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Filmtracks Editorial Review:
With The Tailor of Panama, this must change. It wouldn't be too far of a stretch to say that Shaun Davey's music is naturally similar in its lyrical and light style to that of Stephan Warbeck, who won over the world with Shakespeare in Love. Davey's close regard to the classical construction of his music, and his prior experience in the scoring of Shakespeare, puts him in the same musical league as Warbeck and Patrick Doyle. These parallels in composition can be heard in The Tailor of Panama, and epecially during the more grandiose, fully orchestral performances of governmental fanfares contained within. The title theme and underlaying rhythms both exude a flash of pomp and spirit that could very well accompany a Shakespearean drama, but the score is ultimately saved by a balance of this lyrical pomp and Davey's keen insertion of Latin elements into the score. No better of an example of this exotic combination is the thirteenth track on the album, "Harry's Drive Through the Carnival," which melds a fantastically verbose, classical theme for full strings with an exuberant flair of Latin guitar. The elegant title theme's performances remain consistent throughout the score. Following the explosion of theme described above, the subsequent track features a troubled viola solo of the same theme. Its integration into the score is key, providing for a very cohesive whole on album. The secondary theme of the score is more of base motif, with which Davey injects the element of espionage and adventure into the work. Davey showed flashes of this kind of heavy bass, orchestral rhythm in Twelfth Night, but never expanded upon it for that project. However, for The Tailor of Panama, Davey dwells on a single, simplistic bass string progression, accented each measure with a blast of the the low woodwinds and brass (and even an accordion, if I am not mistaken). Together, all of these lower range elements of the orchestra set a rambling, ominous tone for the pace of the story. It's a great rhythm setting device, and those of you who are fans of bass heavy orchestral performances will likely adopt it as a motivational inspiration, though I could understand how others would find it tedious and droning. In any case, its incarnations thorughout the scores further pull the score together as a cohesive whole. The third element of The Tailor of Panama is its Latin flavor, which Davey accomplishes through the use of guitars and several choices of key and theme. At times, like for the sixth track, "The Vibrating Bed," Davey kicks the guitar into full gear and produces a result not too far from Rachel Portman's more comical moments of Chocolat. During the action sequences, and especially the chase at the end, it is easy to get the impression that this score is a seemingly unpredictable, but undeniably fun cross between Warbeck's Spakespeare in Love and Jerry Goldsmith's Under Fire. Even with the Latin elements expressing themselves fluently throughout, the score never becomes to ethnically foreign for those of you who would rather attach yourselves to the classical construction of the rest of the score. Another accomplishment of Davey's is his ability to take all of the different aspects of his music for The Tailor of Panama and bring them together in a fabulous crescendo as the film reaches its exciting climax. So don't become discouraged if the score doesn't reach out and grab you at the very start, because the last four tracks will easily do just that. The delicate balance between the grand, free flowing theme, the Latin guitar and keyboards, and the orchestral bass pushing the suspense is very well handled. The final track offers a surprise rendition of the "Todavia Cantamos" theme that Davey arranges throughout the score, with a longing vocal performance of the theme stealing the end of the album --a nice touch which would have been further welcomed had it been worked into a few sequences earlier. In sum, the score for The Tailor of Panama has a little of everything, and yet stands together so well as a whole that you wish other scores could balance themselves with such success. I do worry that it is a "hit or miss" kind of score, meaning that it could completely leave some listeners out in the cold due to its flair for the melodramatic and ethnic diversity. One can only wonder how the Irish Film Orchestra managed to pull off such a convincing Central American performance, but they did it, and The Tailor of Panama is an album that I suspect could become a guilty pleasure for many film score collectors. ****
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