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| CD Reviews: The Clearing and The Thorn Birds |
| Posted By: Andrew Granade, Darren MacDonald on January 18, 2005 - 10:00 PM |
CD Reviews: The Clearing and The Thorn Birds
The Clearing ** 1/2
CRAIG ARMSTRONG
Varèse Sarabande 302 066 585 2
25 tracks - 55:17
The fact that Craig Armstrong was tapped to compose the soundtrack for
Pieter Jan Brugge's The Clearing
should be the first clue that this film does not fit neatly into any
one category. After all, Armstrong is perhaps best known for his
collaborations with Baz Lurhmann, a director who has gleefully refused
to be confined to one genre throughout his career, much less within a
single film. The Clearing
proves to be cut from the same mold. Its advertisements promote it as a
standard summer thriller, and it certainly has elements from that
genre, but for the most part the movie transcends neat categorization,
emerging as a complex psychological character study.
Armstrong's score matches the director's vision. In action/thriller
scores, most composers gradually build tension by stacking on more and
more instruments as the movie progresses. They accompany the climax
with an explosion of sound and then allow everything to die away in the
denouement. Armstrong subverts these expectations completely. His score
for The Clearing is, for the
most part, a quiet affair. The drama is underscored by soft, slowly
modulating string chords with wind, percussion and electronic
instruments layered above the bed. For the rare explosion of tension,
Armstrong uses percussion and electronics together, as in "Arnold On
His Way." But these moments are few and far between.
Armstrong also undermines convention by using only one theme for the
entire score. This theme is presented in three instrumentations in
three cues each titled "The Clearing Main Theme." This dirge of a theme
climbs to an aching note of longing through arpeggios that become the
score's characteristic gesture. The theme's most beautiful version is
as a piano solo performed by the composer. As we know from Armstrong's
album of solo piano works, the composer is gifted at bringing a rich,
round sound to the piano and this cue further solidifies that
reputation. This meditative take on the main theme, accompanied by a
relentless ostinato, is reminiscent of George Winston's unique piano
music in its tone and minimalist trappings, and proves to be the
score's emotional and structural high point.
Unfortunately, while it works for the movie, the score for The Clearing does not stand up well
on its own. It is too much of the same for much too long. The necessary
moments of catharsis are present, especially in Armstrong's poignant
and concise manipulation of the main theme in "I Have Everything I
Need." Indeed, the album shines whenever the piano is added to the mix,
because the composer seems to focus in on exactly what he wants to say.
But there are not enough of those moments to sustain interest beyond
waiting for the next structural marker. --
Andrew Granade
The Thorn Birds (1983) **** 1/2
HENRY MANCINI
Varèse Sarabande 302 066 564 2
Disc One: 23 tracks - 56:56 Disc Two: 25 tracks -
60:25
This year marks the 10th anniversary of Henry Mancini's death, and yet
this release is one of the precious few restored and remastered
releases of one of his scores. That said, Robert Townson now presents
us with nearly two hours of Mancini's fine work for this landmark
miniseries.
Though often best remembered for his cool and hip sound that defined a
whole generation of movie music with the jazz/rock elements of The Pink Panther, Peter Gunn, A Shot in the Dark, etc., Mancini's
more straightforward orchestral writing (The Creature from the Black Lagoon)
is often sorely ignored in favor of the former category. The Thorn Birds falls squarely in
this latter field, containing some of the most heartfelt writing in the
composer's canon. Mancini had a gift for melody, and the main theme
kicks things off right away in "Main Title," simultaneously conjuring
up nostalgia, romance and the Australian outback, without the use of a
didgeridoo.
The main theme dominates the score, but Mancini provides a handful of
other fully developed themes, at times even evoking his previous score
for The White Dawn, and even
hinting at his future score for Lifeforce.
All the album highlights are too numerous to mention, but include "Baby
Hal Dies," "Beach Walk," "It's Shearing You're Hearing," and "Arrival
at the Vatican." And it's not only a full, lush orchestral sound
Mancini uses; there are several quieter reflective moments for solo
flute or guitar with string backing. It's great to hear a composition
written for television from the days before synthetic drones and looped
electronic backbeats and shrinking music budgets took the art down a
few notches. Furthermore, the music is allowed to develop; unlike
today's television projects with most cues less than a minute in
length, there are several lengthy tracks here, averaging two-
and-a-half minutes long.
Finally, much has been made on the internet message boards regarding
the dulcimer missing from the "Main Title." Having been an adolescent
when The Thorn Birds first
aired, I can't remember if I even watched it, let alone what the music
was like. If there is a great missing cue, that's unfortunate, but my
review is based on the material at hand. The dulcimer does show up on
the album during "The Thorn Birds Theme" on the first disc, so it's not
entirely absent. If you pass over this album because of one missing cue
(albeit a unique one) you'll be depriving yourself of two hours of some
of Mancini's most heartfelt and beautiful writing.
-- Darren MacDonald
MailBag@filmscoremonthly.com
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Today in Film Score History:
April 26 |
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| Alan Parker begins recording his score for Jaws 3D (1983) |
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| Barry Gray died (1984) |
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| Bronislau Kaper died (1983) |
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| Bruce Broughton begins recording his score The Blue and the Gray (1982) |
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| Carmine Coppola died (1991) |
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| Dave Grusin begins recording his score for The Firm (1993) |
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| David Bell records his score for the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode “Tracking Into the Wind” (1999) |
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| Francis Lai born (1932) |
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| Giorgio Moroder born (1940) |
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| Jerry Fielding begins recording his score for Gray Lady Down (1977) |
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| John M. Keane born (1965) |
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| Maurice Jarre begins recording his score for Distant Thunder (1988) |
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| Miklos Rozsa begins recording his score for Green Fire (1954) |
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| Paul Sawtell and Bert Shefter record their score for Kronos (1957) |
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| Reinhardt Wagner born (1956) |
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