Buy it... if you wish to close out your John Barry collection with a score that will likely serve as the completely predictable, but undeniably fitting conclusion to his prolific career.

Avoid it... if you're looking for any substantially new angle on Barry's tired romantic styles of the 1980's and 1990's in his waning days of production.

Barry

Enigma: (John Barry) The love story of the World War II code-breakers in the United Kingdom who took possession of the famously captured Enigma decryption machine from a German submarine, Enigma was an international endeavor that originally gained its momentum in the film festival scene of 2001 because of its inability to find a major distributor. After debuting at the Sundance Film Festival in January of 2001 and making a showing at the Hamptons International Film Festival in October of 2001, the film finally opened in a regular, though still limited distribution in theatres across America in April of 2002. The film had been seen in theatres in the U.K. since September of 2001, gaining respect for Michael Apted's direction and Seamus McGarvey's cinematography, both of which accurately depicting the environment of the era. Also considered a throwback of sorts was declining composer John Barry's music for the film. He had been Apted's first and only choice for Enigma, perhaps an irony because of the director's entry in the David Arnold era of the James Bond franchise. The staggered release date of the film in nearly every nation has caused the album of Barry's music for Enigma to be a frustratingly delayed product for the six months prior to its final street date. The composer himself had been suffering private and professional setbacks since the middle of the 1990's as well. Somewhat failing health, bitter court battles over the ownership of the James Bond theme, needless allegations thrown in about young Danish women, and a series of scores rejected (including an effort for the 1999 film Goodbye Lover late in the game) all contributed to a forced, semi-retired state of settlement in Barry's career. His rejected works had been released in the form of concert albums in the late 1990's and early 2000's, though his actual production of new feature film scores had ground to a halt by 2002.

Barry's score for Enigma was the only one he composed between 1999 and 2002, and it was a November, 2000 recording that only finally made it onto album nearly a year and a half later. Sadly, Enigma would prove to be the composer's only score of the entire decade, standing as likely his fast foray into an industry that brought him five Academy Awards and significant mainstream appreciation. Any collector of Barry's music had already noted the slowdown in his creative volume clearly inherent in the scores which followed 1995's The Scarlet Letter and Cry, the Beloved Country, his final two resoundingly powerful soundtracks. Even into his waning days, though, he was known for his ability to meld a historically dramatic setting with a timeless tone that engages modern audiences. Apted encouraged Barry's style for Enigma because of exactly this quality, and once again, the composer's touch for romantic drama does not go to waste. His score is as melodic as ever, taking three main themes and running with them for nearly the entire length of the album. True to Barry's reputation, the score maintains a level of simplicity that keeps its rhythms consistent and its themes repetitious. These ideas are performed primarily by strings and piano, the latter of which is the true treat of the recording (as in "The Quarry"). The moments of heightened drama in the score, often pulsating with string rhythms and Barry's typical underlying brass, are nothing new for his fans. But his elegant love theme, especially on piano, will appeal to the majority of casual listeners, regardless of the fact that it is repeated endlessly for the length of the album. The chase and action sequences, exploding in Bond-like style in "Police Chase," offer bold striking of simple rhythms that mirror the composer's most ballsy writing, incorporating the snare drum and brass in a dominant role alongside his usual dissonant strikes on the top. Short bursts of mixed brass in this material hail back to the composer's 1960's epics.

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The score is predominantly a flowing string affair, however, and it is this style that pleases the fans of this trademark. In its ability to function as a timeless score in a film that blurs the lines between love and history, Barry's music for Enigma is representative of his style in the same way that the music for Pearl Harbor from the previous year was representative of Hans Zimmer's style. It may or may not work in the film, often ignoring synchronization points and not snapping to attention for scene changes, but it makes for a relaxing and fluid listening experience on album. Understandably, if you are one of those many film music veterans who have settled into a feeling of disdain for Barry because his music became simplistic and repetitive in the last two decades, then surely stay away from this album. Even the composer's most avid supporters will recognize that the composer's habit of repeating each phrase of a theme twice consecutively is a tiresome tactic, and one that slows his music to a crawl more often than not. On the other hand, some argue that if you're paying so much attention to the structure of this music that you are bothered by this repetition, then you're missing the point. If you enjoy a subtle Barry love theme no matter its unoriginality, then Enigma will be a fine potential send-off for the composer in his last endeavors for film. Simply tune out the actual melody and enjoy the ambience. Having this score recorded in a public Amsterdam arena with members of The Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra was something of large-scale abnormality for Barry in his late years, albeit a positive development. The album contains 45 minutes of score material and is finished off by three period songs. While hearing Enigma in 2002 was comforting for fans of a composer who was still only in his late 60's at the time of this recording, Barry's stubborn stylistic representation of yesteryear needs no further discussion to sway your opinion either way about his style and this score in particular. It may be a predictable conclusion to the man's career, but undeniably a fitting one. ***   Amazon.com Price Hunt: CD or Download

Bias Check:

For John Barry reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3.85 (in 27 reviews) and the average viewer rating is 3.52 (in 24,822 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.