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Merlin: (Trevor Jones) Nobody can dispute that
Trevor Jones was the master of epic television scores in the late
1990's. Between
Gulliver's Travels,
Loch Ness,
Merlin, and
Cleopatra, among others, Jones not only gained
recognition from the Emmy's, but also from fans itching to hear more of
the unashamedly bold sound from his blockbuster films earlier in the
decade. One Emmy-nominated entry in the series was Steve Barron's
Merlin, an NBC network extravaganza from producer Robert Halmi,
with whom Jones had collaborated on
Gulliver's Travels. The film
was received well at the time, with a remarkable cast led by Sam Neill
and Helena Bonham Carter. Its subject, not surprisingly, is a life story
devoted to the wizard Merlin, his love life, and his dealings with the
other parts of Arthurian legend. Films like
Merlin are reminders
of the major networks' last glory days, before similarly rendered
projects would move to any of the plethora of cable-related
alternatives, and there was something intangible about the bloated size
of these productions that often carried over to their often magnificent
scores. The networks were rarely satisfied with budget scores, allowing
for big Hollywood names to write extremely long scores for significant
ensembles. In the case of
Merlin, the lengthy Jones effort would
be performed by his preferred group: The London Symphony Orchestra.
Almost immediately, Varèse Sarabande released a full-length album
of Jones' work for
Merlin, and the score, while not Jones' best,
remains a solid listening experience from start to finish. That album
doesn't contain, fortunately or unfortunately, the music that NBC used
to promote the film and transition to commercial breaks throughout it;
the
Titanic-imitation music, which was, of course, all the rage
in early 1998, remains a cheap alternative to Jones' far more
sophisticated score for the actual production. You'd be surprised,
though, how many people bought the album at the time with the thought of
the James Horner-like new age style in their minds.
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As to be expected, Jones does not disappoint when it
comes to the concept of epic themes. His primary identity for
Merlin is a sweeping string and brass theme much like many of his
others, though a little more laden with a historical sense of romance
instead of remaining pure in brass boldness. The satisfaction with which
he states the themes, perhaps oversimplified in parts, is a maturation
from the larger styles that carry over from
Excalibur and
The
Dark Crystal (two of Jones' defining and relevant early works). The
influence of those earlier scores, however, is better heard in the
softer, slightly more folksy moments of
Merlin, devoted in
extended sequences to murky harp, string, and unintrusive synthesizer
performances. The title theme isn't as integrated into the score as well
as it could be, presenting the work's primary weakness, though Jones
does indulge listeners with five or six grand, if not nearly identical
full performances of the theme throughout the film and album. In between
these statements, the score alternates between Jones' stock horror and
action styles of that year and soft meanderings of harmonic movements
that never strain much to maintain your interest. In the latter side of
those two sounds, Jones' secondary themes for
Merlin thrive. None
receive the glorious treatment of the title theme, unfortunately,
though, causing much of the score to pass very pleasantly without
leaving a striking impression. Fans of Jones'
Dark City from just
a couple of months earlier in 1998 will either be startled or enthused
by the remarkable repetition of style and structure from that cult
score. In both the opening minutes of "The Dragon's Lair" and halfway
through "The Walls are Whispering," Jones reprises the frantic,
massively layered action music from
Dark City, going so far as to
completely restate the "strangers" theme from that film for the purposes
of the dragon in
Merlin. The snare-ripping and rhythmic blasts of
trumpets would also carry into "Griffins" and "Mab's Demise," offering
another snippet of what many consider to be among Jones' most compelling
action music of his career. Overall, these borrowings occupy only a
minimal amount of playtime, however, and Jones' effort for
Merlin
ranks among his best for the genre.
**** Amazon.com Price Hunt: CD or Download
| Bias Check: | For Trevor Jones reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating
is 3.78 (in 18 reviews)
and the average viewer rating is 3.5
(in 24,201 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.
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The insert contains a note by the film's executive producer about the score.
