2012 - Film Score Concert of Highlights from the Year

Random Cue Review: Nathan Furst's African Recon from Act of Valor

Cue Review by Travis Elder (twitter.com/moviescores)

For fun I picked and downloaded a random track, "African Recon," from Nathan Furst's score to Act of Valor, released digitally today.  This cue also happens to be my first exposure to any of Furst's music.  Act of Valor tells the story of a Navy SEALs team's daring rescue of a kidnapped CIA agent and stars actual active duty SEALs.  From :35 to 1:25 plays a nice string theme that recalls, but certainly doesn't copy, Harold Kloser's theme from The Day After Tomorrow.  The string rhythm Furst has paired with the theme works very well.  Really a nice 50 seconds of music.  The slight African flavor of the track comes from pan pipes(?) and some tribal sounding percussion.  Towards the end the electric guitar is used almost like a wailing vocalist.  I should also mention the recording quality is excellent.  Overall, my interest in Furst's work for Act of Valor is certainly peaked and I'd be interested in hearing more.

Purchase: Amazon

Cue Rating: 3.5/5

There Be Dragons by Robert Folk (2012)

Review by: Travis Elder (twitter.com/moviescores)

Between the recent release of Anrew Lockington's Journey 2 and now Robert Folk's There Be Dragons, 2012 is off to a fantastic start for high quality scores.  Despite its title, There Be Dragons is not a fantasy tale about a dragon filled land, but rather a historical epic from director Roland Joffé (The Mission and The Killing Fields) set during the Spanish Civil War of the 1930s.  The dragon reference is symbolic of human frailties and dealing with and overcoming such "dragons" as fear, resentment, hatred, and betrayal with love and forgiveness.  Originally released last May, the film has been re-cut for release in the United States. In tandem with the U.S. revision, American composer Robert Folk was tasked with rescoring the film, originally scored by Stephen Warbeck.  Folk has a long history of film scoring under his belt including Beastmaster 2, Toy Soldiers, and Neverending Story 2, in addition to several classical works. 

Folk assembled all the right elements to give the score an epic, larger than life feel including an 86-piece orchestra utilized for the entire recording, a 28-member choir, Spanish acoustic guitar, militaristic marching percussion, and occasional brass fanfares.  With a short time frame to compose and record the score the producers and Folk settled on a thematic approach.  Folk composed five memorable themes to highlight prominent elements in the film including a Heroic Theme, Epic Theme, Love Theme, Mystery Theme, and Religious Theme.

The Spanish ambiance of the score is immediately present with a Spanish-themed acoustic guitar tune opening "Main Titles."  The acoustic guitar makes an appearance in just about every single cue, most often adding Spanish accents and coloring.  However, the guitar does occasionally take center stage such as in the noble "Priest's Calling."  The guitar really adds a nice flavor to the score.

The guitar prelude in the "Main Titles" gives way to a short string performance of the Epic Theme, which is used often to support dramatic sequences ("More Dad," "Pray for Him," "Oriol is Dead," "An Epic Story"). Immediately following is the percussion backed Heroic Theme, which is used throughout the score for action sequences ("Battle Begins," "Hanging Bridge Battle," "Battle for Madrid," "Train Station Patriots").   A bold, trumpet fanfare with choir rounds out the majesty of the first track on the album.  The "Battle Begins" continues the intensity with an exciting restatement of the Heroic Theme paired again with propulsive, marching percussion.  The combination of triumphant brass, chorus, and driving percussion make the first two cues highlights of 2012.  Equally pleasing, but for different reasons is the third cue "Romance."  This cue introduces a sweet, Barry-esque, romantic melody filled with acoustic guitar accents and a beautiful wordless choir.  The other romantic highlight of the album comes later in the cue "Idilko By The Lake."  The first three tracks definitely get the festivities started off with a bang!

The choir plays an important role throughout the score elevating each of the themes.  Much of the choir is wordless, but in the excellent "Love and War Finale" the choir comes to the forefront and sings powerfully to the Epic Theme in grand fashion.  

Folk employs a gracefulful flowing, melodious string rhythm backed by beautiful choir for his Religious Theme as heard in "More Dad" and "Lord Open My Eyes."  For the Mystery Theme he uses a sonorous repeating, seesaw string rhythm, which effectively conveys intrigue and mystery during several cues.  "Monolo Starts His Story," "Franco's Government Files," "The Priest, I Knew Him," and the best of the bunch, "Robert's Investigation" with its choral accompaniment, feature this well constructed theme.  I have often found enjoyment in musical portrayals of mystery such as James Horner's excellent "Too Many Secrets" from Sneakers and Folk's theme is an enjoyable edition to that genre.

The flow of the album presentation suffers somewhat from the shorter length of several cues.  Especially jarring is the edit between the first and second tracks.  Obviously Folk recorded the two cues as one piece and their separation on the album is unfortunate. 

The score offers a good mix of drama, action, and choral beauty and the number of themes add sufficient variety and depth.  The Epic Theme tends to get a little more airtime then the other themes, but this is a minor detraction to the overriding artistry and quality of the music.  Overall, Folk's score to There Be Dragons is a great accomplishment, an enjoyable thematic listen, and a score I highly recommend adding to your collection.

Purchase: Amazon

Overall rating: **** out of *****

Cue by Cue Rating:

Main Title *****

Battle Begins *****

Romance *****

More Dad ***1/2

Killing Priests ****

Love and War Finale *****

Robert's Investigation ****1/2

Change Plans ***

Hanging Bridge Battle ****

Manolo Starts His Story ***1/2

Pray For Him ***

Kidnap & Kill ***

Priest's Calling ****

Battle for Madrid ***1/2

Franco's Government Files ***1/2

Oriol Is Dead ***

Manolo Meets Generals ***1/2

Lord Open My Eyes ****

Idilko By The Lake ****1/2

Train Station Patriots ***

The Priest, I Knew Him ***

Who to Kill ***1/2

Factory Strike **1/2

At First Sight ***

Sitting Ducks **

A Baby if Born **

Then God is Just **1/2

An Epic Story ****

Journey 2 The Mysterious Island by Andrew Lockington (2012)

Review by: Travis Elder (twitter.com/moviescores)

It seems like at the beginning of every year at least one or two fantasy films geared toward children are released and 2012 is no different.  Journey 2: The Mysterious Island brings us the sequel to 2008’s Journey to the Center of the Earth.  The franchise draws inspiration from French author Jules Verne’s classic 1864 novel, Journey to the Center of the Earth.  This time around Brendan Frasier’s starring role is replaced by Dwayne Johnson (aka “The Rock”) who has played roles in several prior children’s fantasies.   Thankfully, the producers chose to stick with Canadian composer Andrew Lockington for the score who crafted an exciting, theme based score the first time around.  Lockington spent almost a month backpacking in Papua New Guinea and spending time with two tribal groups to get in the tribal mood for the score.   His goal for the score was to maintain a strong orchestral presence, but this time to add more vocal and tribal elements to give the score an island flavor.  Last, but not least, he drew inspiration from reading Jules Verne’s work, in its original French no less.

Lockington assembles a number of elements to fill out the musical palette for this score including four themes, as well as percussion and rhythmic devices.  The four themes include: the original Journey theme, the Mysterious  Island theme, a tribal/jungle percussion motif, and a beautiful solo vocal tribal theme.  The themes are buttressed and accented throughout by choral chanting.  Lockington also employs some synth percussion elements and accents to several cues.  Finally, he also employs a rhythmic zig zag motif (featured in the beginning of “The Attic,” “Let’s Power This Thing Up,” & “The Nautilus Escape”) with piano and string variations several times (somewhat reminiscent of Trevor Rabin’s work for the National Treasure franchise). 

Theme composing is certainly one of Lockington’s strong suits.  Just listen to the contemporary original scores for Journey to the Center of the Earth and City of Ember for convincing proof.  Technically, Lockington excels at adapting, merging, blending, and varying his themes throughout so even though he states his themes often their usage never becomes trite or tiring.  As one example, the cue “Who’s Up For Adventure?” merges every theme Lockington offers in his score in a two minute and 15 seconds thrill ride of a track.  The Mysterious Island theme is backed by the tribal/jungle percussion theme, which then flows seamlessly into the solo vocal tribal theme.  The Journey theme makes an appearance as well this time accented by the solo vocal theme.  All I can say is: perfection.  Lockington is the theme weaver!

Synth elements also have their place in Lockington’s score, primarily in adding percussion accents.  The first appearance occurs in “Gold Dust” with the appearance of a synth sparkle effect (about  :23 to 1:07) aptly programmed by Trifonic, creating a beautiful counterpoint with the harp and string melody.   Most of the rest of the use of synth comes later in the score during “Finding the Nautilus,” “Let’s Power This Thing Up,” and “The Nautilus Escape,” and is utilized primarily as an additional percussive element.  The exception comes when the organic tribal/jungle percussion theme is replaced at the end of “Finding the Nautilus” with a drum pad variation.  Overall, the synth elements are merged well with the orchestra, used sparingly, and when they are used it’s to good effect.

As with Journey to the Center of the Earth voice plays an important role in the sequel score.  Choral chanting and accents flourish throughout the work embellishing moments of triumph (Sean’s Birthday), discovery (Discovering Atlantis & Island Reveal), and action (Bee Chase, Finding the Nautilus).  This time as promised, Lockington weaves an ethereal, solo vocal tribal theme throughout the score.   One wonders though if anyone in the tribe he visited actually sounds like what he composed.  The tribal solo vocal really elevates and enchants the soundscape whenever it occurs, much the same way voice elevated cues like “Eloi,” “Stone Language,” and “Godspeed” in Klaus Badelt’s excellent work for another Jules Verne inspired movie, The Time Machine.

Finally, let’s talk action.  The score features several rousing action cues including “Helicopter Crash,” “Lizard Chase,” “Bee Chase,” “Finding the Nautilus,” “Let’s Power This Thing Up,” and “The Nautilus Escape.”  Bee Chase and The Nautilus Escape are the standout cues, both offering extended length, varied thematic usage, variations of the pounding tribal percussion theme, and triumphant trumpet blasts.  “Finding the Nautilus” also offers a sweet variation of the jungle percussion offering some propulsive trek drum beats; a great cue to sit alongside John Williams’ “The Hunt” from The Lost World.

The album saves the best for last.  The conclusive Mysterious Island Main Titles is an excellent suite of all the themes Journey 2 has to offer and contains the most triumphant blasts of each theme on the entire album.  This cue is sure to be a highlight of 2012!

The score is immediately likable upon first listen and that appreciation is sure to grow with repeated listens.  Andrew Lockington’s work on Journey 2 stands as the first great score of 2012 and a solid entry in the fantasy score genre in general.  With the third movie in the franchise likely going to the Moon one can only expect another stellar Lockington score in the offing.  Let’s hope film producers take notice because Lockington seems in prime form for taking on an epic blockbuster.

Overall Rating: ****1/2 out of *****

Cue by Cue Rating:

Vernian’s Believe ***

The Attic ****

Helicopter Crash *** ½

Island Reveal ** ½

Lizard Chase *** ½

The Treehouse ***

Discovering Atlantis ****

Who’s Up For An Adventure? *****

Gold Dust *** ½

Bee Chase **** ½

Campfire ** ½

The Swamp **

Trident Cliffs **

Finding the Nautilus ****

Let’s Power This Thing Up *** ½

The Nautilus Escape ****

Sean’s Birthday *** ½

Mysterious Island Main Titles *****  

Purchase: Amazon