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Written 5/30/24
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Buy it... on any of its compilation albums only if you seek a
survey of Maurice Jarre's relatively underwhelming synthetic works of
the 1980's for Peter Weir films.
Avoid it... if you expect the mass of the brief score to match the
attraction of the pivotal cue that introduces a full orchestra and
bagpipes for the story's famous climax.
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Dead Poets Society: (Maurice Jarre) Religious
all-male preparatory schools of the 1950's weren't exactly the place
where thoughtful students and innovative teachers thrived, and the 1989
Peter Weir drama Dead Poets Society reminds us about just how
damaging such crushing environments could be. The film was a
transcendent moment for actor Robin Williams, who carefully subdued his
comedic inclinations to convey the role of a new English teacher at a
stuffy New England prep school, challenging his students to look at life
through different perspectives on the cusp of 1960's counterculture. His
inspiration causes them to escape the school at nights to join a "Dead
Poets Society" of poetry readings in a local cave. Upon the suicide of
one of the boys due to an abusive father's expectations, the school
discovers the group and exacts punishment that includes paddling and the
firing of the teacher. His impact on the students is confirmed, however,
in a poignant farewell scene, proving the entire story worth the while.
Though highly respected and awarded at the time of its release, Dead
Poets Society has always rubbed some audiences the wrong way with
its morbidly overwrought melodrama and caricatures. The 1980's were a
time of remarkable success for Weir, who often turned to French composer
Maurice Jarre for his film scores. This music came at a time when Jarre
had largely abandoned the classical orchestral magnificence that had
defined his earlier career. His experimentation in synthesizers was not
entirely surprising, as such was the popular trend in films during the
1980's. But he simply wasn't that good at writing compelling music for
electronics, his ability to tell stories via his scores diminished
greatly by the consistently muted keyboarding that left many of his
listeners cold. Fortunately, Dead Poets Society marked a literal
redirection of this sound at the time, Jarre using both sides of his
career to pivot from the synthetics and minimalism dominant in much of
the work to a monumental, fully orchestral cue at the end that not only
represented the lesson learned in the story, but an important transition
for Jarre himself. The judiciously spotted score for Dead Poets
Society isn't particularly overwhelming until that final scene,
serving its purpose dutifully but doing so with subtle and sparse
pastoral restraint in its character passages and ambient synthetics in
its slightly more suspenseful portions. Don't expect any significant
dose of complexity in the score, its constructs and instrumentation
simple by design to match the heart of the tale.
Jarre's synthetic portions of
Dead Poets Society
will sound fairly similar to his preceding score for Weir's
Witness, emerging fully only in "To the Cave" but lending
important opening context to "Keating's Triumph." Such material is
basically sufficient as a somewhat alien presence in the otherwise
proper prep school atmosphere. But musically speaking, it doesn't
attempt much more than that, a rambling motif in the middle of "To the
Cave" not explored elsewhere with any satisfaction. Otherwise, the work
is wholly defined by its main theme for the campus and characters, which
debuts almost immediately in "Care Diem" on an electronic wind
instrument. A slightly Celtic tune helmed by a meandering nine-note
opening figure, this theme is pleasant but by no means memorable. Its
performances through many of the character scenes are overly consistent
and lack much emotional variety, performed solely by dulcimer and harp
throughout "Care Diem" when the electronic wind instrument isn't
present. For "Neal," the boy who ultimately takes his own life, Jarre
supplies the same theme but shifts it over to a flute with the harp and
dulcimer in supporting roles. No other instruments occupy that
collection of cues. Anyone investigating this score, however, will
likely be doing so because of the closing scene of reverence and
defiance by the teacher's students as he clears out his classroom of
belongings. In "Keating's Triumph," Jarre begins with the synthesizers
in support of the dulcimer performing the theme in slightly discordant
tones. After a minute, however, the composer finally introduces a full
orchestra, allowing strings and woodwinds to layer on top of the
synthetics to form a more heroic take on the main theme. The timpani in
this long crescendo match the footsteps of the students as they stand up
for the teacher, culminating in a bagpipe performance of ultimate
defiance for the theme. By the time snare rhythms join those bagpipes,
the effect is a bit overplayed, and it will be guaranteed to annoy
anyone not inclined to appreciate bagpipes in the first place since
their presence is so sudden. But this climax fulfills the theme's Celtic
inclinations and offers the theme a alternately English interlude
sequence at 1:52, 3:22, and 4:34 that is an overdue dramatic exploration
in the otherwise totally static theme. This one cue dominates the score
and stands as the sole highlight of the album presentation. Only 16
minutes of original score from
Dead Poets Society has been
released in four tracks that usually combine multiple cues. Several
iterations of these tracks from Varèse Sarabande and Milan
Records combined this music with other Jarre music for Weir films.
Despite its effective posture in the film, though, this particular score
doesn't hold up as well on its own, the final cue appropriate for
compilation appreciation only.
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