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Review of The Martian (Harry Gregson-Williams)
FILMTRACKS RECOMMENDS:
Buy it... if you desire a very intelligent blend of styles from
Vangelis, Wendy Carlos, Jerry Goldsmith, and James Horner, an
occasionally fantastic narrative of instrumental and thematic
development by Harry Gregson-Williams in top form.
Avoid it... if the fifteen or so minutes of triumphant, inspirational highlights for the main theme cannot compensate for an otherwise challenging but still accessible collection of ambient representations of scientific perseverance.
FILMTRACKS EDITORIAL REVIEW:
The Martian: (Harry Gregson-Williams) Like its
recent predecessor, Gravity, and any other good space survival
film that strives for realism, 2015's The Martian fought off
accusations from scientists that its plotline was improbable, if not
impossible. The Ridley Scott film actually fared well scientifically
compared to other science fiction thrillers, though, aided by
enthusiastic support from NASA during production, a move by the space
agency to utilize the film's possible success as promoting its own
interests. In the story of The Martian, a team of astronauts on
Mars in 2035 experiences a freak wind storm that causes one of their
crewmen to be left behind during an emergency evacuation from the
planet's station. Believed initially to be dead, this crewman is forced
to survive on the planet for a prolonged period using ingenious methods
of food and water generation, among other feats of communication and
exploration. A frantic rescue mission ensues while the lonely astronaut
contemplates life and science with a surprisingly upbeat attitude during
his struggles. The film performed well critically and financially,
breathing fresh life into Scott's reputation after several relative
duds. The director's flame-outs in the 2000's have suffered at times
because of his insistence upon bizarre editorial choices in the music
for his projects, an issue dating back to well-documented failures to
collaborate nicely with Jerry Goldsmith. After his successful stint with
Hans Zimmer, Scott turned to Harry Gregson-Williams and Marc
Streitenfeld for his more recent soundtracks, with mixed results. While
Gregson-Williams' strong score for Kingdom of Heaven was
absolutely butchered by Scott (who chose to insert music by the then
deceased Goldsmith prominently and intrusively in the picture), the
director returned to the composer for additional musical contributions
for Prometheus and the ultimate in composer pow-wows, Exodus:
Gods and Kings. Many film music collectors considered
Gregson-Williams' music for these pictures to be among the best supplied
to those and other Scott films, and his assignment to The Martian
is thankfully devoid of any interference from other composers. In fact,
the composer's crew was kept rather small for the project, all things
considered in the 2010's, with Gregson-Williams seemingly credited with
all the writing of the original material in the movie. That said, the
film does make humorous use of several source songs of 1970's disco due
to their placement as a distinct story element.
The approach by Gregson-Williams to The Martian has significant thought put into its constructs, instrumentation, and tone. It's a surprisingly intelligent score for a circumstance in which an ambient musical presence was assumed a foregone conclusion. It is still a pensive and low-key score for most of its length, but its balance of genre-defying instrumentation of multiple ages and alternation between intensely intimate, churning, solemn passages and heroically muscular fantasy grandeur is notable. The variety of instrumental colors applied to The Martian is immense, giving it a worldly feel that defies classification into any particular sub-genre within film music, though it's tempting to describe the whole as a retro work that combines the electronic textures of vintage Vangelis and Wendy Carlos with slightly more recent techniques utilized by Thomas Newman and Jerry Goldsmith, all the while hints of Gregson-Williams' own ambient mannerisms and thematic structures do shine through. This is primarily an electronic score, with groaning synthetic tones of alienation harkening back obviously to Vangelis' Blade Runner and 1980's keyboarding taking the serious alternative to Henry Jackman's comedy pilfering of the Tron era brought back to life on screen more recently by Daft Punk. The bell and bowl effects bring Tom Newman into the equation, and these contributions are manipulated electronically to merge them seamlessly with the other highlighted textures. These textures are alienating in ways but also feature an earthiness to their rendering, a carry-over from Vangelis' later works which capture both the inhospitable atmosphere of Mars and the protagonist's conquering of it for survival. The orchestral elements supply multitudes of solo performances, led by the composer's affinity for cello and piano, though there is a touch of Goldsmith and James Horner in the solo trumpet and especially French horn passages. The composer passes his main theme through so many different instruments that it experiences a heck of a journey itself during this score, beginning on muted, solo electric guitar and finishing in triumphant, fully orchestral form. The bulk of the score for The Martian is understated, often exploring either a recurring rhythmic figure or the work's one main melodic identity. Fans of the move will recall the three or four really vibrant and bold symphonic expressions of hope, and these sequences are indeed quite impressive, but Gregson-Williams earned his pay for this film in the quieter cues. There is a distinct deference to scientific methodology and persistence in the rhythmic nature of these ambient cues, a solitary but determined sense of process and order in their movement and precision. The frequently referenced main theme for The Martian is a series of three rising two-note phrases followed by a three-note descending phrase that sometimes launches off into an interlude upon the achievement of success or hope in the story. Heard immediately but faintly in "Mars," this idea permeates the softer portions of the score on piano, French horn, electric guitar, or cello. Its major ensemble performances are quite magnificent by comparison, a successful dichotomy by Gregson-Williams to plainly herald in the triumphs of the story. These passages in "Making Water," "Messages From Hermes," "Crossing Mars," and "Fly Like Iron Man" are among the best career achievements by the composer. The Wendy Carlos variation on the ensemble idea in "Making Water" is countered by an almost urban, cool, and hip, purely Gregson-Williams version in "Messages From Hermes" while "Crossing Mars" offers hints of Hans Zimmer counterpoint over the theme and "Fly Like Iron Man" presents an almost blissful cross between Vangelis magnificence and James Horner melodramatics (especially in the French horn). In between, you hear Goldsmith influences in the handling of solo flutes and trumpets in their skittish rhythmic presence. Gregson-Williams' nurturing of common, ascending rhythmic formations under this theme builds to a culmination in "Fly Like Iron Man" that has undeniable defiance of gravity at heart. The singular emotional breakthrough in the score is the purely Vangelis conveyance of wonder at 2:34 into that cue, with rambling Horner piano and later French horn solos to melt the heart. Not long after, the rhythmic platform develops into a full-fledged secondary theme of victory carried by the ensemble over muscular male vocals for the concluding highlight of the score, a lovely close to a turbulent journey. The choral impact on The Martianshould be mentioned as somewhat curious, not in its balance of ethereal background presence in several later cues and in the form of a boy solo in the heartbreaking "Crops Are Dead," but in the album release's liner notes that specify that Gregson-Williams supposedly left behind the ensemble choral "aaahs" and "ooohs" in favor of actual Latin spoken lyrics. And yet, despite the lyrics for these cues provided on the same liner notes, the actual music resorts back to the typical wordless vocalizations. This oddity exists on both the score-only presentation on album and in the short suite of score music on the song compilation (a merging of parts of "Making Water" and "Crossing Mars"). On CD, you can hear both presentations in one product, and Gregson-Williams' score is a solid and intelligent, genre and era-bending listening experience with a few magnificent ensemble highlights marking his best blockbuster music in many years. ****
TRACK LISTINGS:
Deluxe Edition:
Total Time: 84:47
(other individual products feature the two CDs separated with identical contents)
NOTES & QUOTES:
The insert of the "Deluxe Edition" set includes extensive credits and information from
the composer about the choral texts that are oddly not heard on the album's mix of the music.
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