Film Score Alternative

Or, It May Not Be an OST but It's OK With Me.

by Andy Goldsbrough

Hello readers and welcome to the first of what I hope will be a new occasional series of articles for the FSM website. The aim of this column is to highlight programmatic musical works, such as tone-poems and scores for the stage, that, while not soundtracks, share many of their characteristics and are likely to appeal to the film score enthusiast. These pieces are driven by their narrative. They are dramatic, atmospheric and descriptive with some having illustrative effects in the best Max Steiner tradition. The development of movie scoring has been guided by the inspiration provided by such music and many film score composers have experience of writing in these forms (Goldenthal, Waxman, Korngold, Milhaud to name a few.) Remember Korngold thought of film scores as a type of opera! In doing this we intend to avoid the obvious examples: Tchaikovsky's ballets, the tone-poems of Richard Strauss, Stravinsky's "Rite of Spring" etc... and move off of the well worn track by citing the works of lesser known composers and the not-so-familiar works of the more celebrated musicians.

We begin today with a look at two ballets by a 20th century French composer, Albert Roussel (1869-1937), whose output certainly deserves wider appreciation and performance.

Roussel, like many composers this century, dabbled in musical impressionism before turning towards neo-classicism but unlike many musicians he never subscribed to a school of thought and his work remained largely individualistic. He believed that artists provided examples to each other not models. About ballets he once said something that will strike a familiar chord to soundtrack fans - that he could have his music function for the dancers as well as maintaining its own pedigree.

"Le Festin de l'Araignee" ("The Spider's Feast', op.17, written late 1912) is one of the last works of Roussel's early stage of output and shows his personal adaptation of impressionistic techniques. The music is written to accompany a scenario (by Count Gilbert de Voisins) in which a spider lures many inhabitants of a garden to their deaths until it itself is killed by a praying mantis. Roussel score attempts to create the drama and emotions of the small world but from the perspective of a detached observer. For example, he does not try to depict the terror as felt by the animals before they die but evokes the impressions of a human onlooker. He notes the violent and sorrowful activity but is not overwhelmed by it. As a consequence the music brings forth feelings of confidence and is generally pleasant, never being far from melody. Rhythms are fluid and continuous, with many uses of pedal point and ostinato. Orchestrations are gentle but colorful.

The score begins with music for the garden on a summer afternoon. A soft, clear melody, characteristically for flute, is backed by gently undulating string figures. We soon become aware that there is life in the garden and the color in the music increases. A quick patter of percussion introduces a march for an army of ants - fast, high violin runs with woodwind and soft brass accompaniment, appropriately busy and workman-like. Roussel then describes a series of dramatic episodes in which several creature characters - clumsy worms, two ponderously ferocious mantises, an innocent butterfly and a mayfly - enter the scene in turn and are lured by the spider into his web where he kills them and celebrates his victory with a self-satisfied dance. The last and longest of these episodes involves the mayfly. That must first emerge into its adult state from a chrysalis. The music shows this to be a slow, uncertain process with no instrument or harmony dominating the sound. Eventually a mature mayfly does appear and with it tuneful waltz. But its happiness does not last - after a short struggle the spider gains another victim. The title of the piece now becomes apparent as the spider prepares to eat his numerous catches of the day. But the music for the mantises - mildly aggressive, confrontational strokes for strings - returns as one of their genus attacks and defeats the spider. As the insects gather that evening for the funeral of the mayfly the music cools and becomes sombre. The dance music of the day has gone and is replaced by shorter, descending melodies in simple rhythm and twilight color. The creatures exit and the garden music of the prelude returns briefly before the close.

Roussel moved away from descriptive music for a time but returned to it many years later (1930) to write the first of two ballets he would score on classical subjects."Bacchus et Ariane" (op. 43) has a scenario (by Abel Hermant) based on (one version of) the Greek myth. Theseus and his followers are celebrating the death of the minotaur. On the way back to Athens they stop off on the island of Naxos where the god Bacchus appears. He orders them to leave but keeps Ariane, Theseus' lover, for himself and makes her a goddess.

The simplicity of the material out of which Roussel constructs his broadly written score helps bring the classical, ancient world to life. Feelings, actions and motivations are straightforwardly described in both plot and music. Orchestrations for this piece lean toward the brass and percussion ("The Spider's Feast" neglects trombones and tubas altogether). The rhythms are still steady but tighter, sounded with firmer chords.

The opening pages of the score sheet are crowded with notes spelling out a robust, energetic dance for the crew of the ship. Theseus revels in the glory of his slaying of the Minotaur, retelling the story in mime. The labyrinth gets a recursive melody and the fight with the beast is punctuated by repeating chords with added dissonance to depict Theseus' defiance. The appearance of Bacchus brings with it a short idea for clarinet. He causes Ariane to fall asleep among some rocks. Theseus starts to protest but backs down and agrees to leave the island after percussive crashes warn him that his opponent is a god. With Theseus and his friends departed, Bacchus dances to bassoon, trumpets and strings around Ariane's sleeping form. In her dreams she joins in. Act 2 of the ballet begins gently with delicate, textural scoring. A solo violin eases Ariane out of her sleep but she soon realises that she is alone. Pizzicato strings and short, sharp woodwind figures lead to crescendo as, having climbed onto the highest rocks, Ariane sees Theseus' galley sailing away in the distance. In terror she throws herself off the cliff edge but is caught by Bacchus and they reprise the dance from the end of Act 1. Their kiss, depicted by figures in triplets for violins, is followed by further dancing as the island comes to life (i.e. more dancers come on to the stage.). Ariane is offered a drink and the solo violin returns as she dances freely. As others join in the music escalates and the ballet reaches its climax with Bacchus presenting Ariane with a crown of stars.

I have found a good, inexpensive introduction to the music of Albert Roussel on record to be a 2CD Ultima available on Erato/Warner (3984-24240-2). Over two and a half hours of music which includes not only "Le Festin de l'Araignee" and "Bacchus et Ariane" (which last just over 30 minutes each) but the second of his classical ballets, "Aeneas," the tone poem "Pour une fete de printemps" and more.

Reference: "Albert Roussel" Basil Deane (1961, Barrie and Rockliff)

Please send any comments or suggestions to: andrew.goldsbrough@magd.ox.ac.uk