CD Reviews: Viva Zapata! & Michael Kamen's Opus
Viva Zapata! ****
ALEX NORTH
Varese Sarabande VSD-5900. 14 tracks - 31:58
Alex North is such a misunderstood commodity that many are probably
unaware that he ever scored a western (or anything other than A Streetcar
Named Desire and Spartacus). His Cheyenne Autumn has
long been one of the most original and powerfully dramatic works in the
genre, and Viva Zapata!, while not matching that work in length,
is similar in the way it blends an ethno-geographical flavor with the kind
of emotional, modernistic writing North brought to his epics like Spartacus
and Cleopatra. The two western scores in particular seem closely
related to Spartacus because all three films cover the struggle
for freedom by the oppressed, expressed on an epic and often brutal canvas.
Viva Zapata! doesn't contain the martial stridency of Spartacus or
the stoic dignity of Cheyenne Autumn, speaking instead through the
gentle optimism of traditional Mexican melodies. But all three erupt with
North's full-blooded orchestral writing and bellicose rhythms.
"Zapata" is a driven introduction for Marlon Brando's character,
in the character of some of the percussive travel sequences from Spartacus
with its wild xylophone and flute figures and powerful, odd-metered rhythms.
"Gathering Forces" (a piece conductor Jerry Goldsmith frequently
puts into his concert repertory) is a textbook example of the differences
between how scores used to work in films and how they work today: North
was able to mix the exciting rhythms we associate with action music with
dramatic development so that his music actually said something other than
"this scene is supposed to be exciting." "Huerta" has
some of the same effect, blending unexpected dissonances and stretching
out jagged motifs through the piece to add to the unfolding drama; the
final moments of the cue parallel the prelude to the storming of the Roman
military camp by the slaves in Spartacus.
While this is an enjoyable album and it's wonderful to hear the complete
North score in any form, this newly performed Viva Zapata! suffers
from some of the pitfalls of Varese's approach to recording the Scottish
National Orchestra. Although it's not as distant-sounding as Patton,
there's still a sense that we're really not hearing everything; that we're
witnessing a concert performance rather than an actual film score. The
performances don't have the snap and power of Goldsmith's recording of
2001 or the intimacy of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?,
both of which superbly recreated North's original sound, which is so sharp-edged
and dynamic that it requires a more focused recording set-up.
The bottom line is that these are great recordings to have, but they
shouldn't supplant the originals--let's hope someone puts out North's recording
of Viva Zapata! someday soon. --Jeff Bond
Michael Kamen's Opus *** 1/2
Michael Kamen
London 289 458 912-2. 12 tracks - 48:45
We've been flooded with composer retrospectives of late, and certainly
Michael Kamen has scored enough movies to warrant his own album of film
themes. Thus, here comes yet another trip down memory lane, with, thankfully,
Kamen himself at the podium. The result is a well-chosen, straightforward
collection of newly recorded tracks from Kamen's most renowned scores,
nicely packaged with notes from the composer (a la Elfman's Music from
a Darkened Theater). Die-hard (excuse the pun) Kamen completists won't
find a lot of unreleased, bone-crunching action music, but it all provides
a smooth, cohesive listening experience.
This Opus opens with five selections from Kamen's best-known scores:
the "Overture" and lovely "Maid Marian at the Waterfall"
from Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves are given a faithful rendering
by the Seattle Symphony Orchestra; "Rowena" from Mr. Holland's
Opus is an enchanting, flowing piece along the lines of the Maid Marian
music; "Dona Ana" reflects both the yearning strings and jaunty
playfulness of Kamen's terrific score from Don Juan De Marco; and
"You're the One," the love theme from Circle of Friends,
is performed in a beautiful new arrangement featuring Kamen himself on
piano.
From there, the album ventures into selections from Kamen's earlier
efforts: The atmospheric "Marooned" from the Aidan Quinn-starrer
Crusoe, the rousing "There Can Be Only One" training montage
from Highlander, and "Magic City" from Kamen's first feature
score, the 1976 Sean Connery film The Next Man. These offer a dramatic
contrast to the serene compositions that preceded them; Crusoe in
particular has an exotic setting which affords Kamen the chance at utilizing
more colorful orchestrations.
Also sandwiched in the disc's back-end is a track from last year's The
Winter Guest, "Stromness," featuring a theme composed by
Kamen for the third movement of his Saxophone Concerto, here with Hugh
Seenan's horn filling in for David Sanborn's sax. A brief non-action cue
from Die Hard (under two minutes) precedes a lengthy selection from
the 1986 Martin Campbell made-for-British-TV film Edge of Darkness,
for which Kamen collaborated with guitarist Eric Clapton. Tomoyasu Hotel
subs for Clapton here, and the mix of orchestra and electric guitar recalls
Kamen's work on the Lethal Weapon films--none of which, surprisingly,
is represented on the album. It all concludes with Kate Bush performing
"Brazil," which, despite having been written by Ary Baroso, fits
within the context of a composer compilation due to Kamen's sublime arrangement
of the theme throughout Terry Gilliam's 1985 fantasy.
The Seattle Symphony does a good reading of Kamen's themes, with the
Circle of Friends and Winter Guest selections having been
recorded with the London Metropolitan Orchestra. Packaging is colorful,
featuring stills from several of the films, and the running time is just
long enough to take in during one sitting. While some listeners will be
disappointed by the lack car/plane/truck/boat chases, there should be enough
to make this Opus appeal to almost everyone. --Andy Dursin
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