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A Series of Fortunate Releases

Philip Glass' compelling score for the Errol Morris absorbing documentary about Robert McNamara and the cold war years of the 1950s/60s, THE FOG OF WAR, has been released by Orange Mountain Music (omm0010). The score is much like that Glass composed for Morris' previous THE THIN BLUE LINE (also recently reissued by Orange Mountain, without the distracting dialog excerpts that marred the original 1989 Nonesuch release); for that matter much of Glass' music is cut from the same velvet, or the same minimalist wellspring of rhythmic tonality. On the surface much of it does seem alike and repetitious; however the brilliance of Glass' music is found in its subtleties, its development, its ability to derive a powerful emotional mood when linked with visual material. The music breathes with its own life. As film music, Glass' work is far removed from the typical harmonies, textures, and patterns of Hollywood film music, even in contemporary hybrid efforts noted from Zimmer, Gregson-Williams, and others. His style is distinctive and carries an unexpected power in its eloquent delicacy and its recurring cadences. In THE FOG OF WAR, the score did much to bring sequences of warfare to life, contrasting well with the talking-head shots of Robert McNamara, which are sometimes given their own subtle musical underpinnings. The score derives semblances of ominousness, of discomfort, of questionable politics. It's this last sensation that Glass seems to do particularly well, and has been especially potent in films like this and THIN BLUE LINE, where the words of Morris' interviewees begin to reveal new veneer varnishing old truths (or truisms). Especially in THE FOG OF WAR, Glass' music bridges the gap between unemotional documentarism and audience, casting that emotional link between subject and viewer and bringing the film to such compelling life. www.orangemountainmusic.com

Also of note for Philip Glass fans, Naxos has released, in its "American Classics" series, Glass' Symphony No. 3 along with Symphony No. 2, performed by the Bournemouth Symphony, conducted by Marin Alsop. The music is very much with Glass' personal musical genre, is perhaps a little more free form (well, as free form as Glass' style permits itself to get). Once again, the beauty of the music is in its subtle variation and development, its multi-layered textures, and its incessantly morphing rhythms and patterns. It can be quite mesmerizing. www.naxos.com

Sony Classical has released two versions of Andrew Lloyd Webber's feature film adaptation of his masterful musical, THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA. The first (SK 93521) contains 14 tracks and the song highlights of the film. The second (S2K 93522) is a 2-CD set containing 25 tracks and all of the film's major musical sequences. The latter includes several of the underscore sections Webber wrote for the feature version, although they are presented with dialog so one never really gets to hear Webber's purely instrumental interpretations on their own. But there are intriguing passages in "The Fairground" and "The Swordfight" that give an indication of Webber as film composer. As for the rest of the CD, the music, performed now by a full symphony orchestra (the previous London cast recording issued previously on Polydor was a modified group comprised of orchestra and rock band), is a new take on some of the finest and most compelling theatrical song scores written in recent years. The new sound is fresh and expansive, with a vivid orchestral texture that gives it a larger sense of depth and dynamic. The cast members are excellent, even for those of us who have grown up loving the Michael Crawford/Sarah Brightman original. Emmy Rossum (the heroine of DAY AFTER TOMORROW) is a more fragile Christine; her voice has more tenderness than the powerfully fluid Brightman, but she brings an equally captivating and perhaps more delicate tonality to the performance. There is also a brand new song, "Learn To Be Lonely," sung by Minnie Driver, who also appears in the film. The CD is nicely formatted in a book binding and includes 30 pages of notes and photos from the film. www.sonyclassical.com

Sony has also released the soundtrack to the next-in-line big budget epic Asian martial arts film, the lovely and lavish HOUSE OF FLYING DAGGERS. The score is by Japanese composer Shigeru Umebayashi, a former member of Japan's new-wave rock band, EX, who has also scored Wong-kar Wai's IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE, the provocative 2001 Chinese martial-arts fantasy, ONMOJI and the 2002 Gordon Chan thriller, GUNGYUN 2000. The music is beautifully and intricately Asian, prominently featuring such distinctive musical voices as erhu (violin), pipa (lute), bamboo flutes, and a well crafted barrage of soft percussion. The score is splendidly derived from instruments both Eastern and Western, taking on a somewhat more rhythmic and central dynamic, as well as a more hybrid musical texture, than that of Tan Dun's brilliant HERO or CROUCHING TIGER. But it is of the same mold, and if you liked either of those you will most likely enjoy FLYING DAGGERS. The music is drawn from Western modulations but tinged with Chinese instruments in the presentation, which makes for a unique and compelling sonority. Asian action films such as these are among the most compelling and visually beautiful action films in modern cinema, and their growing popularity among American filmgoers is all for the best. Likewise is their music. The CD features two songs from the film, "Beauty Song," appropriately performed by the film's star, the eloquently beautiful Zhang Ziyi, and a version of the title song, "Lovers," sung by soprano Kathleen Battle.

Hollywood Records has released the soundtrack to Wes Anderson's THE LIFE AQUATIC WITH STEVE ZISSOU, featuring music by Mark Mothersbaugh (2061-62494-2). Like the majority of the composer's soundtracks, including his previous score for Anderson, THE ROYAL TENENBAUMS, the soundtrack is mainly a collection of the random pop tunes inserted into the film. We have five score tracks by Mothersbaugh, interspersed among 15 pop tunes from the likes of Devo (appropriately), David Bowie, The Zombies, Joan Baez (singing the Morricone-written "Here's To You" that she sung in SACCO AND VANZETTI), Seu Jorge, and others. The sequencing prevents us from really enjoying Mothersbaugh's take on THE LIFE AQUATIC on its own merits unless we program out the other numbers. The score is, naturally, quite quirky, from the heraldic march of "Loquasto International Film Festival" and its more subdued musical compatriot, "Zissou Society Blue Star Cadets") to the breezy vibe of "Let Me Tell You About My Boat," the staccato riff of "We Call Them Pirates Out Here" (driven by a rapid cadence of what can only be described as barber shears!) and the snappy fluttering woodwinds and brass of "Lightning Strike Rescue Op." Pristine Mothersbaugh.

New Line (in the USA; Silva Screen Records in the UK) has released the soundtrack to BLADE TRINITY, the third in the Wesley Snipes-starring series about a modern vampire killer who is undead himself. Like the previous two films (scored by Mark Isham in BLADE, Marco Beltrami in BLADE 2), the new film is primarily rap music, composed by The RZA (KILL BILL), with occasional atmospheric underscore by Ramin Djawaldi (additional music in THUNDERBIRDS, PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN). Unfortunately the soundtrack contains entirely the rap music, except for a single score track, "Blade's Back."

Last June, legendary composer Lalo Schifrin released his ground-breaking DIRTY HARRY score on his own label, Aleph Records. Music from the Movies has reported that there will be more DIRTY HARRY music released on CD in the near future: the original scores for MAGNUM FORCE (Lalo Schifrin) and THE ENFORCER (Jerry Fielding) are both on Aleph's release schedule for 2005. Both will present the original recordings of the scores. There are more goodies in the pipeline for the label. Slated for release on February 22^nd, Aleph will release Lalo Schifrin's score for the 1964 French action thriller LES FÉLINS (aka JOY HOUSE), starring Jane Fonda and Alain Délon. This score was a pre-curser to both BULLITT and DIRTY HARRY and also includes the theme later popularized by organist Jimmy Smith under the title "The Cat." In addition to this album, Aleph will also release Schifrin's original score for CAVEMAN, the 1981 comedy starring Ringo Starr, Dennis Quaid and Shelley Long. - musicfromthemovies.com and www.alephrecords.com

MFTM also reports that French director Jean-Francois Richet's remake of John Carpenter's 1976 thriller, ASSAULT ON PRECINCT 13, will be scored by Graeme Revell (PITCH BLACK, FROM DISK TILL DAWN, THE CROW). The score will be released on CD by Varèse Sarabande on January 25^th.

Germany's Colosseum Records presents the original soundtrack to STEAMBOY, Katsuhiro Otomo's first feature length anime film since AKIRA. A retro science-fiction epic set in Victorian England, STEAMBOY tells the story of an inventor prodigy who receives a mysterious metal ball containing a new form of energy capable of powering an entire nation and what he decides to do with this gift. The orchestral score is composed by Steve Jablonsky (TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE) of Media Ventures and is a powerful, exciting composition.

The new "Director's Cut" of HELLBOY, released a couple weeks ago by Columbia TriStar, includes in its voluminous background material, a running commentary by composer Marco Beltrami, who discusses the score's themes and how the music was put together. The commentary track accompanies a 5.1 Dolby presentation of the isolated score, although some of it, because there's so much (110 mins. of score in a 132-minute movie) some of it inevitably gets talked over by the composer. Still, his comments and insights into the film's meanings and the creation of the film's score are particularly interesting.

The monstrous 10-DVD ULTIMATE MATRIX collection released this week includes a wealth of musical material in its representation of the three MATRIX movies and bonus documentary material. Missing, however, is the Don Davis commentary and isolated score that was included in the original DVD release of THE MATRIX (along with the cast and directors' commentary), so there's no trading in of that one (the commentaries are by a pair of philosophers and a pair of film critics who didn't like the film; they also didn't like the score very much so don't expect much elucidation about the film or its music on their part). However, we are given another notable music feature on the MATRIX REVISITED disc, 41 audio-only music tracks selected by the Wachowski Brothers in creating the film. It's a cool section, but the directors' provide no input into the selection or use of any of the music. The Brothers keep pretty much silent throughout the set. There are also some music videos. It's a terrific collection with plenty of behind the scenes material, although not a lot of it pertains to the development and use of music both Don Davis's score and the material by Juno Reactor for the films, and other material reused in the films. That's a bit disappointing for such an attempt and comprehensiveness in a 10-disc set.

Recommended soundtrack sources:

www.buysoundtrax.com

www.intrada.com

www.screenarchives.com

www.footlight.com

Soundtrax is our weekly Movie Soundtrack column.

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