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Finding Neverland: (Jan A. P. Kaczmarek) Despite the
film title's Peter Pan and Pixar-like associations,
Finding Neverland
is a serious (albeit fictional) look at James Matthew Barrie's process of
creating the Peter Pan tale and how it would affect his real life
relationships. Set in London just after 1900, the film follows the Scottish
author's inspiration for Peter Pan from the first ideas about the fantasy to
the climactic premiere of the original play at the Duke of York's Theatre.
Somewhat of a heartbreak film,
Finding Neverland has a grown-up
perspective about its material despite a main character whose fantasy so
entrances him that the real life aspect holds its own magical, fairy-tale
kind of cloudiness. Allowing time for star Johnny Depp to master a Scottish
accent and assuring that the film wouldn't overlap in the theatres with
2003's live-action
Peter Pan film, the Miramax studio delayed this
film by an entire year. Delays in release dates often benefit the composer
of the film just as much as any other post-production element, and in this
case, the final musical product would be realized by stage and film veteran
Jan A.P. Kaczmarek. With a story saturated with emotional weight and
sentimental fantasy, the project would seem like a perfect fit for a
composer like Rachel Portman or Stephen Warbeck, although Kaczmarek has
managed to produce a score that very successfully merges the light-hearted
styles of those two composers.
The wide ranges of emotions in the film, along with the
inherent fantasy value of the Peter Pan legacy itself, required an
orchestral approach from the outset, and Kaczmarek combined the ensemble
with a children's choir and his trademark piano to offer the necessary depth
to Barrie's imagination. For casual film music fans, the body of Kaczmarek's
work is likely summed up by
Lost Souls and
Unfaithful... two
scores that don't bring out warm and fuzzy feelings. But Kaczmarek's prior
experience in stage writing has suited him well, and his score for
Finding Neverland is convincing and effective. While traversing the
varied journey of Barrie's creation process, Kaczmarek maintains a score
that is consistently rooted in Barrie's imagined world of Neverland. Not a
single moment of fright or worry is to be heard in the score, perhaps due to
the fact that Barrie always had one foot in Neverland while the other
remained in reality, but that constant child-like momentum and soft
enthusiasm provides for a very even and upbeat listening experience when the
score is separated from the film. A lightly dancing rhythm often propels
Finding Neverland as fans of Portman and Warbeck will recognize
immediately, with those rhythms often pronounced very delicately, but
deliberately as the work progresses. The children's choir often bounces
along with the rhythm at its most playful moments. Free-flowing, repetitive
string and woodwind themes offer a steady stream of inspiration in the major
key as Barrie writes and lives his story.
There is a slight Eastern European accent to the underlying
rhythms and their instrumentation, perhaps due to Kaczmarek's nationality,
but these inclinations do not disrupt the score to any great degree. When
Kaczmarek brought in fellow Polish pianist Leszek Mozdzer, the two extended
the role of the piano beyond its originally supporting role and gave the
instrument an enhanced role due to several inspired solo adaptations of
Kaczmarek's themes. For listeners who enjoy these lightly prancing scores
when they mature into fully orchestral statements of theme, Kaczmarek does
indulge you at times, but not to the degree you'd imagine given the
emotional range of the story. Full performances appear in the "Peter Pan
Overture" and the two play-related cues near the end of the film, as well as
Kaczmarek's own overture. The only truly Neverland-inspired adventure cue
comes in the form of "The Pirates," a piece sadly underpowered technically,
but the purpose of the cue is successfully conveyed despite its lack of
power. The general lack of layers to this score is its only weakness, with
the choral moments sounding much like a James Horner's children's adventure
score (and
Casper in particular) on a serious diet. Along with the
added piano solos on the album (an extra treat resulting from impromptu
recordings with Mozdzer after the score's actual recordings had been
finished), however, Kaczmarek's score performs as well as any Portman or
Warbeck fan could want, and while the score never fleshes itself out or
explores truly magical orchestral bombast, the consistenly pleasant attitude
of its sways and rhythms makes for a soothing and enjoyable background
listen.
****
The insert includes a short note about the scoring process from the producer of the film.
