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Filmtracks Editorial Review:
While starting slowly, Message in a Bottle is ultimately rewarding. The first five tracks feature pleasant, non-confrontational cues that introduce the soft orchestra and intimate guitar and piano solos. Alone, these tracks can slip by unnoticed, as they did when I first listened to the album. But in track six, the chorus swells for the first time, giving the sea-faring score the mystical and romantic touch it had been hinting at previously. The chorus, as well as the single female vocals throughout, plays an important role in this score. The orchestra is not compromised by the chorus, or vice versa; they meld together seamlessly on almost every track thereafter. Track eight combines the heavy bass strings from The English Patient with this newly added chorus for the first massive statement of the main theme for Message in a Bottle. This moment, as well as the reprise or two that follow, are pure magic. For a score dealing with romantic fate and an ocean, I can think of no better music. Track ten introduces yet another huge orchestral and choral theme, this time emphasizing higher strings. The chorus consists of all ranges of voice, male and female. The guitar in track eleven is a break from the flow, but a welcome addition to the score; it's a more enthusiastic and optimistic track. The smaller guitar performances fit more smoothly into the album than Yared's rather slow piano solo in track nine. The remainder of the album is consistently dramatic, and is generally dominated by Yared's worldly strings. In many ways, they act the same as they did in The English Patient, yet here they sound more powerful and mysterious. Tracks fourteen and seventeen both restate the main choral theme, and the finale alternates nicely between choral and non-choral accompaniment, with the two parts often connected by singular vocals (it's a nice mix). The end of track fourteen features a sequences not much different than those in the finale of Alan Silvestri's The Abyss. On the whole, this album was a delightful surprise. It has been catapulted up my pile of 1999 CDs to the very top section of "most listenable" scores. As a listening experience, it takes a while to charge up the dramatic energy that it unleashes in the second half, but be patient with it. It'll likely surprise you, too... If not on the first listen, then most likely the second or third. Message in a Bottle has given me a whole new perspective on Yared's career, and makes me look forward to his future scoring assignments for heavily dramatic films. ****
A quick note on Gabriel Yared (many people may not be familiar with him): Composer Gabriel Yared was born in Lebanon in 1949. A self-taught musician, he abandoned law studies in 1971 and moved to Brazil, where he worked with the late singer Elis Regina and the singer/composer Ivan Lins. The following year, Yared settled in Paris where he is still based and audited composition courses given by Henri Dutilleux at the Ecole Normale de Musique. In 1973, he began a career as composer/orchestrator for many prominent singers, among them Johnny Hallyday, Charles Aznavour, Gilbert Bécaud, Mireille Mathieu, Sylvie Vartan, Tania Maria, and Françoise Hardy. Since completing his first film score in 1980 (Jean-Luc Godard's Sauve Qui Peut La Vie), he has produced a steady stream of soundtracks, several of which have earned film industry awards. At the same time, Yared has composed ballet scores (for Carolyn Carlson and Roland Petit, among others) as well as numerous advertising jingles and radio/TV themes (including France Inter, TF1, and Euronews). Presently, he is at work on creating a research and broadcast center (called Pleiade) for folk music, a project that has long been close to his heart. Of his work on The English Patient, Yared has observed: "Anthony Minghella, whose musical knowledge is refined and wide-ranging, gave me a task that would be enormously difficult for any composer: to attempt to equal or at least replace the great Bach of the Aria from the Goldberg Variations. But Anthony's requirements and his confidence in me got the better of my modesty. For the other themes, likewise, he knew when I needed complete autonomy." Yared won the 1996 Academy Award for "Best Original Score" for The English Patient "What I would wish for the future of cinema is that all directors--present-day and to come--might be as enlightened, demanding, and sensitive as Anthony." | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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