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Review of The King's Speech (Alexandre Desplat)
FILMTRACKS RECOMMENDS:
Buy it... if you seek a safely pleasant, undemanding, and lyrical
half hour of Alexandre Desplat's more accessible, lightweight drama
style.
Avoid it... if you're an audiophile expecting this score's piano and string performances to feature lively spirit, because the intentionally dull ambience of the recording is a major detraction on album.
FILMTRACKS EDITORIAL REVIEW:
The King's Speech: (Alexandre Desplat) One of the
oddest aspects of speech impediments is the fact that people usually
find them funny if they don't really care about the speaker and aren't
located in the same room with him or her. The more you empathize with
the person, and especially if you're listening to them right in front of
you, the more devastatingly frustrating, uncomfortable, and embarrassing
the affliction can be for everyone. The 2010 Tom Hooper film The
King's Speech tells of one of the last century's more notorious
stammering figures, King George VI of the United Kingdom. Rising to the
throne unexpectedly in the 1930's and forced to rule with resolve
through World War II, the King was terrified of speaking in public,
humiliating himself in front of crowds because of his impediment. With
the assistance of Queen Elizabeth, he acquired the services of
Australian speech therapist Lionel Logue, whose strange methodology and
quirky personality eventually managed to assist the King in largely
overcoming the problem. The two men would become quite close in the
process, and The King's Speech both playfully and seriously
conveys that growing trust. Despite a predictable plot, Hooper's film
was an immediate success in the independent film circuit, gaining
widespread accolades especially for the lead performances of Colin Firth
as the King, Helena Bonham Carter as the Queen, and Geoffrey Rush as
Logue. Becoming the unlikely expert on scoring intimate movies about the
British government (and famous British wizards and witches) is French
composer Alexandre Desplat, who jokes about perhaps being knighted one
day. Having written music for both The Queen and The Special
Relationship, Desplat handles The King's Speech with a
demeanor obviously closer to the previous film. Aside from the humor
inherent in the topic, the trailer for The King's Speech has to
make any enthusiast of Desplat's intellectual musical tendencies laugh.
It employs a selection by the trailer music production house
Audiomachine (the composition "City of Hope") that is so incredibly
modern in its powerful, anthem-like crescendo of ominous strings and
choir that you have to shake your head in bewilderment when comparing
that attitude to what Desplat actually provided the film. Anyone
expecting to hear anything like the trailer's music (which was actually
quite effective if you believe that the King's stammering was going to
by itself allow Hitler to conquer Britain and rule the world for a
thousand years) will be immensely disappointed. Desplat will, however,
please his fans with this score, with a slightly warmer tone than normal
for the composer (and no deep electronic pulses!) yielding a score that
may attract Rachel Portman enthusiasts as well.
The ensemble collected by Desplat for The King's Speech is not far from the Portman norm for films of this sort. The piano is a likeable, accessible element of family life that dominates the score's thematic portions. Behind it is a small orchestral ensemble consisting of strings and a handful of solo woodwinds with little more. The recording of those performers was slightly unconventional for this score. "We recorded at Abbey Road Studios and Pete Cobbin, our sound engineer, found in the EMI archives the 3 Royal microphones," Desplat explains. "George V, George VI, and the Queen mother had microphones made to order for their speeches, beautiful silver crafted microphones that we used to record the score." The ambience therefore conveyed in the score is quite restricted. Desplat described the "gentle veil to the sound" as being "very moving" and "absolutely stunning." One man's affinity for a heavily restricted soundscape, however, may not impress others seeking dynamic sonic range instead of a dull, distant recording. Indeed, the album for The King's Speech features the ambience of a score recorded in the next room over, a disappointment given the life that the piano often exudes when performing the title theme and expressing the more optimistic cues. The primary theme for The King's Speech is a softly flowing, bubbling piano identity that is quite lovely and extends out of a series of stuttering notes on key to represent speech impediment. The "struggling note" motif is heard in "My Kingdom, My Rules," "Queen Elizabeth," and "Fear and Suspicion" while the main theme flourishes in full in "The King's Speech," "The Royal Household," and, after some logical resistance, "Fear and Suspicion." The score's best cue is "The Rehearsal," which opens with hints of this theme on strings before developing into a fluid string and piano rhythm serving as a backdrop for optimistically pretty flute figures (passed off to piano and other woodwinds later in the cue). A few cues feature fuller string performances that access the same minor-third rhythms that highlighted Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part I. In "King George VI" and "The Threat of War," Desplat creates a very low level of tension that doesn't really register any significant sense of dread because of the restricted recording aspects. Those troubles extend to the album's opener, "Lionel and Bertie," which likewise should develop a bond between the King and his therapist but instead forces its strings and woodwinds to a position far from the listener's clear line of hearing. Overall, The King's Speech is an effortless listening experience that, due to the chamber-like ensemble size and/or the obscured recording, will not stir trouble for a moment during its half hour on album (which is rounded off by nine minutes of two Beethoven pieces used for pivotal scenes). Unfortunately, it only inspires in small, conservative doses as well, making it a safe but somewhat unremarkable recommendation.
TRACK LISTINGS:
Total Time: 41:24
NOTES & QUOTES:
The insert includes notes from the composer, director, and recording engineer.
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