Filmtracks Traffic Rank: #1,314
Written 9/25/01, Revised 2/10/09
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Buy it... if you appreciate Christopher Young's suspense scores that anchor
themselves with a solid melodic presence and the melancholy performances of a
solo piano.
Avoid it... if the grim and anxious environment of such scores is too
overbearing in tone to relax to the seven minutes of purely harmonic thematic
exploration in this work.
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The Glass House: (Christopher Young) The brainless storyline
of 2001's The Glass House involves the adoption of two teenagers by a couple
who were the best friends of the kids' parents before they were promptly disposed
of early in the film via the typical car crash scenario. Making matters worse is a
creepy cliff-side house on the ocean where the adopting couple becomes the target
of the surviving teen girl's suspicion of foul play. Could it be that these
adoptive parents are actually diabolical agents of evil poised to steal the
considerable fortune left behind for the kids? It's not a unique story-line, but
the setting plays a minor role in how veteran composer Christopher Young chose to
approach the scoring of the film. The methodology of suspense was no stranger to
Young, whose long and busy career had already been highlighted by several popular
scores in that genre. It is this area in which Young garnered his fame, and while
he may have increasingly experimented in other genres as his career matured, he has
never lost his touch for orchestral fright. Granted, he hasn't produced a score
with the overwhelming brute force of Hellraiser II in many years, but works
such as Copycat, Species, and The Glass House offer an
intelligently balanced alternative to the usual slasher scoring techniques heard in
countless low budget productions of the genre. There is nothing flashy about
Young's score for The Glass House, but not only is it sure to impress the
veteran composer's fan base, it also extends a hand to listeners otherwise repulsed
the predictability of the application of dissonance in such scores. Young's
suspense scores sometimes contain two elements that the composer has utilized to
the point of mastery, and The Glass House features both. First, the role of
the piano is prominent in the majority of the score. The cliff-side setting of the
house, along with the grand vista of the ocean offered through its enormous
windows, present the tumultuous sea in all of its glory and chaos, and Young
counters by creating a fluid movement in his trademark melancholy piano
compositions. The expressions of the title theme for the film, exhibited
impressively in the opening and final tracks on the album presentation, include
piano performances that wander as elegantly but unpredictably as the ocean itself,
and they offer an aural enhancement of the slow, but momentous build-up of
suspicion in the plot. Unfortunately, the piano doesn't figure into many of the
cues in between, replaced by a cello in a few places, but the identity of the score
is still clearly established in the piano's domain.
Regardless of the lack of the piano's employment in the
mid-section of the work, the eight to ten minutes of thematic statements on the
instrument in "The Glass House" and "This Too Shall Pass" (as well as a few
singular passages in adjoining cues) will easily be the highlight of the score for
almost all listeners. The second element which Young relies upon heavily in
The
Glass House is the use of very high pitched strings to elevate tension in the
soundscape. Few composers can use a string section to create an eerie feeling quite
like Young, and there is an abundance of quivering violin work at their extreme
high ranges throughout all of
The Glass House. When the strings and piano
combine their efforts, they often form a remarkable duo. The closing cue, complete
with a lovely piano and flute pairing, represents Young's trademark knack for
morbid harmony at its very best, and collectors of his music will consider it prime
easy listening. While the melody may be stark and lacking in any kind of true,
personal touch, it is glorious in its soft and grim anxiety, climaxing in the form
of a slight waltz in its final minutes. The mass of less outwardly harmonic
material in the middle tracks of the album is rendered with a minimalistic touch
suitable for the basic atmosphere of the psychological turmoil on screen. There are
only a small handful of exploding, full-blown terror scenes in
The Glass
House, and likewise Young's score only suffers from two or three extended cues
of harsh, dissonant blasts of brass and shrieking of strings in typical horror
fashion. The choppy nature of these cues is as difficult as always, and along with
the rather bland personality of the majority of this music, the album is ultimately
a mixed bag. However, you cannot discredit Young for the effective suspense
material throughout
The Glass House, even if you are only drawn to the dark
and depressing expressions of melody at the bookends. While the score never gained
the same kind of widespread, long-term respect that
Copycat built over time,
it likely deserves such attention. Because Young did not take any chances with this
score, it could be just another footnote in his career for those who don't find
much of interest in his comparable material. The final track of
The Glass
House would make a fabulous compilation piece, however it should be noted that
the score disappeared from the Varèse Sarabande label's catalog and
therefore has not enjoyed such treatment. If you aren't entirely sure about your
tolerance of Young's suspense scores, then the full album may not be recommended.
And if you believe in bad karma, then take note of the album's release date.
Otherwise, don't hesitate to indulge.
*** @Amazon.com: CD or
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Bias Check:
For Christopher Young reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3.48
(in 27 reviews) and the average viewer rating is 3.17
(in 10,923 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.
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