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Original Review, by Christian Lauliac
Starring Samuel L. Jackson, the movie depicts a violin's journey through several centuries, an instrument mysteriously haunted by the soul of its maker's deceased wife. The plot begins in 17th century Cremona, ending in 20th century Montreal. It is a strange and very exciting premise, grandly supported by John Corigliano's haunting, complex, lyrical and innovative score. I have not yet seen the movie, but I suppose this is one of those film scores that play a key role during the movie. Although nowadays too many film scores are generic and unimaginative wall to wall accompaniement, John Corigliano's scoring is refreshing: individual, accessible and particularly striking. Fans of Elliot Goldenthal's gothic approach will undoubtedly enjoy this CD, because Corigliano has played a major influence on Goldenthal's musical development. In a nutshell, if you love those brooding, lyrical and darkly romantic soundscapes, then The Red Violin soundtrack will not leave your CD player. Stylistically, Corigliano goes for a strong elegiac tone. Unlike Goldenthal, the composer does not rely on brass so much, selecting instead a more transparent orchestral texture, with an emphasis on strings. "Anna's theme" opens the CD with a plaintive theme sung by soprano, soon joined by Joshua Bell's solo violin. as unisson strings enter, the piece develops seguing into the "Main Title". Its reflective mood gains in intensity and the listener is quietly drawn into a musical tapestry of infinite power and delicacy. Following the violin's journey through centuries, Anna's theme is further developped, enhanced by varied and sometimes colorful orchstrations and motives, running the gamut from pseudo-baroque writing to gypsy cadenzas, to virtuoso cues displaying the full range of Joshua Bell's playing. The music also has a very organic quality: the main material springs from the simple, seductive child-like melody heard at the start of the album. A very strong idea indeed. The CD climaxes with "The Red Violin Chaconne", a 17 minutes virtuoso concert piece created by Corigliano whilst composing the actual film score. This lyrical and savage opus remains coherent with the rest of the score and makes for a very nice conclusion. This is superb and accessible music. Yet, this is not The Piano! While both scores showcase a solo instrument performing a main character in the narrative, John Corigliano's style is not yet as popular as Michael Nyman's easy listening cum classical approach! Nevertheless, let us hope this soundtrack will shed a little more light than usual upon this most gifted musical voice. In my humble opinion, Mr. Corigliano ranks among the most important American composers of the last thirty years. The performance by the Philharmonia Orchestra under Esa-Pekka Salonen's conducting is faultless and inspired. So is the sound quality: the beautiful, sharp and spacious recording captured in Abbey Road's studio 1 is on a par with the best classical recordings. As a final note, Sony Classical's packaging and booklet are classy as usual, featuring sessions photos and informative notes by the composer and director François Girard. Here is one of the best soundtrack albums of 1999. *****
"I was delighted to accept when asked to compose the score for François Girard's fascinating new film The Red Violin; how could I turn down so interesting a journey through almost three centuries, beginning as it did in Cremona, home of history's greatest violin builders? I also welcomed the producer's offer to separately create a violin and orchestra concert piece, to be freely based on motives from the film. I'd assumed that, as usual in film, I wouldn't be required to write the score until the film was completed, except for a number of on-camera "cues," or occasions in which the film's characters themselves perform. So I then composed a singable theme, hummed by the violin master's wife Anna, which mutates into a solo violin melody. Underpinning the theme is an inexorable seven-chord chaconne, evoking the Tarot and the fate it signals; and several solo etudes, drawn from Anna's theme, for the two virtuosi of the Vienna and Oxford sequences. Then plans changed. Filming, meant to conclude early this summer, was pushed back till early fall; performances of the concert piece, though, remained set for late November. Consequently the concert piece, the Chaconne, was built just on the materials I had - a good thing, as it turns out, because I now had the freedom, as well as the need, to explore these materials to a greater extent than I might have, had I been expected to condense an hour's worth of music into a coherent single movement. Thus, in a curiously backwards way, the film's underscoring drew much of its inspiration from the concert work, played by Joshua Bell on this recording."
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