 |
|
|
|
|
 |
Composed and Produced by:
|
Rolfe Kent
|
Conducted by:
|
William Stromberg
|
Orchestrated by:
|
Tony Blondal
|
|
|
|
|
Release Date:
|
February 26, 2002
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Availability:
Regular U.S. release.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
Filmtracks Editorial Review:
 |
| | Kent | |
|
Kate & Leopold: (Rolfe Kent) Becoming a staple of the light comedy
scoring genre, Rolfe Kent is quickly asserting his position as a reliable and
frequent composer for films that lie on the edge of the mainstream, including
several entries during this past year alone. The romantic, 2001 holiday season
film Kate & Leopold ranked among the most popular that Kent has been
associated with thus far. Despite the hopes of Miramax, the star power and
flighty love story didn't sustain the film to the same level as Meg Ryan's other
similarly targeted films. But the project still managed a strong enough box
office 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
Rolfe Kent. With his film scores rarely experiencing a lengthy release, Milan
Record's release of this Kent score is much welcomed.
Kent's work is geared perfectly towards the lighter side of comedy. His scores
are often orchestral, though moderate in size. 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, fans 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 fill out Kent's lighter touch. The score varies from straight
romantic drama in its opening theme to an obvious balance between the
waltz/march-like period of Leopold and the modern, urban jazz of Kate. The
mastery of Kent's work for Kate & Leopold is the seamless integration of
all the musical genres. The score opens with the wonderment of modern New York
and a chase scene, both of which allow the orchestra to flex its muscles with a
full and fast pace of action. For the character of Kate comes a more jazzy
approach, with several Mancini moments of light band work throughout. There's an
almost Thomas Newman-like plucking of strings to Kate's theme, and some could
argue that Kent pulls off an even better 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 offers some of the best Mancini-type comedy cues in this score than in
countless that have come before it. The march-like plancing of the Leopold
character's cues are the weakest of the score, but add just barely enough pomp
to his setting to make him more believable there. Some of the more grandiose
moments, pronounced best in the "Galloping" cue, take a few bars of bold
expression from David Arnold's Independence Day title theme, though not
to any disheartening extent.
On album, the score is a very easy listen, which speaks to great detail about
Kent's ability to merge all of the genres of music into one cohesive whole. No
one track pulls the listener away from the consistently orchestral and pleasing
harmonies of the score as a whole. The Sting song is the selling point of the
album for Milan Records, with the film's only awards nominations being for that
song. The song, "Until...," fits with the longing romance of the film, and is
more solitary and melodic than many of Sting's compositions and performances.
But perhaps the travesty of Kate & Leopold is that the Jula Bell
performance of the title theme in a jazzy song format at the end of the album is
better than the Sting song. Kent's composition and lyrical transferral 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-- than Sting's
song. The Bell/Kent song adds a fantastic ending to an already-listenable album.
In whole, Kate & Leopold may be a small project, and the orchestral
performances may lack the power necessary to make the larger period cues really
fly, but they nail the jazzy and modern cues with ease. At fourty minutes, the
album stands very well alone and will be a great delight to those hardcore film
score fans who have caught a glimpse of Kent's work here and there in inadequate
or non-existent albums past. ****
 |
|
Viewer Ratings and Comments:
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
• 1. Until... - Sting (3:12)
• 2. A Clock in New York (1:25)
• 3. I Want Him Resplendent (1:26)
• 4. Leopold Chases Stuart to Brooklyn (1:54)
• 5. That Was Your Best? (1:17)
• 6. Let's Go! (3:13)
• 7. Leopold Sees the Completed Bridge (0:48)
• 8. You Did So Great (Kate's Theme) (1:18)
• 9. Galloping (1:21)
• 10. Dearest Kate... (2:13)
| |
• 11. Prolixin/Leopold & Charlie Buy Flowers (2:20)
• 12. Charlie Wins Patrice, Leopold Wins Kate (3:41)
• 13. Secret Drawer (2:01)
• 14. Time for Bed (2:14)
• 15. Charlie Realizes Leopold Was for Real (1:30)
• 16. Kate Goes to the Awards (2:24)
• 17. Kate Sees the Pictures - "I Have to Go" (2:54)
• 18. You Have to Cross the Girder (1:51)
• 19. Back in 1876 - Waltz (2:12)
• 20. Back Where I Belong - Jula Bell (2:48)
|
Insert includes no extra information about the score or film.
|
