I truly think that in the age of big-bang-blowemaway action scoring, something has been lost from the power of intimacy in music. One of the factors that draws me repeatedly to James Horner’s work is the level of character based intimacy that he shows in his scores. He always gets into the nitty-gritty of feeling and emotion, and adds a third dimension to characters--a dimension that the music implies but never explicitly states. I almost see this form of scoring to be more aggressive than throwing upon layer upon layer of drums, pounding synths, choppy strings, and accented brass blurts at a volume that makes a person wish for the days when their kids banged pots and pans.
Okay, so I’m venturing into melodrama, but you get the point. There’s something that intimate music does to you that is like wrapping yourself up in a warm blanket and cuddling up in it. There’s a factor of contentment, joy, and comfort. Without a doubt, House of Sand and Fog is one of Horner’s most intimate scores for what is a truly intimate film. The film, a personal favorite, is certainly no walk in the park. The same can be said for Horner’s score if you are not in the right mood for it.
I need to get this out of the way as a prerequisite to the review. House of Sand and Fog is a score I can listen to only when the conditions are right. The temperature must be chilly--not cold, but chilly. It must be nighttime, dead quiet, pitch black, and I must lay in bed with a blanket on me, my eyes closed, and have no distractions what-so-ever. If even one of these conditions is off, the score instantly becomes bland and boring and I have to quit listening. If all these conditions are met, then this score comes alive as a vibrant, emotional, incredibly moving work that is sure to affect your mood. It is a feeling I cannot describe--House of Sand and Fog, pure and simple, is a very moving work.
Before I go on, I just want to say that House of Sand and Fog affects me emotionally in a way I have a very hard time describing the score and how I feel about it, so please forgive my rambling and vagueness if you come across it.
Horner orchestrated House of Sand and Fog himself, not really a surprise considering this is the type of project he likes to envelope himself in. This project was an extra challenge for Horner, as reports online suggested that director Vadim Perelman didn’t want the typical Horner score, and wanted something far more restrained. This is exactly how Horner approached the project. He restrained his writing and his orchestra, but in that restraint, created pure beauty.
As he would do with Flightplan two years down the line, Horner strips the orchestra of the brass section, yielding an orchestra dominated by strings, percussion, piano, and keyboarding. But unlike Flightplan, House of Sand and Fog is centered around the strings and, even more so, the piano. Most of the cues on the album are either solo piano pieces or pieces where the strings, wistful violins and violas that are complimented by the cello and bass and exotic sounding percussion, are joined by the piano playing over them, creating what I can only describe as a windy breezy.
I’m not sure how better to describe the atmosphere of House of Sand and Fog as anything other than breezy. And I don’t mean breezy in the sense of laid back and casual. I mean it in the sense that it has the same quiet, peaceful effect as listening to a fall day’s breeze. Most of the string notes written for this score are long, held notes--whole, two or three wholes tied. They tend to cascade up and down the musical scale, sometimes emulating the waves of the sea where the cascades range from higher to lower notes with the stand-out instrumental group (violins or violas) playing harmonically to the higher and lower ends of their music range (ex. “The Waves of the Caspian Sea”) or to the center of their range and lower (ex. “Behrani's Thoughts - Long Ago,” “Old Photos, New Memories). Sometimes this is not a quick process. Sometimes the cascade will take minutes to complete a full wave. Sometimes it will happen in seconds. Horner varies the speed and variety of the string cascades to create the atmosphere of wistfulness, longing, upset, and grief. Sometimes these cascades are transferred to a synthesized female voice, as in “Kathy’s Night,” to absolutely stunning and breathtaking effect. The main theme of the score--if you can really call it that--is based on a subset of the string cascading heard in “The Waves of the Caspian Sea.” I hesitate to call it a theme since it more blends with the intimacy, texture, and subtlety of the score rather than standing out as something that is developed enough and appears enough that it is a true thematic presence. I personally see it more as a recurring musical emotion rather than a theme, but then again, that’s one of the major components to a theme, so it is up to you to decide.
One of, if not the most important components to this score, especially during the center portion of this score, is the piano. Horner writes simple piano parts that are to be played over the strings. I don’t want to call them melodies, because occasionally they are singular chords (aside from his trademark “thrum,” which is used here to great benefit as well) that are brought together to compliment the string cascades. The piano is quite soft and never is used to overpower the strings, but to compliment them. The simplicity of the piano parts gives them a tenderness and softness that I’m not quite sure Horner had written up to that point, and really no so much after, either (maybe here and there during The Forgotten and The New World). Occasionally the piano is brought together to play a slight, fragile melody that goes something like, “bah bum, bah bum bah BAH bum,” or “bum, BAM bum, bum” for lack of better phrasing, that almost feels like he’s using the piano to simulate the the rhythm of flowing tears. I have no idea if this is what was his intent, but it sure gives me that feeling. Its a warm, inviting melody, appearing most prominently in the gorgeous piano solo “Two People,” (of which there is another later on) and further around the score (I looked at my iPod during “The Dreams of Kings”). Again, I see these as a recurring musical emotion rather than a theme.
Of course, Horner is no slouch when it comes to detail. The score is peppered with exotic percussion and synthesizers. House of Sand and Fog is augmented, aside with Horner’s stylistic tolling bells, with various chimes and strange drum hits used in quick hits to emote a feeling of forboding, but also to give an Arab flavor to the score (certainly not overbearing or grindingly ethnic, and they blend perfectly in with the strings and piano). A lot of the synthesizer sounds in Horner’s post House of Sand and Fog scores debuted here, though with many more variations. There are strange sounds, but rather than interfere, they are used either in quick hits (in a variant of the “plucked steel drums” as I call them) or in long, wistful sounds, unlike Horner’s usual sounds. Some of his usual sounds, such as the “steam kettle” as I hear it called, are put to the forefront to add to and amplify the breezy feeling of the orchestra.
As I said earlier, I have to be in just the right mood to get these feelings from House of Sand and Fog. If I am even the slightest bit off, the long, held notes override my ability to enjoy the cascades and instead I hear go nowhere nothingness and the score becomes excruciatingly boring (I know this would be 100% the case if I listened to the score any earlier than 10pm). I have had times where I shut the score off in disgust, I won’t lie about it. But as I did the other night, when I listened to this score after All The King’s Men, I fell into the peace and the emotion his score has buried within it and was moved as the music enveloped me, and the breezy wistfulness took me with it.
I’m sure there are those reading that think I’m certifiably crazy after reading this review, but that is exactly how I hear the music. My point to discussing my listening conditions it that I’d bet there will be those who become bored to death on their first listen. In the restraint and seeming simplicity of this score, that’s easy to do. But this score isn’t quite that simple, and it takes a lot of searching and close listening to appreciate the finer moments. This is not a score to listen to while typing an e-mail or writing a report. It is not a score that is remotely possible to be enjoyed while doing anything that takes your mind from it. It is a cerebral, engulfing score, and if you treat it like that, I bet you’ll find that you’ll take a lot more from this score than you knew was there. And I bet you will be moved.
**** out of 5.
Monday, July 23, 2007
Sunday, July 22, 2007
REVIEW: Jumanji
Let’s get one thing out of the way. Jumanji is, inherently, a horror score. I’ve seen it classified on the internet as just about everything but that. But let us get it straight: through and through, Jumanji is a horror score.
With that being said, Jumanji is, no less, a mediocre score. But it is an interesting sort of mediocre. Every so often, a composer will take on a truly awful film, perhaps due to director loyalty, and rather than write a score which is tailor made for it, they take ideas brewing in their head and play with them. They take old ideas and toy around with them, insert new ideas and test their effect, and fill in the rest with underscore (composed of tried and true older ideas). This is exactly what Horner has done with Jumanji.
Jumanji consists of two main themes--the first of which is a sweet, sentimental main theme introduced in the first track, almost always played on exotic woodwinds by Tony Hinnigan, or on a standard flute. With it is some playful “fun” music, assumedly representing the kids, that really isn’t much to make note of since its not really memorable. Playful flutes and strings mark its occasional occurrence, but that is it. But the aforementioned sweet and sentimental theme really is a precious one that shows a lot of love and care in its emotion. It shows up often enough, but its performance in Mighty Joe Young is far superior.
The other theme is one often played on low brass that is evocative of suspense. Its a four note theme, sometimes expanded to eight, that does its best to express dread. It stands well enough on its own, but never receives more than this sparse orchestration, rendering it a relatively immobile, singularly focused theme. It shows up in other parts of the orchestra from time to time, but it never reaches an emotional height like it does when played by the low brass. Interestingly and ironically enough, this theme would used verbatim by Gabriel Yared in his score for Troy, where it makes laughable appearances over the music that Yared wrote for the 1000 Ships scene (Horner’s superior music for that scene is contained in his track, “Troy”). The theme was appropriate for a silly horror film, but would have been completely out of place in a “serious” epic.
The orchestration in Jumanji is imposingly sparse. I cannot tell if this is the result of narrow writing on Horner’s part or if he was only given a tiny orchestra (or both). This is wonderful for the horror bits (emphasized by strings and woodwinds) and also works well for the sentimental bits (woodwinds and piano), almost necessary for both (especially considering the status of Jumanji as a horror score), but when the music kicks into action, it begins to fail. The action sequences are rendered with fast brass over maybe one or two other instrumental lines under it--usually some sort of prototypical 90’s Horner action string work. The action music falls flat for this reason, because of its poor rendering and the feeling of “one instrument playing each line” sound, it comes out somewhat uninteresting and boring.
The saving grace to the orchestration is that this score features some of the better work of Hinnigan and Co. The shakuhachi wails away at all the right moments played flawlessly by Kazu Matsui, and the toyo work by Hinnigan in “Rampage Through Town” and “The Monsoon” is some of the catchiest work he provides, and it isn’t explored nearly enough in this or future scores.
A lot of people are bothered by the “Monkey Mayhem” track (some of which spills over to the track “Alan Parrish”). “Monkey Mayhem” starts out with a good bit of typical Horner horror scoring and finishes with a crazed array of frantic noises lead by what sounds like a synthesized kazoo with wild trumpets, as though Horner told his orchestra to just “go wild,” not terribly dissimilar to We’re Back, A Dinosaur’s Story I think this track is a lot of fun, especially knowing Horner’s career as I do, and I think it evokes the wild nature of the animal kingdom as well as anyone could. This is a kids movie, after all, and the fun sense of wildness fits the atmosphere perfectly.
To this point, I haven’t spoken in great detail about the sound of Jumanji aside from general references to “horror” and such. Well, Jumanji is a score with a rather significant identity crisis. This crisis gives way to an inconsistent soundscape as a result of the various elements of this score being just different enough that they don’t blend together. As I mentioned above, I feel as though Horner wrote a score for his career and not this movie, and as such, I never get a “feel” for Jumanji as much as I do for what has come and what is yet to come. Here is what I noticed:
The “crazed” music has a lot in common with the simultaneous Casper, and is rendered much more interestingly in that score. A lot of the crazy music gives way to jungle-esque music, again which would be rendered with far more depth, detail, and emotion in the forthcoming Mighty Joe Young, as here, it tends to ride the line of flat, cliche jungle music (when it appears, which is not often).
Jumanji’s horror music is typically a reworking of the quieter bits from Aliens, usually with some spice thrown in to reflect animals on the screen (a high brass passage for a flying bird or low brass sound for an elephant, or something of that sort). The same fluttering woodwinds on strings with shrieks from the violins or the low brass are used here as was in Aliens to the same awesome effect. When it isn’t reworking the horror of Aliens, it is reworking the horror of Thunderheart, as the same vocal calls to the wind start and end this score, setting the stage for the appropriate atmosphere of terror that a game come alive would need.
The action music is oftentimes an inferior reworking of what appears in Willow as if it were filtered through The Pagemaster and again through the sparseness and simplicity of Clear and Present Danger. The same quick action sound and fast brass hits are present as in Willow, with the same overarching adventurous and frightening tone within the music, but hurt badly by the orchestrational rendering and/or the small size of the orchestra. For example, “The Hunter” is a rewrite of the action music found in the “Canyon of Mazes” track of Willow, but without the pizzaz that made that track so awesome--it seems the orchestra just isn’t large enough to emphasize the sound of the quick brass hits and/or not enough instruments involved to augment them.
I believe one of the more interesting aspects of Jumanji is how it allows us to look into the future of Horner’s writing. The quiet sentimental bits set the stage for the ethereal, breathtaking music as found in The Spitfire Grill and later Iris. The music, as it would be heard in the next year, was pretty well in tact and rendered inJumanji. In Jumanji, these Spitfire Grill moments appear in short, quick bursts rather than all over the score, and are fleshed out especially in “A New World” and “End Titles”. These musical bits lighten Jumanji up and add a warmth and depth that don’t appear nearly enough. Horner must have realized he hit gold since what was written here was expanded upon significantly for The Spitfire Grill, and fans of that score should investigate Jumanji for just these tracks--it would be worth it since this is where it all began.
One thing that has to be said about this score is that the recording is just awful. I know Shawn Murphy is said to be one of the best in the business, but his recordings (especially in 1995 when he also botched Braveheart) tend to have a lower dynamic range and feel more condensed. No where else is it so true an in Jumanji, and I sometimes feel like I’m listening to the score through the floor several stories above the scoring stage. This recording is “foggy” (best way I can describe the experience), distorted, and the instruments feel as though they were recorded at very close range, limiting an expansive feeling. The best I can describe the sensation I get is that the instruments were suffocating each other. Nothing reverberates well and nothing really comes alive. It may be that my complaints about the rendering of the action music arise from the shoddy recording quality.
Overall, Jumanji is a mediocre score, but not because the music itself is problematic (except the rendering of the action music/recording quality thereof), but because it is a score with an identity crisis. The themes are decent, but all the music heard had been done as well or better in the past and elements yet to be heard would be fleshed out in their future scores. Jumanji is by no means a bad score and its easy to garner enjoyment from some of the wackier, tender, and horrific moments, but overall, there is too much that just doesn’t go anywhere. If one is willing to be patient, one will enjoy the score since it really has its moments (especially those to be fleshed out in The Spitfire Grill), but if it has to be consistent and/or nonstop, it is best to look elsewhere.
*** out of 5.
With that being said, Jumanji is, no less, a mediocre score. But it is an interesting sort of mediocre. Every so often, a composer will take on a truly awful film, perhaps due to director loyalty, and rather than write a score which is tailor made for it, they take ideas brewing in their head and play with them. They take old ideas and toy around with them, insert new ideas and test their effect, and fill in the rest with underscore (composed of tried and true older ideas). This is exactly what Horner has done with Jumanji.
Jumanji consists of two main themes--the first of which is a sweet, sentimental main theme introduced in the first track, almost always played on exotic woodwinds by Tony Hinnigan, or on a standard flute. With it is some playful “fun” music, assumedly representing the kids, that really isn’t much to make note of since its not really memorable. Playful flutes and strings mark its occasional occurrence, but that is it. But the aforementioned sweet and sentimental theme really is a precious one that shows a lot of love and care in its emotion. It shows up often enough, but its performance in Mighty Joe Young is far superior.
The other theme is one often played on low brass that is evocative of suspense. Its a four note theme, sometimes expanded to eight, that does its best to express dread. It stands well enough on its own, but never receives more than this sparse orchestration, rendering it a relatively immobile, singularly focused theme. It shows up in other parts of the orchestra from time to time, but it never reaches an emotional height like it does when played by the low brass. Interestingly and ironically enough, this theme would used verbatim by Gabriel Yared in his score for Troy, where it makes laughable appearances over the music that Yared wrote for the 1000 Ships scene (Horner’s superior music for that scene is contained in his track, “Troy”). The theme was appropriate for a silly horror film, but would have been completely out of place in a “serious” epic.
The orchestration in Jumanji is imposingly sparse. I cannot tell if this is the result of narrow writing on Horner’s part or if he was only given a tiny orchestra (or both). This is wonderful for the horror bits (emphasized by strings and woodwinds) and also works well for the sentimental bits (woodwinds and piano), almost necessary for both (especially considering the status of Jumanji as a horror score), but when the music kicks into action, it begins to fail. The action sequences are rendered with fast brass over maybe one or two other instrumental lines under it--usually some sort of prototypical 90’s Horner action string work. The action music falls flat for this reason, because of its poor rendering and the feeling of “one instrument playing each line” sound, it comes out somewhat uninteresting and boring.
The saving grace to the orchestration is that this score features some of the better work of Hinnigan and Co. The shakuhachi wails away at all the right moments played flawlessly by Kazu Matsui, and the toyo work by Hinnigan in “Rampage Through Town” and “The Monsoon” is some of the catchiest work he provides, and it isn’t explored nearly enough in this or future scores.
A lot of people are bothered by the “Monkey Mayhem” track (some of which spills over to the track “Alan Parrish”). “Monkey Mayhem” starts out with a good bit of typical Horner horror scoring and finishes with a crazed array of frantic noises lead by what sounds like a synthesized kazoo with wild trumpets, as though Horner told his orchestra to just “go wild,” not terribly dissimilar to We’re Back, A Dinosaur’s Story I think this track is a lot of fun, especially knowing Horner’s career as I do, and I think it evokes the wild nature of the animal kingdom as well as anyone could. This is a kids movie, after all, and the fun sense of wildness fits the atmosphere perfectly.
To this point, I haven’t spoken in great detail about the sound of Jumanji aside from general references to “horror” and such. Well, Jumanji is a score with a rather significant identity crisis. This crisis gives way to an inconsistent soundscape as a result of the various elements of this score being just different enough that they don’t blend together. As I mentioned above, I feel as though Horner wrote a score for his career and not this movie, and as such, I never get a “feel” for Jumanji as much as I do for what has come and what is yet to come. Here is what I noticed:
The “crazed” music has a lot in common with the simultaneous Casper, and is rendered much more interestingly in that score. A lot of the crazy music gives way to jungle-esque music, again which would be rendered with far more depth, detail, and emotion in the forthcoming Mighty Joe Young, as here, it tends to ride the line of flat, cliche jungle music (when it appears, which is not often).
Jumanji’s horror music is typically a reworking of the quieter bits from Aliens, usually with some spice thrown in to reflect animals on the screen (a high brass passage for a flying bird or low brass sound for an elephant, or something of that sort). The same fluttering woodwinds on strings with shrieks from the violins or the low brass are used here as was in Aliens to the same awesome effect. When it isn’t reworking the horror of Aliens, it is reworking the horror of Thunderheart, as the same vocal calls to the wind start and end this score, setting the stage for the appropriate atmosphere of terror that a game come alive would need.
The action music is oftentimes an inferior reworking of what appears in Willow as if it were filtered through The Pagemaster and again through the sparseness and simplicity of Clear and Present Danger. The same quick action sound and fast brass hits are present as in Willow, with the same overarching adventurous and frightening tone within the music, but hurt badly by the orchestrational rendering and/or the small size of the orchestra. For example, “The Hunter” is a rewrite of the action music found in the “Canyon of Mazes” track of Willow, but without the pizzaz that made that track so awesome--it seems the orchestra just isn’t large enough to emphasize the sound of the quick brass hits and/or not enough instruments involved to augment them.
I believe one of the more interesting aspects of Jumanji is how it allows us to look into the future of Horner’s writing. The quiet sentimental bits set the stage for the ethereal, breathtaking music as found in The Spitfire Grill and later Iris. The music, as it would be heard in the next year, was pretty well in tact and rendered inJumanji. In Jumanji, these Spitfire Grill moments appear in short, quick bursts rather than all over the score, and are fleshed out especially in “A New World” and “End Titles”. These musical bits lighten Jumanji up and add a warmth and depth that don’t appear nearly enough. Horner must have realized he hit gold since what was written here was expanded upon significantly for The Spitfire Grill, and fans of that score should investigate Jumanji for just these tracks--it would be worth it since this is where it all began.
One thing that has to be said about this score is that the recording is just awful. I know Shawn Murphy is said to be one of the best in the business, but his recordings (especially in 1995 when he also botched Braveheart) tend to have a lower dynamic range and feel more condensed. No where else is it so true an in Jumanji, and I sometimes feel like I’m listening to the score through the floor several stories above the scoring stage. This recording is “foggy” (best way I can describe the experience), distorted, and the instruments feel as though they were recorded at very close range, limiting an expansive feeling. The best I can describe the sensation I get is that the instruments were suffocating each other. Nothing reverberates well and nothing really comes alive. It may be that my complaints about the rendering of the action music arise from the shoddy recording quality.
Overall, Jumanji is a mediocre score, but not because the music itself is problematic (except the rendering of the action music/recording quality thereof), but because it is a score with an identity crisis. The themes are decent, but all the music heard had been done as well or better in the past and elements yet to be heard would be fleshed out in their future scores. Jumanji is by no means a bad score and its easy to garner enjoyment from some of the wackier, tender, and horrific moments, but overall, there is too much that just doesn’t go anywhere. If one is willing to be patient, one will enjoy the score since it really has its moments (especially those to be fleshed out in The Spitfire Grill), but if it has to be consistent and/or nonstop, it is best to look elsewhere.
*** out of 5.
Thursday, July 19, 2007
REVIEW: All The King's Men
Okay, so, this is a rereview. I honestly have no idea what planet I was living on when I wrote the initial review for this score back in September. I won’t make any bones about the fact that my first year of college was crummy, and I got this score first semester. I had just broken up with my boyfriend and was dealing with my then roommate, who was manic (quite seriously--he’d stay up for 72 hours on end), and I was probably trying to avoid him just long enough to listen to the score and review it objectively. Well, I have since had the opportunity to rediscover this score, and I’d like it to be known my “objective” review was way off base.
I started my previous review with this paragraph: “Right off the bat, it is evident that All The King’s Men is a dark score. It is absolutely oozing with Horner's style and orchestrations (he orchestrated it himself, a pleasant shift from the 8 orchestrators of Legend of Zorro).” I still stand by that statement, moreso as I’ve really begun to rediscover Horner’s more intimate scores. All the King’s Men, for all its power and might, really is one of those. The scores that Horner orchestrates himself really get into the nitty-gritty of the characters of a film, and I just feel like Horner is filling in the open crevasses the film had with a blanket of truly evocative music, something he does best when he is in complete control of his scores. With that being said, I’d like to modify the last sentence of my review’s original paragraph. It should read, “Horner's darker scores are hit and miss, and I'm pleased to report that this one is a roaring success.”
The first thing one will notice when the score starts is the crescendoing, intensifying snare drums that build, peppering the score with a sense of fear and dread, assumedly representing the corruption present within the setting. This is a technique based on his rapid cymbal-tapping technique (think Bicenennial Man, Beautiful Mind, Flightplan, or his other lighter, character based string scores in more urgent moments). The drums then yield toward a true “main title,” something which is beginning to become increasingly rare in Hollywood (a damn shame and a rant for another time). All of the themes get a workout here. There appear to be three of them, one of which is varied based on the mood.
The first one is what has been described as the “power theme” a more often than not four note theme that is used to show a dark side to the music--one that expresses dread and, when played by higher pitched (muted?) brass, can really cause one to quiver. Its simple construct and innate simplicity gives it a, well, power that an overly complex theme would have ruined. This theme shows up quite often, sometimes in the aforementioned brass, but also mixed into other sections of the orchestra in the low strings, almost as a counterpoint for what is going on in the music. This sends the message of, “Oh, hey, this isn’t what it seems!” The versatility of the theme is amazing, and is everywhere in the score providing many subtle references, creating an atmosphere of out of control power. For interest’s sake, and I’m shocked no one review has mentioned this, I knew the theme came from somewhere else, and in my original review, I said, “... really is just a fragment of the "waves" music from House of Sand and Fog.” Well, this is somewhat true, but I since have come to realize it is the schizophrenic music from A Beautiful Mind, plus one note. And frankly, I listened to A Beautiful Mind in May (this is when I realized), tried to add that fourth note in my mind in anticipation, and wasn’t able to. The point? It works just a little better in All the King’s Men (not saying it doesn’t work in A Beautiful Mind, which it does amazingly well. I just prefer the theme with the extra note!).
The second theme in the score is the most dynamic. It is a two sided theme, also introduced in the main title and heard throughout the score. It is the one varied based on mood. This is a quintessential Horner character theme, I assume meant for the main one. By two sided, I mean you get three varieties- piano and/or low strings being the first. The piano and strings versions of this theme convey a sense of innocence, yet the theme is constructed with a slightly dark twinge to it. It is tender, and it is beautiful, yet still has just enough twists in the notation that its not an entirely pure theme. The second way this theme is played is by the southern fiddle (namely at the start of the 9th track) throughout the score, again, giving it the southern fighter tone that the music is trying to convey, without making it seem as though any good is going on. The third side to this theme is the brass side, played on lower level brass (trombones and horns), which shows the corrupt, evil side to the character. There are times when these styles appear right next to each other, and are used together to add a great conflict in the music, assumedly for the character for which it was written. The conflict, when listening to the music, is almost tangible and extremely evocative, a sign Horner did what so few modern composers do now and got to the nitty-gritty of the characterization.
The third theme is by and far one of the most beautiful Horner has penned, and is most prominent at the beginning of track 8. As I said in my previous review and I think still stands true here this theme, which I often hear referred to as the childhood theme, “...is a piano driven (once taken by the strings and once by the woodwinds, however) noir theme that belongs in a smoky room in a bar late at night. It is sentimental and thoughtful; provoking and jazzy.” In my original review, I identified it as a gem of the score, and it really is. It appears sparingly, but it is used to color an otherwise bleak musical landscape, and is used to show that in a dark world, not all hope is lost. The restraint in its usage is perfect for the tone of the score, for it is a breath of fresh air, but never lets us forget not all is well in the world.
In my original review, I took significant issue with the orchestration, and it is here that I really wonder what planet I was on. The orchestration is probably one of the most influential bits of this score. I totally missed how layered it was. The references to the power theme, in the melody and countermelodies, are subtle and yet powerful, and I completely missed them my first time around. How I did this I do not know, but I just realized how amazingly layered the score was as I rediscovered it, and noticed that there is always some sort of musical message in the orchestra if one is willing to look for it.
Aside from that, the orchestration is fluid and dark, yet unforgiving and unrelenting, warming up only when the characters are willing to expose their week and vulnerable side. Same for the music. For most of the score the music is strong, but it opens up and becomes warm when it exposes its inner depths (piano based character theme/childhood theme as perfect examples). The usage of brass is far more intense than in Horner’s usual intimate scores, but here the brass is kept in the low range (as are most of the instruments playing, including synths, except the strings and piano during the warm moments). In this way, the score is similar to Enemy at the Gates and House of Sand and Fog, but digs far more into musical messaging (of corruption and love) than in either of those two scores. The weight of the musical movement is left to the strings. As I said in my original review that the music contains, “the low strings upon low strings meandering away with occasional low brass accompaniment from Enemy at the Gates and the strings on deep reverberating bells/wave like long lined strings from House of Sand and Fog.” I said then that this killed the score, but on rediscovering Horner’s intimate side, I can say it is these techniques that make the score as fluid and as deep as it is. Apart they don’t work so well (I make no bones about my dislike for Enemy at the Gates), but together they create a dark, twisted, twirling atmosphere where the music starts on top and works its way down. Wooden these orchestrations are not. Fluid and dynamic they are.
This is not to say all is perfect. I do still find that the score slows down considerably toward the middle, with lots of drawn out string notes and missing accompaniments that sort of lead a go nowhere wander atmosphere to the score. Sometimes the score is stripped to the bare bones and just a few instruments are playing sparsely constructed notations, but its never allowed to become excruciatingly boring as these sections don’t last long. They may seem to if you aren’t listening to the layers of the score, because sometimes the top layer is doing nothing and noodling around. But the joy here is to search lower layers, and by doing that, one might just find the occasional nod to the power theme or an amazing countermelody of strong construct that is sending the musical message of, “hey, watch out!”
Three tracks that I find interesting are track 3, 5, and 9. Tracks 5 and 9 are based around pizzicato strings around brooding statements of the power theme, augmented by the plucked steel drum synths (for lack of a better description) from The Forgotten/Chumscrubber. These tracks provide an awesome, subtle, yet entirely foreboding musical warning that there is significant conniving, and one should beware. These tracks are most chilling and evocative, and serve to create some of the most dynamic tension Horner has written in years.
Track 3 is an anomaly in the score. It sticks out like a sore thumb, but it fits the atmosphere of the score none the less. As I said in my original review, and this still holds true, with this track, “one is listening to bright Americana from the pages of Searching for Bobby Fischer (with an Americana theme that is a variation on Bobby Fischer's main theme). It is alive with style and vigor and is quite a pleasant listen.” It ends with a quotation out of Braveheart of the Sons of Scotland theme, but works just as well here as a theme of triumph and victory, when played forcefully as it is here. It works well enough in Braveheart, but it really gets the blood flowing here. I have had a chance to see just this scene in the movie (and friend owns it and let me watch just this scene). The replacement cue is not nearly as good, as it is a more subdued interpretation of the same material (that americana theme is still present, just stripped of its countermelody). I found it funny that most reviewers let Horner off the hook for the Braveheart reference since the cue was replaced in the film. Clearly no one had bothered to see it--the Braveheart reference is still very much in the final film.
“All the King's Men is highly original, which should please many people. Yes, its Horner. As I said, its oozing with his style.” I indicated that in my review, and indeed, that is very true. And I wouldn’t have it any other way. Horner’s style is what keeps me coming back to his scores, as I always feel at home and in a welcome presence with his music on. Rather than walking into a generic department store for a meal, its like going to grandma’s and being pampered with all the fixins’ (okay, so I’m being melodramatic, but you get the idea). As a miscellaneous note, I mentioned before that, aside from the Beautiful Mind and Braveheart references, “in the track Adam's World at about 2:27 in, there is a loudly mixed harp playing the action theme from Commando. It makes for a heartbreaking top to the sad strings in the background. It only appears once and here for about 15 seconds or so, thus it honestly shouldn't matter to anyone but those with a keen ear listening for the tips of the hat.”
I concluded my previous review by saying, “Alas, there is nothing more to say about All the King's Men. Some are going to love it and some are going to hate it.” But I hope like me, if you hate it, you can go from hating it to loving it. It has been worth the trip.
**** out of 5.
I started my previous review with this paragraph: “Right off the bat, it is evident that All The King’s Men is a dark score. It is absolutely oozing with Horner's style and orchestrations (he orchestrated it himself, a pleasant shift from the 8 orchestrators of Legend of Zorro).” I still stand by that statement, moreso as I’ve really begun to rediscover Horner’s more intimate scores. All the King’s Men, for all its power and might, really is one of those. The scores that Horner orchestrates himself really get into the nitty-gritty of the characters of a film, and I just feel like Horner is filling in the open crevasses the film had with a blanket of truly evocative music, something he does best when he is in complete control of his scores. With that being said, I’d like to modify the last sentence of my review’s original paragraph. It should read, “Horner's darker scores are hit and miss, and I'm pleased to report that this one is a roaring success.”
The first thing one will notice when the score starts is the crescendoing, intensifying snare drums that build, peppering the score with a sense of fear and dread, assumedly representing the corruption present within the setting. This is a technique based on his rapid cymbal-tapping technique (think Bicenennial Man, Beautiful Mind, Flightplan, or his other lighter, character based string scores in more urgent moments). The drums then yield toward a true “main title,” something which is beginning to become increasingly rare in Hollywood (a damn shame and a rant for another time). All of the themes get a workout here. There appear to be three of them, one of which is varied based on the mood.
The first one is what has been described as the “power theme” a more often than not four note theme that is used to show a dark side to the music--one that expresses dread and, when played by higher pitched (muted?) brass, can really cause one to quiver. Its simple construct and innate simplicity gives it a, well, power that an overly complex theme would have ruined. This theme shows up quite often, sometimes in the aforementioned brass, but also mixed into other sections of the orchestra in the low strings, almost as a counterpoint for what is going on in the music. This sends the message of, “Oh, hey, this isn’t what it seems!” The versatility of the theme is amazing, and is everywhere in the score providing many subtle references, creating an atmosphere of out of control power. For interest’s sake, and I’m shocked no one review has mentioned this, I knew the theme came from somewhere else, and in my original review, I said, “...
The second theme in the score is the most dynamic. It is a two sided theme, also introduced in the main title and heard throughout the score. It is the one varied based on mood. This is a quintessential Horner character theme, I assume meant for the main one. By two sided, I mean you get three varieties- piano and/or low strings being the first. The piano and strings versions of this theme convey a sense of innocence, yet the theme is constructed with a slightly dark twinge to it. It is tender, and it is beautiful, yet still has just enough twists in the notation that its not an entirely pure theme. The second way this theme is played is by the southern fiddle (namely at the start of the 9th track) throughout the score, again, giving it the southern fighter tone that the music is trying to convey, without making it seem as though any good is going on. The third side to this theme is the brass side, played on lower level brass (trombones and horns), which shows the corrupt, evil side to the character. There are times when these styles appear right next to each other, and are used together to add a great conflict in the music, assumedly for the character for which it was written. The conflict, when listening to the music, is almost tangible and extremely evocative, a sign Horner did what so few modern composers do now and got to the nitty-gritty of the characterization.
The third theme is by and far one of the most beautiful Horner has penned, and is most prominent at the beginning of track 8. As I said in my previous review and I think still stands true here this theme, which I often hear referred to as the childhood theme, “...is a piano driven (once taken by the strings and once by the woodwinds, however) noir theme that belongs in a smoky room in a bar late at night. It is sentimental and thoughtful; provoking and jazzy.” In my original review, I identified it as a gem of the score, and it really is. It appears sparingly, but it is used to color an otherwise bleak musical landscape, and is used to show that in a dark world, not all hope is lost. The restraint in its usage is perfect for the tone of the score, for it is a breath of fresh air, but never lets us forget not all is well in the world.
In my original review, I took significant issue with the orchestration, and it is here that I really wonder what planet I was on. The orchestration is probably one of the most influential bits of this score. I totally missed how layered it was. The references to the power theme, in the melody and countermelodies, are subtle and yet powerful, and I completely missed them my first time around. How I did this I do not know, but I just realized how amazingly layered the score was as I rediscovered it, and noticed that there is always some sort of musical message in the orchestra if one is willing to look for it.
Aside from that, the orchestration is fluid and dark, yet unforgiving and unrelenting, warming up only when the characters are willing to expose their week and vulnerable side. Same for the music. For most of the score the music is strong, but it opens up and becomes warm when it exposes its inner depths (piano based character theme/childhood theme as perfect examples). The usage of brass is far more intense than in Horner’s usual intimate scores, but here the brass is kept in the low range (as are most of the instruments playing, including synths, except the strings and piano during the warm moments). In this way, the score is similar to Enemy at the Gates and House of Sand and Fog, but digs far more into musical messaging (of corruption and love) than in either of those two scores. The weight of the musical movement is left to the strings. As I said in my original review that the music contains, “the low strings upon low strings meandering away with occasional low brass accompaniment from Enemy at the Gates and the strings on deep reverberating bells/wave like long lined strings from House of Sand and Fog.” I said then that this killed the score, but on rediscovering Horner’s intimate side, I can say it is these techniques that make the score as fluid and as deep as it is. Apart they don’t work so well (I make no bones about my dislike for Enemy at the Gates), but together they create a dark, twisted, twirling atmosphere where the music starts on top and works its way down. Wooden these orchestrations are not. Fluid and dynamic they are.
This is not to say all is perfect. I do still find that the score slows down considerably toward the middle, with lots of drawn out string notes and missing accompaniments that sort of lead a go nowhere wander atmosphere to the score. Sometimes the score is stripped to the bare bones and just a few instruments are playing sparsely constructed notations, but its never allowed to become excruciatingly boring as these sections don’t last long. They may seem to if you aren’t listening to the layers of the score, because sometimes the top layer is doing nothing and noodling around. But the joy here is to search lower layers, and by doing that, one might just find the occasional nod to the power theme or an amazing countermelody of strong construct that is sending the musical message of, “hey, watch out!”
Three tracks that I find interesting are track 3, 5, and 9. Tracks 5 and 9 are based around pizzicato strings around brooding statements of the power theme, augmented by the plucked steel drum synths (for lack of a better description) from The Forgotten/Chumscrubber. These tracks provide an awesome, subtle, yet entirely foreboding musical warning that there is significant conniving, and one should beware. These tracks are most chilling and evocative, and serve to create some of the most dynamic tension Horner has written in years.
Track 3 is an anomaly in the score. It sticks out like a sore thumb, but it fits the atmosphere of the score none the less. As I said in my original review, and this still holds true, with this track, “one is listening to bright Americana from the pages of Searching for Bobby Fischer (with an Americana theme that is a variation on Bobby Fischer's main theme). It is alive with style and vigor and is quite a pleasant listen.” It ends with a quotation out of Braveheart of the Sons of Scotland theme, but works just as well here as a theme of triumph and victory, when played forcefully as it is here. It works well enough in Braveheart, but it really gets the blood flowing here. I have had a chance to see just this scene in the movie (and friend owns it and let me watch just this scene). The replacement cue is not nearly as good, as it is a more subdued interpretation of the same material (that americana theme is still present, just stripped of its countermelody). I found it funny that most reviewers let Horner off the hook for the Braveheart reference since the cue was replaced in the film. Clearly no one had bothered to see it--the Braveheart reference is still very much in the final film.
“All the King's Men is highly original, which should please many people. Yes, its Horner. As I said, its oozing with his style.” I indicated that in my review, and indeed, that is very true. And I wouldn’t have it any other way. Horner’s style is what keeps me coming back to his scores, as I always feel at home and in a welcome presence with his music on. Rather than walking into a generic department store for a meal, its like going to grandma’s and being pampered with all the fixins’ (okay, so I’m being melodramatic, but you get the idea). As a miscellaneous note, I mentioned before that, aside from the Beautiful Mind and Braveheart references, “in the track Adam's World at about 2:27 in, there is a loudly mixed harp playing the action theme from Commando. It makes for a heartbreaking top to the sad strings in the background. It only appears once and here for about 15 seconds or so, thus it honestly shouldn't matter to anyone but those with a keen ear listening for the tips of the hat.”
I concluded my previous review by saying, “Alas, there is nothing more to say about All the King's Men. Some are going to love it and some are going to hate it.” But I hope like me, if you hate it, you can go from hating it to loving it. It has been worth the trip.
**** out of 5.
Welcome to The Horner Review
Hey all. Welcome to the Horner Review. A lot of people seemed enthusiastic about my reviews that I have written for Horner Scores over at the Horner Shrine, so I figured I would dedicate this new blog to writing reviews of his scores for all to enjoy.
A little background on how I review.
- You will rarely see me refer to specific track titles, or even numbers. I used to listen to scores on my CD Player, but now a days I listen to them, lights out, laying on my bed, with my eyes closed, allowing me to soak up the music without any other distraction or notation.
- I think it is important to consider the wishes of an artist in enjoying their work (after all, it gives a different perspective on it when you see it from theirs), and noting how Horner emphasizes moods, colors, and emotions, this is how I like to listen to his work.
- Sometimes I will take notes on things I find particularly noteworthy, but I likely will only do that with brand new scores. Scores I am rereviewing or have been out for a while, I am bound to talk only in more generalities and impressions/moods the music gave me.
- I am bound to change reviews from time to time, as you will see from my first one.
I hope you all will add this blog to your RSS feeds as I intend to update. I will only update if I know people are reading, so please leave comments and feedback. I'd love to hear from you and would love to hear your opinions.
Thank you so much for reading, and here is to happy listening.
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