Buy it... if you seek the dark side of Philip Glass' typical string and woodwind rhythms, with menace and fright dwelling in the score's deep bass and frantic, minor key progressions.

Avoid it... if you're looking for a listening experience on album as whimsically elegant as Glass' The Illusionist from earlier in the year.

Glass

Notes on a Scandal: (Philip Glass) While Zoe Heller's original novel took a slightly different direction with its dramatic punch, the adaptation in Richard Eyre's Notes on a Scandal compensates for its lack of faith in the original story's darker resolution with astonishing acting performances. The film floats as a vehicle for actress Judi Dench, whose Fatal Attraction-like representation of Glenn Close in Notes on a Scandal is hypnotically mesmerizing. She plays an older teacher at a high school whose cold calculations and fortuitous placements allow her to blackmail a younger teach for whom she not only has lesbian affections, but who also is caught up in an affair with a 15-year-old student. There have been some shouts from dismayed viewers claiming that the film too boldly portrays the young boy as the sexual aggressor and the younger female teacher as his victim, though that hasn't slowed the film's success. Dench's depiction of her character's relentless emotional manipulation has propelled the film to arthouse notoriety and several major awards nominations. One of the more notable nominations, as well as a critically acclaimed part of the film, has been composer Philip Glass' score, which also plays an aggressive role in the picture. Given that the narrative in Notes on a Scandal works in the form of one giant cycle for Dench's character, progressing with mechanical movement through just one of its phases in this film, the idea of having Glass' typical, churning loops of strings direct the flow of that narrative is as smart as Dench's on-screen maneuverings. The thematic and rhythmic ideas in Notes on a Scandal, from a technical standpoint, aren't any more complex than the ones heard with great effectiveness in Glass' The Illusionist from earlier in the same year. To some, Notes on a Scandal will sound like a somewhat bleak extension of the score from The Illusionist; the instruments and tempos are about the same. But the attitude is far different, making Notes on a Scandal a far more powerful score despite its more difficult stature on album.

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One thing Glass doesn't try to do is fool you. His music here is menacing from the very start, opening the school year with a treacherous presence of bass strings and cellos while dainty woodwind solos over the usual Glass alternations of strings continue to pour on the ominous tones. The primary thematic ideas themselves seem destined to represent the older teacher (who narrates the film substantially in the first half... with pleasant entries at first), explaining the seemingly slight and pleasant woodwind themes while the bass region chops with mean resolution. For Cate Blanchett's weaker, more frivolous character, Glass treats her with only occasional rising violin movements, as at the start of "Sheba & Steven," offering a slight and false sense of hope in its flighty string sensibilities. There is a faint glimmer of positive spirit in "Invitation," when the film is seemingly moving along innocuously. Glass' rhythms become frenzied with fluttering activity, but even this cue is solidly rooted in the minor key. By "A Life Lived Together," a pounding piano in the low octaves confirms that Glass' rhythms have no amicable intent, and with "Betrayal" and "It's Your Choice," Glass handles the blackmail's result by forcing a clanging and banging percussion presence into his string rhythms, occasionally using the loud thuds to temporarily stop the rhythm and heighten their gravity. It's no wonder Glass' music has made such a profound impact on viewers in the theaters that his music has been nominated for an Academy Award; for a film of conversational tension, this score is brutally rendered. The deep piano rumblings in "Barbara's House," a frantic resolution cue, render an evil from the percussion section that we rarely hear from Glass, especially with this level of fright and desperation. It's difficult to describe the overall score for Notes on a Scandal as an enjoyable one on album. The same basic structures were offered with such whimsical elegance in The Illusionist that the earlier score is a far more listenable piece on album. But Notes on a Scandal is attractive in its menacing spirit, and will likely have a more profound impact on viewers in context. At 50 minutes on album, Notes on a Scandal has enough bursts of string, woodwind, and percussion rhythms to satisfy Glass' collectors while also exhibiting more of the composer's dark side for all to hear. ****   Amazon.com Price Hunt: CD or Download