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Review of Great Expectations (Patrick Doyle)
FILMTRACKS RECOMMENDS:
Buy it... if you have an open mind for Patrick Doyle's most diverse
score, ranging from a monumental operatic aria to percussively cool
rhythms under alluring female vocals.
Avoid it... if you require a strong sense of cohesion in your scores, because Great Expectations is a stylistic whirlwind.
FILMTRACKS EDITORIAL REVIEW:
Great Expectations: (Patrick Doyle) Whether
director Alfonso Cuaron succeeded in translating Charles Dickens'
classic tale to modern day America remains debated, though the film
separates itself from similar attempts in Romeo + Juliet and
Clueless with Cuaron's thought-provoking loyalty to the original
story. Fans of the more famous David Lean version from 1946 could be
horrified, however, and poor chemistry between leads is a major
disappointment. A lack of clear identity did not only plague the
performances by Ethan Hawke and Gwyneth Paltrow, but also haunts
composer Patrick Doyle's score for the film as well. Both Great
Expectations and Quest for Camelot came at a time of personal
hardship for Doyle. The composer's battle with leukemia made these
scores something of a personal triumph, and while both exist for films
that failed to catch the mainstream eye, their standalone qualities made
1998 among the best years the composer has ever had. Both these scores
ran into some trouble with the fragmented personalities of their films,
and Great Expectations suffered in particular. The production's
balance between classical and modern messages about societal mores
caused Doyle to attempt perhaps an impossibly equal balance in the score
itself. And while his score makes valiant strides towards that end, and
it has undeniably attractive highlights on album, it's interesting to
speculate about the possible mismatches between some of Doyle stylistic
choices and the film itself. The music for Great Expectations is
an absolutely serious, almost Shakespearean (appropriately for Doyle)
version of Eric Serra's outrageous The Fifth Element from the
previous year. Before you claim blasphemy after reading that connection,
especially for you Doyle fans who don't want to hear any comparison
between his achievements and Serra's, the wild diversity within the
score is the primary reason for that comment. Despite the plethora of
solid Doyle scores through the years, the composer has rarely touched so
many different styles of music in one film. Even in his more flamboyant
moments, like Blow Dry or Calendar Girls, fans don't
really hear the kind of imaginative stream-of-consciousness that
prevails in Great Expectations.
With this lack of a central personality in mind, if you're seeking a coherent listening experience, then Great Expectations could drive you nuts. If you break the score down into its many parts, however, there are plenty of individual cues that will both please and surprise a novice Doyle collector. The diversity in its impressive assembly of contributing performers, as well as fantastic shifts in style and genre from cue to cue, create the mystical and romantic whole that Doyle was attempting to achieve. Among these performers are a whistler, several well-known vocalists, and a famous guitarist, all of whom contribute with glorious precision. Merged with a powerful orchestral presence and a bank of synthesizers, Great Expectations sounds magnificent in almost each of its cues. Its themes can be described the same way, but their employment, outside of the idea for Paltrow's Estella, is haphazard. The theme for Hawke's Finn is nebulous and carefree, defined by the textures of vocals and a whistler perhaps appropriate for the artist's uncertain career and lifestyle. A theme for Robert DeNiro's character of Lustig, the escaped criminal, builds to heartbreakingly powerful renditions in "Benefactor" and "Lustig Dies" in the middle of the score, two of the orchestra's most robust performances. But the theme for Estella is easily the highlight of the score, changing in intensity to match Finn's pursuit of her throughout the first half of the story. This theme is largely the domain of guitarist John Williams (no relation to the composer) in "Estella's Theme" and "A Walk in the Park," though its two most vibrant performances come in completely disparate packages. The most famous scene from the film (and cue from the score) is "Kissing in the Rain," during which a dainty harpsichord rhythm is overtaken by modern bass and percussion while the striking voice of Mariam Stockley carries the theme. This performance would go on to be used in several trailers for future productions and remains a chilling highlight of the score. The cue "The Day All My Dreams Came True" offers this theme in a lush, layered string movement that greatly matches Finn's achievement in the story. The theme for Estella would go largely unused later in the score, unfortunately. An interesting sub-theme for Estella is also introduced in the middle of "Estella's Theme" and end of "A Walk in the Park." Far more dramatic, this completely distinct idea seems to represent the high society from which the character comes, and receives a resounding operatic performance by the famed Kiri Te Kanawa in "I Saw No Shadow of Another Parting," a cue recorded separately from the remainder of the score. The switching between vocalists in the score is one of its more curious aspects. The voices of Tori Amos, Janis Kelly, Kiri Te Kanawa, and Miriam Stockley all grace Great Expectations, and each carries her cues with magnificent elegance. The whistling by Carey Wilson is a nice touch, if underutilized. Later in the score, the electronic elements begin to take hold. The eerie "Planes on a Plane" combines a stark synthetic rhythm with Kelly's operatic voice in a fashion very similar to Graeme Revell's later score for Red Planet. The back-to-back cues "The Price of Success" and "Underfloor" add an EWI to the mix for an intriguingly exotic effect. The first of those cues in particular offers a beautiful performance of a sub-theme on trumpet over the rhythm and full ensemble that is a second major highlight of the score. The trumpet solos here are another obvious connection to Doyle's Blow Dry. The album concludes with a few source recordings and the Spanish love song "Besame Mucho," which, despite having no connection to Doyle's score, is an attractive and fluid addition to the album. When you step back and try to analyze Doyle's work for Great Expectations, it's hard to ignore the fact that the score lacks a central identity. But in its consistently gracious performances, the music has a definite heart that will appeal to open-minded listeners. The score's 45 minutes on album has the unfortunate effect of moving too quickly between the various genres it touches upon, and Doyle fans will be left wanting far more explorations of several of the styles and themes. It's a score that requires significant rearrangement to put the performances by Stockley, Williams, and Kelly into some sense of order, as well as the mighty orchestral portions in the middle of the album. Stockley's "Kissing in the Rain" cue is a short highlight of the entire year and adds goosebumps to an already memorable score. ****
TRACK LISTINGS:
Total Time: 50:19
NOTES & QUOTES:
The insert contains extensive credits and notes from the composer and director
(including an entertaining story about Doyle in an Amsterdam piano shop).
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The reviews and other textual content contained on the filmtracks.com site may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of Christian Clemmensen at Filmtracks Publications. All artwork and sound clips from Great Expectations are Copyright © 1998, Atlantic Records and cannot be redistributed without the label's expressed written consent. Page created 1/19/98 and last updated 3/28/08. |
