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Hamlet
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Composed and Co-Produced by:
Conducted by:
Robert Ziegler
Orchestrated by:
Lawrence Ashmore
John Bell
Co-Produced by:
Maggie Rodford
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LABEL & RELEASE DATE
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ALBUM AVAILABILITY
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Regular U.S. release.
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AWARDS
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Nominated for an Academy Award.
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ALSO SEE
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Buy it... if you appreciate Patrick Doyle's consistent quality of
orchestral respect and seek one of his more varied and percussively
creative scores, even if it fails to generate the gravity of melodrama
expected for this play's convoluted plotline.
Avoid it... if the composer's tepid attempts to address the
character-centric thematic core of the topic will fail to adequately
generate the tension and conflict you expect for any musical
representation of this play.
BUY IT
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Hamlet (1996): (Patrick Doyle) While directing
Henry V and Much Ado About Nothing and co-starring in
Othello, actor, screenwriter, and director Kenneth Branagh had
always dreamt of bringing an ultimate version of William Shakespeare's
famed "Hamlet" to the big screen. Through history, actors such as John
Gielgud, Richard Burton, Laurence Olivier, and Mel Gibson had appeared
in the title role, and Branagh was prepared to tackle the same challenge
with all the authenticity that the original story conveyed. Unlike the
other interpretations of the story, Branagh's Hamlet of 1996 was
meant feature every word of dialogue from the play, causing a massive
running time of over four hours that would necessitate an intermission.
Despite this length, Branagh's idea worked, the film providing a much
more rounded and understandable tapestry than shorter interpretations.
Also of note is the fact that Branagh doesn't force the story to brood
in despair, allowing for the more positive moments to shine clearly.
Reception of the movie by audiences was cool if only because of the
massive running time, but an outstanding international cast led the film
to critical success and several Oscar nominations for art direction,
costumes, screenplay, and Patrick Doyle's score. By 1996, Doyle's career
was almost inseparable from Branagh's works, with only Ang Lee's
Sense and Sensibility from the previous year standing out as a
noteworthy exception. His children's adventure scores of the early
1990's were nearly anonymous and difficult to obtain on album. Doyle's
music for Branagh's productions had always been appropriately lyrical
and romantic, though often restrained in scope out of respect for the
constant overlying dialogue that was usually the purpose of his films.
With Hamlet, the size of the picture, as well as several
flashback scenes without original dialogue, allowed Doyle to unleash the
full force of his orchestra in the fashion of Frankenstein and
his other horror works. At the same time, Doyle was instructed to
produce fanfares worthy of the monarchy of Denmark, with melodic
resonance expressed at levels not yet heard from the composer. The odd
thing about his perspective on Hamlet however, is that despite
this great opportunity, Doyle wrote one of the more disjointed and
confused scores of his career, one of hidden structural torment that may
not be particularly easy to grasp for casual listeners.
Doyle's usual keen sense of lyricism in Hamlet
will provide enough cohesion in the score for some enthusiasts of the
composer. But he doesn't very clearly express the totality of his
thematic identities, usually content to intellectualize them to the
point of subtle sterility. Even with this plethora of interesting
characters, high drama, and ghostly politics, Doyle's end result is a
whole lot of great ideas that start and die, leaving the score in sum to
be lacking in any overarching identity outside of its demeanor. The
primary theme for the titular character, a "simple" one by Doyle's
admission, is remarkably similar to thematic constructs for his much
lesser scores, heard best in the opening, finale, and closing cues of
Hamlet. It interestingly shows little remorse or even beauty, for
that matter, and it proves difficult to adapt to the contemplative
moments of the lead character's soliloquies. Doyle also wrote themes for
Claudius and Ophelia, however neither of these themes is enunciated to
effective levels and they are typically developed only in the stewing of
the tense string section and occasional woodwind fragments. There is
still more depth to Doyle's ensemble here than in previous Shakespearean
scores by the composer, with "The Ghost" (among other cues) providing
outstanding rips of percussion and brass. At the very least, Doyle does
accomplish the weight needed to anchor this level of drama, and because
of his constant layering of strings, the score suffices at maintaining
the necessary tone. But the audience will be confronted by fragments of
themes and other motifs, one of which is surprisingly similar to what
Basil Poledouris would write for Les Misérables not long
after, that never congeal into a delineated, larger canvas, and
disappointment sets in as those ideas never reach fruition. Only the
main theme, with its grand choral finale, reaches back to the elegance
of Henry V to close out the score. Placido Domingo's performance
of that theme, "In Pace," is restrained also by the same lack of
orchestral power and enthusiasm that haunts portions of the rest of the
score. In short, Hamlet, more than any other Shakespearean work
(except Othello, maybe), needs strong, obvious musical identity
for several characters, and the opportunity to weave those ideas
together with obvious contempt and passion is sadly missed here. In the
end, for much of its length, the result soothes the listener as did
Sense and Sensibility, which speaks directly to the weakness in
orchestration, performance, and overall realization of Hamlet.
This score teases but fails to deliver on the gravitas of the topic.
*** @Amazon.com: CD or
Download
| Bias Check: |
For Patrick Doyle reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3.84
(in 32 reviews)
and the average viewer rating is 3.44
(in 26,327 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.
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National tragedy Expand >>
Marc - December 31, 2005, at 10:49 p.m. |
3 comments (5944 views)
Newest: March 1, 2006, at 10:05 p.m. by
Jockolantern |
Total Time: 76:25
• 1. In Pace - performed by Placido Domingo (3:07)
• 2. Fanfare (0:48)
• 3. "All that lives must die" (2:40)
• 4. "To thine own self be true" (3:04)
• 5. The Ghost (9:55)
• 6. "Give me up the truth" (1:05)
• 7. "What a piece of work is a man" (1:50)
• 8. "What players are they" (1:33)
• 9. "Out out thou strumpet fortune" (3:11)
• 10. "To be or not to be" (1:53)
• 11. "I loved you once" (3:27)
• 12. "Oh, what a noble mind" (2:41)
• 13. "If once a widow" (3:36)
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• 14. "Now could I drink hot blood" (6:57)
• 15. "A foolish prating nave" (1:05)
• 16. "Oh heavy deed" (0:56)
• 17. "Oh here they come" (4:39)
• 18. "My thoughts be bloody" (2:52)
• 19. "The doors are broke" (1:20)
• 20. "And will 'a not come again?" (1:59)
• 21. "Alas poor Yorick" (2:49)
• 22. "Sweets to the sweet - farewell" (4:39)
• 23. "Give me your pardon sir" (1:24)
• 24. "Part them they are incensed" (1:47)
• 25. "Goodnight, sweet prince" (3:36)
• 26. "Go bid the soldiers shoot" (2:52)
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The insert includes detailed information from Patrick Doyle and
Kenneth Branagh about the score and film, as well as lyrics for "In Pace."
Excerpts from the notes are as follows:
"In this score Patrick Doyle attempted the most difficult of things for
an artist - simplicity. His challenge was to write music that would serve
the words and yet, over the course of the film, could build a profound
resonance in itself. As with our other Shakespearean work we wanted the
instant accessibility that Patrick's gift for melody could provide - a
chance to direct the audience's mood through difficult passages, and yet
not patronise the viewer or dilute the power of a scene. I think he has
succeeded superbly well.
As with Henry V and Much Ado About Nothing the score is
unashamedly romantic. Our Hamlet is not presented as a man predisposed to
melancholy. His usual character, described so often in the play, is
vibrant, curious, positive. So it is with the music. We wanted, wherever
possible, to stress the potential for joy in this court. Hence the
wedding fanfares at the beginning of the early court scenes speak of
glorious possibility, of a relationship between Claudius and Gertrude
which could be full of hope, and a bright new era for the Danish nation.
Only we, the audience, and Hamlet himself suspect otherwise. This
contrast, expressed through music, between the darkness of Hamlet's mood
and the potential for happiness in the lives of the other characters was
something we pursued constantly.
Thus we play the sweetness of the Ophelia/Laertes relationship, the
genuineness of the passion between Hamlet and Opheha, and the tenderness
of Hamlet's relationship with his father, as positively as we can.
We resisted Gothic notions of a permanently gloomy Elsinore. For me, the
Play is partly a search (through Hamlet's extraordinary mind) for what
makes life worth living. When afforded a glimpse of those things that
occasionally inspire Hamlet - love, friendship, the theatre - I wanted
the music to soar with Hamlet's temporary optimism and hope. And finally,
I wanted the audience to leave, not depressed, but shaken by an emotional
catharsis that the music would support in the most full-blooded way.
Aside from the great choral finale, Patrick gives us a beautiful funeral
elegy. "In Pace" is sung (to our honour and delight) by Placido Domingo.
That miraculous voice, expressing with such delicacy lyrics from The Book
of Wisdorn, sends our hero on his way with a touching dignity. His
journey, reflected in the musical score, resolves itself into a peace,
which he has pursued throughout the film. We are moved to accept the
tragic inevitability of his fate. It seems to me that, through his score,
Patrick has realised a very fine musical response to the play. It has
lifted the rest of our work in a way I could scarcely hope for, and I
thank him for his remarkable talent."
"The three principal thematic ideas upon which the score is built are
those that reflect the characters of Claudius, Ophelia and, of course,
Hamlet.
The simple, childlike Ophelia melody (first used in track 12) came to me
eventually after watching Kate Winslet on the set and being extremely moved by the
scene in which Ophelia reads Hamlet's letter to her. In the Confessional scene, as
in a number of other scenes, the drama is effectively heightened by
interspersing throughout the action a string quartet (and on occasion, a
quintet), joined by a full string or mixed orchestra.
Claudius' theme (stated in its entirety in the Confessional scene - end
of track 14) takes the score much further into the realm of 20th-century
harmonies; in addition, to compliment Claudius' dark, troubled soul, I
decided on a canon as the most dramatic musical device with which to
create a feeling of continued restlessness. This canonic theme ultimately
provides the basis for most of the driving material and serves as a
musical means of linking Hamlet, his father and Claudius.
Hamlet's theme proved to be the most daunting and elusive; the score
could not develop until this materialised. I lost count of how many times
I stared helplessly at the last scene before the 'simple' theme reared
its salvatory head. The song 'In Pace' clearly weaves together the themes
of Hainlet and Ophelia. To have it performed by Placido Domingo, one of
the great voices of the century, was a tremendous privilege.
I had such a happy experience throughout this assignment. The quality of the
performances along with all the technical crafts were a constant
inspiration. In my opinion, it is unquestionably Kenneth Branagh's
greatest work for the cinema, both as a Director and especially as
Hamlet. I only hope that my contribution has helped Ken in realising what
I consider for him to be a remarkable personal achievement.
With deepest admiration I would like to dedicate this score to Kenneth
Branagh. I should also like to dedicate 'In Pace' in memory of
Rhona."
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