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Composed, Conducted, and Produced by:
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Conrad Pope
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Release Date:
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May 1st, 2001
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Availability:
Regular U.S. release.
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Filmtracks Editorial Review:
Pavilion of Women: (Conrad Pope) Known by almost every composer as one of
the top notch orchestrators of film music, Conrad Pope has now finally ventured
into his first original score with enough attantion warranted to produce an
album for the diverse artist. Pope's orchestration credits can be found on the
scores of John Williams, James Horner, and Alan Silvestri as recently as this
year, and his knack for precise balance of instrumentation is perhaps what
caught the eye of the producers of Pavilion of Women. The film is a World
War II account of the budding romance between a Chinese woman and Western man
set against the horrors of the Japanese invasion and occupation of mainland
China. For the project, therefore, a composer with talents accentuating the
mixture of Western and Eastern instrumentation was required, and Pope received
the call. While dominantly Eastern scores have become more and more popular over
the past five to ten years, culminating in the Academy Award win for
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, that particular sound is still not the
ideal choice for many filmmakers (or, for that matter, the ears of Western
audiences). An approach similar to that of George Fenton's in his fantastic
Anna and the King score was sought, and Pope delivered with flying colors.
As with the introduction of any new composer's work, the listener attempts to
identify the stylistic choices and traits of the composer himself. In this case,
Pope can be most easily identified with John Williams and Basil Poledouris, both
of whom use primary and secondary strings in similar fashions as Pope now does,
yielding a rich depth to the sound of the music. Pavilion of Women is a
score, without a doubt, led through every cue by the strong presence strings. An
even greater attribute of Pope's talents is exhibited by the masterful
integration of the Eastern instrumental soloists and the 85-piece orchestra. The
erhu, the cross between violin and voice that is the instrument of choice for
representation of Chinese traditions and locale in film, is melded with the
orchestra here better than in 95% of other scores in this genre. The zheng harp
is a tad more obscure in its use, however it holds the fourth cue on the album
with ease. Pope also takes a stylistic page from John Williams' Empire of the
Sun in his use of the children's choir and adult chorus that are sprinkled
throughout the score (in addition to a song taken from Madame Butterfly
for the album). Very much like Fenton's Anna and the King, Pavilion of Women is
extremely thematic, almost never resting from the statement of at least a
secondary motif, and the theme for the female lead is that which shines as the
highlight of the score. With the string use so heavy in parts, the score
transforms into statements of adagios in the pivotal tracks near the end of the
film and album.
With crisp performances and a diverse composition, Pavilion of Women is a
very impressive debut on album for Conrad Pope. The sole weakness of the score
is, ironically, the over-exertion of the melodramatic elements of the music.
Aside from two or three tracks on the album (portraying rape, fire, or
invasion), the score has no technical weakness. Pope explains that the score was
requested to be melodramatic, but in many places, he pushes the theme and
particularly the strings too far without allowing the score to stop for a moment
to breath. Moments in the score like track eight, for the birthday party, show a
character that the score could have used much more of. After 45 minutes of the
score, as enjoyable as they may be, Pavilion of Women begins to weight so
heavily on the listener with its grand expression of theme and suffering that it
begins to lose some of the elegant style with which it began the album so well.
The height of the strings and operatic voices may not wear on some listeners as
much as for others. For some, the "over the top" drama, which is at a level not
heard in a film score for years, is a tempting delight. For others, it might be
a burden too heavy to carry. In any case, though, Pope has creative a
magnificent body of music for this film, and has more than proven his ability to
compose for major feature films. The effective integration of Eastern and
Western instrumentation in Pavilion of Women is enough by itself to
highly recommend this album. ****
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Viewer Ratings and Comments:
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• 1. Pavilion of Women (2:40)
• 2. The Necklace (1:49)
• 3. The Library (2:10)
• 4. Eternal Question (0:48)
• 5. The Rape (3:12)
• 6. Faith (2:46)
• 7. Madame Wu's Decision (2:41)
• 8. The Birthday Party (1:14)
• 9. Eclipse (1:49)
• 10. The Fire (2:05)
• 11. All Love Stories (1:46)
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• 12. Secrets and Wages of Sin (3:04)
• 13. Un Bel Di, Vedremo (from Madame Butterfly) (4:20)
• 14. Ailien and Andre Part (2:29)
• 15. Chiu Ming's Farewell (1:30)
• 16. The Embrace (3:34)
• 17. Invasion (3:52)
• 18. Andre's Sacrifice (1:58)
• 19. Aftermath (1:21)
• 20. Ghost House (1:15)
• 21. Together Forever (2:51)
• 22. End Credits (3:42)
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Insert includes a note about the music by Conrad Pope.
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