The Musical Depths of THE CAVE

By: Randall D. Larson
Date: Thursday, September 22, 2005

THIS WEEK'S RECOMMENDATIONS

While the song soundtrack for Bruce Hunt's underground horrorshow, THE CAVE, is also on Lakeshore Records, I suggest you pass it by and grab the true score soundtrack instead. The sinewy orchestral strands that open the Johnny Klimek and Reinhold Heil score for THE CAVE, released by Lakeshore Records (LKS 33830) both signify the Gothic Romanian tonality of the film's milieu and the brooding darkness of the score's core. This is a very dark horror score, yet it maintains an orchestral clarity that is rather refreshing in today's era of synthetic sampling and musique concrete sonic imagery. That's an odd thing to say in view of the fact that Klimek and Heil came out of a history of synth scores, starting in Germany with films like RUN, LOLA, RUN and culminating more recently with the brutal dissonant droning of George Romero's LAND OF THE DEAD (reviewed in Soundtrax on July 7th, 2005). Their latest effort will soon be heard in the live-action version of AEON FLUX. The music for THE CAVE, while embodying electronics as well as acoustics, is primarily an orchestral sounding score, which is appropriate for a film about a descent into a Romanian cavern where very earthy horrors lie dormant and hungry. The dominating Gothic textures of strings and horns and heavy percussion evoke the kind of organic, ancient European horrors better than a cacophony of synth programming, and the score works well in sustaining a haunting tonality of subterranean unease. It's an effective if overlong score; there is no thematic unity to the score, instead a variety of multi-layered, brooding atmospheres that provoke a number of suspenseful moments in the progression of the film; yet there's something provocative about the score's massively measured ambiences and sustained musical strategies that resonates well on one's home speakers; an onrush of textured tonality and moody mysterioso that serves up a haunting heap of miasmic music, well intentioned and well crafted.
www.lakeshorerecords.com

While you are dispensing with the song soundtrack for THE CAVE in favor of the actual score soundtrack, do the same with the brash song soundtrack released earlier by Sony from Rob Cohen's actionfest, STEALTH pick up Varese Sarabande's score CD (302 066 676 2) featuring the energizing instrumental score by bt (MONSTER) it's a thrilling and thunderous hybrid synth-symph score that manages to nearly out-Zimmer the signature Hans Zimmer style that has set the tone for so much Big Action

scoring nowadays. It's not surprising nine of the CD's 28 tracks are actually credited to "additional music composer" Trevor Morris a protégé of Zimmer's from the Media Ventures facility who worked on Zimmer's scores for KING ARTHUR, THE RING 2, and others. Programmer Michael Dimattia (who worked as bt's musical assistant on MONSTER) also contributed tracks to this score. The sum, however, is a very good action score, even with its Zimmeresque influences. Morris' "The Pilot's Theme" is a compelling rhythmic melody that works very effectively in capturing a heroic adventure tonality despite its similarity to themes from THE ROCK and others in Zimmer's filmography. Bt's music tends to be more aggressively original, such as the riveting, raspy, and percussive Main Title riff, the atonal dissonance of "The Vertical Drop," and a terrifically evocative ethnic cue called "Thailand," featuring, piano, sampled vocal and bansuri (Indian flute) and santoor (Indian dulcimer). "Tin Man Will Prosecute" features a stirring Middle Eastern vocal performance over its rhythmic riffing that adds an eloquent texture to the track. "Henry's Death" proffers a pleasing texture from santoor accentuated by percussion before opening into an action motif for orchestra, piano, and drums that morphs into a brazen rock dissonance. Bt also supplies a tender songlike Love Theme for electric guitar that is quite nice; it opens into an expressive climax in "I'll Tell You Back At The Boat," one of the CD's standout tracks. With the different stylistic approaches of bt (whose tracks represent the score's best moments) and Trevor Morris (whose efforts are notable but familiar), and the tonal diversity that exists between the tracks, this is a damn fine action score that measures its rhythmic riffing and melodic textures effectively, parceling them out with diligence and purpose.
www.varesesarabande.com

Tadlow Music has released THE GUNS OF NAVARONE (TADLOW 001), the world premiere recording of Dimitri Tiomkin's complete score for J. Lee Thompson's lavish 1961 adventure film based on the Alistair MacLean novel. The music is brash and adventurous, melodically expressive, and sounds magnificent in this new digital recording, featuring the City of Prague Philharmonic. Tiomkin's acclaimed theme, which has graced several previous compilation albums, is a masterfully heroic motif, given several variations for action and suspense sequences, while a soothing love theme ("Yassu") is given a number of arrangements as well, including a vocal version by Keith Ferreira as a bonus track. Tiomkin enjoys a unique place in the film music

composer's pantheon his efforts span the gap between the Golden Age of the late 1940s/early 1950s and the Silver Age of the later 1950s and 1960s his work embodying characteristics of both traditional Hollywood scoring and the modern, song-driven emphasis of the Silver Age. GUNS OF NAVARONE is an excellent score that is as orchestrally lavish as any Golden Age Hollywood score, while embracing the song structure and modern romanticism of the Silver Age. The audio quality on Tadlow's digital recording, with Dolby Surround, is of course far finer and with a much richer dynamic than that of the original 12-track 1961 Columbia LP (reissued on CD by Varese Sarabande; also available in Spain and Japan); the new recording also features much more material than that of the original LP and its CD reissues. Tadlow's CD features over 79 minutes of music (25 mins previously unreleased), and includes a 10-minute suite (four tracks) from Fred Zinneman's 1950 adventure drama, THE SUNDOWNERS, conducted by James Fitzpatrick. The CD is distributed by Silva Screen Records.
www.silvascreen.co.uk  
www.tadlowmusic.com  

FILM MUSIC NEWS

Danny Elfman's latest musical excursion for TIM BURTONS' THE CORPSE BRIDE, was released this week by Warner Bros. Set in a 19th century European village, this stop-

motion, animated feature follows the story of Victor, a young man who is whisked away to the underworld and wed to a mysterious Corpse Bride, while his real bride, Victoria, waits bereft in the land of the living. Although life in the Land of the Dead proves to be a lot more colorful than his strict Victorian upbringing, Victor learns that there is nothing in this world, or the next, that can keep him away from his one true love. Like his music and songs for Burton's THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS (which this film resembles very much) and CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY, Elfman wrote a Gothic score as well as a gaggle of songs, performed by such British luminaries as Albert Finney, Joanna Lumley, Tracey Ullman, Helena Bonham Carter and Jane Horrocks. Elfman himself sings one of the tunes.

David Newman's eclectic score for Joss (BUFFY, ANGEL) Wheedon's impetuous

action/adventure/Sci-Fi/western, SERENITY, will be released by Varese Sarabande on Sept. 30th. Julian Nott's score for WALLACE & GROMIT: CURSE OF THE WERE-RABBIT will be released on October 7th.

The complete score to THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING, from the epic film trilogy THE LORD OF THE RINGS, will be available in a deluxe four-disc edition from Reprise/WMG Soundtracks on November 22nd. This historic release will contain over 180 minutes of music on three CD's, comprising Howard Shore's full score for the 2001 film, including the expanded music composed for the deluxe DVD edition. The fourth disc will present THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING: The Complete Recordings in 5.1 Surround Sound in DVD format. This deluxe set will include exclusive new artwork, packaging, and extensive liner notes by author Doug Adams, culled from his book The Music Of The Lord Of The Rings Films, to be published in 2006. Enya's song "May It Be," which received an Oscar nomination for Best Original Song and which she performed at the Academy Awards ceremony, is contained on "The Complete Recordings" within all-new selection titles that reflect the complete score being released in its entirety for the first time. Similar releases of THE TWO TOWERS and THE RETURN OF THE KING are expected to follow.
www.repriserecords.com  

Naxos has reissued their premiere recording of Franz Waxman's eloquent score for

Hitchcock's 1940 romantic mystery thriller, REBECCA (8.557549). Originally issued by Marco Polo in 1991, featuring the Slovak Radio Symphony, the re-release contains much nicer cover artwork, formatted in keeping with Naxos' "Film Music Classics" collection. (Varese Sarabande also released a new recording of the REBECCA score in 2002, with slightly different content, performed by the Royal Scottish National Orchestra. Both digitally recorded performances are excellent renditions of one of the best romantic scores for a Hitchcock film.)

Some time next year Naxos will release the complete soundtrack to Hammer's classic CURSE OF THE WEREWOLF. Benjamin Frankel's furious score appeared in part on Silva Screen's Horror! and Hammer The Studio That Dripped Blood! Releases in 1996 and 20002, respectively (same recording on both CDs), a proper complete recording has just been made by Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, under the baton of respected composer/conductor Carl Davis. The CD also includes Frankel's complete score music from the 1955 Inquisition drama, THE PRISONER, and some excerpts from THE NET and SO LONG AT THE FAIR.
www.naxos.com  

Lakeshore Records has released a song

soundtrack to the new horror film CRY WOLF as well as Antonio Pinto's original orchestral score from LORD OF WAR. On October 4th, the label will release Christopher Young's score from THE EXORCISM OF EMILY ROSE.
www.lakeshore-records.com  

There was an hour-long interview with Gabriel Yared (CITY OF ANGELS, TROY, COLD MOUNTAIN) on BBC Radio Three earlier this month (12th September 2005). the interview should be available on line on the BBC site for a few weeks:
www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/stageandscreen/?focuswin  

Soundtrack.net has posted a report on James Newton Howard's scoring session at Sony Studios for the drama FREEDOMLAND. Directed by Joe Roth, the film stars Samuel L. Jackson and Julianne Moore. "The emotionally atmospheric score contains the fusion of orchestra and electronics that Howard is known for doing so well," writes Dan Goldwasser of the recording session. "Pete Anthony is conducting the 61-piece orchestra comprised mainly of strings and woodwinds. Soft piano work is performed by Randy Kerber, and the score is being mixed by Alan Meyerson." Read the full story, with photos, at:
www.soundtrack.net/news/article/?id=663  

Silva Screen Records has released a soundtrack from the popular TV series THE SHIELD, comprised of "an aggressive and diverse mix of street music" from the show's four seasons.

Perseverance Records has released the long-awaited score for LOCH NESS (1996), starring Ted Danson, Joely Richardson and Ian Holm. The beautiful score by Trevor

Jones matches the movie's themes and plotlines. Backing a full orchestra is an ensemble of traditional folk instruments that includes violin, fife, penny whistle, Bodhran drums, guitar and accordion. There's also a subtly used EWI (Electronic Wind Instrument) that adds greatly to the atmosphere of the mystery. Unfortunately LOCH NESS sold out in four days of its initial release, and although Perseverance Records originally planned to limit the release to 1,000 CDs, the high demand for this title made them change their mind, and therefore they are pressing a second run of another 1,000.
www.perseverancerecords.com  

Italy's Digitmovies celebrates its sixth volume dedicated to Bruno Nicolai's Italian Giallo scores, releasing on CD the World Premiere complete stereo recording (again

thanks to the great cooperation of the C.A.M. film music archives) of the score from the movie LA NOTTE CHE EVELYN USCI' DALLA TOMBA (The Night Evelyn Came Out Of The Grave) The 1971 Euroshocker was directed by Emilio P. Miraglia and starred Anthony Steffen, Erika Blanc, Marina Malfatti, and Giacomo Rossi Stuart. Nicolai has written a magnificent orchestral score dominated by a romantic theme for trumpet and orchestra with a western flavor, even including the remarkable voice of Edda Dell'Orso. This score is enriched with dance floor tunes like shakes and bossa nova. The limited edition recording includes an 8-page deluxe booklet.

Digitmovies has also released a complete edition in full stereophonic sound of Gino Marinuzzi, Jr.'s score for TERRORE NELLO SPAZIO (Planet Of The Vampires). This classic blend of science fiction and horror belies its extremely low budget with buckets of atmosphere and some genuinely creepy set pieces. The story concerns the crews of two spaceships, who land on a foggy, seemingly deserted planet. What they don't know is that the planet was home to a race of vampiric aliens, who possess their minds, eventually rising from their strange, misty graves to seek human blood. Legendary director Mario Bava once again proves himself a master at atmospheric composition, using color, sound, and minimalistic sets in original and unnerving ways. Barry Sullivan stars with Angel Aranda and Brazilian actress Norma Bengell. 1967
www.digitmovies.com  

Hollywood Records has released James Horner's score for FLIGHT PLAN, the Jody Foster in-flight thriller.

Alan Williams has just signed on to score the upcoming live action/animated feature film, THE VELVETEEN RABBIT. Alan will again collaborate with award-winning lyricist David Pomeranz for two original songs for the film. Alan currently is working on the score to the new feature R.I.P. for director Mark Roemmich. He also has 3 new CDs awaiting release in the near future: Land Of Vikings is a compilation soundtrack to the documentary films PARTING LANDS: AN ICELANDIC SAGA, and THE GREEN LAND: WILDLIFE IN THE LAND OF VIKINGS. ADVENTUROUS ANDY is the first CD release of the complete orchestral score from the 1993 silent film. SUITS ON THE LOOSE, a new comedy from director Rodney Henson scheduled for release later this year, features a country-bluegrass flavored score. All of the CDs will be available within the month of September.
www.alanwilliams.com  

Composer James Michael Dooley has completed work on the animated short film for DreamWorks, A CHRISTMAS CAPER, starring the scene-stealing penguins from the hit film MADAGASCAR (Dooley has teamed with Hans Zimmer on the score for that film). This short will air before the upcoming feature WALLACE AND GROMIT: THE CURSE OF THE WERE-RABBIT for which Dooley provides additional music. Both animated films hit theaters worldwide this fall. Dooley has also completed the score for the PS2 video game Socom 3: US Navy SEALs. The score was recorded over 2 days with a 70-piece orchestra.

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