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Review of Cosmic Voyage (David Michael Frank)

FILMTRACKS RECOMMENDS:

Buy it... if you expect your IMAX scores to soar with all the orchestral majesty required by films featuring exploding stars and the birth of galaxies.

Avoid it... if a merging of the romantic styles of James Horner and Rachel Portman leaves you seeking a more ambitious and challenging accompaniment for the subject matter.

FILMTRACKS EDITORIAL REVIEW:

Cosmic Voyage: (David Michael Frank) It's hard not to be a fan of IMAX films and their scores. There's something magnificent about a screen six stories high and an equally expansive score being pumped through a seemingly infinite number of speakers surrounding that huge screen. Of all the IMAX film genres that require the biggest of the big, those showing the vastness of space often require the grandest of all production scales. One such IMAX project in the mid-1990's was Cosmic Voyage, a computer-generated film that takes the audience on a trip around the universe with spectacular colors, vast special effects, and resounding narration by Morgan Freeman. At the time, its digital effects were top notch, and with wall to wall visuals and a similarly minded sound, the film continues to impress critics and audiences several years later. To match Freeman's always deep, intoxicating voice, director Bayley Silleck required a fully orchestral score that would assist in forming a soundscape for every single moment of the film. David Michael Frank was hired to provide 30 minutes of large-scale organic music that ranges from massive epic proportions to softer, intimate passages. Frank was already a veteran of conducting Broadway productions and scoring for mostly television series, although a few of his film projects included top grossing action flicks that receive most of their attention after midnight on cable channels. His additional material (contributed on top of that of the primary composers on the assignment) has been heard in films like Forrest Gump and The Mask, and his versatility lends him well to nearly any genre. Undeniably, Cosmic Voyage would be Frank's opportunity to do what all composers love the most: write a monumental score for an IMAX film. With exploding stars, the birth of galaxies, and the tiny positioning of a single human in all of this activity, the film served up quite the inspiration for Frank, whose score meets your expectations with great success.

The style with which Frank tackles Cosmic Voyage is classical by nature, and, in a lyrical sense, could be most accurately compared to James Horner's heavily dramatic styles of the same decade. It is similar to Horner's music in the use of strings, while also exhibiting similarities to Rachel Portman's tendencies in the use of woodwinds. Together, Frank's own emerging style makes for a very easy listening experience. It is a nonstop parade of thematic sensibility, with a touch of wonderment added for the vastness of the journey's scope. The music is rarely interrupted by loud action sequences, with the only notable exception being the exploding "42 Rings" track (a cue that lasts for only 54 seconds). There are, however, several magnificent crescendos to Frank's lengthier sequences, with the final moments of "Mysteries of the Universe" standing out as a highlight. More than anything, Frank's music achieves its goal in conveying the endless, romantically vast feeling of the cosmos. The fluid construction of the film allowed Frank's music to take on a suite-like format, so on album the score has little to disrupt its nonstop beauty. The final track on the album is a sampling of Frank's music for a multimedia presentation that accompanied the rollout of the 777 airplane at Boeing's headquarters in Seattle. Frank's composition here is more heroic (as you might expect) than the material from Cosmic Voyage. Along with the fact that the track is titled "Working Together," you can immediately discern that a feel-good theme of teamwork is presented to present the company and its planes in the best of light. It has a snare and brass theme that is noble in every sense of the word, almost to a fault. This track is similar enough in basic, orchestral style to Cosmic Voyage to meld nicely together on album and preserve the listening experience. The album exists only as a promotional release from Frank himself. It was available initially at only online soundtrack specialty outlets and has become a difficult find. Overall, it is superb IMAX-appropriate music, and is a safe purchase for those who value conservative orchestral integrity.  ****

TRACK LISTINGS:

Total Time: 38:12

Cosmic Voyage: • 1. Cosmic Voyage (4:50) • 2. Through a Drop of Water (2:32) • 3. Creation (3:30) • 4. Discovery (2:14) • 5. Mysteries of the Universe (2:05) • 6. The Heavens Below (1:37) • 7. Rebirth (1:15) • 8. Little Green Algae (3:46) • 9. Into the Cosmos (0:53) • 10. Beyond the Stars (1:51) • 11. 42 Rings (0:54) • 12. A Never-Ending Journey (2:43) Boeing 777: • 13. Working Together/The Rollout (10:01)

NOTES & QUOTES:

The insert includes information about both the score and film, as well as recording session photography.

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