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Secret Weapons Over Normandy
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Composed and Co-Produced by:
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Michael Giacchino
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Orchestrated and Conducted by:
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Tim Simonec
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Co-Produced by:
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Ford A. Thaxton
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Release Date:
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December 30th, 2003
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Availability:
Regular U.S. release.
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Filmtracks Recommends:
Buy it... if you don't own any of Michael Giacchino's scores beyond the
first Medal of Honor; this is perhaps the best expansion of that
sound.
Avoid it... if you own several of Giacchino's WWII era games already
and are still waiting for him to apply his talents to other genres of games
or features.
Filmtracks Editorial Review:
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| | Giacchino | |
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Secret Weapons Over Normandy: (Michael Giacchino)
Continuing his successful career writing large-scale orchestral music for
video games, Michael Giacchino stays within the familiar stomping grounds of
the World War II era battle scenario games. It's difficult to figure which
fact about this situation is more fascinating: the prolific popularity of
video games in this specific genre and era of history, or Giacchino's steady
production of action music for them. His association with the Medal of
Honor series came to an abrupt halt when he followed most of the games'
creators out the EA doors and took better opportunities at Activision and
LucasArts, and it's a tad funny that the Medal of Honor association
isn't mentioned once in the thousands of words of documentation all over the
Secret Weapons Over Normandy score album. Most recently, Giacchino
finished the game score for Call of Duty and translated his music
from the television series Alias into a gaming companion of its own.
Aside from Alias, however, casual fans could easily come back to the
head-scratching contemplation about the consistency of Giacchino's
involvement in World War II related games. It was several years ago when the
first Medal of Honor was released to rave reviews, and Giacchino's
ability to write a Saving Private Ryan-inspired score better than
Williams himself gained the young composer widespread notice. Five
large-scale WWII action scores later, fans could very well start wondering
if Giacchino is a one-dimensional composer. His work for Alias would
tend to disprove this notion, but that doesn't stop Secret Weapons Over
Normandy from sounding repetitive and related in many ways to
Giacchino's previous work recorded by Seattle performers for the genre. For
the composer, though, Secret Weapons Over Normandy would present a
challenge that doesn't really factor into the listener's mind unless he/she
is actually playing the game.
In most games, the music --no matter how large and
impressive-- is restrained to thematic passages before, in between, or after
missions, and stock music is inserted into the game play underscore
situations. The challenge for Giacchino in the case of Secret Weapons
Over Normandy was to write music that followed basic needs of the game
play scenarios. In other words, if you were near victory in a mission, the
music would be switched by the game to convey that excitement. On the other
hand, if you are blown to smithereens and die an unceremonious death, the
game inserts at that very instant the sounds of a tragic cue of failure.
This idea isn't novel in this game, but it is utilized to such a great
degree that Giacchino ended up doing what the likes of Bernard Herrmann did
for CBS shows of the 1950's... writing stock cues for different emotions
that the game would choose to insert at any time during the mission. All of
the music for Secret Weapons Over Normandy, no matter its purpose, is
consistent with the grand scale of orchestral bombast that Giacchino has
provided time and time again. His themes are saturated with Americana
spirit, and the heavy, fast-paced brass usage will continue to remind of
John Williams' works. If you've heard his previous similar scores on album,
then the refreshing moments will be those of unique character in the score,
such as the choral usage in "Operation Sea Lion," "Stalingrad," and "East
Prussian Factory Run." The best of these orchestral and choral cues is
"Fjords of Norway," an elegant piece that restrains the pace of the battle
behind the majesty of the music's own scope. The central sections of the
album for this game, dealing mainly with the Japanese front, includes drum
performances by the Seattle Kokon Taiko Ensemble, and the thought could
enter the mind that this is exactly the kind of material we would have heard
had Giacchino continued with the Medal of Honor series to score the
Rising Sun game. The album for Secret Weapons Over Normandy
includes a full CD of the best suites, although the second CD of 14 minutes
has some of the more notable short cues and a collection of multimedia
material that reveals considerable insight into the scoring and recording
process for the game. Overall, for your money, it's still a good deal, but
fans have that lingering interest in hearing Giacchino finally branch off
into other genres for his talents to tackle. ****
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Viewer Ratings and Comments:
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Disc 1: (68:55)
• 1. Main Theme (4:56)
• 2. Dunkirk Harbour (3:20)
• 3. Battle of Britain (4:18)
• 4. Operation Sea Lion (3:53)
• 5. Zauara (4:12)
• 6. The Siamese Coast (4:25)
• 7. The Rescue of Pauline (4:16)
• 8. Midway (6:05)
• 9. Copenhagen (3:33)
• 10. Stalingrad (4:07)
• 11. East Prussian Factory Run (3:34)
• 12. Fjords of Norway (4:34)
• 13. Stealing the Me262 (5:05)
• 14. Peenemunde (4:43)
• 15. Harz Mountains (3:07)
• 16. The Normandy Coast (4:39)
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Disc 2: (14:02)
• 1. Gold Guy Logo (0:07)
• 2. Prelude (1:05)
• 3. Dunkirk Harbor Extra (1:27)
• 4. Battle of Britain Extra (1:00)
• 5. Operation Sea Lion Extra (1:14)
• 6. Zauara Extra (0:32)
• 7. The Siamese Coast Extra (0:36)
• 8. Copenhagen Extra (1:32)
• 9. Stalingrad Extra (0:47)
• 10. Prussian Factory Run Extra (1:39)
• 11. Fjords of Norway Extra (0:19)
• 12. Harz Mountains Extra (0:43)
• 13. The Rescue of Pauline Extra (1:58)
• 14. Belgian Navy Song (0:28)
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The insert includes extensive information about the score and game. The second CD is enhanced with interviews with Giacchino about
the making of the score.
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