CD Reviews: Moby Dick, Lolita

Moby Dick ***1/2

CHRISTOPHER GORDON

Varese Sarabande VSD-5921. 41 tracks - 73:24

I've always been partial to the maligned '50s John Huston version of Moby Dick, so Franc Roddam's new 4-hour television take on the subject was slow-going, although it's probably a better adaptation of the book than Huston's version. Let's just say that Henry Thomas is no Richard Basehart. It was good to see Gregory Peck in the pulpit playing the role Orson Welles took in the Huston movie, though. The film's digital effects were another tough nut to swallow, never quite capturing the awe and menace of the old-fashioned miniature and mechanical effects of the earlier movie.

One element that worked just fine was Christopher Gordon's full-bore 19th century-style score, which is a lot closer in spirit to Philip Sainton's score for the Huston version than you'd expect (Sainton's score has been re-recorded for release on Marco Polo). It has the same style of optimistic, open-air nautical theme for Ishmael's journey, and a bustling, surprisingly complex and motivic approach to much of the underscore that almost puts this in a class with Lee Holdridge's in-your-face Into Thin Air TV movie of last year, although ultimately it's not as memorable. It's an indication of how much more experimental (and ultimately effective) current TV-movie scores are allowed to be than their hidebound theatrical equivalents: somehow I suspect that a theatrical score for a big, period nautical epic these days would wind up sounding like, oh, I don't know... Enya, maybe?

While Gordon gets plenty of mileage out of his 19th century style, he's not shy about working in modernistic effects, notably the percussive, tribalistic music for Queequeg, the dissonances in "Bad Magic" and "Jonah and the Whale," and the John Adams-style minimalistic string writing that characterizes "St. Elmo's Fire" in the film. The music is also well-performed, and since it was recorded in Australia where the film was made, Varese gives us a full 74 minutes, plus liner notes by Roddam. And who wouldn't love an album with a track called "Ye Hairy-Hearted Ghouls"

--Jeff Bond

Lolita ****

Ennio Morricone

Milan 74321 52318-2 (Europe). 21 tracks - 61:28

You may have heard about director Adrian Lyne's new film version of the classic Vladimir Nabokov novel Lolita: Made for more than $50 million, no American distributor will pick it up. Studio executives say it's because the film simply isn't good enough. Lyne, and many critics, say it's because of the subject matter and Hollywood's cowardice. The novel tells the tragic, darkly comic story of a man in love with a 12-year-old girl and was at first banned; it has since been recognized as a classic. Lyne's film, however, may never be released in the United States.

Scoring the film is the legendary Ennio Morricone. This latest opus finds the venerated composer in a tender, melancholic mood, writing for piano and muted strings. The opening cue, "Lolita," sets the tone for what is to come: Emerging out of the silence, we hear a gently sad piece that features an ethereal synthesizer over slowly building strings and piano, which provides the rhythm. The synthesizer no doubt takes the place of Morricone's wordless soprano, which would have been beautiful, but might have caused the audience to identify it with Lolita.

The cues for Quilty, the ostensible villain of the film, are two of the more remarkable. The first, "Requiscant," written for Quilty's death at the hands of Humbert (nothing is really being spoiled by telling this) is a marvelously dissonant choral piece using a children's choir, manipulated electronically. Quilty's theme, titled simply "Quilty," uses a variety of instruments to paint a stunning, dissonant picture of the character. Its alternating between the melodic and the dissonant goes far to illustrate the contradictions in the character; Quilty is evil and ominous, but also tragic.

The final two cues tie things up nicely. "Ladies and Gentlemen of the Jury" deviates somewhat from the what has come before, as the vaguely open melody introduced earlier seems to have reached a resolution, echoing what has taken place within the story. The end titles, "Lolita (Finale)," is much like the opening cue, but features a persistent low drum beat. This gives the ethereal nature of the piece a more solid base, cementing in our minds the tragedy just witnessed.

Also on the soundtrack album are seven pop songs of the film's period, the 1940s. Featuring such artists as Vera Lynn, Ella Fitzgerald and Artie Shaw, the pieces on one hand provide a cheerfully ironic counterpoint to the sadness of Morricone's cues. On the other hand, they disrupt the listening experience. Why these songs are here is completely understood thematically, but I would have preferred them grouped together at the end, or at least pared down to three or four in number.

Overall, this is a beautiful effort from Morricone. Fans of the maestro should find the disc well worth seeking out, currently available in the U.S. only as an import.

--Jeff Wilson

Late news: Lolita will air on Showtime in the U.S. later this year; Milan will release a U.S. edition of the soundtrack at that time. Also, Morricone buffs: RCA Victor will release a score album to Bulworth in mid-June--even though only a few minutes of the Maestro has ended up in the movie, this CD will present the complete score as recorded.

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