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Buy it... if you are any fan of superior fantasy and adventure scores that combine orchestral majesty with exotic beauty, for James Horner's Willow is among the best of the digital era. Avoid it... if you have absolutely no curiosity about the inspiration for most of Horner's self-references later in his career. Filmtracks Editorial Review:
Willow: (James Horner) As the writer and producer for Willow, George Lucas promised more than he delivered with this fantasy adventure spectacle, though it's hard to blame rising director Ron Howard for the failure. Being as campy as it is, perhaps Willow was destined to be a guilty pleasure at best, despite strong production values, a decent concept, and Lucas' ability to inspire the most menacing villain's masks in the history of cinema. An unseasoned Val Kilmer is the stud and lovable Warwick Davis is the underdog, an unlikely pair on the run from and eventually seeking to conquer an evil queen in a land from long ago. Special effects from Industrial Light and Magic were heavily advertised at the time, and because of their efforts, Willow is visually passable even two decades later. In terms of its auditory experience, few have ever questioned the effectiveness of James Horner's score in the film. Marking the second collaboration between Horner and Ron Howard, Willow exceeded all expectations in its music. While Horner had already been recognized by the Oscars and produced the music for several blockbuster films, he had never tackled a score of this magnitude before. It would be the sister score to The Land Before Time, with both works featuring the exact same crew, performers, and general quality of sound. These two superior scores together in 1988, along with Glory the following year, would yield the kind of undeniable five-star results that had eluded Horner for much of his early career. In relation to the film score collecting community, Willow would maintain a broad and loyal following, and it set the foundation for many of Horner's more popular scores to come. The lingering controversy over the composer's habit of borrowing material from himself can usually be linked directly or indirectly back to Willow, a score which Horner admits was a creative breakthrough. The cynical sorts who write off much of Horner's early career because of his unashamed tendency of pulling inspiration from modern classical music (or, in the case of the Elora Danan theme here, the Bulgarian harvest song "Mari Stanke Le") can make their own reference points in Willow, though Horner's re-packaging of these ideas is so well executed that few mainstream listeners will care or even notice. There are several reasons for the success of Willow's score, and one of them relates to the ingredients that Horner assembled. The performances by the London Symphony Orchestra have always been strong, but rarely have they excelled to even these levels of precision. The King's College Choir of Wimbledon provides women's and boys' ensemble voices, and while Horner has used light choral accompaniment throughout his career, rarely has it sounded as engrossing as it does in Willow and The Land Before Time. A collection of exotic, rarely known instruments would be discovered by Horner here and used in scores throughout his career, including the controversial shakuhachi flute. This would also mark the early days of collaborations between Horner and specialty soloists like Ian Underwood and Tony Hennigan. Finally, Horner's standard synthesizers for the era would accentuate the percussion in providing some ambient sound effects for scenes involving either dread or magic. One of the other reasons for the success of Willow is the abundance of harmonic statements. Horner writes several themes for the film and utilizes them often during the score; even at its most chaotic moments, the score references one of these ideas. It happened that Willow would be by far the longest score of Horner's career at the time (by half an hour) and, like The Land Before Time, this endeavor would feature wall-to-wall music that required that almost every cue be at least five minutes in length. Some cues would range to nearly 20 minutes, which presented a problem during the recording sessions if one of the soloists performing an exotic instrument was to misfire. The constant thematic reminders cause many of the lengthy cues to become miniature symphonies in and of themselves, much in the same style as "The Great Migration" from The Land Before Time. Horner made comments at the time about the numerous syncronization points per cue, causing the need to hit bold statements of each of the score's themes in the same cue. As such, Willow is a score that irritates some listeners in its lack of rearrangement for album, though anyone with decent editing software on his or her computer could do this at home. In that endeavor, all eight tracks on the album offer highlights and would require some cutting. There exist five major themes in Willow, with three of them dominating the proceedings. First is "Willow's Theme" itself, introduced in "Escape from the Tavern" and anchoring the concert suite and end title arrangements. Its heroic brass fanfare is the most catchy of Horner's ideas for the film, and it produces a significant amount of raucous fun in the score. Detractors, however, mock Horner's claim that this theme was meant to be Eastern European in style, citing similarities between it and Robert Schumann's 3rd Symphony. Regardless of its origins, Horner's intent was to satisfy the request of Lucas and Howard that he provide a swashbuckling theme for the film's action pieces, and he succeeds. The specialty instruments were Horner's self-proclaimed attempt to avoid mirroring Erich Wolfgang Korngold's establish swashbucking sounds too closely. The only fallacy of this theme in its application to the film is that it doesn't really represent Davis' Willow character as well as it does the action of Kilmer's Madmartigan, though by the time it's heard in the film, the two are a typically together. The second theme in Willow is its easy highlight, representing Elora Danan (the baby destined to destroy the queen) and featured by Horner over the opening title and a gorgeous traveling scene in "Willow's Journey Begins." It's the domain of the Japanese shakuhachi flute, existing in perhaps the most eloquent and beautiful form until Horner's strangely functional use of the instrument in The Mask of Zorro and its even better sequel. Whereas Horner would often use the shakuhachi, as well as the pan pipes, in a supporting role as rhythm setters of accent pieces (akin to the percussion instruments, really), they are the given the primary role of conveying the magical spirit of the softer themes in Willow. A third related theme comes in the latter half of "Elora Danan" and is a better match for the kindness of Willow's family as well as the provincial simplicity of their village. The downright gorgeous statements of this theme would be confined to this one cue early in the film and the outset of the resolution in "Willow the Sorcerer," but its rotation between woodwind instruments (in between ensemble string and choral interludes) is an undeniable highlight. The remaining two primary themes represent the film's two dominant villains. A menacing series of brass and choral progressions for Queen Bavmorda increase in frequency as the film approaches her battle with Willow at its climax. The majority of synthetic effects in Willow accompany Bavmorda's spells, and they contribute significant dissonance to the last twenty minutes of the score's action pieces. The most memorable theme from Willow is ironically the most simplistic, and that is the dreaded four-note motif of evil that Horner would use frequently (and to almost the point of comedy) throughout the rest of his career. Performed exclusively by harsh brass tones, this motif is pervasive in the score, ranging from a single trumpet to the full collection of brass in unison. It's a convenient motif because Horner can use it to easily establish a new key, heightening its effect by serving as a transitional tool. While the theme occasionally represents glimpses of the frightful General Kael in the film (what sensible child wouldn't get nightmares from looking at that mask?), the most victorious moment for Kael in the film, as he rides by horse with the captured Elora Danan back to the Queen, is absent the motif. Instead, Horner lets rip at the end of "Tir Asleen" with some of the most resounding and harmonic orchestral crashes ever to announce a defeat on screen. On album, none of these themes holds the court for very long, and their alternation keeps the score fresh. Because the action of the film moves so quickly, abrupt changes in tone and theme occur frequently. As such, the score never becomes dull. The rowdy action sequences make sure of this, sometimes maintaining their energy for as long as ten minutes within a cue. The opening two minutes of "Escape from the Tavern" and the middle portions of "Tir Asleen" are Horner's action sensibilities at their finest, using the powerful percussion section (from the standard chimes to an array of drums) and specialty instruments to their fullest. Moments of silence in Willow are rare, and as a listener you always have to be ready for the next jolt of action to arrive quite suddenly. Horner takes Willow past most other adventure scores by balancing his action with elegant fantasy elements. The exotic instruments, including not only the shakuhachi and pan pipes, but bagpipes, harps, and flutes of all kinds, are a key element in building Willow's supernatural presence. By employing these instruments in the rhythms of the action pieces (in addition to their carrying of the themes at times), he effectively creates the illusion that this story is taking place in a far away, mystical land. The boys' and women's choir opens and closes the film with a simple three-note motif that would become a Horner trademark in his children's film scores of the early 1990's, also adding sensitivity to the softer moments of the score. This motif is an intriguing major-key variant of the four-note motif of evil with simply the first note expunged. During the aforementioned use of this motif to bookend the film, Horner would employ the sound effect of blowing wind; it's difficult to determine whether this was accomplished using metallic percussion or a synthesizer. A non-vocalized song at the end of the film is a Lucas carryover of the obnoxious Ewok celebration music in Star Wars: Return of the Jedi. Horner handles the simple rhythm with bagpipes and the exotic woodwinds, creating a grating sound that could remind collectors of Horner's obscure score for Where the River Runs Black. Reducing the irritation that this cue may cause, though, is Horner's mirroring of John Williams in that re-introduces the orchestra back into the song-like dance cue in the measures before the score returns to the full concert arrangement for the end titles. It's a subtle, but neat touch. The arrangement of the primary two themes for the end credits is identical to that which appears in "Willow's Theme" on album, except for the lengthy closing decrease in volume that Horner also used The Land Before Time. These slow conclusions --in both these scores andGlory-- are rather annoying in that they waste time that could otherwise be used for useful thematic statements, or at least the kind of rousing conclusion that sends off The Rocketeer and a half dozen other Horner action scores with bravado. Overall, Willow is a score that precedes those in Horner's career that aggravated film music collectors tired of his repetitious sound. This score was the inspiration for it all, and it's not surprisingly his best. The elements that combined to make this score so well balanced in theme, instrumental use, and sound quality have proven elusive for Horner in the following decades. Taunting fans over that period of time has been the album for Willow, which suffered from a limited American pressing by Virgin Records America at the time of the film's release. Despite the score's availability on European store shelves for regular prices during the 1990's, the Willow album sold in America for prices as high as $100. In the mid-1990's, however, Virgin began re-pressing the CD and the prices dropped with the new availability. Die-hard collectors have been unsatisfied with the 73 minutes of music available on that CD, however, and there has been much speculation that Horner's fans would support a 2-CD release containing the remaining 40 minutes of material existing from the score. This talk has continued in light of the interesting fact that no bootleg of this material has ever been leaked to the public. With fans opening their wallets and paying $40 for a 2-CD set of a score like Horner's Krull, there likely is a solid market for an expanded treatment of Willow. With the rights tied up and no feasible financial prospect of the full score's release in the near future, significant cues from the score, including the snow-sledding sequence, will remain unreleased. In the years that followed Willow's release, the legacy of the score would grow, partly due to Horner's increasing popularity and the use of the score in trailers. The extremely blatant incorporation of several parts of the score in the elaborate trailers for 1991's Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves produced a specific flurry of demand for Horner's score. Twenty years later, Willow remains one of the most effective and enjoyable fantasy/adventure scores of the digital era. Many composers have since attempted to imitate the exotic ambience of this score, including, of course, Horner himself, but none have come close to matching its majestic power. This score is, regardless of what Horner's detractors tell you, a modern classic. ***** Track Listings:
Total Time: 73:16
All artwork and sound clips from Willow are Copyright © 1988, Virgin Records America. The reviews and notes contained on the filmtracks.com site may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of Filmtracks Publications. Audio clips can be heard using RealPlayer but cannot be redistributed without the label's expressed written consent. Page created 5/23/98, updated 12/24/07. Review Version 4.1 - PHP (Filmtracks Publications). Copyright © 1998-2013, Christian Clemmensen. All rights reserved. |
