The Explorers: A Century of Discovery (Lee Holdridge)

The Explorers: A Century of Discovery (Original Television Soundtrack) (1988)
Composed and conducted by Lee Holdridge

Normally one would think that documentaries would be the last place one would expect to see something along the lines of mostly film composers like Danny Elfman, Lee Holdridge, Bruce Broughton or Bruno Coulais would tackle. While the big nature documentaries such as Deep Blue have seen a big resurgence in big, epic orchestral scores to accent the actions onscreen like Deep Blue and the upcoming Earth, almost like a second narrator in form.

Back when National Geographic wasn’t big (or financially able) enough to host its own cable network, they were very prominent in beautifully-made and compelling documentaries from all sorts of topics -- mostly known for their documentaries on animal life in the Antarctica and Africa. In 1988, they decided to make a single documentary covering the essential discoveries during the past 100 years -- such as Alexander Bell and Jacques Cousteau -- and commissioned composer Lee Holdridge to compose the score.

With an expansive documentary covering many little facets, there wasn’t enough room for Holdridge to come up with a prominent set of themes, but to come up with different colors to accent the action on screen. There’s a wonderful, almost fanfaric theme presented in “Tease Intro; Tease Montage; National Geographic Specials Theme” and is briefly reprised at the final cue “Cosmic Wrap-Up; End Credits.” There’s also a wistful, beautiful theme for Alexander Bell led by flute in the second cue and is briefly reprised at the tail end of the third cue accompanied by piano in the third track.

What lacks in thematic reprisal (aside from the two above mentioned ideas plus a rearranged version of Elmer Bernstein’s main theme) and a singular vision is made up with the quality of music presented. Holdridge provides a range of music with many different ideas and moods throughout, and there’s a nice sense of cohesion so that the change of one tone to the other isn’t jarring. There’s an overlying sense that Holdridge is taking the listener on a musical journey through the century, with some beautiful electronic embellishments at the end of “The Johnsons in Africa; Beebe’s Diving Bell” giving a sense of mystery and otherworldliness. One standout cue, “Everest Ending,” is a broad expansive piece, first starting out almost timid with low strings and woodwinds and then expands into a triumphant orchestral statement -- all within the space of 45 seconds.

As with any other movie or TV special produced in the 1980s, there’s some prominent electronics incorporated throughout the score -- sometimes I feel like it’s there to mask the small orchestra size and other times to accent it. But there are sometimes where it calls attention to itself in the same way Vangelis’ electronic score did in Blade Runner, and not in a good way as it dates the music. Mostly though, the soundtrack is orchestral, and that’s where most of the good material resides throughout “The Explorers.”

Regardless, the soundtrack is a very solid entry in Holdridge’s resume, and even though it is sold out at Intrada, it can be found easily on other specialty online outlets. A nice soundtrack and Holdridge fans should not hesitate to pick this one up if they haven’t already, and a musical journey in every sense of the word.

Track Listing:
1. Tease Intro/Tease Montage/National Geographic Specials Theme (3:12)

2. Alexander Graham Bell (1:35)

3. Early Magazines/Action Photos & Color/North Pole With Peary... (9:50)

4. Joseph Rock in the Orient/The King Tut Excavation (4:29)

5. Antarctic Summer/Byrd Flies Over Pole (1:45)

6. The Johnsons in Africa/Bebee's Diving Bell (1:52)

7. Strange Undersea Life (0:40)

8. Ballooning Future/Ballooning Triumph (1:23)

9. Driving the Trans-Asiatic Expedition/Trans-Asiatic Compromise (1:34)

10. War-Time Yucatan Expedition (1:13)

11. Cousteau Accomplishments/Hillary on Everest (2:14)

12. Everest Ending (0:45)

13. Three Generations of Grosvenors as Head of NGS/Project Bebee Jeannie Clarke (2:13)

14. Ancient Shipwreck/Celebrating Archaeological Divers (1:24)

15. The Titanic (1:05)

16. Robot Explores Titanic/Tomb Probe (3:46)

17. Leakey/Leakey Successes/Misty Gorilla (4:25)

18. Helping Primitive Cultures/Wide River (3:05)

19. Cosmic Wrap-Up/End Credits (3:27)

Total Running Time: 50:38

Music composed and conducted by Lee Holdridge. Orchestrated by Ira Hearshen and Lee Holdridge. Album mastered and produced by Douglass Fake.

Sorry about the delay

I apologize for the big delay. I got sidetracked with school and stuff, so hopefully there won't be a big stretch between the old and new reviews.

Expect reviews for Batman: The Animated Series, Until September, and Jack Brooks: Monster Slayer in a few days. The second one is a new favorite of mine, so expect that review to be posted first.

Blizzard (Mark McKenzie)

Blizzard (2004)
Original Television Soundtrack Composed by Mark McKenzie

In the recent years, there has been a recent spate of wonderful Christmas-themed scores, including Alan Silvestri’s highly-acclaimed-but-never-released score for The Polar Express, Guy Farley’s The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey and Mark McKenzie’s simply wonderful Blizzard, his score for a made-for-TV film featuring Whoopi Goldberg (!!) as the voice of an animatronic reindeer Blizzard.

But enough about the movie, as McKenzie rarely, if ever, disappoints with any of his scores. He approaches his projects with enthusiasm and infuses them with truly worthwhile scores, from the likes of direct-to-TV fare like Durango to mainstream fare like Dr. Jekyll and Ms. Hyde. With Blizzard, it’s another winner.

In terms of Christmas approach, McKenzie takes a more subdued approach than Silvestri’s flightier, more manipulative score… I’d say that Blizzard is a humbler version of Polar Express with the introspectiveness of Jonathan Toomey. In fact, the disc opens with a concert suite (“Blizzard Suite”) compromising all of McKenzie’s various themes for the score into a grand, heartwarming melange that just screams “Christmas warmth all around!” The suite is so good, the disc is worth seeking out just for the suite alone. But there are even more highlights in the album waiting to be discovered, as this is not only a score that can be listened only during December.

With his style of writing, McKenzie just finds the right tune to make the album listenable the whole year. There’s also introspectiveness in “Katie Skates for her Family”, a bit of action (“Rescue”), stout humor (“Archmides”) and even a winter-themed waltz in “Katie’s Waltz.“ There’s a really lovely motif (led in by squeaky strings and longing woodwinds in “Flying” and “Don‘t Be Afraid“) that’s given ample variations alongside the main theme, and by the time everything comes to a glorious close with the full orchestra and choir humming along in “Finale”, you’ll be in raptures.

Sadly, Intrada has only made this score a limited edition and not only is it out of print, but completely sold out. But if you manage to find a used copy, the album is worth seeking out. A Christmas score that will melt even the hearts of Scrooges everywhere.

Track listing:
1. Blizzard Suite (6:39)
2. Katie Skates for her Family (2:04)
3. Goodbye (1:40)
4. The Best Friend Ever (1:38)
5. Welcome Blizzard (3:14)
6. Flying (4:46)
7. Don’t Be Afraid (2:52)
8. Archimedes (1:22)
9. Skate Off (1:26)
10. Air Tag (3:14)
11. Katie’s Waltz (2:05)
12. There’s More (0:56)
13. Months Fly By (1:29)
14. Erin’s Program (1:07)
15. Katie’s Program (1:21)
16. I Think You’re Great (1:21)
17. Katie Meets Santa (1:26)
18. Rescue (3:41)
19. Donner Jr. & Jeremy (1:57)
20. Another Chance (3:01)
21. Finale (5:12)

Total runtime: 54:29

Music composed and produced by Mark McKenzie. Conducted by Peter Breiner. Orchestrations by Patrick Russ and Mark McKenzie. Music performed by the Slovak Philharmonia and Lucnica Chorus. Released by Intrada Records.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Nicholas Hooper)

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Original Motion Picture Score by Nicholas Hooper

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The announcement about Nicholas Hooper being brought on to score Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (the fifth film in what is now an eight-film series based on the wildly popular seven-book series) in late 2006 certainly raised some eyebrows in the film music community. Many held out hope that Patrick Doyle would return for a second go-round after scoring Goblet of Fire or possibly John Williams, who left after scoring the first three films.

The fifth film would be a bit of a gamble on the producers’ decision to have a former television director (with no feature film experience), but as luck would turn out, directorially the film turned out beautifully, bringing out more nuanced performances from the three main actors and paring down an 800-page tome into a beautifully streamlined, exciting and effective film. It continued the upward swing of the franchise, narrowly edging out Goblet of Fire to become the second most highest-grossing Potter film domestically ($292 million to be exact).

As for the score, however, it is a fairly good start from a composer (who like Yates mostly worked in television before making his film debut), but to be truthful it lacks the power and scope John Williams and Patrick Doyle brought to the first four films.

In terms of size and scope for his Potter score, Hooper also utilizes a 90-piece London orchestra and incorporates choir, subtle electronics, and a Japanese taiko drum into the score. But even that doesn’t work for the score’s favor, even if Hooper does find more ways of integrating Williams‘s “Hedwig‘s Theme” more often than Doyle did for Goblet of Fire. Not that it’s not enjoyable (it certainly is), but overall it is much more lighter and simplistic than what Williams and Doyle would’ve brought.

The flighty orchestration works better in tracks such as “Professor Umbridge” where the character’s overbearing sweetness is well represented with woodwinds, prancing strings, glockenspiel and French horns (and her dark side is brought out at the end of the track “Umbridge Spoils A Beautiful Morning” with ominous strings). The lighter tone does make for some more lovely tracks such as “Dumbledore’s Army”, “Flight of the Order of the Phoenix”, “The Ministry of Magic”, “Journey to Hogwarts” and “Room of Requirement” where Hooper’s lighter orchestration really do imbue the score with a genuine sense of magic. Additionally, the Irish jig imbued with electric guitar fuels the highly-enjoyable “Fireworks” (which does highlight an equally-funny scene in the film).

Yet, the score is also weakened due to its simplicity. “The Kiss” is lovely underscore, but relies simply on elongated string chords and tinkling chimes, and not much of a romantic theme. Even when Hooper mines his darker side, it’s considerably underwhelming (a section of “Hall of Prophecy” consists of minor electronic backhits), and while tracks like “Dementors in the Underpass“ and “Darkness Takes Over” are ominous and gothic, it doesn’t last for long. The Japanese taiko drum is used in these cues, but used sparingly, it sounds like it was thrown in as an afterthought.

Even the action cues suffer. While John Williams and Patrick Doyle managed to come up with some impressively complex, exciting and well-orchestrated music (“The Quidditch Match“ and “Golden Egg" come to mind), Hooper does his best to do that but comes up short. “Hall of Prophecy” and “The Death of Sirius” are the monster action cues in the album, with string fugues mingling with brass, timpani and choir. It’s effective in the film, but the mixing by Peter Cobbin (The Lord of the Rings) just muddies it up, so the music doesn’t have that clear, deep sense of urgency and power. “Flight of the Order of the Phoenix” is the most rousing cue with a fine snare drum rhythm but it only lasts for a minute and a half.

Again, it seems like I don’t like the score, but I do. It’s just that I expected a more powerful, exciting and darker score than what Hooper delivered, which was lighter and fluffier than expected. I don’t know if it’s simply the orchestration or the quality of the writing itself that detracts, but I both like the score in that does fit in the film perfectly and dislike it because it could've been so much more. Considering that Hooper signed on to score Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (and a likely candidate for the two-part Deathly Hallows now that Yates will direct that too), I hope Hooper tries for more ambitious writing and better orchestration for his next Potter outing. Still, for those who loved the film and liked the music, I recommend the album. But beware, the soundtrack is horribly out-of-order. Even if it was arranged for the best listening experience it doesn’t work well. Just program it in film order: 3, 4, 17, 10, 15, 13, 2, 16, 5, 6, 8, 9, 14, 11, 12, 7, 18.

Track Listing:
1. Fireworks (1:47)
2. Professor Umbridge (2:34)
3. Another Story (2:39)**
4. Dementors in the Underpass (1:47)
5. Dumbledore's Army (2:44)
6. The Hall of Prophecies (4:29)**
7. Possession (3:22)*
8. The Room of Requirements (6:11)
9. The Kiss (1:58)
10. A Journey to Hogwarts (2:56)**
11. The Sirius Deception (2:38)
12. The Death of Sirius (4:00)
13. Umbridge Spoils a Beautiful Morning (2:42)
14. Darkness Takes Over (3:00)
15. The Ministry of Magic (2:50)
16. The Sacking of Trelawney (2:17)
17. Flight of the Order of the Phoenix (1:36)
18. Loved Ones and Leaving (3:16)

Total Time: 52:24

* = Conducted by Nicholas Hooper
** = Contains “Hedwig’s Theme” composed by John Williams

Music composed by Nicholas Hooper. Conducted by Alastair King. Music performed by the Chamber Orchestra of London and RSVP Voices. Orchestrations by Julian Kershaw, Bradley Miles, Geoff Alexander, Alastair King and Simon Whiteside. Album produced by Nicholas Hooper.

Arsène Lupin (Debbie Wiseman)

Arsène Lupin (2004)
Music Composed by Debbie Wiseman

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With its abundant creativity, harmonic brilliance and a wide orchestral palette, Arsène Lupin is undeniably one of the best film music scores ever composed in the new millennium.

The main theme for the title hero, is a sly, mischievous motif that appears in its first incarnation in “Arsène Lupin” as a sly, addictive waltz interspersed with the cimbalom that appears in many different incarnations from witty woodwinds (“The Hollow Needle”) to brassy, bombastic action (“Arsène and Beaumagnan”). Not only is Wiseman’s attention to thematic development fully evident here, but she also explores the depth of each section of the orchestral ensemble with superb counterpoint in the action cues. In “Arsène and Beaumagnan”, Wiseman explores the highs and lows of the brass section in only 2 minutes, supported by the rest of the orchestra. The counterpoint and orchestration, while busy, don’t overwhelm the listener with noise, but allows the listener to marvel at the detail and skill Wiseman invests in her action writing.

Utilizing a full symphony orchestra (with an enlarged brass section), the 150-member Crouch-End Festival Chorus and specialty instruments such as the cimbalom and glass harmonica, Arsène Lupin is a mammoth score; in the best sense of the word, of course. Greatly aiding the score is a gloriously detailed recording and mixing by Steve Price and Steve Jenkins, which allows the listener to note the detail in the crisp brass performances and the depth of the cimbalom and glass harmonica solos.

Arsène Lupin isn’t only content with mystery, intrigue and action -- but also Gothic majesty and romance. The love theme is a restrained one, but Wiseman’s use of it is quite masterful and hits its emotional peak in the heartrending “Arsène Abandoned”. The tracks “The Theft of the Crucifix” and “Underwater” achieve the kind of Gothic majesty Danny Elfman embodied so well in Batman (without lifting from or following a temp-track), with choir and glass harmonica accentuating the mystery and discovery of the latter while brass and “funeral” gongs highlight the former.

With so many highlights, Arsène Lupin is another superb score to Wiseman's resume, alongside the likes of Middletown, Wilde and Tom’s Midnight Garden. In addition to showing off her flexibility in composing, Arsène Lupin is an testament that Wiseman can score action movies as good as (or probably even better than) the likes of John Williams and the highly overrated Hans Zimmer. Why oh why aren’t more film producers hiring her? Her gifts as a composer are far overlooked, particularly in the American film industry that definitely needs fresh blood behind the scenes.

Track listing:
1. Qui Es-Tu? (performed by ‘M’) (3:06)
2. Arsène Lupin (2:04)
3. Le Grand Cafe (6:27)
4. Arsène Deserted (3:14)
5. Casino (1:37)
6. The Needle of Etretat (2:50)
7. Clarisse and Arsène (1:43)
8. Arsène Escapes (2:09)
9. Goodbye Mother (3:08)
10. Countess Caligiostro (3:29)
11. Underwater (3:27)
12. Arsène and Beaumagnan (2:05)
13. The Ballroom (2:07)
14. Theft of the Crucifix (4:13)
15. Under the Spell (4:18)
16. The Mask of Prince Sernine (2:34)
17. Fields of Lupin (4:14)
18. The Eighth Star Will be Divine (4:53)
19. The Hollow Needle (1:48)
20. Fooled by a Newcomer (3:08)
21. Clarisse Wakes (3:35)
22. The Blue Lupin (2:38)
23. Secret Passage (4:46)

Total Time: 73:43

Music composed, orchestrated and conducted by Debbie Wiseman. Music performed by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and Crouch-End Festival Chorus. Soundtrack produced by Debbie Wiseman and James Fitzpatrick. Soundtrack available on EMI France Records.

Stardust (Ilan Eshkeri)

Stardust (2007)
Music Composed by Ilan Eshkeri

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2007 was the year that two unknown composers broke out into the realm of major motion picture scoring -- the most notable one was Nicholas Hooper’s signing on for Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (continuing his collaboration with director David Yates from TV films like The Girl in the Cafe) -- which left some in the film music community scratching their heads in puzzlement.

The second composer to break out in the limelight was Ilan Eshkeri’s signing on to score the fantasy picture Stardust, a fun throwback to 1980s style fantasy films starring Michelle Pfeiffer, Robert DeNiro, Claire Danes and newcomer Charlie Cox. Like Hooper, Eshkeri had previously collaborated with director Matthew Vaughn on La4er Cake. Strangely, there were rumors circulating that John Ottman (X2, Superman Returns) had originally scored the film but the score was rejected and Eshkeri was brought on to rescore the film -- but those seem unfounded, as Eshkeri maintained that Vaughn said he wanted Eshkeri to score the film in the first place.

Whatever the case may be, it can’t be denied that Eshkeri delivers a rather colorful and energetic score. Like with many other composers, Eshkeri uses the same style of piano, twinkling woodwinds and mystical strings in “Prologue” to deliver the satisfactory and mystical main theme.

The subthemes are much more fun, however. Yvaine, the fallen-star-given-human form is given her own motif with an ascending string line coupled with female choir, which is briefly hinted at the end in “Shooting Star” and given the full treatment in “Yvaine” and the triumphant part of her theme resurfaces in the climatic cue “The Star Shines”. Tristan’s own theme is represented on woodwinds (which another reviewer points out that is too close to The Shire theme from Howard Shore’s The Lord of the Rings scores to have the desired impact in the film, but I disagree). Both themes intertwine with each other to form the romantic motif in “Tristan & Yvaine”, “The Coronation” and “The Mouse”, which like the theme is nice and works in the film wonderfully, but it feels too generic.

Where Eshkeri really lets his hair down is in the action and adventure cues. “Shooting Star”, “Cap’n’s At the Helm” and “Flying Vessel” offers some nice, bombastic throwbacks to the Erich Wolfgang Korngold and John Debney swashbuckling scores with adventurous strings and orchestral lines that push the limits of the 70 member ensemble of the London Metropolitan Orchestra. “Lamia’s Lair” (contrary to what the title says) has the central characters trying to head off each other to prevent a key character from crossing the magical threshold -- the tempo of this track is sped up slightly in the film, but it still works as an exciting track headed by frantic strings, brass and percussion.

Some in the film music community have criticized Eshkeri for including classical excerpts in the tracks “Lamia’s Inn”, “Flying Vessel” and “Pirate Fight” but since the latter two are presented as source music in the film, I can’t find a problem with that. Another criticism is that critics have said that Stardust is just a watered-down version of Wojciech Kilar’s score for Bram Stoker’s Dracula, but I disagree, the latter score sounds more Gothic and just sounds more different than Stardust -- but it could’ve been used in the temp-track for the film for all I know.

Despite Stardust being a traditional and cliched score, the style, orchestration and energy it’s rendered with makes it a wholly enjoyable score from start to finish. Eshkeri has proven himself quite adept at a large-scale film score and I can’t wait to see what he does when given another opportunity to do another fantasy adventure score like this.

Track listing:
1. Prologue (Through the Wall) (3:45)
2. Snowdrop (2:46)
3. Tristan (0:40)
4. Shooting Star (3:46)
5. Three Witches (2:42)
6. Yvaine (2:48)
7. Septimus (1:22)
8. Creating the Inn (1:58)
9. Lamia’s Inn (8:04)
10. Cap’n Shakespeare (1:27)
11. Flying Vessel (3:41)
12. Cap’n’s At the Helm (1:01)
13. Tristan & Yvaine (2:05)
14. Pirate Fight (2:03)
15. The Mouse (2:25)
16. Lamia’s Lair (3:57)
17. Lamia’s Doll (1:41)
18. Zombie Fight (1:08)
19. The Star Shines (3:21)
20. Coronation (2:32)
21. Epilogue (0:52)

Total Time: 53:44

Music composed by Ilan Eshkeri. Conducted by Andy Brown. Music performed by the London Metropolitan Orchestra and Metro Voices. Orchestrations by Julian Kershaw, Jeff Toyne, Robert Elhai and Nick Ingman. Soundtrack produced by Ilan Eshkeri. Soundtrack available on Decca Records.

This Girl For Hire (Bruce Broughton)

This Girl For Hire (1983)
Original Television Soundtrack Composed by Bruce Broughton (Signature Edition)

Buy it from Intrada

Sensuous. Sophisticated. Relaxing.

While those adjectives might not exactly describe the 1983 made-for-TV film “This Girl for Hire”, a spoof of the 1940s noir film, its music surely is. Composed by Bruce Broughton (whose composing credits have ranged from the R-rated “Tombstone” to family fare such as “Eloise at the Plaza”), the score is anything but a parody.

Composed for a fairly small ensemble of twenty-four pieces (mainly for strings, two French horns, one woodwind and percussion) led by a seductive alto saxophone, the main theme for This Girl For Hire is firmly anchored in the jazz style. The alto sax at the forefront of “Main Title” is joined by strings, piano and woodwinds as it progresses, for something truly not full jazz and yet not orchestral, but rather something truly magical.

As the score progresses, the alto sax theme is not at the forefront of the score (it briefly makes appearances in the early tracks such as near the end of “Meet Brady, Meet Garth”) but even without it, the score remains firmly ensconced in the jazz style. Broughton wisely varies his instrumentation in that both woodwinds and guitar carry the main theme over when the sax is not present. Pizzacato strings run mischievously in tracks like “Brady in Drag; Something to Think About” and “The Dingus”, while the French horns are used to accentuate the more dramatic tracks like “Not Zandra Yet”.

The drama increases as the album progresses, leaving out the alto sax and letting the rest of the small ensemble carry out the work. Here the composer also pays homage to Bernard Hermann with the ominous string work in “I Have Your Mother” and “Not Zandra Yet”. Broughton also widens the breadth of the scope with rousing “Western Movie” (a brief taste at what he would expand upon for his classic Silverado and Tombstone scores) and the self-mocking “Classical Source; Bumper 1” -- replete with harpsichord!

The soundtrack release of the score is simply impeccable. Not only is the score was recorded in two-track stereo during the original 1983 sessions, but that the score masters (provided by the composer) are in pristine condition. The liner notes say that one of the cues had a slight “crackle” during one of the two 1983 sessions (which is barely noticeable), but aside from that, the score is vibrantly detailed and impeccably mixed. The quality is so good it could’ve been recorded yesterday, and bravo to Intrada for presenting the complete version of this gem! But if you want this score, better hurry and order it from Intrada’s web site -- only 1000 copies are available, so act fast.

Track listing:
1. Main Title (2:14)
2. Meet Brady, Meet Garth (2:18)

3. You’re Not St. Francis; Working With Amateurs (2:41)

4. Shafted (1:03)
5. Garth Runs (1:34)

6. Afterwards (1:21)
7. A Gigantic Black Hole (0:53)

8. Bad Timing (0:31)

9. Classical Source; Bumper 1 (1:58)

10. Not Disappointed (1:06)

11. Western Movie (0:54)
12. Lying to Wolfe (0:25)

13. Brady in Drag; Something to Think About (4:04)
14. Dire Warning (1:50)

15. Running Into Abner (0:33)

16. Take Off Your Pants (1:10)

17. Garth in the Bushes; The Old Statue Ploy (1:56)

18. Talking to the Tail; Bumper 2 (1:00)

19. I Have Your Mother (1:21)

20. The Dingus (1:49)

21. Minetti’s Gone (0:39)

22. Tailed Again; Going to Western Costumes (1:46)

23. Not Zandra Yet; Elevator Ride; Stuffed Heads (3:28)

24. Garth Gets It (4:29)

25. End Credits (1:08)

Total Time: 43:09

Music composed and conducted by Bruce Broughton. Alto sax solos by Bud Shank. Orchestrations by Harold D. Broughton. Album mastered and produced by Douglass Fake.