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| CD Review: Camille Claudel |
| Posted By: David Coscina on June 7, 2005 - 10:00 PM |
CD Review: Camille Claudel
Camille Claudel: Film Music Volume 2
(1987) *****
GABRIEL YARED
Sinfonia CFY-002
14 tracks- 49:42
Film scores have always been regarded by the classical music
establishment as the lesser offspring of orchestral concert music. This
viewpoint has even been perpetuated through the annals of academia.
Their main charge is that the music cannot stand on its own two feet
away from its source. Of any current composer writing for mainstream
film, Gabriel Yared signifies a completely opposing force to the above
sentiments. Working fluently in pure music language and employing a
myriad of traditional music techniques, Yared's many works encompass an
interesting dichotomy of form and function. While his film music
perfectly underscores its dramatic counterpart, it has a structure that
works equally well away from the narrative, its musical construction so
deft that it operates like absolute music.
Yared's score to the 1987 film Camille
Claudel, recently released as part of an ongoing series of works
from the composer's canon on the Sinfonia label, exemplifies this
fusion of complex, cogent orchestral writing with an overwhelming sense
of emotion and drama. As the composer recounts in the detailed and
informative liner notes, he created two principal themes for the score.
At the time, he had been studying the 1st movement of Mahler's 10th Symphony, Schoenberg's Transfigured Night and Richard
Strauss' Metamorphoses and
as such employed the rich late 19th century/early 20th century harmonic
dictums toward this score.
Writting for large string orchestra, string sextet and quartet, harp
and percussion, Yared further explains that he chose to eliminate brass
and winds from his tonal palette as the sonorities he was looking for
could only be articulated by strings. The result is a haunting and
challenging score.
The introductory theme presented in Camille
is an ascending melody that serves as the foundation on which
counterlines are built. Interestingly, the way Yared constructed this
theme results in a fascinating emotional duality. Its harmonic tapestry
allows the theme to be perceived as elation and devastation with its
blurring of major and minor keys, a staple of Mahler's compositional
tendencies. The composer further extends this ideology by contrasting
expansive string passages with smaller string sections. There is at
once a sense of overwhelming passion and quiet desperation. And because
Yared limited himself to string sonorities, much of the variety in the
music is achieved through melodic and harmonic devices. There are also
clever rhythmic changes infused into the music, as reflected in the
opening track, wherein the music develops into a scherzo with the
flowing theme played by the violins contrasted with the short celli
passages.
"Rodin," the following track, presents a more ominous theme. An
alternating chromatic figure in the double basses creates an uneasy
passacaglia that supports violin lines that enter in canonic manner,
all playing around the tonal center much like Bartók's fugal
section in his Music for String
Percussion and Celeste. The visceral effect of this music
creates one of dread and tragedy. But there is still a strangely dark
romanticism about this music.
Yared uses a multiplicity of techniques in the strings that result in a
broad range of emotional responses. Menacing bass pizzicatos,
coloristic tremolos, emotive legatos, percussive col legnos, kinetic
arcos, and violent slicing portamentos abound throughout this
soundtrack. And the emphasis on harmonic extensions and chromatic inner
lines aid in creating this effusive work.
It's not really possible to point out specific noteworthy tracks on Camille Claudel. Even after
repeated listens, the score continues to function as a singular work.
The breaks in between tracks operate like breaks in between movements
of a symphony. The duality mentioned earlier pervades throughout the
work. In one passage, there is complete tonal lyricism, while in
others, harmonic ambiguity. There are elated highs and sullen lows,
sometimes separated by a mere few measures. It is to his credit that
Yared reconciles these two opposing forces so masterfully within this
work.
As classical aficionados would claim, there are a lot of fast-food
scores churned out of Hollywood. They taste good but represent empty
calories. If this metaphor is true than Yared's Camille Claudel is a sumptuous
banquet of the finest foods and ingredients one could savor
indefinitely. It is a feast for the ears and for soul. Highly
recommended. -- David Coscina
MailBag@filmscoremonthly.com
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Today in Film Score History:
April 25 |
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| Alec Puro born (1975) |
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| Brian May died (1997) |
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| David A. Hughes born (1960) |
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| Franz Waxman records his score for Stalag 17 (1952) |
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| Gary Hughes died (1978) |
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| Georges Delerue records his score for L’Homme Qui Revient De Loin (1972) |
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| Heinz Roemheld's score for Union Station is recorded (1950) |
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| John Williams begins recording his score for How to Steal a Million (1966) |
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