 |
|
| Poledouris |
|
|
Lonesome Dove: (Basil Poledouris) By the late
1980's, the viability of original western films on network television
was questionable, though it only took one mini-series to mark a sudden
and complete change in the philosophy of network executives. After its
seven Emmy award wins,
Lonesome Dove sparked a flurry of massive
western originals on the networks in their last remaining years of
dominance before cable's emergence. It was the right film at the right
time for the industry, with Simon Wincer's adaptation of Larry
McMurtry's story masterful in every regard, from the leading cast to the
supporting crew. The tale is rather formulaic when compared to other
entries in the genre, with the primary two characters (played by Robert
Duvall and Tommy Lee Jones) making the dramatic and dangerous move
across the Old West to Montana in order to live a better life. The film
deals with family, friends, and adversaries as they trek, meeting
predictable obstacles and demises. But despite
Lonesome Dove's
rather straight forward story, it's proof that fine execution can take
any solid story and elevate to a screen classic. One of the more
daunting aspects of the production that Wincer faced towards the end of
shooting was figuring out how he could take a modest budget for music
and get substantial results for what would amount to an 8-hour epic
film. He decided upon approaching composer Basil Poledouris after
hearing the large scope and varied styles of
Farewell to the
King, an outstanding score released just before
Lonesome Dove
in Poledouris' career. There would be between three and four hours of
music to produce for the series, and with only a standard budget with
which to record the score, Poledouris was forced to make some choices
that have been well praised in all the years since the film's
debut.
By following the style of his traditional folk music
rather than going for the more obvious Aaron Copland-inspired Americana scope
--one that would require a much larger ensemble for lengthier
performances-- he managed to solve both problems: provide over three
hours of music largely dominated by specialty folk instruments while
also utilizing enough of the budget to hire an orchestral ensemble to
provide the large style of thematic bravado necessary to satisfy
audience expectations for the overall scheme of the music. It's not
surprising that the larger, more orchestral cues receive almost all the
praise related to the score for
Lonesome Dove, for the fiddles,
banjos, guitars, accordions, and hammered dulcimer have a much more
subtle role. Theirs was the worksman role, however, and most of the
music that you don't hear on album contains the smaller, more finely
crafted music for these instruments. Poledouris' work on
Lonesome
Dove is admirable on all levels, infusing the historically
much-discussed folk rhythms and instrumentations with orchestral
grandeur at just the right times and in the right doses. The extensive
thematic constructs are difficult to appreciate on album because so many
of the secondary character themes are left in single performances (or
fragments) when so much of the material is omitted. The title theme for
the two main characters was always given more airtime by Poledouris, and
it flourishes on album.
Lonesome Dove is about as universally
praised a score as you'll ever find, and yet, despite its clear
strengths, don't think that it's a top Poledouris effort. The methods
used to wisely employ the available money for the project forced
Poledouris' use of the folksy half of the score as a practical matter,
not solely an artistic one, and the theme does not rank among his
best.
Another aspect of
Lonesome Dove that makes it
slightly overrated is the fact that the orchestra's maximum size was
forty players, which causes the primary performances to lack the
resonance that Poledouris' classic scores typically have. It sounds
sparse in sections, especially compared to Lee Holdridge's output for
the same genre on TV at the time. And the rhythmically entertaining
ensemble performances, such as the one at the end of "The Leaving,"
would be expanded upon and given a more robust identity in
Quigley
Down Under, a connection that oddly few people have made with
Lonesome Dove. On album, the score was available via the Cabin
Fever release in 1993, and while the true nature of the album was always
in question, it did contain all the music really necessary from the
overall score. That release disappeared within a year or two, however,
and the Sonic Images made an expanded release of Poledouris' score into
one of their company's finest products in 1998. That album would only
add ten minutes to the overall running time, a curiosity given that over
two hours would still remain missing. And the new material isn't that
spectacular; the most interesting cue is the spunky honky-tonk variation
of the title theme in "Cowboys Down the Street," true evidence of
Poledouris' talents and sense of humor. In the end, though, anybody who
managed to get a hold of the Cabin Fever release will be served well
enough by that product. The sound quality is almost identical from one
to the other. The Sonic Images release should be commended, despite the
relative disappointment in the lack of additional material, for simply
making the score available on the open market. Poledouris' score is a
classic in the realm of television scores, but be wary of the orgasmic
reviews you may read about the score at other sites. It's a fine score,
but its small ensemble keeps it from being among Poledouris' best.
Amazon.com Price Hunt: CD or Download
Score as Written for Film: ****
Score on Cabin Fever CD: ***
Score on Sonic Images CD: ****
| Bias Check: | For Basil Poledouris reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating
is 3.47 (in 33 reviews)
and the average viewer rating is 3.27
(in 32,977 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.
|
