Soundtrax

Don Davis' soundtrack for THE MATRIX REVOLUTIONS.
© Maverick

The Matrix's Final Conflict

By: Randall D. Larson
Date: Thursday, November 06, 2003

THE MATRIX: MUSICAL REVOLUTIONS

Don Davis completes his MATRIX cycle with REVOLUTIONS, released Tuesday on Maverick (48412-2). The score is a thrilling, relentlessly pulsating, intricately crafted expansive recapitulation of what Davis developed so uniquely in the first two MATRIX scores, both of which were tremendously innovative in their use of reflective sound design, post-modern scoring techniques, and fusion of choral, orchestral, and techno musical formats.

REVOLUTIONS starts out furiously in its Main Title. After Davis' signature MATRIX motif (a polytonal, harmonic brass motif echoed by bell tree as it reflects off of an endless pattern of shimmering surfaces, suggestive of the multiple virtual realities found within The Matrix), a rushing onslaught of staccato trumpets, percussion, and trilling winds fills the speakers with a visceral array of dynamic sound that concludes the track. In contrast to this is a quiet, almost fragile upswelling violin and harp heard in "The Trainman Cometh," but it soon seques into a throbbing percussive techno pattern provided by Ben Watkins of Juno Reactor, with whom Davis collaborated on several action sequences in both RELOADED and REVOLUTIONS. Three tracks on the CD combine the efforts of Davis and Juno Reactor, another track contains a hoarse and discordant techno vocal called "In My Head," performed by Pale 3, but the remaining dozen tracks are pure Davis, thereby providing 50 minutes of cohesive underscore, far more generous than were offered in Maverick's RELOADED CD.

The trilogy's apocalyptic battle between men and machines (aka, good versus evil) is spelled out a little more succinctly in this score, with some new motifs that clearly associate themselves with the human elements, mostly notably in the intricate beauty of "Trinity Definitely," a fully-developed recapitulation of the Trinity/Neo love theme for English horn and cello. It's placement between these hugely powerful action cues gives the score a wonderful respite, and allows the emotions and the humanity that lies behind the story to revel in its own purity for just a moment, re-energizing the players in their battle against the mechanistic.

With a huge 17-minute climactic battle sequence culminating the war between men and machines that has been developed previously in the last two films, REVOLUTIONS is largely a resolution of what Davis has been building up to in the first two films, as well as the ANIMATRIX and the video game score (adapted as it was from Davis' music by Erik Lundborg.) The result is a huge tour-de-force, a kind of symphonic apocalypse (to borrow one interviewer's term) that ascends to truly epic heights. It reaches its peak in "Neodammerung," an apocalyptic post-modern amalgamation of Wagner and Orff as the choir chants away furiously, interspersed with elements of the Matrix Theme, crashing pulsations of percussion, giving the final battle a cataclysmic import that is absolutely thrilling, musically. A final, reprised musical climax is heard in "Why, Mr. Anderson?" wherein the orchestra and choir join together in a unified ascent of victory; but the cue ends with solemn, low chorale statement over strings.

"Spirit of the Universe," Davis's triumphal restatement of his MATRIX themes, closes the score in a very satisfying musical denouement, reflective this time in spirit rather than in the mechanistic manner of the previous scores. The slowed-down reflections are more choral and acoustically tonal here, as if the humanity of the future has finally been shed of the ominous reflections of the mechanical antagonists that had sought to destroy it. Still, echoes of the polytonal brass Matrix motif emerge even in the conclusion, remembrances of what has gone before. A rapid-fire, techno reprisal of "Neodammerung" in "Navras," from Davis and Juno Reactor, closes the CD, slightly disturbing the resolute mood of "Spirit of the Universe" that ended the score so satisfyingly; but the high-end choral samplings offer a very nice tonality and the techno dance tune closes the CD on a note of dazzling rhythm.

THIS WEEK'S RECOMMENDATIONS

Steve Jablonsky's spooky

The second volume of THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E. music.

score for the remake of THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE has been released this week by La-La Land Records (LLLCD-1009). The music is a thickly orchestral montage of synth tonalities and blasting stingers that have all the sharp potency of, well, a chainsaw starting up. In his comments in the CD booklet, director Marcus Nispel revealed that he felt a conventional score would have been too comforting in a movie of this kind: "I wanted it all to be dissonant, atonal, subliminal, and disturbing." An approach, by the way, that was very similar to that taken by Wayne Bell and Tobe Hooper in their original TEXAS CHAINSAW score (see my comments on the latter in my October 23^rd column). Jablonsky, a prot�g� of Hans Zimmer who also scored BAD BOYS 2 and is currently scoring TV's THREAT MATRIX, crafted a suspenseful score filled with seething electronic patterns, tones, and textures that tend to hold together more cohesively than the acoustic-based dissonant textures of the original's score. The terror stingers (such as the blast of dissonance that introduces the cue "Kemper Gets Whacked" and the rush of terrifying sound heard in "Crawford Mill"), are very effective, and the composer's use of synth textures creates an honestly compelling suspense score, irresolute and disquieting, even if somewhat cliched at times (breathing effects, oscillating tonalities, percussive heartbeats, and so on). Still, it's a potent work, effectively designed, and leaves a lasting impression. "Can't Go Back" is a superb effort in subtle apprehension. The closest the score comes to any respite from the relentless musical terrors is found in the relieved orchestral chords heard at the end of "Final Confrontation," and the melancholy resolve of "Last Goodbye," which of course culminates in one, final stinger before fading out. Later this year Jablonsky will score the anime film, STEAM BOY, directed by renowned AKIRA creator, Katsuhiro Otomo.

FSM has followed up their enormously successful "Silver Age Classic" soundtrack, THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E. (FSM Vol 6 No 17) with a

Danny Elfman's HULK score

second volume. Once again the intrepid researcher Jon Burlingame has unearthed some of 1960's televisiondom's most memorable and effective spy music. Like the first volume, this one draws on music from all four seasons, avoiding a chronological compilation of music but instead sequencing it in a pleasing arrangement for home listening. Again, this is all original soundtrack cues, rather than the jazzified rearrangements for record that dominated previous U.N.C.L.E. CD incarnations before Burlingame got his hands on the true gold. There's nearly 30 minutes of previously unreleased music from Jerry Goldsmith's pilot and episode scores, plus terrific efforts from his colleagues who shared the series' musical requirements, such as Lalo Schifrin, Nelson Riddle, Gerald Fried, Morton Stevens, Walter Scharf, Robert Drasnin, and Richard Shores. The music, as it was originally recorded, is mostly in pristine mono, but it sounds terrific all the same. There is half an hour worth of music from the fourth season and from the first feature film, ONE OF OUR SPIES IS MISSING. Burlingame has also written a very thick, very detailed, and very nicely illustrated guide to all the music on this CD, as well as reflections on the series, and upon previous record releases of its music. Open Channel D, and color this one a must have.

Marco Polo has released a stunning new recording of one of Hollywood's most spectacular orchestral scores of its Golden Age (or any age, for that matter). Erich Wolfgang Korngold's THE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD (8.225268), previously available in a laudable newly recorded rendition by The Utah Symphony (Varese Sarabande VCD-47202, released 1993 with 16 tracks at 42:41 mins), is given a thorough treatment, nearly doubling the length of music to 78:27 over 25 tracks, masterfully restored by John Morgan and performed by the Moscow Symphony under the baton of William Stromberg. The Morgan-Stromberg collaboration has resulted in modern, digital recordings of some of the best Hollywood film music, and this one just might take the cake. For those youngsters weaned on STAR WARS who have never heard orchestral film music from the 1930s or 1940s, or who have only heard it through tinny monophonic television speakers, this is another must have. Korngold's swashbuckling adventure music is given a vibrant new life and a striking new dynamic in this recording. As usual, the release includes a thick booklet of notes on the film, its score, its composer, and its performers. The only drawback to the package is the humdrum cover, which evidently couldn't license the film's artwork and had to make do with a generic British castle image.

Film music crafted through rock and roll has, with a few exceptions (Eric Clapton's EDGE OF NIGHT, for example, or Mike Oldfield's THE KILLING FIELDS), tended to reveal itself through a completely songlike structure (the myriad of rock vampire and zombie flicks that have emerged from MTV-influenced directors over the last decade) or else essentially divorce itself from the rock and roll idiom to create more of an electronic synthesis that really isn't rock and roll any more. John Murphy's [IMG7R]music for 28 DAYS LATER (soundtrack on XL Records, XLCD 168) Danny Boyle's effective reimagining of NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD set in an England decimated by a viral plague, retains a thoroughgoing rock and roll sensibility while meeting the demands of film scoring. He doesn't try and morph rock and roll into something that represents or imitates traditional film scoring but instead crafts a true rock and roll film score using that idiom to support the film on its own merits. The result is surprisingly effective and potent. Murphy's music supports the film's desolate imagery with music that is modern in style but isn't afraid to associate itself from earlier musical modes (as in modernistic "Ava Maria" vocal heard in "The Tunnel" and the spooky electronics of "Jim's Dream," and the haunting chorale vocalisms of "In Paradisum" and the mournful "Soldiers (Requiem In D Minor)". This is music that could be rock and roll, but halts just short of riffing into a song structure to retain a more symphonic sensibility but doing so through instrumentation and dynamics of a rock band. The CD adds a few "inspired by" songs to the mix, including the neat "AM180" by Grandaddy, Blue State's "Season Song," and Brian Eno's ambient instrumental "An Ending (Ascent)", which, while likable, serve the same function as rock songs interspersed among an orchestal or synth score distort the mood and distract from the style being developed by the film's true underscore. The XL recording includes a pair of remixed bonus tracks for the US CD release.

SOUNDTRACK & FILM MUSIC NEWS

John Barry celebrated his 70^th birthday this week, on February 3^rd. Composer of more than 130 film scores, Barry's work has graced such genre offerings as THE BLACK HOLE, STAR CRASH, SOMEWHERE IN TIME, and the best of the 007 series. He is currently scoring the Disney/Pixar animated super hero fest THE INCREDIBLES.

Brian [IMG8L]Tyler's score to TIMELINE will be issued by Varese Sarabande on Nov 26^th. Jerry Goldsmith's LOONEY TUNES: BACK IN ACTION hits stores on the 18^th.

British composer Crispin Merrell has started work on Gerry Anderson's new television project CAPTAIN SCARLET, recently recording a couple of sessions at Lynx Studios in Denham Village and is currently finishing off the main title music. Merrell scored Anderson's SPACE PRECINCT back in 1994.

John Ottman's

The one-sheet for GOTHIKA.

next project after GOTHIKA, Matthieu Kassovitz's drama thriller starring Halle Berry, is another thriller, CELLULAR, directed by David R. Ellis and starring Kim Basinger.

Angelo Badalamenti, whose latest scores include CABIN FEVER, SECRETARY and RESISTANCE, has been hired to score yet another unusual thriller, this one involving a ghost Walter Salles' DARK WATER starring Jennifer Connelly. The film is being distributed by Walt Disney Pictures in 2005.

Prometheus is planning a second volume of their CBS Years series of Bernard Herrmann music. The next volume is scheduled to include Walt Whitman Suite, Ethan Allen Suite, Desert Suite, Collector's Club Suite, Moat Farm Murders Suite, Brave New World Suite, and the LANDMARK theme.

On October 23^rd, Disney unveiled the $274 million Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles with three gala performances, one of which featured John Williams conducting an array of his film music, including a world-premiere piece he wrote for the occasion, inspired by the hall's lobby chimes.

The Georges Delerue web site has been restored to its original location, just weeks after it had been launched at Georges-Delerue.net - apparently legal notice was received from Mrs. Colette Delerue, widow of the composer, requiring deletion of the web site, believing that no one can use the name of Georges Delerue on the Internet without her permission. In the interest of harmony, webmaster Cl�ment Fontaine has deleted the Georges-Delerue.net site and restored the page under its original location at http://www.vif.com/users/disqcine/Delerue.html

FILM MUSIC ON DVD

Last week's release of Ang Lee's HULK on DVD included a second disc's worth

Don Davis' soundtrack for THE MATRIX REVOLUTIONS.

of special features, including plenty to chew on concerning Danny Elfman's eleventh-hour scoring job (replacing the noble efforts of Mychael Danna, which, ultimately, were decided to be inappropriate for what Lee was seeking on this film). In "The Incredible Ang Lee" documentary, Elfman describes working with the respected director ("His direction was much different than most directors I have worked with, because it was more psychologically internal, about the process and the characters, and he challenged me often not to sound like myself!"). In the "Making of HULK The Music" segment, Elfman describes his approach to scoring the film, which as helmed by Ang Lee brought a level of sophistication and honest human drama to the heroic comic book story. "The first and most important thing is: what is the tone of the film?" Elfman says.

Steve Jablonsky's score for the Michael Bay remake of THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE

"What is the tone of the characters? Finding the tone between what happened, the horrible tragedy, repressed memories, an intense relationship between father and son [that] creates this monster. The whole idea of within each of us is this monster waiting to break out." Later, Elfman describes the rewards of writing a dynamic action film like this: "I love writing music that's aggressive. I love taking out my aggression through the orchestra in my music, when I can. It was very clear [in HULK]: repressed, repress, repression breaking out, breaking out, and exploding!"

Elfman's HULK soundtrack is available on Decca CDs.

Soundtrack sources:

www.buysoundtrax.com

www.intrada.com

www.screenarchives.com

Soundtrax is our weekly Movie Soundtrack column.

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

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