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Review of Chicago Hope (Jeff Rona/Mark Isham)
FILMTRACKS RECOMMENDS:
Buy it... no matter your affinity for the show, because Jeff Rona's
music for the series is among the most elegantly relaxing underscore for
any television concept in the digital era.
Avoid it... if you prefer your scores to raise your blood pressure rather than vice versa, and a tasteful mix of sensitive solos over an ambient synthetic bed will only involuntarily put you to sleep.
FILMTRACKS EDITORIAL REVIEW:
Chicago Hope: (Jeff Rona/Mark Isham) The most
thriving genre on television in the 1990's seemed to be the medical
drama, and while Chicago Hope never achieved the fame that
E.R. did, the David E. Kelley show produced 141 episodes from
1994 to 2000. Like many of its rivals, Chicago Hope was a
rotating door for cast members, with only a couple of characters
consistent through the entire run and a long list of famous guest stars
making briefs stops in the timeline. The melodrama of a hospital setting
never seemed to cease inspiring more controversial explorations of moral
character, as well as the usual soap opera elements that accompany any
such show. The scripts often pushed the boundaries of censorship, though
surprisingly little protest erupted when episodes showed female nudity
or used obscene language. It would be America's first HDTV show as well.
The music for Chicago Hope featured a title theme by film score
veteran Mark Isham, though the underscores for the series were handled
by three composers over its run. Jeff Rona, who was perhaps best known
for his association with Hans Zimmer at the time, provided the scores
for episodes from 1994 to 1998, while Peter Bernstein and Roger Neill
would handle the duties for one season each in 1999 and 2000. In 1997,
the Sonic Images soundtrack specialty label released selections of
Rona's music from the first three seasons, as well as the two variations
of Mark Isham's title theme as of the album's pressing. No other music
from the series has been released on album in the decade since. The
original version of Isham's main theme is more urgent and gritty,
containing the expected trumpet solos for an Isham recording in this
genre. The second recording, opening the album, is far more consistent
with the style of Rona's underscores, toning back the pace and washing
the theme with soothing electronic vocal effects. With the Isham
contributions only amounting to two minutes, that leaves roughly 50
minutes of extremely consistent material from Rona. While this
represents the vast minority of the music he wrote for Chicago
Hope, it adequately surveys both important cues in the first three
seasons, as well as an intelligent balance between the stories' various
emotions.
The ensemble for the recording is led by Rona's own keyboarding and woodwind performances. He utilizes the talents of nine soloists (outside of Isham's trumpet performances) to provide color on brass, cello, guitar, sax, and piano. The sound is understandably sparse compared to the music that Rona was assisting Zimmer with at the time, though for the atmosphere of this series, the distinctly clubby, modern environment provided by Rona is a perfect match. It is easy listening at almost every moment, relaxing and unobtrusive music that uses its solos as an accent to distinguish the varying situations. There is thematic continuity in some of these cues, but loyalty to theme in Chicago Hope isn't as important as the consistency in ambient sound design that Rona could maintain given his status as the show's only composer at the time. In the process of writing, performing, and arranging music that elegantly accompanies the show's sensitivity, Rona helps you forget the budget restrictions that can sometimes plague other shows. The mix is intentionally wet, allowing cymbals and other percussion to swish with fluid movement, and the echoing atmosphere compensates very well for the minimal number of running lines in the mix. The acoustic guitar especially benefits from the mix, yielding the sound of a live performance. The synthesized beats and other rhythm-setters are remarkably soft; they lack the sharp, jarring edge that makes many other television show scores an impossible listen. Whereas the cello and keyboarded cues for tension are the weakness of the scores, Rona excels when poignantly extending the emotions of singular scenes or episodes (which makes sense given that there are many tragic moments in a hospital setting). The cue "The Author's Last Words" contains some very powerful oboe and whistle solos, the latter rendered with extremely elegant respect by Rona himself. The arrangement of the album places the most harmonically rich pieces near the front, highlighted by the very attractive pair of "New Hope" and "Bonding." Overall, Rona's work for Chicago Hope is the kind of relaxing background experience perfect for studying students or others who need to chill out to a reliable soundtrack album. Interestingly, of all the reviews for television series or films at Filmtracks, Chicago Hope has easily eclipsed all others in cumulative album sales through the site. ****
TRACK LISTINGS:
Total Time: 54:21
NOTES & QUOTES:
The insert contains short notes from Rona and one of the show's actors about the
music.
Principal musicians:
Guitars: Peter Maunu Soprano Sax: Bob Shepard Oboe, English Horn: Marni Huffum, Leslie Reed Cello: David Low, John Walz, Martin Tillman Keyboards, flutes and whistles: Jeff Rona Piano solo on "New Hope": P.J. Hanke
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The reviews and other textual content contained on the filmtracks.com site may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of Christian Clemmensen at Filmtracks Publications. All artwork and sound clips from Chicago Hope are Copyright © 1997, Sonic Images Records and cannot be redistributed without the label's expressed written consent. Page created 2/20/98 and last updated 2/19/08. |
