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Filmtracks Editorial Review:
Or can he? There is no doubt that David Arnold has summed up a mass of sound for this score that still exceeds that which most any other composer can create these days. But even with the overworked orchestra and grand themes, The Musketeer stumbles in a few regards. While maintaining the sophisticated complexity of Arnold's other large orchestral works, including some nearly impossible performances by the brass section, his music for The Musketeer lacks that elegant and refreshing edge that made his previous, similar scores so popular. It suffers from much of the same "bombast without direction" that Godzilla experienced. Arnold's talents for sweeping themes was perhaps best heard in Tomorrow Never Dies, for which Arnold nearly emulated John Barry's heavy handed approach to string themes. Another of Arnold's talents is his ability to constantly quote his themes in nearly every cue for the film, even if those references are only a matter of two or three seconds long and performed by an auxiliary section of the orchestra. In the opening cues of The Musketeer, Arnold introduces a simple, but enjoyable swashbuckling theme with the full power of the orchestra. In the rest of the score, while quotations of that theme do appear occasionally, it is mainly lost in the ruckus. This could be either because Arnold chose not to restate (or throttle, depending on your point of view) the theme as much as he had before, or it could be because theme is not as strong to begin with. The powerful opening and closing statements of the theme could make one believe that the theme is fine, but Arnold simply chose not to everextend it as has done in the past. Another reason for the theme to perhaps become lost is because of The Musketeer's nearly unyielding volume. There is a lot of action music in this film, with very few breaks for those "character development scenes." Thus, another one of Arnold's strengths --the composition of stunning secondary romance themes-- is overwhelmed. There are fifteen or so minutes of romantic underscore for The Musketeer, such as the obvious second track on the album, but Arnold allows these opportunities to slip away into the obscurity of bland underscore. With the volume and heroicism of the action scenes so great, this lack of inspiration in the softer moments came as a great surprise, and also hurts the chances of the title theme. Another important aspect of The Musketeer for evaluation is its consistency, which can be either a positive or a negative. The score's personality never shifts on album, with all 50 minutes of music offering no French influence, no choral interlude, and, at a basic level, no interesting instrumentation whatsoever. The lack of diverse instrumentation causes this score to march by without much to stop and grab the attention of the listener. An example of a swashbuckling score that better accomplished that diverse task was James Horner's The Mask of Zorro. I'm surprised that Arnold didn't incorporate more of the traditional, classical guitar work, or perhaps some unique percussive use, in order to distinguish this score. That decision may, however, have been made for Arnold by the producers or director of the film. On the other hand, let us not forget that The Musketeer has one very powerful element working for it: That big sound. It's great to hear Arnold's trademark orchestral style blasting from speaker to speaker, making the listener hope that the brass section of musicians were compensated well for their blistered lips. In the film, this is undoubtedly a riot to hear, as any Arnold score of this magnitude would be. On album, though, there is one more problem. One of the factors causing the score to lack bite is the mixing and presentation of the music on CD. For some reason, this score sounds muted more than any other Arnold piece to date, with dampening that drowns out most of the vibrant personality of the recording. Instead of sounding as though you are standing in the recording studio while the music is being recorded, it sounds as though you are standing halfway out the door. The lack of crisp sound may be the reason for the score's rather bland attitude on CD, and perhaps the fans will be interested in re-adding some reverberation to their copies for their own enjoyment. Along with the dampened sound, there are a few pronounced mistakes by the performers, too flagrant for the editing process to correct in the mastering of the score, and this can sometimes distract you if you're paying close attention to the recording. Nevertheless, there aren't many film score collectors who can argue with the fun that a large scale David Arnold score can create, and The Musketeer could still be a great listen while you are exercising or (God forbid!) vacuuming your dwelling. If you want to pay close attention to the recording, however, you may not be as happy with this score as you were with Arnold's earlier classics. ***
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