 |
|
| Newman |
|
|
Seabiscuit: (Randy Newman) Horse racing is something of an
enigma in America. While the pastoral spirit that is associated with horse racing
is embraced by many in the nation, the sport itself occupies mainstream attention
less often than many would think. The only times during which a horse or a race
streaks across the front pages of the news is when a particular horse wins two of
the three races which constitute the coveted "triple crown" and has a chance to win
the third and final race, an achievement that has seldom occurred over the past 100
years. One vintage horse who challenged a crown winner was Seabiscuit, an underdog
in the 1930's whose awkward owner, trainer, and jockey combination was overcome as
the horse beat incredible odds and captivated America. The dramatic 2003 film
representation of Seabiscuit's run for the nation's heart is saturated with
Americana spirit, offering a feel-good tale of an unlikely horse that wasn't
supposed be the champion. The equation is simple in heart and raw with emotion, and
the filmmakers continued their collaboration with iconic composer Randy Newman for
Seabiscuit after his successful, Academy Award-nominated score for another
slice of American history for their 1998 film
Pleasantville. Coming from a
family of talented, prolific composers in generations past and present, it's
interesting to note that Randy Newman was clearly being fashioned as the expert in
Americana spirit in the family at the time, despite the more bittersweet and
serious activities of his cousin Thomas. While most viewers associate his work with
fluffy Disney animation scores, as well as that lazy voice he always used for the
title songs of those animation films, Randy Newman was also well established in the
genres of historical American sports and societal dramas. Aside from the
sufficient, but not particularly memorable, nominated score for
Pleasantville, Newman was even better known in the genre for classics such
as
Ragtime and
The Natural. It is along these lines that Newman would
infuse a similar spirit into
Seabiscuit's journey to stardom. The assignment
wasn't completely fluid; due to his busy schedule, Newman couldn't arrange and
conduct the final alterations required for the production, so orchestrator William
Ross stepped in for the final sessions. You won't notice any difference between
these final recordings and those that came before, however.
The score is predictably efficient at its task, but remains
anonymous in its character. While Newman's work for this genre of films has been
both noteworthy and effective, his Americana scores have relied heavily on the
quality of the films to sustain the reciprocal popularity of the music. Apart from
the memorable theme for
The Natural, Newman typically approaches this kind
of project with less than flamboyant ideas of simple constructs and orchestral
conservatism. For
Seabiscuit, Newman constructs a pleasant, occasionally
exciting, orchestrally safe environment. Hardly original in instrumentation, Newman
restrains his orchestra in all but two or three cues of chasing and racing.
Acoustic guitars provide a basic, soothing layer of history and heartland
sentimentality to the drama. Newman's own piano performances add an additional
layer of character depth, and woodwind solos accentuate the feel of the horse
racing venues of times past. Steady, flowing string writing sustains a minimal
volume in the music for lengthy sequences of soft underscore. Eloquent, but
conservative brass contributes to the heroic aspects of the concept, bolting into
action with a full string section and guitars during victorious moments. A hint of
Hispanic influence accompanies one Latin source song featured in the film. When you
step back from this consistently pleasant listening experience, you have to wonder
if there's anything more to this predictable equation than there really is. Newman
certainly wasn't taking any instrumental or thematic chances here, keeping
everything uncomplicated and true to the expectations of the genre. Thus, the score
for
Seabiscuit, while not spectacular, works. On the other hand, the score
presents little tingling enthusiasm, rapturous engagement, or nervous energy
(outside of the brief "Call Me Red" and "Campfire" cues) that could have perhaps
better represented the ambience of heightened anticipation in professional horse
racing. Without a magnificent, lofty, or affirming theme and without a creative,
hoof-pounding method of conveying energy, Newman's work is restrained to average
levels of intensity. On album, the consistently easy score is only broken by the
one source song in the middle; Newman does not sing for this album. An awkward
background hum in the recording mix, or perhaps simply a wrong note by a woodwind
instrument, tarnishes "Idea" at about 0:50. Overall,
Seabiscuit is an
appreciable and endearing score, but it fails to kick up enough emotion and energy
to sustain itself as a really strong listening experience on album.
***
| Bias Check: | For Randy Newman reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating
is 2.83 (in 12 reviews)
and the average viewer rating is 3.19
(in 18,384 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.
|
The insert includes no extra information about the score or film, but the
CD is enhanced with pictures and other information about the production.
