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Review of Finders of the Lost Yacht (Panu Aaltio)
FILMTRACKS RECOMMENDS:
Buy it... if you need music for good cheer, Panu Aaltio's
outrageously fun and exuberant children's adventure spirit in this short
but catchy whirlwind full of swashbuckling zeal.
Avoid it... if you tire quickly of unyieldingly positive music from this genre, its tone sometimes diminished by synthetic sweetening to its moderate orchestral presence.
FILMTRACKS EDITORIAL REVIEW:
Finders of the Lost Yacht (Pertsa & Kilu): (Panu
Aaltio) The children's stories of Pertsa and Kilu date back more than
half a century in Finland, and they've inspired a myriad of movies,
television shows, and plays during that time. A veteran of family movies
in that country, director Taavi Vartia brought the adventures of the two
boys to the screen in 2021, enjoying enough success to generate
discussion of direct sequels. The boys pass time in their Finish seaside
town by living mysteries, chases, and exploration with the help of
imaginative inventions that lead them to the skies and above and below
the sea. In the 2021 film, released as Pertsa & Kilu in Finland
but known internationally as Finders of the Lost Yacht, the boys'
friendship is tested when one of their families is facing the prospect
of moving away due to local industry shifts. They plunge even further
into their fantastic journeys as a result, determined to solve the crime
of a local bank and jewelry theft so they can use the reward money (and
anything else they can pilfer along the way) to aid their families and
finance their endeavors. Children not bothered by fallacies of logic
love these stories, and, fortunately, composer Panu Aaltio doesn't let
adult logic hamper his enthusiasm for the topic, either. The ascendant
Aaltio had collaborated with Vartia several times by this point, with
the score for The Island of Secrets serving as a trial run for
Finders of the Lost Yacht and related ventures. The improvement
in Aaltio's writing since the serviceable but not spectacular The
Island of Secrets is considerable, and listeners only familiar with
his widely-recognized, often fantastic music for nature documentaries
should investigate his children's genre work. In 2021, his scores for
Finders of the Lost Yacht and The Potato Venture both
exhibit extraordinarily positive spirit that is a welcome relief at a
time of pandemic stress. The personality of Finders of the Lost
Yacht is particularly stubborn in how it refuses to compromise on
its ebullient demeanor, proving itself to be one of the most dynamically
vivacious listening experiences in the children's genre during its
era.
There have been several comparisons to John Williams' 1980's adventure scores when describing Aaltio's retro-swashbuckling mode, but that description is not entirely accurate. While the underlying liveliness and orchestral scope is the same, Aaltio's music stays lighter on its feet, throwing fewer weighty orchestrations at you and a hint of jazzy swing in his progressions. The score for Finders of the Lost Yacht charms with its zealousness more than it impresses with its size, though it's written with aspirations of scope that are sometimes betrayed by the composer's mixing techniques. A lingering criticism of Aaltio's music is his struggle to find the right balance between his recording of organic instruments and his virtual sweeteners, the result offering authentic solos over an occasionally synthetically unsatisfying sound in fuller ensemble passages. For Finders of the Lost Yacht, he did record with a moderate orchestral group, Kymi Sinfonietta, and individual performances do shine. The loudest passages do tend to have a synthetic feel to their sound, however, much of that nagging inauthenticity coming from the awkward sounding timpani that sometimes rampages during major thematic statements. For some listeners, this unsettled balance of real and embellished sound will disqualify the score, but as with Tale of a Lake five years earlier, such dismissal doesn't recognize that the underlying composition and the tone of its rendering are absolutely perfect. The unyielding enthusiasm of this score is everything one can ask for in children's adventure music, Aaltio supplying a trio of prominent themes, a slew of excellent solo performances, particularly by woodwinds, and a handful of outrageously engaging full-ensemble expressions of grandeur. A combination of propulsion from string rhythms and jazz-laced progressions for woodwinds and brass keep the pace brisk for much of the score. Even the darker portions of the score flip in an instant to their major-key counterparts, the atmosphere always tethered to sprightly persistence. There are moments of outright coolness in the score where electronic elements make an entrance, and more of these would have been welcomed. But Aaltio seems content to rely on his xylophone and celeste-tapping genre conventions, and with the ocean and skies playing a major role in the story, the themes all find themselves soaring by the end of the work. Aaltio's nearly omnipresent themes for Finders of the Lost Yacht include a dominant main identity for the boys' world, a secondary idea for family, and an excitement theme often applied as counterpoint. A pursuit theme is a de facto villain identity, but with the story really concentrating on the two lead boys, it's more for the gravity of their chase. The main theme is all over the score, and it's here that Aaltio supplies vintage jazzy swing into his progressions to crank up the exuberance factor. The idea debuts at 1:21 into "Open Sea" on low flute, building at 2:36 for the fuller ensemble. It opens "Main Title" softly, shifts to an urgent mode later with action snippets starting at 1:58 eventually leading to one short, redemptive phrase. Returning at 0:16 into "Adventure," the main theme really shines by the cheerful bassoon performance over chipper string rhythms at 1:09 into "Operation Griffin" that are overtaken by the group at 1:46. Hyper variants during the first half of the monumentally engrossing "Homemade Flight" turn frenetic in later action and close the cue with another redemptive statement to cap the work's top three minutes. Similarly happy renditions emerge in the middle of "Calming Seas" while action fragments occupy the middle of "Stolen Truck" and "Building the Submarine." A heroic brass variant of the main theme opens "A New Member," strings and clarinet smoothly extend the idea, and Aaltio keenly slows the tempo for woodwinds in the anticipation at 0:22 into "The Thief." It bursts with zeal at 0:13 into "Solving the Case" and steals away one final solo clarinet moment at 0:41 into "I Will Always Follow You" before its snazzy, full ensemble mode ushers the end of the score at 1:31. Listeners not enthralled by the overwhelmingly flighty spirit of the main theme can appreciate its more romantically fluid B-phrase that reveals itself to be a separate identity for the familial relationships of the story. These are the moments of the score that reach closer to James Horner sentimentality than Williams' swashbuckling bravado, and they can be quite pretty when expressed in full. This theme plays the interlude role well in "Open Sea," offering a sense of wholesome drama at 2:41 and 3:05 on strings. It reprises that duty briefly at 0:43 into "Main Title." The quiet portions of the score often rely on this theme alone, on solo piano during "A Way to Stay," strings and piano to open "Operation Griffin," and with those players extending that tone over the entirety of "Argument" with a touch of sadness. These respites are vital to the balanced album experience. The softer, romantic family theme in Finders of the Lost Yacht evolves into a sizable fantasy identity by the end of the score, opening "Calming Seas" under the excitement motif and really beaming in "I Will Always Follow You," in which it swells on strings at 1:08 with awesome brass counterpoint and returns at 1:39 as a wonderful interlude for the main theme, again with brass on top. The composer's excitement theme is memorable due to its snazzy descending figures on brass, its opening five notes often used as counterpoint during other action, such as at 1:12 and 1:53 into "Open Sea," 1:05 and 1:49 into "Main Title," and 0:10 and 0:46 into "Adventure." It expands its structure on menacing low strings at the start of "Storm Brewing," shifts to brass anticipation later, and becomes another interlude to the main theme at 0:40 into "Homemade Flight." The excitement theme opens "Calming Seas" over the family theme, figures in hints late in "A New Member" and "The Thief," and finally reveals its entire form at the outset of "I Will Always Follow You." The pursuit theme anchors the darker, anxious, and worried moments as at 1:51 into "Storm Brewing" and 1:16 into "Calming Seas," with slight guitar accompaniment in the latter. It matures as a major swirl of force to open "The Thief," returning on horns at 0:33 and enjoying really good development throughout the middle of the cue. Solo bassoon over chopping strings presents the pursuit theme at 0:34 into "Solving the Case," later rotating to flute and horns, with a large and ominous performance to close out the cue. Lesser motifs do figure, as in one for challenges at 1:43 into "Main Title" (brief on brass over swirling strings) and 2:11 into "Homemade Flight" (amongst the main theme in action). A related idea closes "Operation Griffin." Conversely, a singular noble motif highlights "Open Sea" on brass at 3:18. The hip, electronically-aided moments are actually too infrequent, lending some technological coolness late in "Adventure" on electric bass and generating a unique twist on the main theme with cool bass rhythms in "Building the Submarine." A totally funky outburst in "Detective Paavola" at the end of the album presentation is rousingly retro. Overall, Finders of the Lost Yacht exhibits truly excellent writing throughout, its lines intelligent and its themes catchy. The "Homemade Flight" cue is outrageously fun. There's a ton of great material packed into such a short score, and that brevity, along with the occasional synthetic edge in fuller moments, remain the score's only major weaknesses. One can only imagine how awesome this score would sound with a larger live ensemble. Still, if you need a score to supply you good cheer, look no further. ****
TRACK LISTINGS:
Total Time: 34:29
NOTES & QUOTES:
There exists no official packaging for this album.
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