Fearless Farscape

By: Randall D. Larson
Date: Thursday, August 24, 2006

THIS WEEK'S RECOMMENDATIONS

Scheduled for release on September 5th from Lakeshore Records, the soundtrack to JET LI'S FEARLESS is a massive action/adventure score from the composer of HOUSE OF FLYING DAGGERS and Kar Wai Wong luxurious drama, 2046, Shigeru Umebayashi. Anchored in a sturdily heroic theme ('Shanghai Fight'), the music to FEARLESS is as much a Hans Zimmer-styled action score as it is a distinctly Asian-sounding martial-arts score. Comprised of two dozen mostly short cues, the Lakeshore CD proffers more than an hour of music.

FEARLESS is the story of Fok Yuen-gap (aka Huo Yuan-jia), a national hero in China and master arts master at the beginning of the 20th century, who early on experiences the dark, vengeful side of wushu. He eventually rises to embrace its more positive side by taking on some of the world's greatest fighters in a sporting competition that takes place at a time when a distressed China is being encroached upon by foreign powers. The film reteams Jet Li with producer Bill Kong (HERO) and action director and choreographer Yuen Wo Ping (UNLEASHED). The same story inspired Bruce Lee's FIST OF FURY (1972), where Lee plays a fictional student who avenges his master's death (Jet Li played the same role in FIST OF LEGEND). Yuen Wo-ping directed the 1982 LEGEND OF A FIGHTER which was also about Yuen-gap. The film is directed by Ronnie Yu (THE BRIDE WITH WHITE HAIR).

Adopting the style popularized by Tan Dun in CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON, Umebayashi scores a number of fight scenes with heavy percussion ('Master Huo's Fight,' 'Tianjin Fight,' etc.). The majority of the cues support various action or fight scenes, but they are nicely interspersed with a variety of melodic themes and gentler poignant passages that emphasize the spiritual aspects of Yuen-gap's martial arts. 'Man's Theme,' for example, proffers a passionate swelling of strings, amazingly expressive and unfortunately all-too short. 'Moon Explains' is a poignant and very evocative Chinese melody for violins and flutes; the same rich, string-full melody recurs in 'Yuanjia And Moon.' The hushed choir, violins, in 'Children Play With Dragonflies' and the harsh, loudly modulated 'Village Flute Solo' that follows are extremely compelling and offer an interesting sonic texture.

'Final Fist 1' and '2' resolve the score with an air of melancholia, which 'Fearless Men/Theme of Yuanjia And Moon' return the sensibility to one of heroic nobility, culminating in a poignant solo female voice. 'Ending' recapitulates the main theme over the end titles roll. Overall, FEARLESS is a very compelling listen the overall throb of the massive drums contrasts nicely with the introspective trills of Umebayashi's flutes or his Asian strings, and the score carries a constantly changing and varied musical texture throughout its length.

www.lakeshore-records.com

www.jetlisfearless.com

La-La Land Records has released a second volume of FARSCAPEClassics complete original soundtracks from the popular Sci-Fi Channel series of a few years ago. I've been associated with this and the first volume as the liner note writer, and I've become quite enamored by the musical dexterity with which Aussie composer Guy Gross has canvassed each show. Volume 2 contains the scores for Season 2's finale, 'Die My Dichotomy,' wherein the evil Scorpius overtakes hero Crichton's mind via a neurochip, and action ensues that apparently result in the death of heroine Aeryn. Gross provides a fairly dark score, emphasizing the psychological mind control used by Scorpius to invade the personalities and passions building between Crichton and Aeryn; at the same time the episode contains one of the series most persuasively poignant musical moments, the ethereal vocal melody heard during the painful pageantry of Aeryn's funeral, which Gross based on actual Roman Catholic musical liturgy. For the climax of Season 3, Gross's music for the episode, 'Into The Lion's Den, Part 2: Wolf in Sheep's Clothing,' peaked as the segment delineated the final confrontation between Scorpius and Crichton. The music, which continues motifs introduced in the previous episode (most FARSCAPE episodes had individual, distinct scores, with only a few themes recurring between them), builds to near epic proportions, yet associating itself continually with the show's protagonists and musically supporting events through their perspectives. FARSCAPE is a wonderland of imaginative scoring techniques; whose texture changes frequently but whose viewpoint remains steadfast with its characters as they change and react to the events around them.

www.lalalandrecords.com

www.ggm.com.au


FILM MUSIC NEWS


Daniel Licht has written several acclaimed theatrical scores for horror films such as THINNER, SOUL SURVIVORS and HELLRAISER: BLOODLINE, but nowadays he's mostly active in television scoring. Licht's latest assignment is Showtime's DEXTER, a crime thriller series starring Michael C. Hall and Julie Benz which debuts on October 1st. Among Licht's previous TV credits are CABIN BY THE LAKE, LEGION OF FIRE: KILLER ANTS and KING SOLOMON'S MINES (which he scored together with Mark Kilian

-via filmmusicradio.com

Last Saturday the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences held its annual Creative Arts Emmy Awards, which announced these winners for the music categories:


Outstanding Music Composition For A Series (Dramatic Underscore)
24: 6:00AM - 7:00AM (FOX) Sean Callery, Composer


Outstanding Music Composition For A Miniseries, Movie Or A Special (Dramatic Underscore)

INTO THE WEST (TNT) Geoff Zanelli, Composer

Outstanding Music Direction
GREAT PERFORMANCES: South Pacific In Concert From Carnegie Hall (PBS) Paul Gemignani, Musical Director and Conductor

Outstanding Music And Lyrics
MADtv: Episode 1111 (FOX) Greg O'Connor, Music Composer, Jim Wise, Lyrics
Song Title: 'A Wonderfully Normal Day'

Outstanding Main Title Theme Music

MASTERS OF HORROR (Showtime) Edward Shearmur


via www.soundtrack.net

Also in music awards news this last week, the World Soundtrack Award nominations were announced:

Nominees in the category 'Soundtrack Composer of the Year:'
- Danny Elfman Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
- Alberto Iglesias The Constant Gardener
- Dario Marianelli Pride and Prejudice
- James Newton Howard King Kong
- John Powell Ice Age: The Meltdown

'Best Original Soundtrack of the Year'
- Brokeback Mountain - Gustavo Santaolalla
- King Kong - James Newton Howard
- Munich - John Williams
- Pride & Prejudice - Dario Marianelli
- The Constant Gardener - Alberto Iglesias

'Best Original Song Written for Film'
- 'A Love That Will Never Grow Old' from Brokeback Mountain (Gustavo Santaolalla/ Bernie Taupin)
- 'Can't Take It In' from The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe (Harry Gregson-Williams/Imogen Heap)
- 'Magic Works' from Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Jarvis Cocker)
- 'Mdlwembe' from Tsotsi (Kabelo 'Kaybee' Ikaneng/Zola
- 'Our Town' from Cars (Randy Newman)

- Mikael Carlson/filmmusicradio.com

Daniel Pemberton's music for the British TV series PREHISTORIC PARK is now available as an online exclusive from iTunes, via the label 1812 Records. The score was performed by the City of Prague Philharmonic. Daniel Pemberton is a 27-year old composer who has worked on TV series such as PEEP SHOW, MANOR HOUSE and Ramsay's KITCHEN NIGHTMARES. PERHISTORIC PARK is a 60-minute documentary somewhat along the lines of the popular BBC WALKING WITH DINOSAURS series, only with less convincing reptilian subjects.

On September 1st, Germany's All Score Media will release a cd compilation paying tribute to the unique harmonica soloist Franco De Gemini, whose work is known from Italian Westerns such as ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST and others. The CD includes OUATATW's famous track, 'The Man With The Harmonica,' and 15 tracks De Gemini recorded between 1967 and 1978, running from Italian Western songs to easy listening to disco and jazz the main thread of course being the solo harmonica sound of De Gemini, who later founded the Italian cult soundtrack label Beat Records, which has proffered numerous rare Italian Western soundtracks on cd. It's a mix of soundtrack music, rare library tracks and pop instrumentals.
Several titles were composed by Maestro De Gemini himself (other composers include Morricone, Nicolai, Alessandroni). The booklet comes with extensive liner notes and many pictures.

www.allscore.de

Concentrating on a career as a composer in his own right, Kenneth Burgomaster, who has worked as a synthesizer programmer for composers such as Christopher Young, Danny Elfman and Trevor Rabin, has recently scored a number of Disney Channel productions. His latest assignment is called HALLOWEENTOWN: WITCH U, starring Lucas Grabeel, Sara Paxton and Debbie Reynolds. Burgomaster has also scored the TV shore PHIL OF THE FUTURE for Disney/ABC as well as the theatrical feature END GAME. HALLOWEENTOWN: WITCH U is scheduled to air in October.

- via filmmusicradio.com


GAMES MUSIC NEWS

Ubisoft Paris has unveiled the latest signature sound for their SPLINTER CELL franchise: the distinctive orchestra/electronica-hybrid style of veteran game composers Sascha Dikiciyan and Cris Velasco will be used for the official main theme for SPLINTER CELL 4: DOUBLE AGENT. The two also scored all of the cinematics for the game.

"Sascha and Cris' unique style was the perfect match for what we were looking for," said Sylvain Brunet, Sound Producer for Ubisoft. "The latest episode of the SPLINTER CELL franchise is more emotional than the previous installments. We needed music that would reflect the new dramatic storyline, and this is exactly what Sascha and Cris delivered with their main theme."

"Ubisoft asked us to provide a score that would match the narrative in the game," explained Sascha Dikiciyan. "We created a gritty electronica feel with cinematic orchestra to push the emotional side of the game to a new level."

With 12 game scores scheduled for release in 2006 alone, Sascha Dikiciyan and Cris Velasco have garnered critical acclaim for their versatility and fearlessness of pushing the boundaries of music whether it's composing an elegant string arrangement, dramatic orchestral score, hard-hitting rock tracks, or raw electronic beats. In addition to SPLINTER CELL 4, the two have collaborated on such titles as DARK MESSIAH, SPY HUNTER: NOWHERE TO RUN, and HELLGATE: LONDON since they joined forces in 2005. Their music was recently released on the Associated Production Music (APM) Endgame Music Library, a collection of original music cues created by many of the most successful video game music composers in the industry. Beyond gaming, the scope of their music reaches into the advertising and feature film arenas.

For more on the game, please go to http://splintercell.us.ubi.com/



Former editor/publisher of CinemaScore magazine, Randall Larson was for many years senior editor for Soundtrack Magazine and a film music columnist for Cinefantastique magazine. He is the author of Musique Fantastique: A Survey of Film Music in the Fantastic Cinema (Scarecrow, 1984) and Music from the House of Hammer (Scarecrow, 1995). In addition to Soundtrax and Music News for Cinescape.com, Randall reviews soundtracks Music from the Movies, writes for Film Music Magazine, and in many other fields.

Recommended Soundtrack sources:

www.buysoundtrax.com
www.intrada.com
www.screenarchives.com
www.footlight.com
www.arksquare.com/index_main.html (Japan)
www.intermezzomedia.com/ (Italy)
www.moviegrooves.com
www.moviemusic.com

For questions or comments, contact the author at Soundtrax@cinescape.com