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Composed and Produced by:
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Jeff Danna
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Conducted by:
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Gianandrea Gavazzeni
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Orchestrated by:
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Andrew Lockington
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Release Date:
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August 28th, 2001
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Audio Clips:
2. Hawk (0:29), 146K o2.ra
5. Spinning a Web (0:31), 155K o5.ra
8. A Devilish Plan (0:30), 151K o8.ra
13. Sleep (0:30), 150K o13.ra
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Availability:
Regular U.S. release.
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Filmtracks Recommends:
Buy it... if you wish to hear a subdued orchestral underscore that
sounds surprisingly similar to Mychael Danna's work.
Avoid it... if you prefer your "Othello" tragedies to rumble with
melodramatic power and dance with emotional energy.
Filmtracks Editorial Review:
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"O": (Jeff Danna) Perhaps an ill-fated endeavor, Tim
Blake Nelson's directorial experiment with this modern adaptation of William
Shakespeare's "Othello" is better known for its relationship with a more
tragic real-life event rather than its own tragic storyline. Nelson (who
most people will recognize as the idiotic Delmar character in O Brother,
Where Art Thou?) recreated the tragic Shakespearian play in a modern,
private high school drama, with the black title character existing as a
basketball star who falls in love with the "whitest" girl in the school (the
pseudo Desdemona) and draws the jealousy of the basketball coach's son (the
pseudo Iago). That alone leads us down a predictable path of
self-destruction and, for those who are ignorant of the Shakespeare story, a
disastrously disappointing ending. The problem with the picture was that the
Othello character executes his vengeance by committing an act of mass school
violence devised by the Iago equivalent. With the film's production finished
in 1998, the real-life Columbine High School massacre in Colorado was fresh
in everyone's minds, and the studio held the film for several years to
compensate. The musical approach for the project was one that Nelson wanted
to bridge the gap between the classical era and modern hip hop and rap. In
the film, the latter representations ended up with most of the attention
(leading to more questions about black culture music inspiring violence).
For the orchestral side, Nelson chose Jeff Danna, brother of Mychael Danna,
because he "simply liked him." Jeff Danna had worked mostly on television
scores, including a fair share of Kung Fu endeavors, and "O" stands
as perhaps his best known work to date. While without the impressive resume
of his brother Mychael, Jeff possesses the same classically orchestral
connection, and it is this which Nelson wished to hear in the dramatic and
subdued moments of his film.
Modern orchestral Shakespearian music has best been
associated with the lyrical and thematic efforts of Patrick Doyle, though
the most recent adaptation of Othello had been the film by the same
name a few years earlier, for which Charlie Mole had provided a cold, but
powerful score. For "O", Nelson specifically wanted a lush,
orchestral sound, and to this end, Danna utilized a full ensemble with
instruments such as the hurdy-gurdy, the vielle, and the viola da gamba to
provide the appropriate atmosphere. The end product is a string-dominated
score that is, however, mostly that atmosphere, with little to inspire
beyond that base instrumentation. Danna's result is ethereal in parts, but
dragging in others, with a consistent, if not dull underscore that meanders
in between the film's use of other genres of music. It makes for easy
listening, but hardly portrays the lust, the jealousy, the betrayal, and the
other lofty emotions that saturate the story and its characters. There is no
intensity in Danna's work for "O", and thematic development is held
at a minimum. The adaptation as a whole begs for a musical personality for
each character, and instead, Danna has offered a basic mood that should
accompany the film in its entirety. It is effective in that purpose, but
could have been so much more. The solo instruments, without solo
performances of theme that break the bounds of the underscore, get lost in
the equation, and are difficult to recall by the end of the score. On the
score album, this lack of direction becomes very obvious, though if you take
out the expectations of the Shakespearean drama, the score is a pleasant
listening experience. The album begins with the most striking music of all,
the "Ave Maria" opera piece that sets a different tone than Danna would
provide. Overall, "O" is a disappointing score if you stop to
consider all of the overt passion and expression of emotions that takes
place in any adaptation of "Othello." Otherwise, it's a mellow and
consistent orchestral underscore. **
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Viewer Ratings and Comments:
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• 1. Ave Maria - written by Giuseppe Verdi, performed by Renata Scotto (3:55)
• 2. Hawk (4:56)
• 3. Victory and Defeat (1:21)
• 4. The Scarf (1:34)
• 5. Spinning a Web (2:46)
• 6. Confrontation (1:02)
• 7. Odin's Vigil (2:25)
• 8. A Devilish Plan (3:09)
• 9. Hawks vs. Bulldogs (3:44)
• 10. Murderous Intentions (1:48)
• 11. Odin's Rage (2:08)
• 12. Highwaymen (3:05)
• 13. Sleep (4:53)
• 14. My Life is Over (1:59)
• 15. To Take Flight (3:59)
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The insert includes a short note from the director (Nelson) regarding the score and film.
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