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Orchestrated by:
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Steve Bartek
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Conducted by:
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Jonathan Sheffer
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Release Date:
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March 16th, 1993
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Availability:
Regular U.S. release, but completely out of print as of 2000. It sells for $25 or more on the secondary market as of 2003.
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Filmtracks Editorial Review:
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| | Elfman | |
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Sommersby: (Danny Elfman) An Americanized story of the
soldier who assumes the identity of a comrade and returns to live his life,
Sommersby was a Richard Gere project for which Nicholas Meyer had
rewritten the story for the Virginia countryside. The film failed to garner
much attention outside of its initial release, partly due to the film's
downbeat ending and poor word of mouth. Despite its obscurity now,
Sommersby remains a well crafted film by director Jon Amiel, with
several spectacular scenes contained within the picture. In the post-Civil
War era, Gere's title character returns from several years of war, having
killed the nasty, real (and nearly identical-looking) Sommersby and assuming
his place in the Virginia village as a changed man. As he helps improve the
town, as well as his family, the film picks up a positive, though troubled
momentum, leading up to discovery of his fraud and trail for his crimes.
Sommersby would be the only collaboration between Amiel and composer
Danny Elfman (Amiel established a working relationship with Christopher
Young after this film), and the choice of Elfman was one of intrigue and
curiosity at the time. Elfman had been relatively inactive during the
previous years, with his only major assignment being the Batman
sequel, a score that had nothing to offer in favor of the composer's talents
regarding pre-1900 Virginia. The composer had clearly defined his heavily
dramatic sense of haunting, thematic beauty, however, in Edward
Scissorhands. Ironically, Sommersby would offer the basis for
Elfman's better known score for Black Beauty the following year, and
an interesting environment of hushed, muddled enthusiasm still surrounds the
score for Sommersby. From the approach of emotional and thematic
avenues, Sommersby rivals Edward Scissorhands is its power and
needs to take its rightful place atop Elfman's career achievements.
Critics of the score in 1993 claimed that Sommersby
strayed too far from Elfman's sphere of stylistic comfort, offering a score
that was simply too out of character for the composer to qualify as perhaps
his best effort. Ten years later, Elfman's work for Sommersby remains
his most unique dramatic score, and overshadows all of his subsequent
efforts in its genuine sensitivity and heart. Thematically rich from start
to end, Sommersby is strikingly appropriate for the Virginia
landscape, as well as the personal drama contained within. A dynamic string
section performs with historic styles and remarkable harmony, chopping with
power and dignity for the trial in the latter half of the score. The brass,
while occasionally performing a theme, are utilized in a similar fashion to
John Barry's Westerns, serving as a bold counterpoint enhancement to the
strings. Solo trumpet performances offer occasional nobility to the
equation. Several guitars, a fiddle, and harmonica offer spectacular
accompaniment for the more hopeful, early scenes of farming and community
cohesion; some of this writing in particular would show up again to a lesser
extent in Black Beauty, but would largely remain strikingly unique to
Sommersby in Elfman's first twenty years of film scoring. The ethnic
woodwind contributions to these sections, including the beginning of the end
credits, would further exhibit a character of period style that Elfman fans
would have difficulty finding again. The overall stylistic impression given
by Sommersby, of course, is one of brooding darkness; while beautiful
in their instrumentation and performance, the themes are often anchored by
an overbearing bass (whether by performance or added into the mixing of the
score in post-production) that causes it to rumble its way across your
stereo. This domineering bass sometimes makes enjoyment of the score on
album difficult, but sets the intended mood well. When older Danny Elfman
fans lament the loss of the composer's early dramatic styles,
Sommersby best sums up what's now gone. It's a hidden gem that no
true Elfman fan should be without. *****
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Viewer Ratings and Comments:
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• 1. Main Titles (4:41)
• 2. The Homecoming (1:58)
• 3. Welcoming (1:35)
• 4. First Love (3:55)
• 5. At Work (2:00)
• 6. Alone (4:22)
• 7. Return Montage (5:19)
• 8. Mortal Sin (4:39)
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• 9. Homer (1:07)
• 10. Going to Nashville (1:42)
• 11. Baby (2:15)
• 12. Tea Cups (1:44)
• 13. Townsend's Tale (6:08)
• 14. Death (2:11)
• 15. Finale (4:04)
• 16. End Credits (3:15)
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(track times not listed on packaging)
Insert includes no extra information about the score or film.
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