 |
|
 |
|
 | |||||||||
| • | Newest Major Reviews: | . | • | This Week's Most Popular Reviews: | • | Best-Selling Albums: | ||
| . |
1. Nim's Island 2. The Life Before Her Eyes 3. Horton Hears a Who! 4. Leatherheads 5. The Spiderwick Chronicles | . | . |
1. Moulin Rouge 2. Gladiator 3. POTC: Curse of the Black Pearl 4. Star Wars: A New Hope 5. Edward Scissorhands |
6. Pearl Harbor 7. Schindler's List 8. Titanic 9. Braveheart 10. Home Alone | . | . |
1. Varèse Sarabande 25th 2. The Last of the Mohicans 3. Legends of the Fall 4. Schindler's List 5. LOTR: Return of the King (Set) |
 | ||||||||
|
|
|
Filmtracks Recommends:
Buy it... if you want to hear Elliot Goldenthal's post-modern orchestral ideas brutally expressed, uninhibited by scene changes of dialogue that you'd get with a film score. Avoid it... if Goldenthal's dissonance and atonal tendencies bother you to any minor degree in his film scores. Filmtracks Editorial Review:
The Shakespearian story of Othello is arguably one of the most intriguing tragedies in modern times, and in a three-year span alone, there would three modern musical adaptations of the Othello story. Along with Goldenthal's ballet score in 1998, a feature 1995 film scored by Charlie Mole and a delayed 1998 interpretation by Jeff Danna would draw up polarizing, dark orchestral visions of the same tale. The three scores couldn't be more different in style, but the basic emotions of revenge, lust, and deceit all remain intact. Goldenthal in particular is strongly inclined towards the unpleasant nature of brooding music, so "Othello" was a natural project for his sensibilities more than any other. The "Othello" score is receiving more attention in 2003 because of the original ballet performance's release on DVD. It's important to remember --especially for Goldenthal collectors-- that "Othello" is a ballet and not a film score. As a ballet, Goldenthal is required to provide all of the aural ambience for the production, speaking as the sole voice and serving as the rhythm for the dancing on stage. As expected, then, his music for "Othello" is painfully complex, with complicated passages at every turn. Goldenthal takes his understanding of difficult, dark emotions to the most perplexing level, allowing his dissonant, frenetic music to flow uninhibited by scene changes or dialogue. As the emotional outlet for the dancers, the music is extremely heavy handed, pounding the listener with its atonal vastness. To say that "Othello" has themes for its characters is true, but the individuality of each character is expressed more through the pace and brutality of the orchestra rather than melodic lines. In these regards, the emotions of the story are brilliantly conceived by Goldenthal. This man knows his tragedies. But at the same time, the romance, the allure, and the agony are all lost in Goldenthal's stretch for post-modern energy and creativity. The sheer mass of sound is breathtaking, but it overwhelms with a blunt edge that could easily provide a lengthy headache for a listener who isn't being soothed by the sight of the dancing. Appreciating the complexity of the piece, it's easy to understand why the concurrent score for Sphere was so underachieving. Goldenthal's ballet is written with the same classically eccentric, but brilliant fashion with which he writes his liner notes. And yet, it's not always listenable, ranging from fascinating in structure to unbearable in ear-shattering ramblings. There are glimpses of Bernard Herrmann to be heard at every corner, but Goldenthal is always attempting to take that sound a step further, sometimes succeeding brilliantly, and sometimes failing miserably. "Othello" will exist somewhere on that scale for film score listeners. To be conservative, it's an album that can only be really recommended to those who are accustomed to Goldenthal's style and can digest it in all its forms. It's brilliant, but unlistenable without the visuals in many sections. ***
Insert includes extra information each section of the ballet, as well as Goldenthal's varied career. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
