Filmtracks Recommends:
Buy it... for the score only if you enjoyed the sentimentality of the piano and string work beyond the 1940's songs in the film. Avoid it... if 1940's era jazz isn't compatible with your sense of quiet, orchestral romanticism. Filmtracks Editorial Review:
The Notebook: (Aaron Zigman) An arthouse film from New Line Cinema that has taken everyone by surprise with its sustained box office success throughout the summer of 2004, The Notebook is a tender love story spanning the generations since World War II. It features James Garner as a man who reads his own stories of romance to a similarly aged woman at a nursing home, with the film transitioning between the present moment of storytelling and the 1940's era of youth and romance. Inevitable from the first moments of the film, it turns out that the Garner's character and the elderly woman at the modern-day nursing home are by coincidence the same two lovers from the heart of the 1940's story. Their first encounter was separated by World War II, but they passionately reunited seven years later despite realizing that their lives had taken substantially different paths. Their meeting at the nursing home now allows them to relive and tie up the loose ends of their youth. The wide release of the film was met by critics who were somewhat weary of the syrupy nature of the story, but $80 million in box office earnings later, the film has survived because of the large population of die-hard romantics that have embraced the film with great affection. The project was directed by actor-turned director Nick Cassavetes, whose only notable (and recent) film was 2002's John Q, and his mother, Gena Rowlands, portrays the elderly lady at the nursing home. Cassavetes once again hired composer Aaron Zigman, with whom he had worked on John Q, to write the score for The Notebook. Zigman is relatively unknown as a solo composer, but has been active as an arranger and producer for both the pop and film score genres. His influence has likely been heard the most by score collectors in such Disney scores as Pocahontas and Mulan. In the greater scheme of things, Zigman has earned a better living by his involvement on recordings by Phil Collins, Tina Turner, Seal, and half a dozen other top-of-the-line artists. In the orchestral arena, Zigman has composed multiple concerts performed in the Los Angeles area, often resting along more soft and romantic lines of writing. That style of work would prove to be good practice for The Notebook, which relies on passionate sentimentalism for much of its length. A piano-dominated score, Zigman's work functions as mostly a table-setter for the flashbacks in the film, drawing upon a wealth of beauty and sadness for the scenes with the elderly couple. With only one substantial theme for the film, Zigman's score both wins and loses points for its consistency. What the film gains in that consistency through the use of the same piano and string themes to eventually draw the younger and older couple together is also somewhat of a detriment on album. An additional aspect of the album not to be overlooked is the faithful inclusion of the period songs used in the film. Several well known 1940's era jazz pieces from Billie Holiday, Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman, Glenn Miller, and Jimmy Durante highlight the frivolous actions of the younger couple in the flashbacks, and they instill the sense of excitement that the score fails to achieve. This is certainly no negative comment on Zigman's work, since the intent of his piano and string score was to accentuate the passion and remembrance rather than stir us with his own 1940's adaptations. A lovely score by all means, the Zigman portions of music do suffer from their lack of development beyond the same set of performances of the title theme that rotate in subtle fashion between sections of the orchestra. Only the "House Blues" cue offers original score material outside the very comfortable realm of Zigman's soft sentimentality, and serves as a welcome burst of pizzazz in the middle of the album. That album does represent the film quite well, although the score is understandably shuffled into the right places in between the period songs. Because of the alternation between song and score, Zigman's work can potentially become lost in the sounds of the songs, but the score cues are fortunately long enough in each case to reestablish the mood. Overall, the Zigman score is both pleasant and nostalgic, but the jazz songs really do steal the show with their vibrance and diversity. *** Track Listings:
Total Time: 66:54
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