CD Review: Percepto's The Changeling

The Changeling *****

KEN WANNBERG, RICK WILKINS, HOWARD BLAKE

Percepto 006 (Limited Pressing of 1,000 copies)

24 tracks - 73:25

The Changeling is a stylish horror film from 1979 starring George C. Scott and directed by Peter Medak. Scott's character is a gifted classical pianist and one of the key scenes of the film has Scott playing a difficult piece of music on the piano, only to later discover that what he thought was his own original composition is already playing on a music box he finds in a locked dusty room. What follows is an intellectually stimulating ghost story in which music continues to be an important part of the drama.

Randall Larson's excellent liner notes reveal that the composition of the film's score was about as confusing as the film's plot can be -- so I'll try to summarize this briefly. First of all, there were three people involved in composing music for The Changeling. Howard Blake, who was initially commissioned for the score, is credited with the piano solo and matching music box theme. Blake's work on the film began early in 1979, before he even saw a print of the film. But he soon found out that the score was going to be done by someone else.

That someone turned out to be Ken Wannberg. Wannberg is better known today as a music editor, especially for John Williams' scores. In fact, Wannberg used Williams' music as a temp track for The Changeling. (It would be curious to see exactly what he used for those temp tracks!) Wannberg's contribution appears to have been in providing motives and specific thematic cells, along with substantial orchestrations.

This is where it gets a bit murky. Evidently, in order to receive special tax breaks from Canada (where the film was being put together), the production hired Canadian composer Rick Wilkins for the project as well. His contribution in the film amounts to at least 13 minutes of music and includes the extended seance scene. He also provided assistance in filling out Wannberg's motives and extending them a bit. (With places like Media Ventures in action, this practice of multiple composers seems less strange these days, but at the time it must have been awkward for all those involved.) The film lists Rick Wilkins as the composer with music arranged and conducted by Ken Wannberg. Confused yet?

Well, I don't care who wrote the "Main Title," because it's simply wonderful, managing to mix just the right amount of tension; the main theme that plays throughout the score is reminiscent of the best horror themes. (Howard's The Sixth Sense comes immediately to mind, and as much as I love that score, this one supercedes it on all counts.) The key to a good theme often is how it's superimposed on subsequent appearances and reincarnations. Here Wannberg and Wilkins manage to discover a multitude of ways to make this music interesting.

Howard Blake's "Music Box Theme" is itself a wonderful piano miniature that deserves far more recognition as well. It first appears a sixth of the way into the disc and ends abruptly as we return to the opening theme. Later the music box plays along with the piano creating a rather unique sound.

"The Secret Door" is an interesting cue that hints at the "Dies Irae" chant. Closer analysis may reveal that there is more to that connection throughout the score (in the harmonic choices that eerily pulsate around the thematic material). The extended cue for "The Seance" is a hair-raising experience, but not in a hit-you-over-the-head sort of way. Instead it builds slowly with choral interpolations and a gradual crescendo occuring over a near-five minute span. That's an incredibly long time to maintain tension in a common "genre" scene that would otherwise fall terribly flat. You're likely to get goose bumps while listening to this play out.

As you work your way through the story line, the pulsing strings gradually find themselves accompanied by a variety of instruments and interesting bass lines. Even in "The Attack Calls Clair" and "Resolution" you get a real sense for the ghostly things that await on the other side. The latter gets a little muddy at times with a recessed bass sound, but this is not terribly distracting. In a "commercial" release one would probably get an edited down version of these two cues mostly because they have some musical similarities. Here the music seems to spin out longer than can be sustained normally, but the point is to provide a complete recording. Even with that 9 minutes of build-up, the release that comes with the end titles music helps bring the main portion of the CD to a real satisfying close.

Percepto has seen fit to bless us with four additional "bonus" tracks. Included are alternate versions of "The Seance" and "End Title" as well as a cue titled "Carmichael's Demise" and a "Piano Solo. The alternate "Seance" cue is interesting because it chooses to use more of the main theme. (It does not work as well as the version in the main body of the CD.) But here is an excellent example of how "alternate" a take can be. It would be very interesting to play this scene with both takes. It relies more on choir and thematic play than the slow build of the other version.

The producers of The Changeling managed to secure the National Philharmonic to record this score with Wannberg conducting. It was fortunately a time with a resurgence of symphonic scores due to a little film called Star Wars. The score for The Changeling features a large string section, woodwinds, pianos, harp, a large percussion group, a brass section only using French horns, and an uncredited choir. No doubt the depth that a full orchestra provides adds immensely to this score. The music is an excellent mix that fans of Goldsmith, Williams, Howard and perhaps even Sarde's Ghost Story will not want to be without. It is truly a classic of this genre.

Percepto's limited release will please those who have hungered for this score. Larson's notes focus on the development of the score's composition and film history and less on a track-by-track overview. I think that might have helped only in terms of who wrote or arranged a particular cue. Still, as is always the case with Percepto, the booklet puts the average big name production companies to shame. Even without all that going for it there is still the music itself that should be the selling point. Percepto's site wisely has just enough of a teaser to make even the most cynical a convert willing to take the plunge. It is well worth it! This album is available through Percepto's website at http://www.percepto.com.
 

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