SOUNDTRACK CDS for Feb. 2001, Part 1 of 2     

---

CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON - Music composed & conducted by Tan Dun for the Ang Lee Film, cello solos by Yo-Yo Ma - Sony Classical 89347 2: A foreign film, especially a Chinese one with subtitles, has a major battle to go up against Hollywood product. Yet in spite of being shown in only a fraction of the theaters in major cities so far this magnificent kung fu fantasy shows promise of becoming the most popular foreign film of 2001. The fact that two of the three flying martial artists are women adds to the wider appeal of this amazing film. The stirring music by leading composer Dun has all the emotional appeal of some of the greatest Hollywood symphonic scores of the 40s and 50s. Ma's lyrical cello voice is an integral part of many of the cues. Traditional instruments such as the erhu and tar drums are also included. But don't expect the corny Chinoisery of some Hollywood scores of the past - as with much recent Chinese soundtrack music, one would be hard put to identify the country of origin in some of these cues. Others abound in delicate impressions of traditional Chinese music, but emphasizing tonalities that fall more gently on Westernized ears.

- John Sunier

ROBIN AND THE 7 HOODS - Lyrics: Sammy Cahn; Music: James Van Heusen; Arr. & conducted by Nelson Riddle - DCC Compact Classics Gold - ARZ 104 2: DCC is back in operation and this new release has an interesting history. It was recorded on three-track tape in a studio the year following the release of the 1963 movie that starred Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Bing Crosby, Sammy Davis Jr. And Peter Falk. During the shoot JFK was shot and Sinatra Jr. Was kidnapped. It was felt that the mag film recordings on the original soundtrack were not good enough fidelity for the LP release and in the process some songs were changed somewhat. The big numbers are Sinatra doing My Kind of Town, Crosby in Don't Be a Do-Badder, and the whole Rat Pack in Mister Booze - a personage they evidently all know intimately. If you've been dying all these years to hear Inspector Colombo sing, here's your chance!: the track All for One and One for All. Play that one for your friends and make them guess who's singing. Superb ultra clean and upfront sonics on this rollicking Hollywood musical.

- John Sunier

 

CHOCOLAT - Music by Rachael Portman/ David Snell, conductor - Sony Classical SK 89472: Even if from first reports this didn't sound like the most delightful French film in some time, any soundtrack CD that starts right out with a Django Reinhardt tune has got to be winner in my book. The story of a chocolatier in a small French village and the effects of her creations on some of the townspeople sounds a bit like the best foreign film of several years ago, Babette's Feast, except that we're focusing on the desert now. The 18 cues flow smoothly from one to another like a hot fudge sauce. While providing good listening prior to seeing the film they will surely mean a lot more after viewing what goes with the musical selections.

- John Sunier

THE YARDS - Music composed, orchestrated & conducted by Howard Shore with the London Philharmonic Orchestra - Sony Music Soundtrax SK 89442: As the billing on the cover would seem to indicate, this is a very serious symphonic score. The director played recordings of Ravel, Puccini and Holst for the cast during the shooting and had in mind the more elegiac and emotional works by such composers of the early 20th century. Howard Shore followed that lead in his derivative but very effective score. Since it wasn't designed to literally underscore certain specific happenings on the screen but to give an overall emotional mood, most of the music could stand alone as a new tone poem/fantasia by a composer who limits himself to the side of early 20th century music that pays no attention to the likes of Schoenberg and his crowd. Since the plot milieu of the film didn't interest me in the least, I'll just go on thinking of this music exactly that way and never mind the movie. The London players honor the music with the same dignity they would give works of Ravel or Holst and the recorded sound is rich and detailed.

- John Sunier

 

CLASSIC FILM MUSIC OF VICTOR YOUNG - The Greatest Show on Earth; The Uninvited; Gulliver's Travels; Bright Leaf - Moscow Sym. Orch. & Chorus/William T. Stromberg - Marco Polo 8.225063: Young is not usually thought of in the same group with the great film music creators of Hollywood's gold age, such as Korngold, Hermann, Waxman and Rozsa. His biggest scores were For Whom the Bell Tolls and Around the World in 80 Days. He scored more films than most of the others but sometimes failed to put much energy into the music for a film he considered less than the best. Yet he came up with some glorious melodies that equalled or bettered most of the other composers, often finding inspiration in fellow displaced-in-Hollywood composer Serge Rachmaninoff. The major two suites of cues on this newly-recorded CD are from The Uninvited and Bright Leaf, both about 25 minutes length. The first is considered the best ghost story to come out of Hollywood this period. The very adult and scary mystery concerns a London music critic and his sister who move into a haunted house. Young's haunting theme in the Prelude of this score eventually became the pop standard Stella By Starlight. The second film was a downer tobacco plantation soap opera that starred Gary Cooper, Patricia Neal and Lauren Bacall. But Young's score covers a wide range of emotions, Southern sensibilities and waltz tempos. The short suite of five movements reconstructed from his score to the l939 Fleischer Bros. animated feature Gulliver's Travels (reissued recently on a delightful DVD) allows one to hear some of this humorous score played in the best fidelity by a full symphony instead of the strangled-sounding studio orchestra on the original soundtrack. Young had an easy plot hook on which to hang his music for this animation masterpiece (overshadowed at the time by Disney's Fantasia): Two Lilliputian kings go to war over an argument concerning which of two songs to sing at the marriage of their royal children. Young gets to use variations on both songs in his score and then for the big finish present them simultaneously as a musical demonstration of royal harmony.

- John Sunier

STAR WARS, THE PHANTOM MENACE - The Ultimate Edition. Music composed and conducted by John Williams/London Symphony Orchestra - Sony Classical S2K 89460 (2 CDs): This is a thick and darkly shiny package with cover art so dark and shiny that it failed to scan. Therefore the cover displayed here is the cover of the thick booklet of notes and stills from the film rather than the actual CD cover. The two discs are required to hold the entire 120 minutes of music used in the latest of the Star Wars series, the first "prequel" to the original three films. There are over 65 separate tracks, including a bonus one of the famous light-sabre fight complete with the original movie dialog tracks. Just the ticket for Star Wars fans - though those that are more heavily Star Wars fans than John Williams fans may find that 120 straight minutes of the latter without dialog and screen action to be just a bit over the top.

- John Sunier

 

Whooo-ee! Music from Two Mind-Blowing Science Fiction TV Series =
FARSCAPE - Music from the TV series by SubVision and Guy Gross - GNP Crescendo GNPD 8068:
LEXX, The Series - Music composed by Marty Simon - GNP-Crescendo GNPD 8069:

This pair of shows are my personal favorites on the Sci-Fi Channel - both are grippingly original and often outrageous shows with a cast of characters that makes the Star Trek spinoffs seem as mild-mannered as Masterpiece Theater. Farspace has a thrilling main theme that makes compelling use of a wordless female chorus. It's scoring uses a successful blend of the synthesized and natural acoustic sources. If you're an SF fan, you owe it to yourself to check out this series even if your cable service fails to offer the Sci-Fi channel (Have a friend tape it for you).

My reasons for covering the LEXX CD are more to draw attention to the series than to the music tracks. Like the series itself, they completely disregard most sci-fi conventions and include corny songs badly sung, banjo, bad rock, crazed sampling, and a lot of noisy rhythmic ostinatos that frankly get on my nerves - but do support what's going on visually very well. I wouldn't begin to explain the general plot line of either series. Have a look and have fun piecing it together yourself.

- John Sunier

On to Conclusion of These Reviews

Send Your Comments to AUDIOPHILE AUDITION!

Return to the Home Page for FEB.

Back to Top of This Page

To Index of CD Reviews for month