Intrada Soundtrack Forum

January 01, 2002

Best Of 2001
January 1, 2001 - December 31, 2001

Vacation time. Start of a new year. Best of 2001 time.

Looking back through 2001, everything in entertainment pales.

Real events, real people. An election goes sour, a state goes powerless, a world goes to war. Cowards, fanatics, heroes, patriots. People suffering, fighting.

Rebuilding.

On a lesser note, movies and music kept on going. Here are my choices for the best of 2001.

TEN BEST ALBUMS

New score, old score, reissue, re-recording, whatever. Any album qualifies, as long as it arrived during the year. A best, then nine runners-up in random order.

Best Album: CLEOPATRA. Amidst a year of big stuff, nothing approaches the size of 1963's CLEOPATRA. A gentle theme frames a massive portrait of ancient Egypt and Rome. Music for Cleopatra, Caesar, Antony. Music for love, battle. Caesar's assassination, Cleopatra's entrance into Rome, Antony's valiant struggle for redemption. For more than two hours, Alex North digs beneath layers of history, writes music with complexity, relevance for today. As good as 20th century music gets.

THE ILLUSTRATED MAN: Jerry Goldsmith's challenging, textured 1969 score focuses on haunting themes, transparent orchestral colors, solo writing. Woodwinds standout.

BETWEEN HEAVEN AND HELL: Hugo Friedhofer tackles WW II and wins. Robert Wagner's final run becomes one of the great action cues of all time. And the original 1956 stereo recordings sound magnificent.

THE LORD OF THE RINGS - THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING: Part one of a new movie trilogy from Tolkien's classic books. With a very long score, this album finds all the right highlights. Elegance, passion, power. Howard Shore rules middle earth.

THE ROOTS OF HEAVEN: Newly examined, this 1958 score shows why Malcolm Arnold triumphed in the fifties and sixties. A stunning recording. Music from DAVID COPPERFIELD on the same disc drives the point home further.

PROJECT X: James Horner gave this 1987 tale both heart and soul. It's exciting, melodic. This album provides it all.

ALIENS: A deluxe edition of Horner's oft-imitated 1986 sci-fi classic provides every note of intensity, every thrill.

THE LAST VALLEY: A new look at John Barry's 1970 score reveals a wealth of fresh material. Amidst dark, savage music for 17th century warfare, Barry finds room for one of the most peaceful melodies to grace the screen.

PLANET OF THE APES: Danny Elfman takes the spotlight with new remake, uses his own voice. For low brass, percussion writing, look no further. Powerful.

THE STRIPPER: With all of Jerry Goldsmith's exciting stuff it's easy to forget he has a gift for haunting, tender music. His unforgettable movie journeys with Franklin Schaffner began here. Ditto some of the tenderest movie music.

TEN BEST SCORES FOR 2001

The one to beat, then nine others in descending order that'll live for years to come.

THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING (Howard Shore)
A.I. (John Williams)
THE MUMMY RETURNS (Alan Silvestri)
THE SCORE (Howard Shore)
PLANET OF THE APES (Danny Elfman)
ENEMY AT THE GATES (James Horner)
HARRY POTTER AND THE SORCERER'S STONE (John Williams)
PAVILION OF WOMEN (Conrad Pope)
SWORDFISH (Christopher Young)
SHREK (Harry Gregson-Williams / John Powell

January 08, 2002

Broken Lance
Composed by Leigh Harline
Conducted by Lionel Newman
Film Score Monthly FSM Vol. 4 No. 18
Tracks: 14 Time = 38:40

The first thing you notice when playing the album to BROKEN LANCE is the absence of traditional western movie music. There are reasons.

By 1954, the year of BROKEN LANCE, westerns were changing, growing up. Like most other genre, westerns outgrew their origin. Good guys in white hats still fought bad guys in black hats but their simplistic gunplay now populated Saturday afternoon matinees, double bills, television. Main event westerns were emphasizing more adult stuff. Psychological studies, matters of conscience, domineering parents, illicit romance, racism, you name it. Real problems in real life. In addition, Hollywood Indians were becoming sympathetic, codes of the west were changing. The good guys could finally wear black.

BROKEN LANCE was one of several then-current westerns dealing with mature subjects. Others included BROKEN ARROW, THE GUNFIGHTER, HIGH NOON, SHANE.

BROKEN LANCE focuses on the tyranny of aging cattle baron Matt Devereaux (Spencer Tracy), his sons, confrontations between ranchers and miners. The script includes much of the aforementioned serious subject matter. Action abounds but weight is given to family dysfunctions. Devereaux's favored son Joe (Robert Wagner) comes from a current marriage to Signora (Katy Jurado), a Native American. An earlier marriage produced three other sons, in differing degrees hostile to Joe. At the core run two parallel images. One spotlights Devereaux's unyielding "law of the land" mentality, the other spotlights a changing west nonetheless. Devereaux's fate is sealed. What he leaves behind is part of the story.

To begin his music, Leigh Harline strips the material of all familiar western garb. Gone are typical western melodies, hummable tunes, ballads, rambunctious rhythms, Aaron Copland, whatnot. In their place? A single, unorthodox idea.

For all the psychology and brooding intensity of the story, Harline certainly doesn't hide his tune. In fact, he states it without introduction, from the get-go. French horns and strings carve a sharp-edged, four-note figure out of rock. Literally, three notes outline a simple triad (albeit inverted) but the fourth just won't comply. This makes it a striking melodic block with sharp edges. From here forward, Harline's primary motif is intentionally easy to spot.

Other unusual devices during the "Main Title" include woodwind and xylophone figures chiseling at the main motif and solitary hits in the bass drum.

The fuller line that eventually emerges combines Native American color with stark and driving intensity. Harmony (other than open fifths) plays no role whatsoever. This is harsh, angular music.

The main four-note motif plays often, in manners both quiet and dynamic. It's partially hidden on cellos during "The Portrait", more overtly declared during "To The East Range", twisted into agitated figures during "Poisoned Cattle".

There are warmer ideas. One plays for Joe and his relationship (not approved of) with Barbara, daughter of the local governor. Another underlines a tender and honest relationship between Devereaux and his wife Signora.

But it's stark and unrelenting material in the spotlight. And nowhere more powerfully drawn than during "Matt's Death".

Devereaux quarrels with his sons, rides off in anger. Pursuit, a killing nears. In the movie's bravura sequence, the ailing Devereaux rides towards his sons. Not a bullet is fired. None is needed. Harline scores the powerhouse segment with his own set piece. Building blocks from his four-note motif, Harline carves a mounting pillar of intense music. No rustles of activity, semblance's of action. No closing the book on Devereaux with triumph, either. Just a wall of power tumbling down, one of the movie's two major parallel images taking over the other.

I have to say this album highlights several years of important music from Film Score Monthly. There are some good reasons.

Sound quality is magnificent. Stereo elements are in terrific shape. Dynamic range is unusually wide, especially during crisp low brass parts. Liner notes are literate, yet remain readable to all listeners, musical or not. Also noteworthy is packaging with powerful (and appropriate) imagery based on the movie.

Dramatic, impressive graphics. Literate reading. Intense, incredible music.

Beyond his Disney work, Leigh Harline has very little music available on album in any format. Film Score Monthly now makes an extraordinary gesture to address this void.

I hope more gestures come soon.

THE ENEMY BELOW, anyone?

January 15, 2002

The Emotion and the Strength
Composed and Conducted by Maurice Jarre
Various Orchestras
Milan 73138-35980-2
Tracks: 21 Time (2 CDs) = 117:41

A legendary movie composer under the spotlight. 2 discs of rich, rewarding music.

Few movie tunes are as memorable as Maurice Jarre’s theme for DOCTOR ZHIVAGO. Hot stuff in 1965. “Lara’s Themeâ€