is an examination of religion and
humanity that HBO pumped over $60 million into before debuting the six-hour show
over two nights in December of 2003. Set in 1985, the story follows the trials of
several gay men in Manhattan who are dealing with their experiences (in and out
of the closet) during the first onslaught of AIDS. Their personal stories occupy
one half of the overarching theme, with the element of Christian religion weaving
strongly through the other half. The extremely weighty and contemplative
political and religious landscape suggests an era during the Reagan presidency in
which God has abandoned Heaven and humanity, and several right-wing, Mormon, or
otherwise heavily religious influences in the film are offered in stark contrast
to the seedy world of gays and AIDS in the mid-80's. Directed by Mike Nichols and
starring Meryl Streep, Al Pacino, Emma Thompson, and a considerable secondary
cast, the film's success with audiences was split much along the same lines as
original responses to the play. One part of the production crew not questioned to
any extent was Thomas Newman, whose career had recently achieved an even higher
standard of excellence than usual. Despite assertions by devoted Newman
collectors that the composer had always been at the top of his game, many
listeners familiar with his early orchestral strengths nearly abandoned the
composer during his stage of introverted experimentation between 1999 and 2002.
While gaining an all new audience with his plucky and funky scores to
, among others, Newman fans from the early
days wondered when the composer would turn back to his use of large orchestral
ensembles in attractively bittersweet tones for his assignments. That
satisfaction came with
, both of
which far above average works and a return to what those original Newman
collectors wanted to hear from the composer.
The better question, however, arose when some began asking what
Newman's perfect score would be, a score with all the grandeur and thematic
resonance of his great orchestral works while also utilizing the vast arrays of
unorthodox instruments and rhythms of his
American Beauty phase at the
same time. The answer was
Angels in America, a score that has often been
referred to as Newman's best career achievement. In the lengthy music for this
series, you hear every era of Newman's career rolled into one frightfully
effective and enticing package. After a truly stunning cue for the opening
titles, Newman occupies the first half of the score with the likes of his skin
drums, ice metals, bodhran, processed chimes, dayre, kantele, esraj, high-string
guitar, baritone electric, lute, EWI, prepared guitar, and manipulated violin,
producing music fresh from his very personal scores of 2000 to 2002, but at a
larger, sustained level of harmonic tone and active volume. The latter half of
the score explodes with high caliber orchestral beauty and mayhem, although never
maintaining the title theme so elegantly established in the second cue of the
album. Nearly every moment of the score is saturated with Newman's style of
creating harmony with 90% of the orchestra while throwing one or two instruments
of each chord off-kilter to some degree. The pastoral sounds of his career are
heard consistently at the end of the album, with eight to ten minutes of truly
harmonious beauty on a redemptive, pastoral level of religious satisfaction. The
opening titles offer woodwind solos that are a trademark of Newman's thematic
writing, with light guitars, fluttering flutes, noble trumpets as counterpoint,
and a collection of raindrop-style tapping of metallic percussion. The expected
melodic notions of religious harmony are very well accompanied by the wondrous
aspects of the less typical instruments. Thus, there is a magic throughout
Angels in America that Newman fans had heard in many sporadic places
during his previous scores. The consistency of the listening experience on album
is strong even though the tone and instrumentation switches in nearly every cue.
The only detriments to the album are the source songs sprinkled in three
places.
There are a few cues in
Angels in America that stand out as
referencing the sound of other composers, and the interpretations of these other
styles only serve to elevate Newman's work to another realm. First is the blatant
use of Bernard Herrmann's "Scene D'Amour" cue from
Vertigo at the
conclusions of "Plasma Orgasmata" and "Garden of the Soul." Another style
borrowed is the clearly malevolent and vicious orchestral representation of Elliot
Goldenthal's dark, avant garde works in "Submit!" and "Black Angel." While the
"Scene D'Amour" cues have, perhaps, a temp track written into their origins, the
two violent cues of evil late in
Angels in America are the highlight of the
score while ironically being difficult to tolerate. If an orchestra was ever to
sound so mean-spirited as to hasten the arrival of an evil, fallen angel, then
these cues would lead the way, and their Goldenthal-like intensity of brass is
fascinating to hear. For listeners not so keen on raising evil spirits with this
music, Newman provides several lengthy cues of angelic beauty as well, with choral
chanting or wordless vocals in most of the latter half of the score. These vocals
culminate in a gorgeous operatic performance in the conclusive "Tropopause." Such
serene moments, when studied in contrast to the horrific cues of evil and the
several interludes of deep contemplation (with the experimental instruments), make
Angels in America a score that touches upon every strength and weakness of
Newman's career and rolls them all into one positively magnificent package. No two
cues are exactly alike in this effort, partly because listeners finally have the
opportunity to hear Newman place his experimental instruments alongside the
traditional orchestra and choir as an ideal ensemble. The woodwinds are the heart
and soul of the work, crisply mixed into the final recording. The year 2003,
interestingly, proved to be a strong one for religious-related scores, and Newman
added his own highly spiritual and uplifting entry to the equation. Whether you are
a fan of the composer's orchestral themes or his quirky rhythms created with
unusual instruments,
Angels in America will satisfy your curiosity and
successfully demand several repeat listens. Even if you don't entirely enjoy the
score, it is one to appreciate and study for its extremely wide range of strong
musical constructs and execution.
***** @Amazon.com: CD or
Download
| Bias Check: |
For Thomas Newman reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3.14
(in 37 reviews)
and the average viewer rating is 3.18
(in 59,850 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.
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