Filmtracks Recommends:
Buy it... if you appreciate the merging of Western and worldly elements into James Horner's more eclectic, intellectually engaging works. Avoid it... if rich Qawwali vocals representing the Sudan cannot substantially compensate for Horner's predictable romantic tones from the orchestra. Filmtracks Editorial Review:
The Four Feathers: (James Horner) With the same lavish production values as his acclaimed film Elizabeth in 1998, director Shekhar Kapur's rendition of The Four Feathers provides a modern look at a story that was last featured on television in 1978 and on the big screens in 1939. Unfortunately, impressive cinematography alone could not save this production from its poor pacing and embarrassing acting performances by an assortment of teen heartthrobs who were unqualified for the subject matter. The actual battle depictions of the British Empire's 1898 campaign to reclaim the Sudan are highlights that come far too sporadically to save the film. With over sixty years of time between the original mini-epic by Zoltan Korda in 1939 and 2002's extravagant production, it would be difficult to compare the Miklós Rózsa score for the original with James Horner's recent entry. The basic plot of the films is the same, but despite the inherent appeal of romance set in conditions of war and adventure, the modern version of The Four Feathers by Kapur suffered badly from poor responses by critics and audiences. The gruesome action sequences are accented by Horner's sometimes brutal score, a work dominated in other sections by its heavily percussive and vocal ethnicity. But the music is inevitably saved by the romantic edge that accompanies the massive scope of the event. The project, technically the only Horner composition actually written in 2002, gave the composer yet another opportunity to score a large scale war epic with a significant ethnic tilt. The historical war genre had been topic of frequency for Horner in the early 2000's, with The Four Feathers following Enemy at the Gates and Windtalkers in the previous year. The latter, Windtalkers, was rightfully compared to Horner's previous standard for ethnic excellence, Thunderheart, and unfortunately failed to live up to its expectations. The fault with Windtalkers was its unaccomplished welding of the Native American and Western genres of vocals and orchestra into one coherent work. For The Four Feathers, Horner once again has searched out a noteworthy ethnic soloist to enhance his endeavors in a historical, worldly setting. Whether or not the score is an accurate historical fit with the Mahdist uprising in Nineteenth Century Sudan is probably unimportant to today's world audiences (though it has spurred some understandable debate amongst Horner's detractors). Horner succeeds immediately in providing an indigenous-sounding effect that eclipses the resources that Rózsa had available to him so long ago for the previous film version. Rahat Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, cousin of the well known Qawwali performer Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, provides vocals rich in the authenticity of the Qawwali culture that the British were attempting to dominate during their colonial wars. Still representing Sufi Muslims today, Khan's Qawwali music is a natural mix of poetry, chanting, and traditional song that will sound foreign to even today's Western audiences. Those who have voiced their opinions through the years that The Four Feathers is a predominantly themeless score are critically mistaken. Those who have voiced concerns that the score contains, once again, a substantial and hindering number of self-references from Horner's previous works are also mistaken in this case, if only because of the contrast that the Qawwali vocals offer. The score does feature several passages of straight Qawwali vocals that will sound frenetic, unorganized, and scattered to most audiences, with "Sniper!" a prime example. However, these passages by themselves only occupy about fifteen minutes of an eighty-minute album, and are often used in a duel with the Western brass in the same intended fashion as Maurice Jarre's famous Lawrence of Arabia. That is, in fact, how the album begins, with the Qawwali vocals in a quiet, but unmistakable battle with Horner's trademark brass. These instrumental entanglements continue in "To Abou Clea," and the enchanting "Ghost of Serenity" offers the ethnic elements almost alone. The explosive "Harry's Resignation" continues Horner's use of the snare drum in the same general rhythmic structures as heard in Glory, representing the British forces and their sense of honor. The snare contributes throughout the score as the symbol of both the methodical British advance and their bloated pride. Horner's integrated set of themes and strong bass string presence create accessible and often exciting action material, too. Three strong action cues, with the fury of a full orchestra, electronics, vocals, and a heightened percussion section, occupy the best moments of the score, with "Escape" providing some magnificent brass work (even if it does, at its climax, resemble Horner's The Mask of Zorro). The lengthy "The Mahdi" also utilizes some of the best Middle Eastern and Western battling heard within the same musical performing group in a long while. Even if you can't handle the exotic and often wild pace of Horner's score for The Four Feathers, you can't help but be fascinated by its compelling and sometimes tragic conflicts between musical genres within the same cues. In various sequences, The Four Feathers can be heard as a powerful combination of Willow and Black Hawk Down, not as flowingly romantic as the former and not as overbearingly exotic and distancing as the latter. Horner also inserts a few important piano performances into cues of contrasting sentiment, including "The Dance," "The Letters," and "Ethne's Feather." The last of these offers the primary love theme for the film in a performance by flute to a result much like the dreamy portions of Casper. That theme defines the score in its final cue. A powerhouse of 14 minutes in length, "A Coward No Longer" finishes the score with extended and fully orchestral performances of that romantic theme. Also important to note is the final confluence of the Qawwali vocals and the orchestra in that last track. Before the momentous, closing performance of the love theme, Horner combines the orchestra with Khan's voice into a perfectly lyrical accompaniment of each other, leaving the listener with a satisfying resolution (of sorts) to the musical battle that had progressed throughout the film. On album, the sound quality of the London recording is superb. In fact, it puts Windtalkers to shame, especially when Horner utilizes his echoing electronic accompaniment in the softer tracks. Overall, The Four Feathers is Horner's most successful blend of ethnicity and orchestra in many years, and it plays with more than enough Western accessibility to satisfy casual listeners. Although it may be difficult to appreciate during the moments of Khan's solo Qawwali performances, Horner's balance of genres is still on target and more than just interesting on album. **** Track Listings:
Total Time: 79:18
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