Filmtracks: Living in the Age of Airplanes (James Horner)

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Written 9/24/21

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Buy it... if you want to take one last flight with James Horner's music, this documentary's score an optimistic, inspiring, and nostalgic survey of his career trademarks at the end of his life.

Avoid it... if you cannot forgive Horner's dutiful temp track adherence which affects many of this score's most prominent cues.

Horner

Living in the Age of Airplanes: (James Horner) From National Geographic Studios and narrated by Harrison Ford, the documentary Living in the Age of Airplanes by Brian J. Terwilliger surveyed the history of flight's impact on civilizations in monumental IMAX scope. Detailing how airplanes have changed cultures and travel to the far reaches of the planet, the film was shot on seven continents and in countless nations. Terwilliger's passion for flying yields a positive look at aviation in general, and his documentary premiered at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in April of 2015. While accomplished, Living in the Age of Airplanes remains more than a footnote in the genre because of the involvement of composer James Horner in crafting its music. Long an aviation enthusiast himself, Horner spent much of his time in his later years in flight with his vintage aircraft. To Terwilliger's surprise, a casual mention of the documentary tickled Horner's fancy to the extent that he enthusiastically agreed to score the picture. The composer had lost interest in the wrangling of the film industry by the 2010's, and Living in the Age of Airplanes gave him the opportunity to write what essentially amounted to a concert piece dedicated to flight, even if he ended up financing the recording himself. The debut of the film came just two months prior to Horner's own death in a plane accident, making this score one of the composer's final completed works. The soundtrack is a fitting coda to Horner's career in many ways, as it reflects not only a number of his trademark artistic mannerisms but the very same passion that ultimately ended his life. The score clearly plays like a labor of love for the composer, even if it occasionally seems to chase temp tracks without much attempt to hide that intent. Being a documentary, Living in the Age of Airplanes allowed Horner to explore musical vignettes without competing with multitudes of synchronization points or other layers of sound, thus accentuating its concert-like qualities. For enthusiasts of the composer, it's both a rush of comfortable familiarity and bittersweet sadness all in one easy-going and sometimes exhilarating listening experience.

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While the scope of Horner's recordings by the mid-2010's was inconsistent, he clearly had no interest in restraining the perceived size of Living in the Age of Airplanes. Assembling his typical crew, he employed the Slovak National Symphony Orchestra and recorded the ensemble portions in Slovakia before returning to London to complete the production. He also utilized vocals by Graham Foote, who has a history partnering with ensembles in Central Europe. The mix factors in a variety of synthetic enhancements not unusual to Horner's sound, some providing sampled alternatives of live musicians as a matter of style. Significant roles for acoustic guitar and piano often combine with these electronic tones to create a friendly demeanor. The orchestral performances aren't the deepest, nor can they match the best of Horner's career, but as a budget alternative they acquit themselves quite well. The score maintains a positive spirit, alternately calming and inspirational from start to finish, with only one distinct sidetrack of genre in the "Flowers" cue. Horner intriguingly matches the major and minor modes with seeming laser-like focus in Living in the Age of Airplanes, using minor modes to represent ground transportation and the struggles of life without flight; not surprisingly, the major mode then corresponds with the answering elegance, sophistication, and possibilities of flight. The narrative of the score isn't dominant, but it follows the pathways of the documentary as well as it can, taking stylistic and motific excursions as needed but retaining a core set of three themes that connect certain plot elements well. Of these three ideas, one represents the film as a whole while the other two seem tied to the concepts of ancient times and perseverance. The main theme bookends the score and defines "Opening Sequence" (at the start and again at 1:08) with assistance of the male vocals that also open and close the story. A brief phrase of the theme keys "The World Before the Airplane" on ethnic flute, but the idea really shines in its driving, inspirational performances during the fantastic "Nearly Perfected." Horner creates shades of doubt by shifting the primary line to the minor mode on trumpet like an interlude at 0:34 before a major performance at the end includes drum pad accents for victorious emphasis.

Horner's main theme for Living in the Age of Airplanes shifts into full Avatar mode, one of several notable temp track influences, during "Migration Vacation," the percussion, electronic bass, and vocals carrying over dutifully. A redemptive but brief interlude on horns and strings at 1:31 is a highlight, though most listeners may be too distracted by the Avatar and Glory resemblances to appreciate the cue. The theme returns at 2:16 into "Ancient Civilizations" on piano to resolve the cue and returns to the "Opening Sequence" style of vocals with the fuller ensemble at 0:12 into "Home." The vocals carry over in this theme to 0:10 into "End Credits," with softer guitars and synthetics underneath. The album's "End Credits (Remix)" extended variant removes some vocals to leave only the underlying instrumentals, though its additional length explores a fuller and relaxing treatment of the theme. Meanwhile, the ancient times theme delicately accompanies the film's examination of progress with a style highly reminiscent of an early 1990's character drama theme from Horner, slightly somber in its minor mode. Solo string treatment of the idea will remind of The Spitfire Grill. You first encounter the ascending theme on piano and light electronics in "200,000-Year Timeline," after which the orchestra joins with force for a shot of a timeline bringing viewers forward. The theme returns very similarly in instrumentation and development during "Ancient Civilizations" but is provided more impressive heft at 1:39 into "Exponential Progress." By 2:07 into "The Golden Age is Now," the first three notes of the melody become a secondary interlude to that cue's rousing material. A final perseverance theme debuts at 1:07 into "Antarctica" on piano and consists mainly of descending pairs of notes; a fuller arrangement on piano over guitar at 2:12 turns longer and more fluid on strings at 2:53 in that cue. Horner returns to the theme on piano at 0:17 into "Perspective," remaining contemplative throughout the cue as choral shades smooth out the end. The theme serves as a formal interlude to the rock motif conveyed in the splashy "The Golden Age is Now," defining much of the latter half of that cue at 1:11 and 2:29. The phrasing of these themes is deconstructed and intermingled at times, with satisfying results.

Aside from the application of these three recurring themes in Living in the Age of Airplanes, Horner uses the opportunity to express singular ideas in vignettes throughout the score as well. Some of these are massively impressive while others are potentially annoying, though none is insufficient to the task at hand. The trip back in time in "The World Before the Airplane" predicts John Powell's The Call of the Wild in its guitars, drums, and piano in rugged rhythms. Listeners seeking a more driving minor key presence will appreciate "History of Transportation," its synthetic rhythms for shots of trains leading to the chords of a typical Horner crescendo in the middle and offering a particularly exuberant ensemble performance in the cue's second half. In "Portal to the Planet," the composer presents a cello theme as a variant of the main identity, elegant against soothing synthetic layers and female vocals. A distinct atmosphere of Thomas Newman occupies "Maldives," its mostly synthetic, rhythmic pleasantness a strong foreshadowing of Newman's later Tolkien. The score's one significant detraction may be "Flowers," a bright mambo piece largely unique for Horner but somewhat close in spirit to his vintage swing and jazz material in execution. A highly fluid theme closest to A Beautiful Mind's movements is highlighted in "Exponential Progress," with a solo vocal performance over full ensemble at the end that represents Horner at his most inspiring. The glitziest cue is easily "The Golden Age is Now," a combination of phrases from the main and ancient themes that is a direct temp track holdover from French electronic music project M83's song "Outro," which was used in the documentary's trailer. The rock elements here fit decently well with the score, and some casual Horner listeners may equate the vocals with those Rahat Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan provided to The Four Feathers. An alternate version of that cue on the album, "The Golden Age is Now (Remix)," pares back the guitars and percussion but loses most of its bass power in doing so. Overall, Living in the Age of Airplanes is a loving tribute to not just flight but Horner's career as well, and it will bring both nostalgic joy and solemn heartbreak to any of his ardent collectors. The 50-minute album presentation is widely available digitally and released on a limited, now sold-out 2018 CD by Intrada Records. For all of those who flew with Horner's music for so long, it's a satisfyingly fitting farewell. **** @Amazon.com: CD or Download

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For James Horner reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3.15 (in 108 reviews) and the average viewer rating is 3.23 (in 203,547 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.

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