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1. Varèse Sarabande 25th 2. The Last of the Mohicans 3. Legends of the Fall 4. Schindler's List 5. LOTR: Return of the King (Set) |
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Filmtracks Recommends:
Buy it... if you consider yourself any kind of Basil Poledouris collector, or if you enjoy John Barry's lushly romantic sensibilities of the 1980's. Avoid it... if neither of Poledouris' scores for Conan the Barbarian nor Les Misérables held any stylistic interest for you. Filmtracks Editorial Review:
Collaborating with Basil Poledouris on Conan the Barbarian and Red Dawn, Milius would rely on the versatile composer to provide music both exotic enough for the tribe, and noble enough to represent a king. Also necessary would be a musically romantic representation of grand vistas, and all of this would require a significant orchestra and array of percussive elements. The arrays of synthesizers becoming a dominant force in Poledouris' career at the time would be completely absent in Farewell to the King. The end result is still score that stands as one of the finest obscure scores of the modern age. One aspect always strong in Poledouris' music is a compelling theme, and for Farewell to the King, the composer provides no less than four primary ideas, each receiving considerable development throughout the score. The most obvious of these themes is the sweeping, romantic epic variety, with layered strings and accompanying brass straight from the pen of John Barry. The resemblance to Barry's music in this theme is remarkable, but perhaps predictable given the immense popularity of that lush Barry style in the 1980's. The other themes exist in various states of nobility, with a battle theme worthy of Conan himself. In "The Battle Montage," Poledouris handles the cue with the same rhythmically propulsive, thematically extended technique heard in both Conan the Barbarian and Flesh + Blood. With its crisp percussion, the theme dances with remarkable depth and enthusiasm, emulating the same feeling in the tree of woe rescue cue in Conan the Barbarian. A subtheme for pan flute evokes memories of James Horner's use of related instruments, though Poledouris always distinguishes himself by allowing a traditional woodwind to take the lead. All of the themes are masterfully summed in the final "Farewell to My King" cue, complete with the banging of ethnic metallic instruments taking the place of the usual tolling bell. Saturated with Poledouris' heavy, dense orchestral styles, the score stops to breathe only twice, first for the newsreel-inspired "The Training March" and an elegantly simplistic and out of place "Imperialist March." Ethnic rhythms and instrumentation offer quick respites in the opening cue and "Day of the Dead" (Hans Zimmer would take the percussion in "Realization" to heart when writing Beyond Rangoon). But the quality is never in doubt across the board, with Poledouris maintaining harmonic integrity and a melodramatic presence also heard in Les Misérables, but without the brooding bass mix. In fact, the strings in "War is Over" and other cues foreshadow significant thematic similarities that would pop up again in Les Misérables. Simply put, Farewell to the King is an outstanding combination of all of Poledouris' finest thematic and instrumental elements, except for the synthesizers. On album, the score was released on early CDs by both Varèse Sarabande and Milan in nearly identical fashion, and both have fallen badly of print. For Poledouris collectors, however, Farewell to the King is an absolute necessity, and should be sought with confidence. *****
The Varèse Sarabande insert includes no extra information about the score or film. The Milan insert contains notes in French. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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