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Filmtracks Editorial Review:
The purpose of the score is simply to extend the persona of Hackman's character, Harry Caul. He is a painfully lonely man, paid for eavesdropping in a large city environment, and because of this occupation and setting, Caul has (along with his own sax performances) visions of his own life in a jazzy sort of world. To accompany his emotional journey, Shire's score consists largely of one instrument: the piano. Shire's own piano performances are, in many ways, the heart of the film, and in the film, they are an elegant way of allowing all the complex layers of sounds from Caul's work to take the spotlight. The title theme is a simple, but flighty piano piece with just a hint of jazzy rhythms that is, in its construction, a very enjoyable piece. But since the film has such a dark underbelly, that theme turns sour as the story turns into a manipulative tale of counterintelligence, and Caul is exploited and his madness sets in. This score was one of the earlier experiements in synthesized elements being used to add to or distort a traditional performance. For the scenes of fright, as Caul becomes nervous for lives of those who he is spying upon (and believes himself to be their agent of doom), Shire's music was combined by Walter Murch, the film's editor, with experiemental electronic grinding and distortion techniques, weaving in and out of mono and stereo. Since the centerpiece of the spy recording occur in a crowded park, sounds of street bands and other audio artifacts were mixed brilliantly with the lonely themes for Caul, sitting far above it all recording the street. On album, these piano solos don't work quite as well. Because of Coppola's somewhat unpredictable method of approving the music, some of the temp mono recordings by Shire before the film was even shot were used in the final cut of the film. And with the street sounds integrated with the score so well, they could not be easily separated for this album. The score, after the seventh track, also contains a significant amount of low key pounding and droning on the piano, representing the frantic pace at which the jazzy mystique is lost. Only in the final cue does Shire's piano provide an echo of the Caul character's sanity that existed in the first six tracks. This album is the second in the series of "special collection" releases from Intrada Records, and has been a well requested score for many years. Its incredible use in the film proves that minimalism can indeed work to perfection, and because the film is studied by students across the globe, the score was naturally in demand. To listen to the album in its entirety, though, is difficult, because without knowing the immediate context of the visuals on screen, the lesser-thematic sequences of Shire's performances are a wash with the distorting sound effects. Ironically, the best cue on the album was that which was never used in the film. Shire had recorded his title theme with a small ensemble, and that final track on the album is surprisingly the highlight. You simply must have an appreciation for this film to be able to enjoy this score, and even if you are an enormous fan of the film as I am, only ten minutes or so of the score is all that is required on album. Nevertheless, it is still an important score, not only to its fine film, but also in that it led to countless other assignments for the talented David Shire. ***
The insert contains extensive notes from the director, editor, and composer. A sampling from Francis Ford Coppola (Writer, Producer, Director):
Ironically but not surprisingly, it took The Godfather to get The Conversation made. The Conversation was only made at all as an inducement to make a 2nd Godfather film. The script was really inspired by Michangelo Antonioni's Blow Up, conceived as a thriller to have some small commercial appeal, but designed to explore an inner, lonely part of myself. For all these reasons, I stressed to David Shire that I did not want a large orchestral ensemble, but something simple, haunting and lonely as I imagined Harry Caul was himself. David, of course, had the equipment to write and orchestrate a film score as good and big as any composer, so I worked with him almost as an actor, to move him to try something daringly simple, that did not show off all his great talents and abilities. Eventually I thought that a single voice would be the most appropriate solution for what I had in mind‹a single piano, recorded with the greatest simplicity; something that had a slight jazz figure to it, as Harry was a frustrated jazz 'wanna-be' ‹but to avoid the obvious, like using a sax or trumpet. Of course David couldn't believe that this wasn't just a first step and that later we'd surely orchestrate it, bring in strings, show off a little. But the first sketches David played were so effective, capturing the mood of the story so well, that I resisted further decoration. I think of David Shire's score for The Conversation as one of the most effective, most successful film scores that I've had." | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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