CD Reviews: Mouse Hunt, Wilde
This week we are working feverishly on completing another issue of FSM,
so here are two more of the reviews we'll be running, "sneak peeks"
for the web crowd.
Be here tomorrow for "This News Friday"! There should be a
lot of entertainment value in that baby...
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Mouse Hunt ***
ALAN SILVESTRI
Varese Sarabande VSD-5892. 17 tracks - 30:53
Mouse Hunt, the new Dreamworks motion picture starring Nathan
Lane and Christopher Walken, is a lengthy live-action cartoon unlikely
to hold the attention of a dead body. Fortunately, soundtrack fans can
take something away from this disturbing film. Not since his fine score
for Who Framed Roger Rabbit? has Alan Silvestri tapped into his
well of cartoon scoring talent. While many contemporary composers sacrifice
their voices when they attempt this type of material, Silvestri is simply
at home. He is adept at controlling his mickey-mousing and at minimizing
the random key changes and motivic shifts that plague most Carl Stalling
knock-offs.
Mouse Hunt focuses on several musical ideas. The main theme is texturally
similar to Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker Suite, still a lingering stench in
Christmas movies. The melody itself is simple, playful and well-structured.
Silvestri uses techniques ranging from augmentation to fragmentation in
varying the melody. This theme is also developed in several guises, including
Silvestri's traditional melodic technique of creating portention: a leap
up followed by a minor second in the same direction (as in Predator).
However, it is in the lighter sections that this main theme really shines.
The choice of a bassoon to represent the mouse is commendable and adds
tremendously to several scenes where the rodent performs his dirty work.
A bassoon, despite its reputation as a "clown," is decidedly
too "heavy" in tone color to represent a mouse. Silvestri is
surely aware of the added humor he creates in the film by making this unlikely
orchestrational decision.
While the main theme is milked for all its worth in the film, there
are a few other passages that call for mention. A saxophone theme for Nathan
Lane and his brother is based on a major-seventh chord and probably owes
its existence to a similar piece in Danny Elfman's Pee-Wee's Big Adventure.
Silvestri also uses one of his standard "touching themes" to
underscore the more heartfelt moments; this melody can best be described
as a de-Hispanicized Fools Rush In crossed with "Winter Wonderland."
Varese's 30-minute album contains most of Silvestri's score and, unlike
the film, comes to an end before the material outlives its usefulness.
The sequencing is concise and cohesive, with the jazz tracks integrated
into the score via motivic connection. The packaging is a bit weak, however;
not only is William Ross's name misspelled "Willaim," but inexplicably,
there is no picture of Christopher Walken in the booklet. --Jon & Al
Kaplan
Wilde ****
DEBBIE WISEMAN
MCI MPRCD-001. 21 tracks - 55:10
Debbie Wiseman is gradually building herself quite a reputation. Her
score to Lewis Gilbert's Haunted was well received by the few who
came across it, but the film sank without trace. We have a more worthy
and successful showcase for her talents in Brian Gilbert's Wilde.
The film charts Oscar Wilde's life from his tour of Canada through his
marriage, incarceration and finally his tragic death. The album follows
the order of the film so that we essentially have a musical painting of
Wilde's life: it starts with crackles of wit and joy and gradually becomes
darker as Wilde himself is beset with loneliness and despair. The first
track, "Wilde," presents a full-bodied version of the main theme,
one of the many that Wiseman successfully uses. Wilde's wife, Constance,
has a strong, lyrical theme that represents her love and devotion; there
is also passionate music for the forbidden love between Wilde and his old
school friend, as well as an arrangement of the Gilbert and Sullivan number,
"Ah, Leave Me Not to Pine," found in four tracks on the album.
As the films starts with Wilde's tour of Canada there is music (the
second track, "The Wild West") which shows Wiseman in an American
style, full of vast open spaces and adventure. The score utilizes a large
orchestra and in many tracks, not least the final one, the nine-and-a-half
minute "An Age of Silver," the full tragedy of the story is given
vent with power and feeling. The string writing is particularly rich, a
deliberate stylistic consideration, as Wiseman recounts to John Williams
(editor of Music from the Movies, not the composer) in his copious
liner notes, to reflect Oscar Wilde's "obsession with beauty."
These larger moments are balanced by more intimate writing with solos for
piano (some performed by the composer), oboe and cello.
The result is a well-written, thoughtful score with memorable themes
and a delightfully romantic feel. If there is a criticism, it is that the
album is slightly too long and repetitive. Hopefully this excellent score
will win Debbie Wiseman the recognition she deserves as one of the most
talented of film composers, and one of the select band of top female composers.
--Iain Herries
Responses to MailBag@filmscoremonthly.com
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