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Music of the Seven Seas

This Week's RecommendationS

Harry Gregson-Williams pulls a Howard Shore and emerges from the rhythm-action field of PHONE BOOTH, ENEMY OF THE STATE (with Trevor Rabin), SPY GAMES and THE REPLACEMENT KILLERS with a thoroughgoing orchestral swashbuckler, the new Dreamworks animated SINBAD: LEGEND OF THE SEVEN SEAS, released last week on Dreamworks B0000733-02. To be fair, Gregson-Williams, while emerging from the Hans Zimmer/Media Ventures school of scoring (which has had a heavy-handed effect upon action film scoring ever since Zimmer defined THE ROCK with rhythmic synths), has crafted some melodic-based film scores, including ANTZ, SHREK and CHICKEN RUN (the latter two in collaboration with John Powell), but SINBAD may be the composer's most lavish and melodic work. There is still a heavy use of synth pads in some of the action sequences, but the overall tonality is one of rousing adventure and orchestral melody. His main title, embellished by choir, is a terrific, sweeping overture full of impassioned orchestration and performance.

"Ultimately, SINBAD: LEGEND OF THE SEVEN SEAS is a love story," says Gregson-Williams. "And, for me, the challenge of scoring an animated movie is forgetting we're talking about two drawings falling in love just like I had to forget that ANTZ was about insects and CHICKEN RUN was about poultry. 'Honest' might be a strange word to use in this context, but if you try to fool the audience musically, they won't believe you. What you want is to be plunged into a world you can believe in so you can invest your emotions in the characters. That's why there's no tinkly cartoon music to remind you that it's really Brad Pitt in a sound booth and not Sinbad in a ship."

SINBAD is [IMG4R]indeed a commanding, entirely classical orchestral score, splendidly performed by an 80-piece orchestra supplemented by the London Metro Voices choir (the latter recorded at Abbey Road Studios). Gregson-Williams, no stranger to animated film scoring, approached the film foremost as a character story, underplaying its more fantastic elements.

"SHREK was so irreverent," notes Gregson-Williams. "The score was as over-the-top as the characters. SINBAD is also set in a fantastic world, but the character development and wide emotional arc are unusual for animation. Even how it looks is different a hybrid of traditional and more contemporary techniques. The music had to mirror the emphasis on character and the mix of classic and modern. At its core, yes, it's an orchestral score, but there are overtones of other elements throughout, such as ethnic particularly Middle Eastern textures, percussion, and flutes."

The composer effectively juxtaposes the epic and heroic with the intimate and personal throughout the score. Sinbad's theme, which opens the score, is forceful and pretentious, while the theme for Marina, the heroine (introduced in "The Stowaway"), is delicate and exotic. The mischievous villain, Eris, is accompanied by a bouncy, roguish theme (climaxing in "Sinbad Returns and Eris Pays Up").

"Early in the film, Sinbad is a bit of an anti-hero," says Gregson-Williams. "A bit of a loser, a thief, self-obsessed. But then he transforms into a noble hero. There are many ways of translating the heroic to the scoring stage including a bank of 12 French horns."

Dreamworks has compiled the score into a very pleasing reprisal on CD with more than an hour's worth of music. (It is not an original soundtrack recording, by the way; but a special mix of the Gregson-Williams-conducted score for CD). But the performance of both orchestra and choir is vividly enthusiastic and exciting. The power and poignancy of the score is summed up in the ending of "Tartarus," a thoroughly thrilling and satisfying cue that is one of the most impressive I've heard all year. Gregson-Williams has a fine handle on SINBAD, crafting an eloquent and energetic composition that resounds just fine from your home speakers.

Coming up for Gregson-Williams is the score for Denzel Washington's intense drama, MAN ON FIRE, and a return to fantasy with SHREK 2. The composer enjoys the variety and, unlike some composers, has avoided becoming trapped in a musical corner by a particular genre. "The danger is to become pigeonholed," he says. "The desire to find movies in all genres and in all sizes is a no-brainer. From a creative standpoint, to go from a film like PHONE BOOTH, whose score started as a series of sounds on the street, to the orchestral nature of a film like SINBAD, is the most important thing for me. It's something I have to do."

Lisa Gerrard [IMG2L]also got her start with Han Zimmer and Media Ventures, sharing composing duties with Zimmer on the award-winning music for GLADIATOR. Possibly best known as half of the Australian duo Dead Can Dance, who released eight critically acclaimed albums, Gerrard has also released two solo albums of her own The Mirror Pool (1995) and Duality (1998). For director Michael Mann, she scored THE INSIDER and ALI. Her latest score, for the persuasive drama from New Zealand filmmaker Niki Caro, WHALERIDER, has been released on CD by 4AD (CAD 2304CD). The movie is set in New Zealand and follows the story of a young, spirited Maori girl who becomes the natural heir to be leader of her tribe after her brother died at birth. Maori legend claims that Whangara islanders are descended from Paikea, who arrived  on the back of a whale, and their mythology maintains the whale as a guardian spirit. This becomes the back-story to Caro's compelling examination of acceptance and tribal culture.

Gerrard's score [IMG5R]echoes with ambient textures and eloquent voicings, reflective in its layered tonalities as it creates a submersible soundscape for the whale rider legend that is so integral to the film. The music moves slowly, whale-like, across the depths of the swaying synths that constantly lie beneath the languorous melodic tones that sail through it. Gerrard's music takes on the spirit of the Maori mythology and lets it run across the breadth of the film's story, speaking for the ancestors and the guardian spirit of the cetaceans that are revered by these people. It is a wondrous and haunting composition rich in musical depth and profound introspection.

From the world of videogame scores comes Jesper Kyd's music for Hitman 2: Silent Assassin, which has been released by Lynnemusic (LYNCD011). The CD contains over 64 minutes of orchestral & electronic music from Hitman 2 as well as bonus tracks that didn't make it into the game and re-mastered music from Hitman Codename 47.

New York-based [IMG3L]Danish composer Kyd has provided a big, bombastic action score performed by the Budapest Symphony Orchestra and Hungarian Radio Choir. This is far from the traditional electronic video game music of the past; Kyd's music is rich, dark, ominous, and epic in scope. Cues like "Mission in India" and "47 in St. Petersburg" seethe with Goldsmithian exoticism, while Kyd's Main Title is a swelling composition for orchestra and choir. "The Penthouse" is a furious action motif for dueling strings and cymbals over a roughhouse floor of percussion. Kyd incorporated electronic elements with the orchestral mix to provide a compelling soundscape for the game, whose settings call for music in a variety of ethnic guides, from Middle Eastern to Japanese to Russian to Indian. Kyd, 31, whose background in classical and electronic music goes back to his childhood, is quite capable in these various ethnic idioms and the music is most appealing.

Kyd's videogame score for BRUTE FORCE is also available on CD see http://www.music4games.net/n_kyd_bruteforce.html. For more information on the composer and the score, see http://www.jesperkyd.com/ and www.lynnemusic.com/hitman2.html.

SOUNDTRACK AND FILM MUSIC NEWS

Mark Isham is reunited with director Robert Harmon (for whom he scored THE HITCHER) for another taut action thriller called HIGHWAYMEN. Isham has crafted an edgy, percussive musical world for this dark film. The unique alternate rock score is filled with driving rhythms, electric guitars, loops and electronic textures, creating an atmosphere fraught with peril and tension. See www.isham.com.

Klaus Badelt's [IMG6R]score for the action/fantasy epic PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN will be released on CD by Disney on July 22^nd. Badelt, another Hans Zimmer protégé making it big on the solo circuit, scored the film with Zimmer, who replaced Alan Silvestri (who replaced Craig Armstrong on TOMB RAIDER 2), etc., etc., etc.

David Newman has been hired to compose the original score for THE CAT IN THE HAT, the new Mike Myers family comedy based on the book by Dr. Seuss. Newman is replacing Marc Shaiman as the score composer, however Shaiman stays onboard as co-composer (with Scott Wittman) of the songs in the film. The Bo Welsh directed film opens in November.

Trevor Jones (THE DARK CRYSTAL, DINOTOPIA) has scored THE LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN, which opens this Friday.

Graeme Revell scores FREDDY VS. JASON, which they just had to make, didn't they? It opens, for better or worse, on  August 15^th. No word yet on a soundtrack album.

One of [IMG7L]Georges Delerue's finest scores comes to CD for the first time in this month's Silver Age Classics release from FSM. Coupled with the music for Henri Verneuil's Holocaust saga THE 25TH HOUR is Delerue's intricately poignant music for the Jack Clayton thriller OUR MOTHER'S HOUSE. Both scores come from 1967 and neither have had a CD release before now and HOUSE only generated an LP release in Canada. Delerue's lovely, melodic scoring made headlines 17 years later when it influenced Quincy Jones's music for THE COLOR PURPLE. FSM's premiere CD features both album programs newly remastered from the best possible stereo sources. The packaging includes the original album notes as well as new commentary.

Also appearing this month from FSM are three scores composed for Sidney Lumet's THE APPOINTMENT (1969) in turn, Michel Legrand, John Barry (with Don Walker), and Stu Phillips all contributed scores to the troubled production; Legrand's was summarily rejected while the film was released internationally with the Barry/Walker score, and Stu Phillips composed the music for an edited television version broadcast in 1972. FSM puts all of these efforts together on a single release. See www.filmscoremonthly.com for more.

musicfromthemovies.com reports that Joe Harnell, the composer who wrote the music for the original V miniseries for NBC in 1983, has been asked to score the follow-up miniseries currently in development. Harnell, who also scored the cult TV series THE INCREDIBLE HULK in the late '70s, has also written a "Screen Themes Suite" for saxophone quartet, to be premiered by the Italian Saxophone Quartet this fall.

Intrada has released Lalo Schifrin's prison-warden score for BRUBAKER as the latest entry in its Special Collection (Vol. 10). Mingling Southern jazz with orchestral dramatic underscore and adding a couple of original country tunes, it's a likable dramatic score that appears on CD for the first time. See www.intrada.com.

DRG has reissued the rousing Elmer Bernstein adventure score for THE BUCCANEER (DRG 19051) as well as Neal Hefti's jazzy music for the 1965 feature biopic, HARLOW (DRG 19052).

Due out on July 22^nd from Decca is Randy Newman's score for the racing horse picture, SEABISCUIT and, from Milan, Robert Rodriguez' music for SPY KIDS 3D: GAME OVER.

Coming soon from Prometheus is the premiere release of Basil Poledouris' AMERIKA and, from Aleph, the first recording of Lalo Schifrin's THE HELLSTROM CHRONICLE. Still pending and eagerly anticipated are Denny Zeitlin's INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS (Perseverance), Roy Webb's MIGHTY JOE YOUNG (Monstrous Movie Music), and a new science fiction collection featuring THIS ISLAND EARTH, et al (Monstrous Movie Music).

FILM MUSIC ON DVD

Wim Wenders' [IMG8R]brilliant examination of angels and humanity, WINGS OF DESIRE, comes to DVD for the first time with a fistful of extra features. The documentary on the making of the film includes some discussion of the film's music, including snippets of an interview with composer Jurgen Kneipper. The music (a soundtrack CD was issued on Nonesuch in 1989) is as sparse and intuitive as Wenders' rugged black and white visualizations of Berlin, and yet as compassionate and soothing as angels Damiel and Cassiel, and as fragile as Homer, the aging Jewish poet and storyteller of humanity whom Cassiel protects. Kneipper and Wenders discuss the genesis of the score, which is notable for its extensive use of voices. Wenders describes how the voices in the score mirrored the thoughts of the humans listened to by Damiel and Cassiel as they watch over the city. Especially notable is the scene in the Berlin Library, wherein the voices of the people merge with the voices in the music to create a unique and amazing soundscape. Kneipper describes how he brought in a choir and handed out books on philosophy, textbooks, and other works, which each singer would read from. He first recorded the choir reading in whispers, each one choosing a segment from their own book. That was overdubbed by a second recording, in which the choir would speak softly. A third recording: speaking loudly. A fourth: singing. And so on until the various voicings from whispers to speaking to singing merge into an incredible soundscape of thoughts and words the sound world of the angels.

Stephen Daldry's intriguing film about writing, living, and dying, THE HOURS, came to DVD last week with a very nice featurette on the music. The literary drama, based on a novel based on a Virginia Woolfe book, tells three stories in three separate eras, linked by a marvelous and hauntingly beautiful Phillip Glass score. On the DVD, Glass describes what he wanted to do with the music: "What the music had to do was somehow convey the structure of the film. The story is very complicated and the music could take on a very important role in the film, to make it viewable, to make it comprehensible, so the stories didn't seem separate. The music had to be the thread that would tie them all together."

Glass describes how he resisted an initial temptation to treat each story with a separate musical style: "I might have had different music for each of the periods," he says. But he dropped this idea early on. "I wrote the same music to go with all three. As those characters reappear, variations of these themes appear."

Glass says that he chose the piano as the score's primary instrument because he wanted an instrument that was very personal and could cross periods very easily. "I combined it with a large string orchestra to give it a kind of a density of weight and of sound; in the same way that we're looking back through time, we're looking backward and forward at the same time."

Music is a very important element in THE HOURS. It becomes far more important than background underscore, as Glass points out. "There's no question that the emotional point of view [of THE HOURS] is conveyed by the music," he says. "Images are surprisingly neutral. Not that they don't have an emotional content of their own, but they can be easily manipulated, depending on the music. The direction the music takes, it's like the arrow you shoot into the air. Everything follows that."

Daldry adds, "What's fantastic is that Phillip's work is incredibly complex. It works as sort of another stream of consciousness within the film, almost as another character that links, complicates, and expands any particular scene that we're in, and there is a sort of gap sometimes between the image and the music, so that there is a counterpoint between the two. I think he's written one of the great scores."

NEXT WEEK

Listening to Tubular Bells 2003.

Soundtrax is our weekly Movie Soundtrack column.