Buy it... if you seek a primary theme of lyrical beauty that is absent Carter Burwell's usual, troubled chord structures during countless lovely, intimate solo expressions.

Avoid it... if you demand that your large-scale historical films be accompanied by richly textured and well-layered performances that provide an element of grace to their bombast.

Burwell

The Alamo: (Carter Burwell) For nearly two weeks in 1836, a group of 200 ragtag Texans of various origins and values held the crumbling fort at the Alamo against a massive siege of forces under the command of Mexico's dictator, General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna. The outcome is never in doubt (for those who paid attention in their American history courses, that is) and the 2004 cinematic telling of The Alamo makes little attempt to force a happy ending beyond our knowledge that U.S. General Sam Houston does eventually track down and defeat the Mexican armies. Historically speaking, the film treats its events like a documentary, and for additional entertainment value, director John Lee Hancock makes The Alamo into a detailed character sketch in order to keep audiences' attention during the build-up to the inevitable. Thus, The Alamo is more of a character story about Colonel William Travis, General Lopez (whose depiction reminds of greasy Mexican leaders interpreted in Hollywood's yesteryear), and legends James Bowie and Davy Crockett. Critics and audiences only moderately embraced the film, with the extended character backgrounds and dialogue sequences boring many viewers who weren't big enough history buffs to enjoy the premise of a documentary masked in Hollywood glamour. The production values of the film are among its strengths, with lavish set design, costumes, and a highly integrated score serving as eye and ear candy. Hancock had worked with composer Carter Burwell on the feel-good film The Rookie and insisted before production on The Alamo even began that Burwell be assigned to the musical duties for the project. The narrative required that source music be used in several scenes throughout its length, and Burwell was therefore tasked with adapting traditional Mexican pieces before filming began. The musical highlight of the film, mentioned by many critics in their initial analysis, is the scene in which Crockett takes his fiddle and plays counterpoint to the Mexican bands during the actual siege (the track "Deguello de Crockett" on album). The extraordinary number of players advertised for the recording of The Alamo was something of a deception; such an ensemble of 150 orchestral performers would be unusual for a film of even this size (especially given the New York location for sessions), and the reason the recording sounds curiously underdeveloped by comparison is because all those performers for this score were never utilized all at once.

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When not utilizing a small ensemble for the source music (and its extension into the original score material) in The Alamo, Burwell did assemble roughly 80 orchestral players for several recording sessions as needed to accompany the actual historical event. A slight Celtic influence mingles with traditional Mexican elements for several cues before listeners are treated to the ensemble in full. As such, the score does take a while to build some steam during the extensive scenes of character development. Burwell's heartwarming primary theme, a lyrical and folksy tune, is countered in its solo performances by broad action strokes in the lower brass ranges for scenes of greater dread. The maintenance of most of the action material in the lower ranges causes an almost brooding atmosphere in the score, with little outwardly heroic material heard outside of the less obvious thematic performances by piano and strings. This may have been Burwell's intent (painting the true picture in the individual characters), and the score is certainly serviceable in its selection of instruments. The ethnic woodwinds end up stealing the show despite their somewhat questionable applications to this event. How the ensemble was written for and mixed, however, is where Burwell's The Alamo generates some nagging questions. With the dubbing of so many players into the mix, it's difficult to imagine where the potential of so much talent was lost in the final product. The sections seem to play in unison during most cues, accomplishing what half the performers could have done with one simple overlay. An example of where this writing hinders the score is in "The Last Night," for which a heroic performance of theme by the brass is accompanied by the ethnic flute in higher ranges. And yet, the brass is so focused and resolute on the same note that it nearly completely drowns out the flute. Lending additional problems to the flatness of the ensemble's sound is the emotionless mixing of the snare drum as a static, aimless device of militaristic ambience. Ultimately, the score hits many of the right notes, but does so without much grace or elegance in performance. Even the much-discussed Crockett fiddle performance with the Mexican band seems flatly rendered, a victim of an extremely dry environment as well. On the other hand, Burwell's main theme is a very enjoyable and heartfelt idea in its more intimate variations, even though it is anonymous enough that it could very easily have served a film like The Rookie without much alteration. As such, Burwell likely succeeds in providing the basic musical needs of the film, but stops short of writing an effectively textured and complex narrative for an event of this magnitude. The right ideas are there but the execution seems lacking. ***   Amazon.com Price Hunt: CD or Download

Bias Check:

For Carter Burwell reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 2.84 (in 19 reviews) and the average viewer rating is 2.76 (in 9,936 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.