Eragon Soundtrack
© RCA
There Be Dragons Here
By: Randall LarsonDate: Thursday, December 28, 2006
THIS WEEK’S RECOMMENDATION
Patrick Doyle has composed a graceful and beautifully-postured symphonic score for Eragon, which was released on CD by RCA last week. Doyle, who has crafted such meticulous and evocative scores as Secondhand Lions, Quest for Camelot, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, and last year’s Jekyll+ Hyde and Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire, captures both the elegance of the film’s direction and that of its flying reptiles, but also the inner heart of its characters.
“Durza,” on the other hand, conveys a dark and moody atmosphere, with low horns and percussion. “Razag” is another darkly-hewn musical structure, low tonalities layering against one another, until the cue bursts forth with a rainbow of colorful, brass-driven melodies, soaring quickly cloudward.
With benevolent flying dragons occupying much of the film’s storyline, it’s not unusual that the nobility of the reptiles and the thrill of flight occupy much of the score’s thematic conception. “Saphra’s First Flight,” as its title might indicate, is a lavishly sweeping, beautifully soaring orchestral overture, with “If You Were Flying” a terrific reprisal of the first cue’s vibrancy. “Passing the Flame” and “Saphira Returns” capture a similar tonality and heroism in their fragrant strains. These are wonderful tracks whose vivid melodies fly with their own orchestral wings and built up a tremendous and energetic grace, while “Legend of Eragon” recapitulates the score’s primary motives.
“Burning Farm” is echoes sadness and tragedy through low-register strings before morphing into a strident, rhythmic piece driven by large drums and percussion, driving the previous violin melody into higher ground and fiercer force, building to a powerful emotional climax, while retaining an interesting texture through the resonant echoes of the pounding drums.
At 10-minutes in length, “Battle for Varden” is the score’s action centerpiece, taking the basic thematic material associated with the dragons and with flight and crafting them into jagged and angular action-oriented music. The music resounds furiously, driven by ferocious pounds of timpani and tom-toms, raging torrents of strings and brass, flailing pipings and piercing trumpets, maintaining a fairly consistent rhythmic pattern that coerces a continual forward motion. The solo female voice and high-end strings of “Together” portrays a striking contrast in its poignant simplicity following the cataclysmic ferocity of “Battle for Varden.”
Eragon is the kind of lavish, beautifully bombastic epic-heroic-adventure-fantasy score that is vast fun to listen to. While it’s thematically and organizationally simplistic, it works wonders in captivating the listener with the right kinds of musical colors and emotions. It embodies a powerful musical dynamic that is as pleasingly charismatic and as alluring as the dragons of Eragon themselves.
The album closes with a pair of songs written for the film, Avril Lavigne’s powerful, anthemic “Keep Holding On,’ and “Once In Every Lifetime,” performed by female singer JeM, which takes Doyle’s main theme and transforms it into an airy and lyrical rhythm-based folk-pop tune.
FILM MUSIC NEWS
Varèse Sarabande has released the score for Children Of Men, a film that envisages a world one generation from now that has fallen into anarchy on the heels of an infertility defect in the population. The world’s youngest citizen has just died at 18, and humankind is facing the likelihood of its own extinction. Set against a backdrop of London torn apart by violence and warring nationalistic sects, the film follows disillusioned bureaucrat Theo as he becomes an unlikely champion of Earth’s survival. The film’s grippingly powerful musical accompaniment includes original works by classical composer John Tavener along with pieces by Mahler, Handel and Penderecki. In addition to Tavener’s original works, this album also contains his compositions Eternity’s Sunrise, Song of An Angel, The Lamb and others.
Also new from Varese and straight out of the Jurassic era comes Alan Silvestri’s gargantuan action adventure score for Night at the Museum, featuring a monstrous symphony orchestra.
Howard Shore will compose the original score for The Last Mimzy, a dark fairy-tale about two siblings who develop special talents after they find a mysterious box of toys. Robert Shaye, one of the executive producers on the Shore-scored Lord of the Rings trilogy, directs the film which is scheduled to premiere on March 27. The film stars Rhiannon Leigh Wryn, Chris O’Neil, Rainn Wilson, Timothy Hutton, Michael Clarke Duncan and Joely Richardson. – via filmmusicradio.com
Prometheus Records in Belgium surprises us with three new releases. The first one is a double, combining Georges Delerue's music for Platoon and Salvador onto one CD. The content is the same as for the 1995 issue, but the music is completely remastered and the CD has new cover artwork. The second one reissues Jerry Goldsmith's long out-of-print score for King Solomon's Mines, based in H. Rider Haggard's classic novel. The poorly-received story starred Richard Chamberlain as fortune hunter Allan Quatermain, with Sharon Stone and the eye candy. The music is remastered for improved sound, the CD has new cover art, and includes 3 brief extra tracks not previously released (totaling just 4 minutes – but it’s four minutes of Goldsmith!). The third release is the first-ever release of Basil Poledouris' complete score for Quigley Down Under. Tom Selleck stars as American cowboy archetype Matthew Quigley in Simon Wincer's outback western; Quigley faces ruthless cattle barons, crazed feral women, and understanding aborigines in Australia. The CD has 30 tracks, of which two thirds are previously unreleased.
- via soundtrackcollector.com
From director, John Curran (We Don't Live Here Anymore) comes the film version of W. Somerset Maugham's celebrated novel, The Painted Veil. The Warner Independent film features original music composed by award winning composer, Alexandre Desplat (Hostage, Firewall) with piano solos by international phenom, Lang Lang and cello player, Vincent Segal. The soundtrack will be released on Deutsche Grammophon January 9th. A turbulent romantic drama set in the 1920s, The Painted Veil, directed by John Curran and Caroline Link, follows a young English couple, a conservative doctor (Edward Norton) and a restless society girl (Naomi Watts), who marry hastily, relocate to Shanghai where they betray each other, and find an unexpected chance at redemption and happiness while on a deadly journey into the heart of ancient China.
Known for his rich orchestral writing laced with lush sounds, Desplat's compelling score for The Painted Veil compliments this epic tale of deceit and vengeance. Lang Lang's unique affinity for evoking the music of his native China made him a perfect fit for this movie, set in that country's beautiful and remote villages. Beginning with the title track, the soundtrack dives right into telling the tale of lust and betrayal. Other tracks such, as "The River Waltz and "Water Wheel" feature Lang Lang's electrifying virtuosity that induce feelings of suspense and urgency. Vincent Segal's crisp cello playing in tracks like "The End of Love" exudes sorrow and heartache.
Beginning next week: our recap of the Best soundtrax of 2006.
Recommended Soundtrack sources:
www.arksquare.com/index_main
www.intermezzomedia.com/ (Italy)
www.moviemusic.com
