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Filmtracks Recommends:
Buy it... if you love the great adventure scores of John Williams and David Arnold in the 1980's and 1990's and seek an intelligent, challenging extension of that sound for a large-scale Danish fantasy production. Avoid it... if fantasy/horror scores featuring unrelentingly powerful and monumental orchestral and choral performances are simply too overwhelming for your tastes. Filmtracks Editorial Review:
For film score collectors, a group consisting predominantly of males with musical tastes outside of mainstream, it would be easy to imagine widespread surprise that a score of this magnificent scope of fantasy and horror could come from a woman with such a striking appearance as Cornish, though with the work of fellow female British composers Debbie Wiseman and, to a lesser extent, Rachel Portman, in the genre, such surprises are becoming fewer. Scores like Island of Lost Souls and Wiseman's Arsène Lupin are entertaining both because of their outstanding technical merits and because, frankly, the perception of the film scoring community as a male-only club needs to be put to rest. Portman may not have done her gender many favors in these regards with her fluffy romantic writing for her most famous works, but the next wave of composers following her is proving their talents in far more diverse genres. All gender discussion aside, though, Island of Lost Souls is a remarkable score no matter its creator, and with the work receiving a commercial release from Milan's European branch, perhaps Cornish will receive the attention merited to her for both this and Five Children and It. Like that previous effort, Island of Lost Souls was inspired in part by John Williams. As the director stated in early 2007, "She really hit the right note in Island of Lost Souls. That's an enormous boon to the film. It's practically Wagnerian. The film has 70 minutes of symphonic, bombastic music." Many reviewers of the film seem to have made the Williams comparisons, too, though the styles that Cornish draws from also define the careers of other major composers working today. While there are intangible connections to the structures of Williams' scores for the two original Star Wars sequels, there are also similarities in thematic progression and orchestration to the works of David Arnold, John Ottman, and Elliot Goldenthal. Unlike some contemporary film scores, during which the connections to previous works by others can become tiresome, such similarities in Island of Lost Souls are purely positive. Cornish's composition is a challenging and intelligent extension of the genre during each of its cues. The bold title theme for Island of Lost Souls may be both rather simplistic in structure and reminiscent of other blockbuster works, but the style with which it is rendered to page and performed by the enthusiastic Danish ensemble gives it, and Cornish by association, a sound all its own. It's the kind of gritty, brassy theme that is memorable enough to support a franchise; its progressions remind strongly of Ottman's title theme for his Fantastic Four scores, but the performance of the material for Island of Lost Souls is executed with such bravado that it approaches the territory of David Arnold's early blockbusters. The use of the full sonic spectrum is the closest resemblance to Arnold's frenetic action writing, with Island of Lost Souls constantly stretching the limits of the bass and treble with deep, resonating strings and brass at the bottom while wildly flourishing woodwind lines occupy the opposite end. The complexity of the balance between harmony and dissonant textures is a reminder of Goldenthal's more impressive works. The use of the choir is unique to this score, however, ranging from religiously terrifying, throaty male performances and alluring, other-worldly performances by a meandering female voice (as heard best in "The Cave"). The full ensemble choral accompaniment to several of the ambitious action bursts is not to be missed. A secondary character theme is introduced for solo woodwind in "Death of Linea" and touch upon again in "Lulu's Theme" and in fragments thereafter. During these slower portions of the score, which are quite few on album, the intelligent roles of the harp and other more delicate instruments are exposed. Most of the score is reserved for the massive action cues, with "Final Battle" and "Soul Bridge" serving as an outstanding survey of the score. The opening fanfare in "Island of Lost Souls" is one of the most robust introductions to a theme in quite some time, and the "End Titles" are a very satisfying summary of all the ideas. The Milan album features only about half of the score, preceded by an odd assortment of pop songs that score fans will want to skip over. But the 40 minutes of extremely well recorded orchestral material, with a sound quality as clearly resonating as any in recent years, will impress any fan who shares the love of 80's fantasy scores that Cornish has emulated with great success. *****
The insert is in English, but includes no extra information about the score or film. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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