Buy it... if you have caught pieces of Rolfe Kent's music for comedies on several inadequate soundtrack albums and desire a product that finally does justice to his work.

Avoid it... if you're placing all your hopes on Sting's song for the film, because it fails to exude the same enticing, genre-bending personality of the score.

Kent

Kate & Leopold: (Rolfe Kent) After several years without audiences tasting the fruits of a fluffy Meg Ryan romantic comedy, the unlikely pairing of director James Mangold and Miramax Films brought the affable actress back into the genre that made her famous. A little science fiction comes with her co-star Hugh Jackman as well; he plays a duke in 1876 who is accidentally sent through time to 2001 New York City and, despite misunderstandings and less than perfect intentions at each corner, the two predictably fall into each others' arms. The film's generally positive reception (despite poor long term recognition) was matched for the most part by its soundtrack. Becoming a staple of the light comedy scoring genre, composer Rolfe Kent was quickly asserting his position as a reliable and frequent composer for films that existed on the edge of the mainstream, including several entries during the early 2000's that, for a short time, elevated his status. The romantic holiday season production of Kate & Leopold ranked among the most popular that Kent had been associated with to that point in his career. Despite the hopes of Miramax, the project's star power and flighty love story may not have sustained the film to the same level as Ryan's other similarly targeted offerings, but it still managed a strong enough box office showing to gain the Sting song for the film, "Until...," the recognition necessary for the awards season. The moderate success of the film, as well as Sting's contribution, also caused a much deserved album release for the score by Kent. With his film scores rarely experiencing a lengthy release, Milan Record's pressing of this score was much welcomed. Kent's work is geared perfectly towards the lighter side of comedy; his scores are often orchestral, though only moderately sized in depth. Kate & Leopold is a Seattle recording, for instance, and while the scores produced in the Northwest are often suitable for this exact kind of film, listeners have been known to complain about the lack of "oomph" that players from that region provide. Nevertheless, for Kate & Leopold, the performances never need more than the prescribed amount of power to bring life to Kent's lighter touch. The score varies from the realm of straight romantic drama in its opening theme to an obvious balance between the waltz and march-like period style of Leopold, and the modern, urban jazz of Kate. The key to the success of Kent's work for Kate & Leopold is the seamless integration of all these musical genres.

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The score opens with the wonderment of modern New York and a chase scene, both of which allow the full orchestra to flex its muscles in a fast pace of action. For the character of Kate comes a more jazzy approach, with several Henry Mancini moments of light jazz employed throughout. There's an almost Thomas Newman-like plucking of strings to Kate's theme as well, and some could argue that Kent pulls off an even better sense of urban sophistication than Newman does in his similar efforts. The somber, though appropriately capitalized saxophone performances add the expected urban drama in Kate & Leopold. The light band elements offer some of the most authentic Mancini-type comedy music to be heard in some time, achieving stylish comedy without resorting to outwardly strident Rachel Portman techniques. The march-like prancing of Leopold's cues are the weakest aspect of the score, but they add just barely enough pomp to his setting to make him believable. Some of the elevated, grandiose moments, pronounced best in the brass theme heard in "Leopold Sees the Completed Bridge" and "Galloping," take a few bars of bold expression from David Arnold's title theme for Independence Day, though not to any disheartening extent. On album, the score is a very easy listening experience, which speaks to great lengths about Kent's ability to merge all of these genres of music into one cohesive whole. No one track distracts the listener from the consistently orchestral tone and pleasing harmonies of the entire product. The Sting song was the selling point of the album for Milan Records, with the film's only awards nominations coming for that song. Fitting with the longing romance of the film, "Until..." is more solitary and melodic than many of Sting's other compositions and performances. The irony of Kate & Leopold is that the Jula Bell performance of Kent's title theme in a jazzy song format at the end of the album matches the spirit of the score better than the Sting song does. Kent's compositional and lyrical transference from score to song is strong, with "Back Where I Belong" remaining a more consistent representation of the score (and indeed the whole of New York). Although Kate & Leopold may be a project of limited scope, and the orchestral performances may lack the power necessary to make the larger period cues really fly, the ensemble nails the jazzy, modern cues with ease. At forty minutes, the well-paced album will delight dedicated film score fans who have caught a glimpse of Kent's work here and there on inadequate or non-existent albums for other soundtracks. ****   Amazon.com Price Hunt: CD or Download