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| Fenton |
Anna and the King: (George Fenton) Not deterred by
an atrocious animated version of the same classic tale from the previous
year, director Andy Tennant's 1999 dramatic interpretation enjoyed a
strong cast, lush settings, and an outstanding score. Most memories of
the tale on the screen revolve around the classic Rodgers and
Hammerstein's
The King and I, and while all the versions maintain
the same inspiration, differences in the tellings exist.
Anna and the
King, the most massive of those depictions, was close enough to the
Anna Leonowens story to get the film famously banned in Tailand. Her
claim to fame, of course, is her hiring by King Mongkut of Siam to
educate his son in Western culture. Upon her arrival with her own son,
her feminist, English attitude stirs up cultural difficulties
immediately, and despite the troubles she causes, a suggested and
unrealized romance materializes between her and the king. The casting of
foreign action legend Chow Yun-Fat was the film's coup, allowing the
immensely popular actor to not only stretch his talents into a new
genre, but also help market the film overseas. The story, in the end, is
a double love affair, not only involving Anna and the king, but also his
concubine. Both exude tragedy by necessity, and George Fenton latches
firmly onto these two romances in his thematic identity for his highly
acclaimed score for the film. How Fenton, already an Academy Award
nominated composer, managed to avoid an Oscar nomination for
Anna and
the King is one of the greater mysteries of the digital era of AMPAS
failings, for the score has all the makings of the massively
tear-jerking orchestral dramas that have long been a favorite in
Hollywood. For fans of the British composer,
Anna and the King
would be a remarkable preview of the robust orchestral majesty often
heard in Fenton's subsequent works for nature-related documentaries.
Many sections of this score, if stripped of its ethnic instrumentation,
would be largely indistinguishable from the flowing, romantic portions
of
The Blue Planet,
Deep Blue, and other similar efforts
for Fenton in the 2000's.
Fenton wastes no time introducing listeners to his
three major ideas and shorter motifs in "Arrival at the Palace," a piece
that immediately strikes a fine balance between the Western orchestra
and the myriad of Eastern specialty instruments. While the erhu and a
variety of percussion will be most prominent in their representation of
Siam, Fenton maintains a faint Eastern flavor in even the less obvious
places, making
Anna and the King a more challenging alternative
to a score like Kitaro's
Heaven & Earth (though without the vocal
effects). Fenton's title theme, after its monumental performance at the
outset of the titles, is largely overshadowed by the two dominant love
themes. Perhaps the more alluring of the two romances is the somewhat
infrequently stated theme for concubine. Introduced in "Tuptim" and
developed slightly in "The Rice Festival," this theme receives an
utterly heartbreaking performance at the outset of "The Execution." The
other theme (for the two primary characters) is rooted in piano and
presented with reservations in "I Am King, I Shall Lead," "Flowers on
the Water," and "Moonlit Beach" before erupting in three late cues.
Between the intoxicating piano-led ensemble performances in "The
Execution," "Anna Returns," and "I Have Danced With a King," some of
Fenton's finest (if not
the finest) romance work is put to the
task. This despite the theme's similarity to parts of Fenton's
84
Charing Cross Road in 1986. Regardless of the individual strengths
of
Dangerous Beauty and
Ever After in the previous two
years, Fenton excels with his romance writing in
Anna and the
King to levels far beyond those previous efforts. The grace with
which he addresses both the affections of the heart and gravity of the
throne (and the worshipping of the king) is remarkably accomplished.
Fenton achieves the sense of weight for the latter through his ability
to use the timpani and brass section as effective bass dwellers;
Anna
and the King is remarkably heavy in the bass region despite relying
significantly on solo woodwind or erhu performances in the treble to
provide the enchantment.
The superior mixing of the score is also an important
factor in its successful balancing act. The secondary love theme
performance in "Tuptim" is provided with a lovely duet between flute and
erhu that is mixed brilliantly over the ensemble. Light metallic
percussion is provided an enhanced role due to this attention to detail,
and floats many of the more subdued moments. Two other parts of the
score need mentioning, and while neither is particularly memorable
compared to the previously mentioned sections, Fenton adeptly executes
them. The three or four action pieces in
Anna and the King,
spanning "Rajah Attack," "Betrayed," and "The Bridge," are resounding in
their percussive force. The two dance pieces, "Anniversary Polka" and
part of "I Am King, I Shall Lead," aren't as blatantly obnoxious as much
of the source music written for the era. Finally, the song over the end
credits has been widely considered a decent counterpart to the score,
though it's difficult to reconcile the Disney pop song sound from Joy
Enriquez with Fenton's score. The primary love theme is so well
performed by the ensemble in the remainder of the score that the pop
version, while still maintaining most of the structure of Fenton's idea,
is both cheap and irritating. Aside from that song (unfortunately placed
at the beginning of the almost hour-long album),
Anna and the
King is an outstanding and consistent listening experience. The
merging of the two love themes in "The Execution" is one of the single
highlights of 1999 film scoring, and Fenton's effort as a whole won a
place on most of the top-5 or top-10 lists for the year. While romantic
mergings of Western orchestra and themes with Eastern instruments had
reached the steps of perfection before (
Heaven & Earth) and would
do so again later (Klaus Badelt's
The Promise), Fenton's distinct
style lends its own credibility. He does not rely on synthesizers to
create the sounds of blowing wind or altered vocals in
Anna and the
King; instead, the beauty of his work is consistent with more
traditional majesty you'd expect to hear for the era.
***** @Amazon.com: CD or
Download
| Bias Check: |
For George Fenton reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3.64
(in 14 reviews)
and the average viewer rating is 3.38
(in 16,198 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.
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The insert includes credits, a short note from the director, and four photos
from the recording sessions.
