type choral murmurings and wailings and synth material that sounds something like a low cold wind or the curving flight of a swarm of insects; frightening stuff that is alleviated by rather endearing little dancing staccato electronic poppings. Much of this material is interspersed with martial and mournful heroic material in 'Sacrifice of a Hero.' I hope these few additional comments to Gary's full review above will give you some idea of the scope and quality of this extraordinary and beautiful score. It has been in and out of my CD tray numerous times in the few days since I acquired my review copy. Believe me, there are very few albums that do that

Reviewer

Ian Lace

************************************************************** EDITOR'S CHOICE - Classic Score April 2000 **************************************************************

Johnny GREEN Raintree County OST M-G-M Studio Symphony Orchestra and Chorus   2CDs PREAMBLE 2-PRCD 1781 [88:00]
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Johnny Green (rather pompously elevated to John by Preamble) had an illustrious career in Hollywood as composer, conductor and arranger working at Paramount, Warner Bros. and Universal. But he is best remembered for his work at M-G-M between 1942 and 1946 but more significantly from 1949 to 1958. His enormous contributions to M-G-M's musicals are now legend. They include: Easter Parade, An American in Paris, The Great Caruso, Brigadoon, and High Society.

Raintree County is Johnny Green's masterpiece in the genre of film music - and a classic. This score bolstered up a movie that was intended to rival Gone With the Wind but ended up a disaster mauled by the critics. Mightily expensive ($5½ million in 1957), the film was overlong, misconceived, and miscast with a maudlin, often fantastic script and an awkward, uncomfortable performance from Montgomery Clift as Johnny due mainly to a near-fatal and disfiguring car accident that he suffered while the film was in production.

The story of Raintree County is set in a prosperous county in Indiana just preceding, during and immediately after the Civil War. This reality and personal drama of the tragic Susanna (Elizabeth Taylor) who descends into madness haunted by the feeling she could be part black, and the conviction she was partly responsible for the possible murder of her father and Henrietta, the coloured woman who had raised her, is contrasted with an atmosphere of fantasy as Johnny seeks the legendary Raintree (symbolising Man's endless quest for the unobtainable). Wisely Green eschews Max Steiner's GWTW route of using the music of the period ('Dixie' and 'The Battle Hymn of the Republic' etc) in favour of a completely original score. It is a pity that Max Steiner's Tara theme is so indelibly linked with this period and has made such an immense impression on the public consciousness, for Green's 'The Song of Raintree County' main theme is no less beautiful and memorable.

The Overture has a grand, confident sweep in accord with its locale. The music also has a comfortable folksy charm. Its sparkle is tempered by a brief foreboding of impending personal and universal tragedy before Green unfolds his broad romantic main theme melody with a surging string treatment that will tug at your heartstrings in the fulsome tradition of all the great screen romantic melodies. This haunting melody, 'The Song of Raintree County', is developed with harmonica solo as the choir sings, "They say in Raintree County, there's a tree thick with blossoms of gold, but you will find that the raintree's a state of mind…"

The affectionate nature and femininity of Nell (played by the lovely Eva Marie Saint giving probably the best portrayal in the film) is rapturously captured in 'Nell and Johnny's Graduation Gifts.' Johnny's Search for the Raintree' is a lush, sensual impressionistic study with women's chorus adding an ethereal quality and Green's extraordinary orchestration evoking a glittering golden tree of legend. [Many have enquired how this effect was accomplished. In his absorbing notes for this album, Johnny Green explains: "A good toy glockenspiel (the kind with the brass tubes rather than the flat rectangular bars), scraped from top to bottom by two pairs of brushes (one pair following the other - two percussionists of course) produced the effect. On the recording stage to the naked ear, it was virtually inaudible. It achieves the characteristic heard on the soundtrack via multiple magnifications and maximum reverberation (echo chamber).]

These opening tracks are very memorable - track five being exuberant, folk dance -like and a forthright portrait of rough diamond Flash Perkins that speaks principally through the banjo. 'Johnny and Susanna's first meeting' introduces another memorable romantic theme that anticipates most weirdly that celebrated five-note alien's theme from Close Encounters of the Third Kind. This theme, after a rather staccato 'first surprise and frightening immediate attraction' type of statement, is soon smoothed out into its full legato romantic blossoming. Variations on this theme, associated with the merriment and high spirits, then the tenderness of courtship, proceed in 'July Picnic' with the women's chorus once again reminding us of 'The Song of the Raintree' and by association intimating that this love is only an illusion. Another hauntingly beautiful track.

"Johnny's farewell to Nell; River wedding night" begins moodily with the brass angrily intimating a warning of the consequences of Johnny's betrayal of the loving pliant Nell.

A quiet soothing wordless chorus spreads over the bliss of the newly weds but there is a dissonant edge too signifying impending tragedy that becomes tangible in 'Burned-out mansion; Susanna's obsession; lament of Henrietta.' This is a very dramatic and atmospheric cue with Green cleverly holding over his wordless chorus from the preceding cue, to recall the past. An off-stage dance orchestra recalls the parties held long ago in the mansion that now lies in ruins. A disorientation begins to manifest itself as Susanna begins to brood over the death of Henrietta. The little bells associated with Susanna's madness (she complains of hearing them in her head) are now heard for the first time. A short evocative sound-portrait of a carriage ride follows and CD1 ends in poignancy with 'Return to Raintree County'.

I will not subject readers to a tedious analysis of the music of CD 2 for much is a repetition of the material that has been already heard on CD1 except to say that the madness music is dramatically and most effectively intensified with disturbing dissonances in 'Susanna's maddness.' The music for the sequences when Flash joins up and goes to war and the birth of Johnny and Sussana's child, Jeemie and Nell's return is deeply affecting. Green's music for the Civil War is thrilling sabre-rattling stuff. Another very affecting cue is 'Susanna's tragic decision and her death'. The music becomes detached and eerie as an increasingly unhinged Sussana, realising that her marriage is fraught with the inevitable anxieties and tensions of a union in which she is mentally unstable and Johnny is crippled with frustrated ambition, decides to walk into the swamp where her body is later found. The final moments of the score bring relief and a return of optimism and romance as Nell, Johnny and Jeemie look forward to a life together.

A major score and a wonderful album

Reviewer

Ian Lace

Patrick WILLIAMS Jesus: The Epic Mini-Series  OST ANGEL RECORDS/SPARROW RECORDS 7243 5 56984 2 1 [45.19]
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There is a lofty tradition for music written for films depicting the life of  Christ. With such outstanding works as Miklos Rozsa's King of Kings and Maurice Jarre's Jesus of Nazareth, a very high standard has been set by which any composer who follows in their footsteps must be judged. And so Patrick Williams comes under close scrutiny for his work on this new production of the inspirational biblical story of Jesus.

The 'Main Title' begins powerfully with a trumpet led theme illustrating both the nobility and the isolation of Jesus, before developing into stirring strings in what is without question a very impressive opening. In comparison, 'Joseph Dies' is a more introspective piece with a prominent flute line building towards an intense finale. The main theme reappears in 'Searching for Jesus', this time the trumpet soon replaced by recorder to nice effect and we are treated to some welcome, albeit brief, vocal flourishes in 'Temple, the Early Days' with lots of brass and strings generating a rousing, distinctly biblical flavour. The recorder is put to use again in the appealing 'Healing the Sick', which also features some supplemental electronic background work, a technique that is also used in a number of other tracks. This then segues into 'Zealots' with a sudden flurry of brass and drums.

The extensive use of synths on so many tracks could give one the impression that this score was produced on a relatively low-budget, but that line of thinking is probably due to the knowledge that a purely orchestral work is more expensive to record. Whether it was budgetary considerations that were the reason behind their inclusion or a deliberate artistic choice, it does not detract noticeably from the music or cause the production to suffer to any great extent.

'Walking on Water' has a strong sense of drama with lots of big string/synth work, coupled with brief choral embellishments. While 'Raising Lazarus' delivers some intriguing bass strings and then soars into a rousing melody replete with cymbal crashes and this is followed once more by a brief reprise of the main theme for strings in 'Jesus Arrives'. Rightly in my opinion, Williams uses this evocative melody as the mainstay of the entire score and it is certainly memorable enough for you to find yourself humming it hours later.

'The Last Supper' continues with more of what I would describe as traditionally inspired biblical music, but that is certainly not a fault as it works extremely well and this makes way for some lower-key moments featuring subtly portentous strings.Discordant, vibrating synth like some snarling, screaming beast, plays against a lone trumpet, strings and bass drum in 'Satan'. Finally the main theme re-emerges briefly to signify Jesus' refusal to submit to the Devil's insidious temptations. 'Rather effective and unusual.

The next two tracks are relatively short. 'Gethsemane' is no more than workman-like and 'Taken to Pilate' utilises a snare drum with some interesting dissonant string and brass.

Sarah Brightman makes an unexpected appearance with her vocals on Andrew Lloyd Webber's 'Pie Jesu' and sings it as well as one would expect. However, I'm not at all convinced that it was a good idea to include such a well-known piece here, as I personally found it quite distracting and out of place. Also, on a more cynical note, I can't help wondering if there was some ulterior motive at work. Is it possible that the notion of marketing a CD of songs inspired by the film (an unwelcome trend seen before on projects like the otherwise wonderful Prince of Egypt) influenced their decision to incorporate it into the score? The fact that such an offering is available with performances by Leann Remes, Hootie and the Blowfish and Yolanda Adams among others, speaks for itself..

'The Passion' continues with more strident brass backed up by drums and this leads us into 'The Crucifixion' which impresses with many fine moments, the solitary trumpet main theme preceding a string based variation and ending with a kind of death knell. There is another engaging, somewhat understated reprise of that key melody in 'Jesus has Risen' although it never quite delivers the emotional pay-off one expects and hopes for. And finally, 'I am with You' lets the recorder lead alongside the trumpet for one last rendition. Sometimes when scores repeat a central motif like this, there is a real danger of it gradually being robbed of its initial impact, but thankfully that is not the case here. This relatively simple (isn't that true of all the best ones?) but notable melody is always welcome.Having listened to this work a number of times now, I find myself very much wanting to see how it actually works in the mini-series itself, as I have a strong sense that it will be quite a powerful experience.

In some ways this could be described as an almost score. The emotion and drama are there, but because of the very nature of this unique story you still feel it should deliver even more (particularly when recalling Rozsa and Jarre). Nevertheless, Patrick Williams' music is still certainly worthwhile and I think it is enough to say that I came very close to giving it a full four stars. If it is not in the same class as those that have come before that is more a compliment to the composers of the past, rather than a criticism of this latest musical interpretation of the greatest story ever told.

Reviewer

Mark Hockley

 

Thomas NEWMAN The Green Mile OST   WARNER 9362-47584-2 [66:15]
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There is no question that Thomas Newman has an inherent understanding of the art of composing for film. And even if it might be argued that this particular score is not wholly satisfying purely as a listening experience, I think few would dispute that it is undeniably fine film music.

With a grand total of thirty-seven tracks, there's certainly much to consider here and after a brief snatch of the traditional Negro song 'Old Alabama', 'Monstrous Big' sets the tone for the rest of the CD with its slightly Bluesy feel, coupled with jangling guitars and rich strings. This is followed by 'The Two Dead Girls', a very atmospheric piece that builds forcefully toward a dramatic conclusion and then the mood shifts with 'The Mouse on the Mile', a much lighter track featuring a playful marimba line. Next we hear what I feel is Newman's most significant and memorable creation in 'Foolishment, a very beautiful, lyrical theme that grabs the attention, played here with a dark, ominous undercurrent. It is also later heard in 'Condemned Man' and given a halting reprise that seems to signify both sadness and loss in 'Danger of Hell'. Finally it appears in its most powerful incarnation in 'Coffey on the Mile' as a kind of lament. This is certainly my favourite element of the entire score, although I can't helping wishing it had been developed even further. Greedy I know!

'Billy be Frigged' introduces another major characteristic of this work with its use of country guitar and Hillbilly banjo (courtesy of soloist George Doering) that effortlessly conjures a sense of the American Deep South and this is reinstated in various other tracks like 'Limp Noodle' and 'Wild Bill'.

'Cigar Box' features a lead flute in a reflective cue that adds variety and colour and is recalled later on 'Punishment' before being given an expanded string led interpretation on the 'The Green Mile'.

The quirky 'Circus Mouse' is almost like a Thomas Newman signature track with its echoes of some of his earlier work, but this is quickly swept aside by the wild, doom-laden strings, drums and brass of 'The Bad Death of Eduard Delacroix', the closest thing here you'll find to an action-cue.

I was amused to note what sounded to me like some minimalist variation on Elmer Bernstein's The Great Escape theme in 'Two Run Throughs' and there are some nice moments in 'Red Over Green', but this can said of several other tracks, particularly 'Boogeyman' with its changes in mood from powerful opening chords to low-key piano and then back to passionate strings. If I heard just a whisper of Herrmann here, that comes as no surprise as so much modern work bears signs of his influence and this is something I for one am very happy to detect. Even so, the last few bars put me in mind of another one of the greats, a certain John Barry. It is interesting to wonder if these references are deliberate or more likely, just echoes of other styles and other scores.

The haunting 'Night Journey' features more flute work over piano and strings and there are a number of very brief pieces such as 'Boy's Eye', 'Done Tom Turkey', 'Briar Ridge' and 'Now Long Gone' that give the impression of a broad, musical mosaic. And although I never found myself bored, as one might imagine with so many pieces some are less noteworthy than others.

Four songs are featured to capture the musical climate of the thirties era in which the story is set; Fred Astaire's 'Cheek to Cheek', 'I Can't Give You Anything but Love' by Billy Holiday, 'Did You Ever See a Dream Walking' performed by Gene Austin (also used to great effect in Frank LaLoggia's superb Lady in White) and Guy Lombardo's version of 'Charmaine'.

Overall, this is an impressive score that further establishes Thomas Newman as a leading composer for the new Millennium. Alongside the many other gifted artists we are fortunate enough to have working in this field today, from the legendary masters like Williams and Goldsmith to young maestros such as Danny Elfman, he can be sure of a place among their illustrious ranks.

Reviewer

Mark Hockley

 

Lisa GERRARD and Pieter BOURKE The Insider   OST   COLUMBIA 46458-2 [52:40]
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The practice of using world music against on-screen action seems to be gaining ground. I was first aware of it when I heard the music for that wretched film 8mm, now here is music very much of Egypt and the Middle East somewhat incongruously supporting a film set in America about the evils of the tobacco industry and a whistle-blower who threatens it. The blurb that came with my review copy suggests that this music "provides a brooding, emotional and chilling evocation of the film's real-life drama." Be that as it may (I have not seen the film yet) but I suggest that the listener forgets any connection with the film and listen to it detached for its own sake.

If you like music of this orientation you will not be disappointed. The opening cue 'Tempest' is tempestuous enough; with drums prominent, driving rhythms and its sultry atmosphere and wailing voices it borders on becoming hallucinogenic. The second cue, 'Dawn of the Truth' is no less so but its delivery quieter, yet in crescendo and diminuendo, it creeps up on the listener even more insidiously. 'Sacrifice' has slow-moving strings supporting a vocal wailing that has a most eccentric timbre and vocal line to western ears. With 'The Subordinate' we move with synth poundings and syncopations rather more towards the western style although Arabian influences persist

into and through 'Exile'. By the time we reach 'The Silencer', the music has a remote coldness and timelessness that has no specific location, although the vocal, synthesised to add an appropriate blur, tends to drag the ear eastwards again. This sense of chill and isolation persisits in the detached piano chords of 'Broken' supported by long held bass string figures. Then tolling bells, high-suspended strings and organ suggest the opposite in 'Faith'. The music has a definite western orientation now. 'I'm alone in this' is a not uninteresting bleak study in dejection although there are some interesting rhythmic variations.

The highlight of the whole album is 'Iguazu', written by Gustavo Santaolalla. It is a beautifully hypnotic creation for guitars, and I think, harps. Vibrant and racy, yet it has the delicacy and lightness of a summer breeze. What a let down then is the beginning of 'Liquid Moon' with its synth clichés but when the tempo picks up with the entry of the acoustical instruments in jazz mode, humanity and interest are restored and the cue ends a lot better than it begins. Some weird synth mumblings occur in 'Rites' with one effect very suggestive of a lumbering freight train. I will pass over the remaining two jazz/rap/rock dronings of 'Safe from harm' and the weird synths and dismal vocals of 'Meltdown' - they might appeal to younger listeners but they will be programmed out of any of this reviewer's future listenings!

An extraordinary but often fascinating album.

Reviewer

Ian Lace

"Zara" doesn't entirely agree:-

This is an unusual atmospheric score. I agree the opening cue 'Tempest' sounds hypnotic. It has a mesmeric, Sufi-like (Muslim mystic) influence. It sounds dangerous too. I did not hear any freight trains rumbling through 'Rites' but I did like the nice jamming together of the drums and flute and synth - all blending well; the flute in its solo passage was particularly appealing. Unlike Ian, I rather liked the last two tracks. 'Safe From Harm' is a dramatic funky jazzy rap mixture, that is well done, while 'Meltdown, is the opposite, slow, seductive, smoochy and hot.

Reviewer

"Zara"

Debbie WISEMAN Lighthouse   OST   Silva Screen FILMCD 335 [42:24]
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There is only one thing wrong with this album, and that's having the "Lighthouse" cue (an Overture-like end titles) as the 1^st track. The other re-arrangements to chronological order make no odds musically, but by having something with so many of the score's eggs in a basket this early on, a lot of the joy in being surprised by this extraordinary new voice from Wiseman is spoiled. Then again - considering the nature of the horrific film - maybe it's just as well to get the big shock to the system out the way.

You can forget the romance of Wilde or Haunted. This is a full on-assault to the senses. No opportunity for crescendo or sting is missed with an ear-shattering use of anvil and crashing samples. Brass plays an enormously domineering role that places the stylistic frame of reference toward the Herrmannesque. That carries through into the score's structure, with lots of repeat phrases blocked into cells recalling the Master's handiwork.

For sheer exuberance the cue "Showdown" has to be singled out. For 5 minutes it seems the most nightmarish scenario must be building up to detonation (and sure enough, this is the literally 'hair-raising' psycho chase denouement). There is some respite along the way - a solo violin toying with childish memories - but these moments don't last.

It's not often you hear so radically different a sound from a composer. Certainly not one so well entrenched stylistically in their career. So prepare yourself. Play late and night on your own for maximum effect…

Reviewer

Paul Tonks

Eric SERRA Joan of Arc   OST   SONY SK66537 [64:13]
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As one might expect from such subject matter, this is a dark intense score - indeed after emerging from its 64-minute listening experience, one might call it bleak. Yet it begins appealingly enough. 'Talk To Him' opens plaintively with simple innocent material that recalls the charm of Canteloube's Songs of the Auvergne suggesting the purity of the Maid of Orleans.

In the second cue 'A sword in the field' we have the beginnings of a heavy use of synth that is used extensively through the score with variable effect as a listening experience. In this cue there are heavy suggestive forebodings of the strife and tragedy to follow with eerie echoeings, sinister tolling bells and heavy bass drummings indicative of distant heavy gunfire. The significant use of synths in cues like 'Recrossing the River' and especially in 'To Arms' with its heavy staccato bass drum throbs, synth death(?) rattlings and protracted crescendo, soon becomes tedious to the ear, although working well with the film(?). For other cues, Serra mingles his synth and accoustic materials and choral lines more successfully - even movingly as in the lovely mystical 'The Messenger of God' and the following 'Find Him' cue where the solo violin soars heavenwards to its highest register followed upwards by the accompanying tremolando strings. [Listeners will have to watch their CD indicators closely for many cues segue into each other.]

I would also mention: 'Secrets of a strange wind', an imaginative cue with eerie women's voices and synth moanings and thunder and lightning cleaving the sky while those church bells toll ominously. 'To the King of England' is another interesting creation, beginning with harp pluckings against plaintive strings, and then the solo violin in the seguing cue, 'Sent By God' making sweet supplication before steel is unsheathed.

The final cues mix harrowing brutality ('The Trial') with poignancy ('Answer Me'). Angelus in Medio Ignis is clearly influenced by Orff. I will pass quickly over the tasteless and offensive concluding track, the song 'My Heart Calling' warbled in the modern manner over awful synth bangings and sickly sweet strings.

Reviewer

Ian Lace

Patrick DOYLE Love's Labour's Lost original music and songs by Cole Porter, George and Ira Gershwin, Jerome Kern and Irving Berlin.   OST   SONY SK89004 [58:13]
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Ken and his luvvies here mix Shakespeare with Cole Porter. Except that Cole was perfectly capable of doing it himself to far better effect in his Kiss Me Kate.

Branagh in setting Shakespeare's less well-known comedy Love's Labour's Lost, in a sophisticated 1930s/40s milieu tempted him towards the great Hollywood musicals of that era. Looking at the stills in the booklet he has sought to capture all that era's glitter in the extravagant costumes and sets à la Busby Berkeley, and in incorporating classical popular songs by the Gershwins, Jerome Kern, Irving Berlin as well as Cole Porter. The original music by Patrick Doyle provides a seamless framework around them. That is to say in those cues that contain the masters' songs he writes considerable introductions and then sympathetically, for the most part, arranges their music to fit the film's characters and situations. This is one of Doyle's most enchanting scores; it really sparkles. It is full of charm and romantic fantasy. He uses varying styles through the course of the film. There is the glamour of Hollywood/Broadway implicit in the exuberant Overture There is nobility and majesty for the Royalty, and a clever parody on the 1940s March of Time music for 'Cinetone News'. And there is something of the English String tradition (shades of Elgar and Vaughan Williams) for the Collegian associations - in the lovely extended cue, "You that way, we this way…"

The actors sing the songs themselves with varying degrees of success. Ken's opening number 'I'd Rather Charleston' was quite good and it lulled me into a false sense of security, but then Richard Briers and an awfully twee Geraldine McEwan, frequently parting harmonic company, set my teeth on edge (possibly in character in the film) singing The Way You look Tonight'. Bizarre was the description I would apply to Timothy Spall's rather Spanish Latin rendition of 'I get a kick out of you.' Mind you, Spall is rather good, in fact, practically marvellous compared to some of the ensemble singing with the cast consistently scooping up or down to their notes, seemingly quite unable to hit them on the nose. This trait was so bad in 'They Can't take that Away from Me', I had to retaliate with the thought, "Just watch us!" - and another thought, "Mrs Branagh, please Mrs Branagh, on my knees Mrs Branagh don't put your son on the (musical) stage!

Reviewer

Ian Lace

Patrick Doyle's music
'The Way You Look Tonight' and 'They Can't Take that Away from Me' and
The other songs

Patrick DOYLE East-West/Est-Ouest   With Emanuel Ax, Piano   SONY SK-64429 [53:39]
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"East-West" is a powerful experience despite the sometimes-generic orchestrations and melodic contours that risk becoming indistinguishable from one Patrick Doyle film score to another. Doyle has a beautifully distinctive scoring technique, but, as in "Indochine"

from the same director (Regis Wargnier), it can be predictable and quite typically neoclassical -- hardly nascent material. Here, his dramatic cues contain only marginally more remarkable delights, but the boldness of the music and the enthralling touches, cumulating in a superb end title song, nudge it properly beyond average.

The film is about the return of an exiled Russian family to Stalin's USSR, and Doyle lays stress on the Cold War atmosphere with military snare and a generous taste of Slavic technique. These moments are engaging, the tracks 'Jeopardy,' 'The Race,' 'The Plan,' 'You Must Stay Alive,' and 'The Escape' especially, but what determines the warmth and worth of the music is its refinement. The soft brass of 'The Church,' the heartfelt dynamism of 'You're Doing It For Us,' the romantically tortured strings of 'Alexei and Olga,' the murky darkness of 'La Mer,' the spaciousness of 'Freedom' amass in a wash of grandeur. And then there is the highlight, 'The Land,' a poignant song exquisitely performed by tiptop baritone Anatoly Fokonov and the Bulgarian Mixed Choir. As with many of Doyle's choral pieces it sounds as though it is shimmering in the air, marked with efflorescence, possibly better crafted and lovely than one can imagine it. Unluckily, the score also showcases Emanuel Ax at a piano doing repetitive work that must have been a cinch for him to handle, but these keyboard ditties are intriguing.

Regarding the album production: Included alongside Doyle's music are four intriguing selections from the region; these achieve something rare in soundtrack production in that they emphasize the underscore. The sound has a surprising number of digital artifacts (with a particularly nasty cluster in 'The Land'), but is otherwise competent. The composer's sleeve notes detail his approach traditionally, while the director's writing speaks as personal poetry toward the film, life, the whole experience.

Were it not for an over-dependence on past ideas (many from earlier in this one score!) Doyle's "East-West" could rank among his best. As it is, "East-West" rates as a good soundtrack with a few great moments.

Reviewer

Jeffrey Wheeler

 

************************************************************** EDITOR's RECOMMENDATION April 2000 **************************************************************

David ROBBINS Cradle Will Rock  OST    RCA VICTOR 09026 63577 2 [46:24]
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Star-laden (John Cusack, Joan Cusack, Bill Murray, Vanessa Redgrave, Susan Sarandon, John Torturo and Emily Watson, and acclaimed actor Tim Robbins, as director, to name but a few), Cradle Will Rock has the shadow of Orson Welles looming over it. It was Welles who directed the original 1937 musical (produced by John Houseman) that was shut down by government injunction for the cast's alleged left wing politics. Quoting the press release that came with this disc, "It was performed guerrilla-style in an empty theatre without costumes, scenery or props. The music was composed by Marc Blitzstein, who fashioned his labour opera somewhere between realism, romance, satire, vaudeville, comic strip, Gilbert and Sullivan, Brecht and Weill..."

No, this is no comfortable M-G-M musical but biting satire. Ruritania and back-stage romance ditched for grubby reality and factory strikes. Its down-to earth reality influenced a new generation of composers notably Leonard Bernstein (think of West Side Story).

David Robbins not only arranged, produced and recorded Blitzstein's music but also wrote additional original music for the film seeking a balance between many different types of music to provide a 1930s feel that would compliment Blitzstein's music. Accordingly Robbins immersed himself in klezmer, Hungarian gypsy, Italian and Irish folk songs, Spanish dance, American jazz and vaudeville.

The instrumentalists on this recording play Blitzstein's original arrangements and orchestrations that were unable to be performed in 1937. The combo comprises: snare drum, trumpet, trombone, clarinet, sax and accordion, all adding richness and zest to the piano parts. [These same musicians appear in the film.] 'Cradle Opening Theme' has this ethnic mix with fiddle, banjo, clarinet prominent but all sounding terribly world-weary. This despondency in varying degrees stalks most of the nine or ten instrumental numbers but I hasten to add they are not displeasing to the ear. Their colour and use of imaginative instrumental groupings hold the attention and there are tango ('Diego gets Thrown Out') and conga ('Renegade Conga') rhythms to add some zest. I would mention one cue, 'Marc in the Park' a curious piece in accented hesitant-step rhythm that is a memorable character vignette.

Most of the vocals were performed by the actors. Generally, musical numbers in a film are lip-synced but it was felt that to preserve the desired feeling of reality, it was better to have "the immediacy, nervousness, imperfection and excitement of live performances."

The score opens with a dirge-like, hollow-sounding song 'Nickel Under the Foot' that suggests hopelessness with Polly Jean Harvey despairing about men and the grind of working life. "Some guy's an ace, without a doubt, turns out to be a bastard - and the other way about" and "if you're sweet you'll grow rotten, " she sings. Emily Watson adds off-key gloom with 'Molly's Song' in which she bemoans that she can only work on two days of the week and needs to eat on the rest. Here I would like to raise a point. Miss Watson's enunciation is not as clear as it could be and one has to strain, with little success I might add, to hear what she is singing. In a show like this lyrics are as important as the spoken dialogue. Instead of so many pictures on their very long fold-out booklet, it would have helped if RCA had printed the lyrics of these songs. This would have helped us to savour to the full the irony and biting satire of these songs. In 'Joe Worker', Audra Mcdonald proclaims that the worker is "gypped from the start… feed him out of the garbage cans, house him in the slums." "Reverend Salvation" sets its targets at the church, its priests bending with the wind of prevailing opinion but always eager for full collection boxes. As war threatens Reverend Salvation insists "thou shalt not kill..peace at any price - Collection!." When peace is threatened he insists peace, inner peace is the thing but that Americans cannot countenance peace without honour - Collection! Then, when war comes, it is a war to end the war - Collection!

As an antidote to all the rather heavy, politically-orientated material there are one or two happier songs. 'Honolulu', "where boredom will be banned", is sung very much in the style of Al Jolson. This song is clearly more for the folks on the right side of the tracks as is 'Croon Spoon' sung in those high squeaky voices and style of the 1920s-30s. Rich girl Susan Sarandon surprises delightfully, singing in full flapper mode. 'Art for Art's Sake', is another amusing satirical number about the rich being required to continually sponsor art. As one lady in an advanced state of ennui declares, "Did I tell you about the poet, he has such divine eyes, and such sensitive hands; and he told me I am an old soul, a very old soul… But they're always after my money"

A score that is very much off the beaten track but one that becomes more and more rewarding on repeated hearings Reviewer

Ian Lace

GILBERT & SULLIVAN (arr. Carl Davis) Topsy-Turvy OST    SONY SK61834 [65:35]
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Mike Leigh who is better known for his more earthy screenplays on contemporary mores, now turns his lens on Gilbert and Sullivan, evoking as he says the atmosphere of their world rather than simply documenting their story. His musical collaborator was fellow

G & S enthusiast, Carl Davis who had actually played rehearsal piano for his local G & S Society and arranged a Sullivan ballet for the re-opening of the Savoy Theatre after its terrible 1991 fire.

For the film Davis conducted extracts from the three operas that figure in the action of the film: Princess Ida, The Sorcerer and the ever-popular The Mikado. Leigh explains, to answer potential complaints about favourites being omitted, that numbers were chosen to suit the requirements of the story. Nevertheless, a goodly number of Mikado favourites are included here such as 'A Wand'ring Minstrel I'; 'Three Little Maids from School Are We'; 'A more Human Kind of Mikado' in which the Mikado is anxious "To let the punishment fit the crime"; and, of course Behold, The Lord High Executioner'. Timothy Spall as the Mikado is excellent. Yet he is overshadowed by the gloriously OTT expressive singing of Martin Savage in so many of the comic numbers like 'If You Give Me Your Attention' from Princess Ida in which King Gamma boasts "I've an irritating chuckle, I've a celebrated sneer, I've an entertaining sneer, I've a fascinating leer..." but then wonders why "Yet everybody says I am a disagreeable man! I can't think why!"

Interspersed with the vocal numbers, are a few orchestral interludes that Carl Davis has arranged from Sullivan's music for other shows including The Gondoliers, The Yeoman of the Guard and The Grand Duke. Three Overtures are also included: Princess Ida, The Mikado and The Yeoman of the Guard. In keeping with the general Victorian atmosphere the album also includes a rendering of Sullivan's much lampooned The Lost Chord, with those immortal lyrics - "Seated one day at the organ, I was weary and ill at ease…It might be that Death's bright Angel Will speak in that chord again.. "

Curiously, the album ends in a rather depressing downbeat mode with the slow measured tread of Resolutions from 'The Long day Closes.' Keen film and film music enthusiasts will remember that this was used most movingly in the passing clouds sequence that ended Terence Davies' wonderful film, The Long Day Closes.

The sumptuously illustrated booklet includes biographical notes about Gilbert & Sullivan, a useful timeline charting the dates of all their operas and brief synopses of all three featured operas, plus the words of all the songs featured in this album which will be cherished by G & S fans

Reviewer

Ian Lace

Wojciech KILAR La Neuvième Porte (The Ninth Gate) OST Sumi Jo (Soprano); The City of Prague Philharmonic and Chorus conducted by Stepan Konicek   SILVA SCREEN FILMCD 321 [54:07]
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This Roman Polanski film, I understand, is about dark Satanic rites and it stars Johnny Depp in what promises to be one of his celebrated bizarre roles. The screenplay revolves around its characters vying for a certain book that includes the nine illustrations, reproduced here, all of them having hidden meanings.

Wojeiek Kilar has created, without having to resort to synth bolsterings, a sort of modern Gothic score that must be chillingly effective in the theatre. It is certainly darkly scary in its own right.

The first cue 'Vocalise' - the main theme lets us into the horrors gently with slow faltering piano and harpsichord figures supporting a sweetly melancholy soprano intoning wordlessly. The title is indicative for this track is very reminsicent of Rachmaninov's work of the same name. Clever this because Rachmaninov's music was often doom-laden and frequently based on the Dies irae chant for the dead. This cue becomes more intense as first upper strings joining the texture followed by lower stings adding gravitas. The Opening Titles are an exercise in deepest, blackest string writing suggesting a malignant stalking menace. Higher strings add staccato stabbings augmenting the sense of deep foreboding with no relief.

'Corso' is a strange jazzy contrast. Over syncopated harpsichord and pizzicato strings, an assertive, domineering solo trumpet holds centre stage. The music, at this point, sounds very much like Prokofiev or Shostakovich. Then lower woodwinds continue the jaunty syncopations grotesquely before doleful strings continue the slow malignant march of the Opening Titles. 'Bernie is dead' is another eerie/sinister/darkly comic cue for pizzicato double basses and bassoons with piano struck in its highest register, those syncopations return for a 'sick' funeral march. Liana moves the music to highest strings and treble percussion, piano, vibraphone, celeste, bells etc giving a remote, glistening other-worldly. The music is repetitive, almost hypnotic, minimalist Philip Glass-like subtly modulating and shifting dynamics. Another contrast presents itself as 'Plane to Spain' (Bolero) as the domineering trumpet now becomes really proud and haughty proclaiming over strong Spanish-rhythms in the strings. This part of the cue reminds one of both De Falla and Ravel but soon the rhythm slows and the mood darkens to a sense of foreboding once more. Those high pitched piano chords jar the nerves in The Motorbike before mysterious high sustained brass chords and bells with a sort of echoing soprano solo screw the tension tighter. The 'Missing Book' summons back the jazzy syncopated chords with harpsichord and trumpet making sardonic comment then 'Stalking Corso' has spaced pounding percussion, heavy piano chords and snarling brass in frightening crescendo - the writing shows marked originality over the usual chase music.

The calm before the storm comes with the short soprano solo 'Blood on his Face.' 'Chateau Saint Martin' is an eerie exercise for high strings and percussion with muffled cymbals it sounds like the chiming of many clocks and finally mournful and finaly disonant tolling of bells. 'Liana's Death, 'Boo' and 'The Chase' are all creepy, Gothic, fearsome don't look behind you cues all masterly written. But it is 'Balkan's Death' that really impresses. Timpani and percussive poundings with repeated tam-tam strokes and low bassoon grumblings suggest the beast arising from the fires of hell. A devilish men's chorus (Orf-like) reinforces this feeling of utter evil and malice. Only the soprano voice promises any relief. 'The Ninth Gate' is another remote-sounding soprano solo followed by mysterious high register music seems to usher in music that has a redeeming radiance. 'Corso and the Girl' suggests victory of light over darkness - or does it?

Soprano Sumi Jo's beautifully pure tones add poignancy in contrast with the score's palpable malignancy; and the City of Prague Philharmonic is on top form. An extraordinary, darkly memorable score.

Reviewer

Ian Lace

 

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