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The precocious zaniness heard in Enola Holmes is the kind of maddeningly funny but borderline insufferable tone that Danny Elfman explored during the 1980's in his film music, but Pemberton takes mannerisms from the likes of John Williams and Max Richter and tosses them into this salad as well. The exuberance factor cannot be ignored, as it infuses a modern touch of carefree hipness into an otherwise classical environment. The resulting face punch may be too contrived for some listeners, especially with the overblown crescendos all over the place (the "Train Escape" even has two!), but you can't help but admire Pemberton's panache even if you find the album a challenging experience. Conventional orchestral colors are the basis for bulk of the score, that alone a deviation for the composer, and the oboe, harp, and piano in particular are highlighted. A gypsy element fuels inevitable comparisons to Hans Zimmer's Sherlock Holmes music, though these connections are rare in the score. Solo contributions from accordion, banjo, dulcimer, fiddle, pipe organ, celeste, harpsichord, and acoustic guitar are joined by an ethereal female vocal to offer a culture clash of sounds that Pemberton is happy to oblige. The orchestrations and placement of each soloist are truly accomplished in Enola Holmes, the composer's refusal to abide by instrumental conventions a favorable proposition with the full ensemble as a base. With these players, Pemberton sets out to force several rhythms and themes against each other in largely tonal and accessible ways. His three primary themes for the score, joined by a siren call for Enola's mother, are not omnipresent, nor are they always developed to the extent that you would hope for, but the composer still succeeds quite well in his narrative attributions. The main theme for Enola herself is not the most frequently referenced idea, but it cranks up the charm factor so much that you won't soon forget it. The theme is built upon a corresponding rhythmic figure for the character that sometimes carries over as a base under other themes. The score opens and closes with the oboe as the heart of this theme, heard at 1:09 into "Enola Holmes (Wild Child)" and closing out the cue. It continues in fuller ensemble form at 0:11 into "Mycroft & Sherlock Holmes" over the same rhythm, culminating in one of the score's many momentous finales to a cue. The theme is slowed significantly in "Fields of London" for more romantic strings but returns to its original enthusiasm at the start and end of "School Escape," splashing with a massive crescendo, of course.

The main Enola theme is sadly missing from much of the middle of the Enola Holmes score, but it offers its zealous joy to "Ha!" over acoustic guitar rhythms and wraps the affair with a huge symphonic version bolstered by commendable brass renditions in "Enola Holmes (The Future is Up to Us)." Not coincidentally, the solo oboe is reprised at the end for a soft resolution. In between these cues is the score's more frequently stated thematic identity, that of mystery and the search for Enola's mother. The mystery theme proves itself more malleable over the long haul, and it's even capable of exhibiting the same bouncy charm as the main theme with its own underlying rhythmic formations. This mystery theme opens the score at 0:17 into "Enola Holmes (Wild Child)" as a preview and serves the same role on flute at 0:08 into "Gifts From Mother." The theme matures in "Cracking the Chrysanthemums Cypher," using celeste and glockenspiel with the sense of Williams deviousness, raising memories of everything from The Witches of Eastwick to the Harry Potter scores. The theme adopts the Enola rhythm in "The Game is Afoot," once again building to a huge finale. A lively gypsy arrangement in "London Arrival" is followed by a flute opening to "Limehouse Lane" amongst swirling accompaniment in true Williams style. An early reference to the mystery theme in "Fight Combat" yields to insane rhythmic material and another major statement that builds to silly crescendo at the end. "Forest Clues" also uses this theme over the Enola rhythm, and it explodes at 1:35 into "School Escape," blown up to massive proportions and another grand finale. A lovely variant of this idea is explored by solo piano at outset of "An Old Friend," a hidden highlight of the score that envelops some of the siren call motif's progressions and continues its character into "Mother." At times related to this theme is that siren call motif for the mother, distinguished by its solo female vocals and similarly serving the same general purpose of loss and search as "Scully's Serenade" in Mark Snow's later "The X-Files" seasons. Its presence is established late in "Gifts From Mother" and "Cracking the Chrysanthemums Cypher" and returns at 0:38 into "Limehouse Lane." It is developed into more of a theme on strings in "Making a Lady," with the vocals return at the end. There's a slight reference at the end of "Tick Tock" (before... guess what? A big finale!), and it wafts through the start of "For England" before morphing into the love theme. As it receives resolution in "Mother" with voice over piano, the idea is undeniably and absolutely heartbreaking.

The last major theme from Pemberton in Enola Holmes represents the boyish Lord Tewkesbury and the affection that Enola develops for him. Hints of the underlying waltz occur during their meeting in "Nincompoop." The idea is initially expressed in full by the gypsy side of the score, "Marquis" defining the melody with these elements before a very attractive tone prevails by the end of that cue. Even more quirky style presents the theme in "Dressing Up Box." The love theme is pretty on piano, woodwinds, and strings in "Tewkesbury's Trail" over Enola's rhythm but finds its destiny starting at 1:36 on subtle celeste and voice in "For England." The gorgeous "Enola & Tewkesbury Farewell" offers the identity on solo piano and finally lifts Enola's rhythm to turn the theme into an extension of hers. Not surprisingly, the cue ends in with bloated ensemble swell. Outside these thematic statements, the Enola Holmes score supplies several unique moments worth mentioning, including its fleeting action, suspense, and horror passages. The second half of "Limehouse Lane" is totally brutal in tone, the closest to pure horror here, and ambitious action rhythms build to huge crescendos of force in "Train Escape" and "Escaping Lestrade," the latter with flutes performed after their players must have eaten bowls of chili peppers. As an instrumental aside, the acoustic guitar and saxophone additions in "Messages For Mother" are quite amusing. Likewise, the organ, bassoons, and outrageous classicism of "Basilwether Hall" are humorously bad, but they do mutilate the love theme intelligently. "Edge of a Cliff" goes full Max Richter in its violin rhythms (before... guess what? A big finale!), and "Tick Tock" is a throwback Pemberton sound effects cue with ominously growling orchestral textures. Altogether, Enola Holmes is a mixture of incredibly inventive, engaging, and enthusiastic attitude and insanely disjointed instrumental quirkiness. When this score excels, it enthralls you, breaks your heart, and piques your intellectual interest. When it tries your patience, it's usually doing so as Pemberton tries to be too cute with one of his endless crescendos of pomposity or gets sidetracked by the darker passages. When you evaluate these two tendencies of the score together, however, the positives far outweigh the negatives. On album, the presentation may benefit from abandoning any attempt to program a chronological narrative organization and instead place the Enola theme's portions together in one group, the love theme and mother material in another, and the mystery theme's boisterous variants in one more. The score has outstanding cues throughout but needs some care when admiring its explosively wild ride outside of the film.  ****   @Amazon.com: CD or Download

Total Time: 66:31