Intrada Soundtrack Forum

December 5, 2000

The Lost Continent
Composed by Gerard Schurmann
Conducted by Philip Martell
GDI Records GDICD015
Total Time = 64:49

An odd Hammer movie. Big budget, lots of water, nasty characters, seaweed from hell, a cephalopod, a giant scorpion. From a novel by Dennis Wheatley the movie sometimes made sense. More set pieces than customary for Hammer, everything had a neat, grim look. Lots of foggy mist, craggy rocks, slimy monsters.

Hammer had a great thing going. They pushed the usual boundaries of sex and gore, often making ordinary movies intriguing, even shocking. By 1968, year of THE LOST CONTINENT, viewers expected thrills on the explicit side. Often that's what they got.

I missed most of them the first time around. I wasn't old enough. I did get to see ONE MILLION YEARS B.C. in 1966 but only because my folks figured it was a Ray Harryhausen movie and his movies played okay for kids. By the time I hit college Hammer was unwinding. When I caught up with them on television and video, those lurid shock values were gone. For Hammer that was a liability. Everyone had seen monsters, blood and sex. An old Hammer movie rerunning on TV had to stand up by its story line now. Often that was hard to do.

Music at Hammer was important. Top British composers got chances to write scores. Not just typical background music, but intense, brooding, advanced composition. Composers like Mario Nascimbene, Benjamin Frankel, Humphrey Searle and Richard Rodney Bennett did Hammer projects. They were respected composers in experimental music, stuff for the concert hall. Names like James Bernard, Harry Robinson, David Whitaker, Tristram Cary, Christopher Gunning, John Cacavas, all became part of it.

Gerard Schurmann fit right in. He was familiar with the concert hall, with experimental composition. He wrote particularly effective movie scores in the fifties and sixties, standouts being KONGA and THE BEDFORD INCIDENT.

Interestingly, serious composer Benjamin Frankel, known for striking symphonies and string pieces, originally tackled THE LOST CONTINENT. His music wasn't used and GERARD SCHURMANN stepped in. One of the more impressive footnotes in British movie music.

His approach was double-sided. There was ample room for dissonance, complicated writing, gritty material. But he also allowed a touch of pastoral, Vaughan Williams influence. This brought a rich, almost modal harmony into the fabric. Combined with challenging stuff it made for a strong, varied score.

Much of Schurmann's language appears in a strong "Overture". A whirl of strings pitted against jabs of dissonant brass establish thrills. A cymbal roll under snares introduces a new direction. A serene melody takes over, influenced by the harmonic and melodic style of Vaughan Williams. An abundance of energy plays before the piece comes to an abrupt halt.

About face. The "Main Title" swings, a song written by Roy Phillips, performed by The Peddlers. Not so much out of place actually. There's nods to the mod British musical scene complete with Hammond organ, modest beat and limited harmony. The style accompanies Hildegard Knef's motivations, reflects a glamorous side. Both it and orchestral outbursts of Schurmann work into the first act.

A storm approaches, crew members mutiny, everyone abandons the ship. The cymbal roll and snares heard during the overture bring the score in a quieter direction. Lifeboat and passengers reflect in the water. Two of them converse over musical language akin to Vaughan Williams. A gentle solo violin over modal harmony is a highlight.

From this point much of the score increases in density, activity. Monsters arrive, some killer seaweed, the cephalopod. Schurmann's music attacks with flurries of strings, punctuates with brass. It's a norm for most of the action material throughout. Busy strings, jabbing brass.

The survivors do get back to their ship, reach a lost continent. New threats emerge. Spanish conquistadors (I am not making this up) chase a young woman dwelling on the lost continent. Shades of the Inquisition, a wild priest, pits of carnivorous seaweed. All great fodder for Schurmann.

Amongst the violent moments are dashes of calm. A favorite track is "The Cave", an unused variant on the modal, pastoral stuff. Instead of strings it's now played by clarinets, first one, then two in duet, finally a third completing the harmony. Everything briefly increases with bassoon and oboe before disappearing.

An action highlight. The battle between a giant mollusk and an equally overgrown scorpion gets terrific support from tympani, jagged brass, upward runs from woodwinds.

Eventually the crew battles the Spaniards. Schurmann carries most of the action, often keeping strings and woodwinds unusually busy.

The finale is strong, drawn from the more harmonic part of the score. Combining a Spanish-flavored theme with fanfares of freedom, Schurmann wraps in a powerful cadence, neatly removing the third interval out of the final chord. The resulting triumphant sound is open, dramatic. It concludes the movie in powerful fashion but remains musically a bit more profound. With the dissonance combined with pastoral flavor that has unveiled, Schurmann chooses to end in neither major nor minor. Just one powerful open chord.

A minor distraction, easily remedied. Several alternate cues follow, adding nothing to the musical architecture. Presumably added for archival purposes, they can be programmed out if desired.

Sound quality is reasonably good, in mono. Some wear is evident during the opening but the overall results are crisp and clear. The GDI label has been preserving a legacy of Hammer music with terrific productions, detailed liner notes, an abundance of color stills. This is one of the finest Hammer scores. GDI Records have done it proud.

December 12, 2000

Total Recall
Composed and conducted by Jerry Goldsmith
National Philharmonic Orchestra
Varese Sarabande 302 066 197 2
Total Time = 73:58

Jerry Goldsmith's last great action score. A science fiction thriller by Paul Verhoeven with superstar Arnold Schwarzenegger tearing up Mars. It was 1990, and Goldsmith unleashed busy, adrenaline-pumping music to match the thrills.

Get ready for the ride of your life! Posters lured me to the theater, got my butt in the seat. The theater darkened, a Carolco Pictures logo came up, Goldsmith's main title ("The Dream") blared. Yea, I was hooked. So were you.

Goldsmith approaches his action music with the same skills he applies to any other genre. A lot of composers contribute noisy action scores, play with wild electronics, a noisy symphony, but the music grinds away without coherency, structure. It's loud, fast-paced music from the get go, without form or content.

Goldsmith did something different. He had an hour and a quarter of music to write, most of it to accompany wild action. He didn't just unload his guns however. He first built a foundation, a platform, carefully added layers of material, wrapping with dense music at the end.

How he introduces the action in his score is notable. Schwarzenegger goes berserk during his Rekall experience, bursts out of his chair. Goldsmith underscores "The Implant" not with busy, frenzied music but lean, odd-meter rhythms alone. Horizontal writing, not vertical, it establishes pace and nothing more. As Schwarzenegger grabs a doctor by the throat the first cluster of brass enters. French horns then take the rhythm further, treating it as melody. Most of the cue remains free from clutter, harmony. No swirling strings, no rushing woodwinds. Goldsmith built a clear framework with which he could later increase the activity. Some composers would've gone over the top, announcing "action" with a cluster of notes, leaving themselves with nowhere to go. Score scene upon scene like this, you've just got a musical monstrosity. Goldsmith gave shape to it all, composed with care. In this first action scene he energizes the visuals without over-writing, instead building a bottom layer for everything to come.

Amazingly, though structurally important, this cue was missing from the original album. But no longer. In a new Deluxe Edition from Varese Sarabande, this cue starts the ball rolling as it should. Everything's here now, in sequence. In a score with such architecture, its rewarding to hear it unfold, go places.

Listen to "For Old Times' Sake", another new track, see where Goldsmith is headed. The action still has clarity, remains lean. But now a chopping eighth-note idea appears. Tuba adds a new layer at the bottom, things get a little busier. Schwarzenegger discovers Sharon Stone isn't the wife she seemed. As the plot thickens so does Goldsmith's music.

What follows is a highlight. "Clever Girl" finds Schwarzenegger on the run, a fantastic chase sequence with music to match. Goldsmith has layered enough material now and begins more complex, busy stuff. Still not his densest music, Goldsmith has more distance to go. But he's raised the level of complexity. Rhythms begin to lengthen, increase in activity. Trombones now introduce harsh, stabbing low notes that become another trademark of the score. From this point on low brass punctuate and jab. It's a thickening texture, exciting to hear. Trumpets bring the chopping eighth-note figure into play, pecking difficult notes out of the upper register. Adding still another layer, Goldsmith gives violins the chopping figure but has a virtuoso double-tonguing motif for trumpets underneath.

Some mention has been made of Goldsmith's attempts to originally record TOTAL RECALL in Munich, becoming frustrated at the performance, eventually abandoning the sessions and relocating in London. Cues like "Clever Girl" illuminate the challenges he composed.

So this score continues, bringing aggressive action music into every twist and turn of the movie. Additional new cues include "The Johnny Cab", where Goldsmith brings swirling strings and woodwinds into the mix, and "Swallow It", displaying an edged, harsh sound.

A standout addition to this new release is "The Massacre". With rhythms and propulsive figures well established, Goldsmith uses this late cue in the score to showcase yet another idea. Over furious rhythms, punctuations of harmony, he now lets violins actually carry a smooth, soaring line. Strip away the accompaniment and one literally gets a clear, singing theme for strings. It's striking.

It's a device used in the last action music of the picture, a highlight. "End Of A Dream" underscores Schwarzenegger's final victorious struggle. The music draws from all layers. Wild rhythms, low brass punctuation, pecking trumpets, swirling strings and woodwinds. Eventually the music becomes the densest action cue Goldsmith wrote. With low brass pounding in thick octaves the entire vertical structure is crowded with countless rushing notes in strings and woodwinds. Percussion abound. Highlighting all is the soaring melody over wild rhythm device, this time fortissimo trumpets singing the line.

Album producer Robert Townson does double duty, preparing a splendid disc, then furnishing his own generous, authoritative notes. Packaging is equally superb. With crisp, dynamic sound, TOTAL RECALL still plays as the highlight of the year, ten years later.

December 19, 2000

Vertical Limit
Composed by James Newton Howard
Conducted by Pete Anthony
Varese Sarabande 302 066 207 2
Total Time = 44:33

James Newton Howard hits bullseye. He's done terrific work this year, including DINOSAUR, UNBREAKABLE and this brand new one, VERTICAL LIMIT. In fact, it comes hot on the heels of UNBREAKABLE, giving Howard a rather high profile. Add music for THE SIXTH SENSE and SNOW FALLING ON CEDARS not too long ago and the man's on a roll.

Howard is a fantastic action composer. He's good in every genre, be it western, comedy, romance, thriller. I prefer the action. What he does with it, how he approaches it. The cues aren't busy, instead providing excitement through strong rhythms under lean, angled lines. It's a clean, crisp style of action writing, stark, uncluttered. In VERTICAL LIMIT French horns often get melody while bass trombone punctuates underneath. Percussion players hit, thump, strike and pound everywhere. And, like Jerry Goldsmith, odd meters propel much of the activity.

Howard also stands out from the pack in the quiet music he writes into his action scores. THE FUGITIVE, WATERWORLD, OUTBREAK, THE POSTMAN. They've all got excitement to burn. But juxtaposed in each is music of subtlety, gentle upper strings on a long line, rich harmony underneath. Few complicated counter melodies to thicken things. Like the action stuff his quieter moments are lean, gentle, effective. Not to be confused with simplicity, Howard's action music and quieter stuff both draw upon complex ideas. The execution of those ideas is just cleanly done, giving edge to the material.

Whenever I mention his name to other composers feedback is unusually high. No doubt it's due in part to his extraordinary musicianship all around. He's been there, done that for some time now. Gifted at arranging and orchestrating (two highly different animals!!) Howard has also made it as performer and producer. He's also worked with genuine superstars of the music scene. Whether producing, arranging, composing, he's earned the praise.

VERTICAL LIMIT will be on my favorite score list this year. I admire the dynamics between fierce action and moving subtlety.

There's a number of strong ideas, devices that Howard incorporates. Note a major/minor motif. Howard writes a major chord but has the corresponding melody use that chord's minor interval instead of the major. In short, a brief dissonance between melody and underlying chords. Also note how Howard sets up rhythm prior to establishing melodies. It's the setup for "Utah", the opening track. Droning textures in strings give way to a thunder of lower percussion. Once rhythm is established, French horns in unison finally state the primary theme.

Track two, "Three Years Later", introduces the quiet side. With shifting string chords, haunting woodwind lines, and muted trumpet, Howard slides into his main theme. It's quiet, moving, with new material developing. The main theme returns. Then a burst of activity, action kicks in, rhythm front and center. Within seconds the music moves to a sweeping, majestic statement of the main theme. Combining the theme with the rhythms underneath makes for a powerful highlight. A soaring trumpet line carries the music to a conclusion.

With "I Need One More" and an opening French horn solo, Howard confirms the opening notes of his main theme as his foundation.

"Base Camp" begins with an all-too-brief burst of energy, the brilliant action side of Howard, all rhythm, lean melody and no clutter. Including a spectacular quote of the main theme this cue becomes a highlight of the album. Too bad it's only a minute and a half.

The lengthy "You Wanna Do This?" draws the music back to a reflective mode, then crescendos towards the epic. A new theme soars, then fades. Here Howard brings in his major/minor idea, quietly. Upper strings play the main theme in minor over a strong major chord. Solo horn plays something else. The music ultimately moves to a majestic, richly harmonized tutti for the orchestra.

Howard balances the score in continuing fashion, with quiet, moving music giving way to bursts of excitement and sweep. "Spindrift" provides an example of how Howard manipulates the various elements within a single track. Several ideas appear, including the major/minor motif, the quiet music giving way to action, and the majestic feel.

"Avalanche" provides some of the fiercest moments, seconds really. It's just over a minute, barely time to rip through the ice a moment, then decay.

Other highlights. A particularly strong quote of the main theme during "Maybe You Should Turn Back", great trombone, tuba and French horn bits during the lively sections of "Nitro".

"Annie and Peter" provides a lengthy examination of the rich harmony and gentle linear writing that Howard does. At times the music becomes nothing more than two-part writing, solo lines over thin chords. Late, the music erupts in dramatic fashion for a close.

The longest sequence arrives with "Peter's Jump/Tom's Heart". A yardstick of the score, quiet passages give way to bursts of action. Standing out, an odd-meter (5/8) ostinato for brass that showcases Howard's penchant for agressive action music with little clutter. The lines are clear, the rhythm aggressive, focused.

And an ending? That pet peeve, what gets my goat? You've heard it before. Albums that have no conclusion bug me to no end.

Great news! Howard heard me. So he's finished his score. In rich fashion the main theme swells to a climax during "It's a Good Song" and ends with a resounding major chord.

A major plus for listeners. Crisp, stunning sound, with a solid dynamic range. The swings from gentle to aggressive, the delicate high strings, the thundering lower percussion, all find clarity. It's a strong performance and recording. However, typical for this label, there are virtually no notes on the music, the film or anything else.

Howard's music is left to speak for itself.

It does.

December 26, 2000

From The Terrace
Composed and Conducted by Elmer Bernstein
Film Score Monthly FSM Vol. 3 No. 8
Total Time = 71:26

Wow. What a classic.

Elmer Bernstein's FROM THE TERRACE. It was 1960, the year he did THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN. Funny, but most people link him with westerns. To me he was king of the soaps.

These were the movies aimed at grown-ups, full of romance, illicit affairs, set in boardrooms and bedrooms of society. The rich, the not-so-rich, the lawyers, doctors, businessmen. Not just dramas, these were sudsy, talky movies set in high rises, courtrooms, mansions, with broken marriages, alcoholics, unloved children, homeless nobodies.

It was Bernstein's best genre. First was VIEW FROM POMPEY'S HEAD in 1955. Then a decade of steamy romance followed. If you made grown-up dramas, grade-A soapers, you brought in Bernstein. Just look at what followed POMPEY in one single decade. DESIRE UNDER THE ELMS and GOD'S LITTLE ACRE and SOME CAME RUNNING and THE RAT RACE and FROM THE TERRACE and THE STORY ON PAGE ONE and THE YOUNG DOCTORS and BY LOVE POSSESSED and A GIRL NAMED TAMIKO and WALK ON THE WILD SIDE and THE CARETAKERS and SUMMER AND SMOKE and THE CARPETBAGGERS. Every kind of torrid romance, busted marriage, sexy scandal and shady business deal you could imagine had Bernstein music under it. Whether the drama was high class Tennessee Williams or low-class Harold Robbins the music was first class Bernstein.

FROM THE TERRACE appeared smack in the middle of the cycle. Including MAN WITH THE GOLDEN ARM and SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS, Bernstein typically brought jazz into the drama, the sleaze, the passion. But with FROM THE TERRACE he dispensed with smoke and splashy rhythm altogether. His palette was purely orchestral, the colors from expressive Americana to passionate romance. There were dark moments to be sure, but Bernstein avoided sleaze completely. FROM THE TERRACE was classier than similar movies.

This was due in part to solid scripting by Ernest Lehman of John O'Hara's long, juicy post-World War II story. It was also due to Bernstein's own lengthy, involved approach. There were illicit affairs and broken marriages and alcoholics in the story. Bypassing the steam, Bernstein treated the scandals and misfortunes with pity. Nothing in the score plays to sex or sin, rather it plays to tragedy and drama.

Bernstein treats the primary relationship between Alfred (Paul Newman) and Mary (Joanne Woodward) as strange, distanced. Their love never actually blossoms, the marriage deteriorates, fails. Bernstein sets up Mary's character with a waltz in the minor, numerous rustlings in the woodwinds and swirls in the melodic line. It introduces a seductive nature to the initial romance, but also points to an aloofness that will develop.

Virtually all other music in the first half either darkens the drama or adds pity and sorrow to other characters, an alcoholic mother, a selfish father. There's very little love going on, either in picture or score.

In a bravura gesture, Bernstein unleashes his one "Love Theme" at the opening of the main titles, virtually without introduction. It's straight forward, uncomplicated, warmly drawn. Particularly striking are unusually wide leaping intervals, adding passion to the tune. Upon completion the melody is folded up and set aside for most of the movie. Only upon Alfred's acceptance of his doomed marriage, and his embracing of another, nobler woman, does the love theme take over. It was never intended for Alfred and Mary in the first place.

Other important ideas appear too. Early in the movie Alfred is depicted as caught between his selfish, unyielding father and his vulnerable, alcoholic mother. As he makes his "Homecoming" the music uses a simultaneous ascending/descending line for upper and lower strings. A strong characteristic of the entire, lengthy sequence is an alternating between sadly harmonized lines and sturdy unison passages for low strings without accompaniment. Gentle, emotional ideas constantly give way to cold, masculine figures. Bernstein has lots of ground to cover. Major players are introduced, dramatic events get established.

My favorite part of the entire score comes early in the homecoming music. After a winding step-wise motif in lower woodwinds and strings, a powerful variant of that same line hammers forth in brass. At the outset, perhaps nothing more than a solid progression of fortissimo major chords while on screen the family mill is shown in long shot. But Bernstein has done so much more than hit any visual. He's prefacing the upcoming entrance of Alfred Eaton and the entire drama about to unfold. As the train appears Bernstein allows a rare energetic moment. Pulsating, rhythmic material then brings the train to a halt. It's in stark, dramatic contrast to the love theme from the opening titles. Musically the score has a lot of directions it can now turn to. Bernstein shows it to be one of his most involved. Numerous important characters have musical signatures, several dramatic events are given musical color.

And there's that elusive main theme.

By introducing Mary St. John with the minor-keyed waltz rather than the love theme Bernstein has expanded his playing field. The main romantic leads get music that is anything but. The passionate main theme of the picture comes only when all other musical ideas have been tapped into.

I once mentioned in a "nailing the moment" column about a sequence from this score. Alfred overhears his mother and father argue ("Recriminations") about an affair she's having. He goes to beat up the man seeing his mother ("In the Morning"). Bernstein leaves the one-sided fight unscored, waits until after Alfred delivers his threat, and only then makes any musical comment. It's one of the great exclamation points in all movie music. Without action music, without swirling strings or frenzied brass, Bernstein simply closes the violent scene with one massive open chord. I can finally enjoy the moment in all it's one-note glory.

Other highlights include a brief but exciting "Thin Ice" rescue scene and subsequent "Wall Street" sequence. Alfred has rescued a drowning boy and soon finds opportunity through meeting the boy's wealthy father. It's a turning point for Alfred, a road that eventually leads to Natalie (Ina Balin) and identifies what Bernstein had alluded to in his opening titles. Optimistic Wall Street music carries Alfred forth and the subsequent "First Meeting" lets love enter at last.

Film Score Monthly continues a superb series of 20th Century-Fox projects with this release. The album is presented in stereo sound, packaged with long, detailed notes. A pet project of ace-producer Nick Redman, the score is heard in it's entirety. Sequenced as in picture, listeners can follow the progression of material and enjoy the emergence of the main theme late in the score.

One can only hope this means VIEW FROM POMPEY'S HEAD isn't far behind. Hearing where Bernstein started the ideas, following where they went for ten years would be fun.