Coressel
Supporting Actor
- Joined
- May 26, 1999
- Messages
- 699
I know absolutely nothing about this movie. I haven't seen the trailer, and didn't even know Nicole Kidman was in it until I got the CD of the film soundtrack at WDPR today.
All I know is that sometime, somehow while composing this lovely, eloquent and often spooky music, Alejandro Amenabar also found time to direct the movie.
The CD is made up of 15 tracks, a total of just 41:00. But I get the impression that this is music that serves the film, not a record deal. The opening title track is a pastorale for woodwinds, harp and a muted trumpet which then fades gracefully into an impressionistic melody involving a celesta or harpsichord, some far-off voices, and finally strings.
The first 3 tracks are ethereal and very pretty, with just a couple of sudden flurries of "fear" in the strings. Then track 4 really takes off. "THEY ARE EVERYWHERE" heads into more staccato and dissonant territory, as the strings screech and the brass blasts overhead. Some of the string and percussion writing brings Bartok's Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta to mind, as the pitch on the timpani rumbles up and down. There are several short 2 or 3 minute cuts that range in mood from calm to paranoid to frenzied.
"COMMUNION DRESS" for example, starts off with a kind of sing-songy voice followed by a slow build-up and a ghostly tonal disruption.
There is also a kind of "ethnic" or perhaps "folk" sound in some parts, with a fiddle or a child-like voice appearing in the background. Think of James Newton Howard's music in The Sixth Sense, but then add a bit more intensity and a dash of that weird "folksy" tune from some other unknown culture. We return to the flute and harp with a cut titled "THE ATTIC," then the perversely titled "SHEETS AND CHAINS" takes us back to Bartokland.
The last couple of tracks are more peaceful, yet still a little creepy, as the solo intruments from the beginning return. Generally, this isn't a masterpiece, but interesting to listen to. It is definately music for film, but it's not obviously so at the very beginning.
My big problem with many film scores is that composers often spread the strings too thickly, underpinning every dramatic beat when just a solo pluck, stroke or blow would do. This score doesn't seem to do that. While I can't gather what it's about from having heard Amenabar's work before seeing it, I get the feeling that it is used where needed as oppossed to being based on how many pages the composer was contracted to churn out. And best of all, there is NO pop tune on the end credits track!
This is a CD that makes me want to see the film. So, it definately did it's job.
[Edited last by Coressel on August 03, 2001 at 06:46 PM]
All I know is that sometime, somehow while composing this lovely, eloquent and often spooky music, Alejandro Amenabar also found time to direct the movie.
The CD is made up of 15 tracks, a total of just 41:00. But I get the impression that this is music that serves the film, not a record deal. The opening title track is a pastorale for woodwinds, harp and a muted trumpet which then fades gracefully into an impressionistic melody involving a celesta or harpsichord, some far-off voices, and finally strings.
The first 3 tracks are ethereal and very pretty, with just a couple of sudden flurries of "fear" in the strings. Then track 4 really takes off. "THEY ARE EVERYWHERE" heads into more staccato and dissonant territory, as the strings screech and the brass blasts overhead. Some of the string and percussion writing brings Bartok's Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta to mind, as the pitch on the timpani rumbles up and down. There are several short 2 or 3 minute cuts that range in mood from calm to paranoid to frenzied.
"COMMUNION DRESS" for example, starts off with a kind of sing-songy voice followed by a slow build-up and a ghostly tonal disruption.
There is also a kind of "ethnic" or perhaps "folk" sound in some parts, with a fiddle or a child-like voice appearing in the background. Think of James Newton Howard's music in The Sixth Sense, but then add a bit more intensity and a dash of that weird "folksy" tune from some other unknown culture. We return to the flute and harp with a cut titled "THE ATTIC," then the perversely titled "SHEETS AND CHAINS" takes us back to Bartokland.
The last couple of tracks are more peaceful, yet still a little creepy, as the solo intruments from the beginning return. Generally, this isn't a masterpiece, but interesting to listen to. It is definately music for film, but it's not obviously so at the very beginning.
My big problem with many film scores is that composers often spread the strings too thickly, underpinning every dramatic beat when just a solo pluck, stroke or blow would do. This score doesn't seem to do that. While I can't gather what it's about from having heard Amenabar's work before seeing it, I get the feeling that it is used where needed as oppossed to being based on how many pages the composer was contracted to churn out. And best of all, there is NO pop tune on the end credits track!
This is a CD that makes me want to see the film. So, it definately did it's job.
[Edited last by Coressel on August 03, 2001 at 06:46 PM]
