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Review of The Aviator (Howard Shore)

FILMTRACKS RECOMMENDS:

Buy it... if you desire an occasionally triumphant but usually solemn and ultimately defeated score that closely resembles the turbulent mental issues of Howard Hughes.

Avoid it... if you are expecting the melodic fluidity and grandiose bravado of The Lord of the Rings, an influence of high-class 1930's and 1940's romance, or an album with the full selection of classical pieces tracked into the film.

FILMTRACKS EDITORIAL REVIEW:

The Aviator: (Howard Shore) Living up to the great anticipation it generated in the months prior to its release, Martin Scorsese's critically embraced The Aviator tells of the best years in the life of aviation genius and Hollywood producer Howard Hughes. Covering the cross-over era of 1927 to 1947, the film follows the exploits of Hughes in a movie industry during its transition from silence to talkies, as well as the aircraft industry's launch towards commercial airliners and WWII fighter planes. Deeply wrapped in the culture of the times, the lengthy film provides a fine balance between the glamour of the period, the fancy of the technology and its flights, and Hughes' personal psyche during both his rise and fall. The film does not dwell much on the final years of Hughes' life, during which his phobia of germs, among other psychological breakdowns, caused the icon to waste away penniless and alone. But many of the high points in the depiction are heavily weighed by an ominous and worrisome temperament, a characteristic that would carry over from Scorsese's story to the music for the film. While composer Howard Shore provided original orchestral music for the film, the amount of tracked classical pieces and other source material caused the score to be ruled ineligible to be nominated for an Academy Award, this despite Shore's nominations (and a win of a Golden Globe) from every other major awarding body for this work. Equally anticipated by film music enthusiasts, The Aviator was Shore's first major scoring project since his award-winning trilogy of compositions for The Lord of the Rings, an achievement already recognized at the time as being among the greatest three soundtracks of all time. Continuing his existing collaboration with Scorsese, Shore draws upon much of the same orchestral foundations as he did in those famous works of the years just prior, but the attitude and direction of the finished product cannot be any more different.

Any listener or casual movie-goer might assume that the flying sequences in The Aviator, if not simply the romantic elegance of the period, would merit a general reprise of heroic brass themes and beautiful string interludes from The Lord of the Rings, but Shore's overall approach to the 2004 film is, outside of a few notable exceptions, far more restrained. Despite these occasional deviations on a grand scale and certain familiar instrumental applications (especially in the low strings and woodwinds) , Shore's work for this film is largely tethered by internal demons, teasing the audience with repeatedly initiated crescendos that suddenly cease or disappointingly fade away with a whimper. If you think about it, that style largely resembles Hughes' life. No doubt, The Aviator is not the most satisfying of scores. It is not the romantic sugar-coated flying music of the 1940's like you heard in James Horner's The Rocketeer. Shore does conjure a heroic theme for Hughes' moments of great achievements in aviation, but he is careful to present the theme with staccato notes in short bursts, even when at its loftiest. Very few (if any) satisfying whole notes from the brass are to be heard, and this choppy effect teases the listener more than anything else, promising an outburst of fully victorious, romantic personality for flight that is never realized at any point in the score. Due to this anticipatory nature, the theme isn't particularly memorable after the score concludes, heroic cues such as "H-1 Racer Plane" and "The Way of the Future" successfully diluted by the plethora of mumbling, brooding string meanderings constantly pulling at Hughes from his darker half. You constantly yearn for the music to break through, especially during the lengthy performances of a slithering rhythm by the bass strings and woodwinds that exist throughout the score (and especially in the entire "7000 Romaine" and "Screening Room" cues) as the reminder of Hughes' disturbed half.

As hinted in the opening "Icarus" cue of distinctly classical inclinations, there is a sense of defeat and despair that truly defines this score by its conclusion. Very well rendered, the twisted elegance in "The Germ Free Zone" and "Quarantine" is distancing and at times irritating, but Shore's methodology of using the woodwinds (literally lost in the wind) specifically during these moments of loss is commendable. Deep bass woodwinds seem to be Shore's primary choice for the most demented characterizations, and this choice is as alluring here as it was in The Lord of the Rings. Some of the more interesting aspects of the album include the Spanish influence upon the score (likely representing Californian culture at the time), including castanets throughout and a traditional guitar in "7000 Romaine." The use of the theme from Hell's Angels in "Hollywood 1927" and the overlay of a reporter's live account of the "Spruce Goose" test flight over a snippet of Tchaikovsky are welcome diversions, though keep in mind that other classical insertions in the film (including some well placed Bach) are not included on the soundtrack album. A grand solo piano performance of the theme is restrained to only "America's Aviation Hero." Overall, the lack of a fluid theme and, outside of a few clarinet solos, a more surprising absence of 1930's and 1940's jazz for the romances in the tale cause the score's troubled heart to leave the most lasting impression. A sense of fear and urgency conveyed during much of the score never resolves itself, which is likely what Shore and Scorsese wanted, but the lack of an easily tonal, melodic breakthrough may leave the listener of the somewhat short album potentially unsatisfied. Ironically, the distinctly different tone of "Icarus" makes it the only track to sway the listener's heart, with the solitary remainder of the score leaving you wanting more, or perhaps something different, in a way very similar to Hughes' ultimate lifestyle. In the flying sequences, fans of The Lord of the Rings will hear familiar progressions and instrumentation (perhaps distractingly so), but the rest of the work is far more challenging by choice and necessity.  ***

TRACK LISTINGS:

Total Time: 47:28

• 1. Icarus (3:58) • 2. There is No Great Genius Without Some Form of Madness (2:50) • 3. Muirfield (2:22) • 4. H-1 Racer Plane (3:20) • 5. Quarantine (3:52) • 6. Hollywood 1927 (2:59) • 7. The Mighty Hercules (3:32) • 8. Howard Robard Hughes, Jr. (3:57) • 9. America's Aviation Hero (2:05) • 10. 7000 Romaine (2:22) • 11. The Germ Free Zone (2:49) • 12. Screening Room (5:27) • 13. Long Beach Harbour 1947 (3:49) • 14. The Way of the Future (4:01)

NOTES & QUOTES:

The insert includes a note from Howard Shore about the score and film.

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