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| Mansell |
Black Swan: (Clint Mansell) An outstanding
psychological thriller that does no favors to the ballet industry,
Darren Aronofsky's
Black Swan shot through the arthouse scene in
late 2010 to become one of the year's most notable box office success
stories. Positive press abounded for this production from the start due
to the rigorous training required of its lead actresses, culminating in
universal praise for Natalie Portman in the titular role. The plot
follows the damaging impact the world of ballet can have on an already
turbulent psyche, Portman landing the lead role in a New York City
ballet's production of
Swan Lake but suffering from terrible
hallucinations involving the competition for the job and her goal of
perfection. While her natural abilities lend well to half of her role
(as the White Swan), the necessary sensuality of the other half (the
Black Swan) proves more elusive, sending her on a wild ride of psychotic
visions that inevitably include outrageous sexual discovery and
murderous violence. The immense critical and popular praise for
Black
Swan carried over to its soundtrack, one that presented some very
daunting challenges for Aronofsky's usual composing collaborator, Clint
Mansell. Obviously the presence of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's original
1876 composition for the famous ballet would be a dominant presence in
the film's general soundtrack, though the parameters of the plot also
called for Mansell to explore his usual ambient textures while working
around the contributions of several other artists. Led by the British
electronic duo The Chemical Brothers, these other new tracks were
employed as source pieces where necessary, especially involving
nightlife sequences, though none of them is included on the official
soundtrack album release for
Black Swan. Mansell and
conductor/orchestrator Matt Dunkley concentrated specifically on
referencing and manipulating the Tchaikovsky work into not only source
placements (some unaltered performances are utilized for a few scenes on
stage, mostly towards the end of the picture) but also as part of a
highly troubled soundscape of electronic disillusion. The end result is
an intriguing but ultimately potentially unlistenable treatment of a
famous piece of music that serves its topic quite well but will clearly
disturb any listener on album if that person expects to hear Tchaikovsky
performances without a substantial amount of intentionally obnoxious
overlays. The album is one of those true souvenir products that will
please those seeking an intellectual musical remnant of the film but for
others will be an impossible slog through extremely difficult discord
between musical styles.
The basic premise of taking the famous themes and
passages from Tchaikovsky's
Swan Lake and altering them to match
the hallucinations felt by the lead character is clearly the right
choice. What's disappointing about Mansell's approach to this task,
however, is how poorly he adapts Tchaikovsky to fit his needs. Rather
than take the main theme for
Swan Lake and "Danse des Petits
Cygnes" and work fragments of their progressions and instrumental
applications directly into the foundation of his score, he instead opts
to take the easier (though still ultimately effective) route: pitting
the source material at war against his own stylistic mannerisms. Most of
the recognizable Tchaikovsky representations in
Black Swan are
well performed in straight forward ways, then interrupted by or
overlayed with Mansell's collection of groaning, disturbing electronic
effects and dissonant layers of sampled noise. This move begins
immediately in "Nina's Dream" and culminates in "Night of Terror," the
Tchaikovsky passages playing regularly while slashing and grinding
sounds punctuate beats or outright overtake the orchestra. The
techniques used by Mansell to instill the darkness into the mix are
quite pedestrian, from seemingly backwards vocal exhales to atonal
shrieks from woodwinds, pulsation of ensemble hits back and forth from
speaker to speaker, or more simplified sounds such as electric guitar
grinding or wind-like moaning. The most distracting merging of the two
disparate styles comes understandably in "A Swan Song (For Nina)," by
which point the poignant piano performances of Tchaikovsky are disrupted
by sound effects that seemingly merge crackling thunder with falling
stage elements. When Mansell does not quote Tchaikovsky, the score is
also a mixed bag. In some cues, as in "A Room of Her Own," the composer
uses the piano to emulate some of the basic mannerisms that one can
recognize as being related to Tchaikovsky's style, and these sequences
are original highlights. At other times, though, Mansell allows his own
techniques overtake the cues, from the somber textures of "Lose
Yourself" to the related expression of troubled, orgasmic zeal in
"Opposites Attract." By the end of "A Swan Song (For Nina)," Mansell
dissolves the soundscape into an insufferable droning environment of
electronic muck (complete with progressions of an oddly Arabic tilt)
befitting the futuristic scenes of a
Terminator film. Overall,
Mansell basically succeeded in shattering Tchaikovsky's music as
necessary for
Black Swan, but the result is nearly impossible to
enjoy apart from the film. On its own, you can't help but get the
feeling that the source material could have been better deconstructed
(in ways Elliot Goldenthal might be inclined to explore) rather than
simply chopped up and overlayed with tired synthetic techniques.
@Amazon.com: CD or
Download
- Music as Written for the Film: ***
- Music as Heard on Album: **
- Overall: **
The sparse insert includes a note from Mansell about the challenges of working
on this assignment.
