Late in the recording process, while stuck during a storm
at an airport in London, Elfman decided to write lyrics to his main
theme for
Alice in Wonderland after recognizing his subconscious
earlier choice to make the two final notes of the theme perfectly lend
themselves to a performance of the name "Alice." He went back to the
boy's and women's choirs in London at a later session and subsequently
recorded several vocalized versions of "Alice's Theme," some with the
lyrics and others with only "la-la" performances accompanying the
two-note "Alice" phrases. All of this was done without Burton's
knowledge, because Elfman was worried that his enthusiastic last-minute
idea would be brushed aside by the already frantic and over-extended
director. Ultimately, Burton elected to use Elfman's longest recording
of "Alice's Theme" (which opens the album) over the end credits of the
film. Perhaps this acceptance of Elfman's imaginative extension of the
score in the last few days of production (which literally included music
being written until the day before the final print mastering) shouldn't
come as a surprise; not only is the piece such a natural fit for
Burton's personality, but the director had already instructed Elfman to
expand the theme's usage in the score to cover the first half of the
film in a foreshadowing role. The use of the "Alice" vocals on the pair
of descending notes that close out the final phrases of theme seems like
such a perfect compliment that it's hard to imagine the score existing
without it. The pair of notes, along with the majority of the rest of
the activity underneath the primary melody, is based on the always
pleasurable minor-third progressions that seem to inform most ostinatos
in film music these days. Whereas that usage gets tiresome in some
scores, Elfman creatively adapts those minor third figures (carried over
in part from the Catwoman material in
Batman Returns but in
actuality more similar to the rhythmic movement that introduces the
main, but underutilized John Williams-like theme in
Charlie and the
Chocolate Factory) into every section of the orchestra, even forcing
the flutes into that role of accentuating what has been called the
"masculine" personality of the theme. The ostinatos are altered in their
rhythmic flow from moment to moment, staggered in pairs of differing
frequencies that vary along with the brutality of the performance
emphasis.
The primary rendition of "Alice Theme" became a powerfully
compelling identity for
Alice in Wonderland even without the
choir, but an intelligent juggling of several performance methods for
especially the two closing notes of the theme is particularly
remarkable. The massive brass and timpani explosions in between the
statements of the actual melody are mostly constrained to the opening
and closing tracks on the commercial album presentation, though the
existence of five expressed reprises of the theme present Elfman's
different choral renditions as constant (and appreciated) reminders of
the core identity of the work. Some of these are indicative of Elfman's
own confessed love of the theme (he actually referred to it an
"obsession" in retrospect) and some may have been edited for use as
those aforementioned "wild" tracks that could be dropped into the final
cut of the film by Burton where needed. Five of the six overall
presentations of "Alice's Theme" conclude with a somber but undeniably
gorgeous solo boy's performance of the theme. The lyrics written by
Elfman, incidentally, reinforce the Burton appropriate, dark nature of
the film by expressing concerns about having "such a long, long way to
fall" and "so much to lose." The theme's application to Elfman's
underscore begins in earnest in "Down the Hole" and continues to guide
the entire score anytime you hear the minor third progressions begin to
churn or a single pair of "Alice"-inspiring notes in synchrony with a
subtle action on screen. Sometimes accompanying the ostinato is an
anticipation-building, rising three-note structure for full, cooing
choir that actually opens the main performance of the theme, as in the
end of "The Cheshire Cat." Elfman considers this motif to be a unique
sub-theme all to itself, though it doesn't seem to be developed to any
great degree outside of a supporting role within the main theme's longer
performances. A militaristic brass version of the main theme's various
other fragments graces "Alice Escapes" and strained allusions continue
into the final action cues. The best adaptation of the theme comes in
the middle of "Alice Decides," an incredible collection of
interpretations that includes a downright explosive choral-chanting,
organ-blaring, and cymbal-crashing performance of the theme's marching
bridge sequence (pay close attention to the wild flute playing the
melodic line over the top in this short sequence, too).
A singularly peculiar moment involving the facet of this
Alice in Wonderland's main theme comes late in "Blood of the
Jabberwocky," during which Elfman slows it down considerably and changes
its natural rests for high strings; when heard this way, the theme
begins to eerily resemble the first phrase of Horner's full romance
theme from
Avatar. Very odd, indeed. An equally deliberate and
obviously resolved version of the theme in the last minute of "Alice
Returns" has a pastoral quality that attaches it to memories of
Sommersby's wholesome, but strangely morbid harmonic simplicity
for layered strings. By that point, if you're any fan of this score, you
might finding yourself inserting your own "Alice" vocal over uses of the
descending two note phases during which Elfman doesn't do it for you.
Now
that is proof that the theme is catchy. As a final testament
to the strength of Elfman's overall composition, the listening
experience for
Alice in Wonderland on album is surprisingly
consistent in quality from start to finish even outside of the overtly
thematic reminders. Aside from a few dull or dissonant moments in
"Doors," "Drink Me," and "The Cheshire Cat" (the last of which does
feature that intriguing violin work a la
Batman Returns for the
character), this score spreads around its wealth of highlights. The
choral atmosphere of the rising three note motif preceding the title
theme in "Into the Garden" is a good warm-up for any Elfman fantasy
score. The first sustained action cue, "Bandersnatched," offers some
turbulent string rhythms reminiscent of the structures and personality
of Jerry Goldsmith's music for the airplane segment of
Twilight Zone:
The Movie. That cue closes with about thirty seconds that will be
highly familiar to enthusiasts of the Jack Skellington's pivotal "Jack's
Lament" song in
The Nightmare Before Christmas. The dramatic
choral sways opening "Finding Absolem" will be equally recognizable in
their relation to the Penguin's morbidly handsome material in
Batman
Returns. The sense of percussive and string momentum that builds
after a minute into "Alice and Bayard's Journey" hails back to the
energy of the original
Batman (a spirit that Elfman seems to have
grasped at throughout this score). The second half of "The Dungeon"
incorporates the choral and tapped percussive personality from
Edward
Scissorhands.
Additional reflections of existing scores in
Alice
in Wonderland include the resolute string rhythm near the start of
"Going to Battle," which coincidentally recalls, oddly enough, Cliff
Eidelman's
Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country before later
using a harmonious organ and muted trumpet note (over swirling violins)
once again like
Batman. The monumental scale of the orchestral
and choral majesty in "The Final Confrontation," complete with gong hit,
is closer to
Hellboy II: The Golden Army. Overall, these
references to mostly Elfman's earlier works will likely please his
collectors, for they pull pieces from the best of his music. That is why
Alice in Wonderland is to Elfman what
Avatar is to Horner.
Just be prepared for this score to be so saturated with Elfman's
mannerisms that you can't help but be reminded of his prior classics.
With music of this caliber of quality, however, that's mostly a
positive. The commercial 2010 album from Disney, although presenting a
generous 50 minutes of unadulterated score in a decently engaging mix,
is missing some important material, especially that which was recorded
for the 12-minute action sequence at the climax and, among other things,
Elfman's last-minute addition of the short, ultra-silly "Fudderwacken"
dance source for Johnny Depp's Mad Hatter. Shortly after
Alice in
Wonderland debuted, Warner Brothers announced that it would produce
a limited, $500 set called "The Danny Elfman and Tim Burton 25th
Anniversary Music Box" (reviewed separately at Filmtracks) that would
contain expanded versions of each of the scores in the collaboration,
and the additions to
Alice in Wonderland in particular join those
for
Pee-wee's Big Adventure,
The Nightmare Before
Christmas, and
Big Fish as being among the most significant
in quantity and quality. Not only do you hear the final "Fudderwacken"
version on CD #14, "Oddities and Ends," but several wacky demo versions
as well. One of the music box medleys on CD #16, "Notes and Notions,"
concludes with a performance of "Alice's Theme," too. The dedicated CD
for
Alice in Wonderland in the set (#13), however, offers most of
what fans could have wanted to add to the previous product. This extra
music includes 21 minutes of finished score, highlighted by "Main
Title/Opening" and the previously missing battle music from the
end.
For casual listeners, much of this material unique to
the 2011 set will sound redundant when compared to the rest of the
score. Indeed, some of it is clearly a hastily re-arranged version of
music from other passages; "Dragons & Swords," for instance, restates
substantial portions from the latter parts of "Going to Battle" and "The
Final Confrontation." The instrumentation of these restatements is
strikingly different in some cases, though, making them legitimate
additions to the score. The "Main Title/Opening" is another case in
which you hear an intriguing new angle of the familiar music. Most
importantly, when considering the fact that the additional music is
partially redundant, you have to count that as a positive given that
those 21 minutes certainly are not inferior. In other words, it's hard
to knock redundant versions of five-star material. At the end of CD #13,
Elfman throws in three demo versions of "Alice's Theme" that clearly
exhibit its evolution. An added bonus is the first ensemble and choir
recording of the theme, minus the lyrics and restrained in the force of
the bass elements. The only disappointment comes, not surprisingly due
to yet another questionable choice in the assembly of this disastrous
set. In this case, Elfman moved one score cue and an alternate version
of "Main Title" to the group of music languishing on only the USB stick
included with the set. That score cue, "The Parapet," definitely
belonged on the CD in the place of the demos (and the same could be
argued of the alternate title performance, too). Due to the USB stick's
incredibly poor, 192 kbps bitrate presentation, "The Parapet," despite
its longing beauty and dramatic conclusion, sounds awfully constrained.
This was Elfman's call in the end, and, among many questionable
decisions in regards to the presentation of music on this set (including
the lack of chronological ordering on the main CDs themselves, something
that is standard nowadays for expanded score releases), it will
understandably frustrate those who pay $500 for the product. Still, the
set provides the raw materials to make a mostly lossless and complete
arrangement of the score for its many enthusiasts and remains one of the
few reasons for those with expendable income to take the plunge.
Ultimately, both the film and score for
Alice in Wonderland have
gained a tremendous reputation and following, the latter nominated for
several major awards. The experience of its creation may have been a
crazy, hectic one for the composer, but he accomplished something not
heard since
Sommersby in 1993: an unequivocally entertaining,
five-star Elfman masterpiece.
***** @Amazon.com: CD or
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