Filmtracks Recommends:
Buy it... if you appreciate well constructed but solemn expressions of orchestral romanticism against the backdrop of appropriately grim historical wartime restraint. Avoid it... if you expect the performances of this score to evoke the same emotionally engaging appeal as Stephen Warbeck's Shakespeare in Love. Filmtracks Editorial Review:
Charlotte Gray: (Stephen Warbeck) This adaptation of Sebastian Faulks' novel by Australian director Gillian Armstrong involves a title character whose double love interests during the height of Germany's aggression in World War II lead her into the depths of undercover danger in France. The harrowing realities of occupation and escape are balanced with the confused, but no less intense romantic involvement in the story. The grim circumstances in which she operates as a member of the French resistance leaves little hope of success by the end of the film, and this tense environment bleeds into Stephen Warbeck's properly trimmed and predictable score for Charlotte Gray. A veteran of a host of European films and television productions, Warbeck was quickly rising as a composer of fame in Western Europe and the United States. Even with his Academy Award win for Shakespeare in Love, his popularity elsewhere was finding difficulty gaining traction. For a project that was supposed to exhibit an original score that steals the heart of a film, Captain Corelli's Mandolin from earlier in 2001 turned out to receive a lower critical and popular response for Warbeck's score (and the film as a whole) than many had expected. Nevertheless, Warbeck's strong employment of a historically appropriate classical style of composition for considerable orchestral ensembles continued to hold the curiosity of those who were introduced to his energetic work for Shakespeare in Love and wanted to hear more of the same exuberant romanticism. Ironically, while that 1998 Oscar-winner had set a template by which American listeners might have wanted to hear more, Warbeck's best known scores since that entry hadn't allowed him to explore that same flighty line of writing. In the expected mould, Charlotte Gray is a classic example of a dramatic powerhouse of a historical European film, with bittersweet romance countered by the drab tones of a time of war. Thus, Warbeck was once again called upon to produce a frightfully serious and emotionally gripping score. The work is defined, as expected, by heavy bass string alternations between scenes of character-developing romantic frustration and an orchestral churning of wartime hide and seek. Neither of the two halves is allowed to take flight (even during the scenes of parachuting and other engaging activities, interestingly), though the work does end on a more positive note. The romantic half is led by the piano and violin, both of which offering the most engaging cues in the score. For the title character, a mellow and unassuming theme is introduced with violin in a handful of mid-section cues and is finally fully realized with the entire ensemble in the final cue, "My Name is Charlotte Gray." Warbeck's tone represents the desolate lack of hope in the early World War II years in France rather well, though it may come at the price of being far too predictable given the fact that similar scores in the recent past had used the same avenue to represent that scenario. The piano is more prevalent as a source of romantic inspiration for the film, and its elegant performances provide the score with a desperately needed sense of warmth. The other interspersed half of the music for Charlotte Gray is the ever ominous and rhythmically mechanical representations of war. While Warbeck delivers these oppressive cues with accurate emotional turmoil, they set the overall tone for the score as one of subdued and faint hope. The melancholy and thematically restricted mass of underscore for the film sets a strong impression of dusty ruins, but also makes, not surprisingly, for a depressing and uninteresting listening experience. It should be noted that most of the criticism that the entire film faced from critics existed along similar lines, with the technical grace of the work defeated by its own solemn weight. That said, the score for Charlotte Gray has moments during which Warbeck does put forth a choice of instrumentation that begs for another listen. A highlight of this creativity is "The Village," a lengthy cue representing a further German advance into France and utilizing a stroke from an electric guitar to accent the first beat of some of the measures, again painting the picture of soulless, mechanized war. In subsequent tracks, the distant rattling of drums is another use. An accordion is even presented in an early cue as an element of location. In the end, though, the score will be made or broken on the power of its shamelessly romantic material, which scratches at the surface of classical technique while remaining restricted to the subdued tone of their scenes' emotional dialogue. The piano and violin are often, in the second half of the score, accompanied by the more personal touch of an acoustic guitar, and although together these performers still don't offer a bright thematic experience, they do cause the score to be easily listenable for considerable lengths. The concluding cue, as mentioned before, does finally allow Warbeck the chance to express his thematic identity for Charlotte Gray in full, but for listeners purchasing the album in hopes of a more inspiring thematic fifty minutes of orchestral writing, there might be some disappointment. Whatever hopes of an Oscar nomination for Warbeck went down the drain with the relative failure of the film, and those who are looking for another Warbeck album with the same energy and vivacious orchestral performances as Shakespeare in Love, which remains the international staple of Warbeck's career thus far, then Charlotte Gray's restrained heart and often grim tone will not appeal to you. *** Track Listings:
Total Time: 49:34
All artwork and sound clips from Charlotte Gray are Copyright © 2001, Sony Classical. The reviews and notes contained on the filmtracks.com site may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of Filmtracks Publications. Audio clips can be heard using RealPlayer but cannot be redistributed without the label's expressed written consent. Page created 12/6/01, updated 2/14/09. Review Version 4.1 - PHP (Filmtracks Publications). Copyright © 2001-2013, Christian Clemmensen. All rights reserved. |
