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| Goldsmith |
Masada: (Jerry Goldsmith/Morton Stevens) At the
height of the appeal of network television mini-series,
Masada
was a massive extravaganza of the highest order. Resurrecting the
concept of the biblical epic from Hollywood's Golden Age, the six and a
half hour 1981 event used its significant production budget to secure
popular and veteran names in its cast and crew, led by Peter O'Toole in
a powerful primary role. Although based on an Ernest K. Gann novel, the
adaptation of
Masada took some liberties with the facts
surrounding the Roman siege of the famed Jewish fortress in the first
century following Christ's death. Despite the convenient invention of
several characters and sub-plots, the series, originally spread over
four nights during its airing, does remain true to the most important
circumstances, including brutality on the part of the Jews and
sympathetic aspects within the Roman armies. Outstanding photography and
lavish art direction, both contributing to a bloated budget over $20
million and causing seemingly endless production delays, helped the
series earn strong critical response and high viewership ratings, though
poor preservation of the film itself has limited its appeal several
decades later. One element of
Masada that was equally praised but
also surprisingly demanded only minimal attention in the decades to
follow is Jerry Goldsmith and Morton Stevens' expansive music. Goldsmith
had earned his ticket to the industry with extensive work for television
while in his twenties, carrying over that success to several
Emmy-winning scores for a variety of genres on the small screen in the
early 1970's. In fact, Goldsmith outright dominated the Emmy scene
during that time. As he entered an extremely fruitful period of the late
1970's and early 1980's during which he was regularly nominated for
Academy Awards (and winning once) for his superior motion picture
output, though, the scoring of full mini-series for the medium became
rare.
Ultimately,
Masada was one of those unusual
projects that Goldsmith actively sought to be involved with from the
earliest stages, traveling to Israel in pre-production to research
ancient instrumentation for use in the recording and write some of the
thematic material necessary for use as source music in context. The
series eventually revealed itself as Goldsmith's final endeavor for the
small screen, an assignment as close to his heart and religious
sensibilities as the impressive
QB VII had been several years
earlier and one that would earn him his only Emmy award of the 1980's
(for the second "episode" of the series). Because the production of
Masada ran long, ultimately airing a year behind schedule, and
interfered with his commitment to
Inchon, Goldsmith was
frustrated to be limited to writing music for only the first two
"episodes," handing over the latter two to veteran television composer
and regular collaborator Morton Stevens, who had earned even greater
Emmy recognition through the years than Goldsmith (for "Gunsmoke" and
"Hawaii Five-O," primarily). While he did compose a few fresh motifs for
ideas specific to the latter two parts of the show's story and earned
his own Emmy nomination for that work, Stevens mostly emulated and
adapted Goldsmith's music. Collectors of his own works, though, will
hear plenty of moments when his own style enters the composition. He was
nominated against Goldsmith for his music for the fourth
Masada
episode, though none of that material was shared on the initial album
release with the more famous composer's portion. For a long time, that
one album of 37 minutes of Goldsmith's music represented the only
available material from
Masada, first on LP record and then on CD
from Varèse Sarabande in 1990. Its contents include several of
the more melodic tracks re-recorded by Goldsmith in London, typically
representing entire cues as heard in the series rather than piecing
together several different cues into longer suites, and the product
became out of print and rare despite some lingering issues with archival
sound quality in places.
The original film recordings by Goldsmith and Stevens in
Los Angeles never experienced any form of release until 2011, when
Intrada Records provided every recorded cue for the production in a
solid 2-CD presentation. The sources for that product were not ideal,
though, and Intrada followed in 2021 with a remastering from better
tapes. The discussion about the music below begins with general
observations based upon the 1990 album of the re-recording and then
touches upon additional observations from the complete sets of the
actual score heard in the series. Goldsmith's success with so many of
his scores for television epics owes much to his belief that there was
no difference in approaching a television and feature film score. The
composer tackled
Masada as though it were one really immense
motion picture for the big screen, allowing him to follow
The Wind
and the Lion with another opportunity to transport himself back to
the days of the grand epics that he was too late in his arrival on the
Hollywood scene to be a part of. The full range of emotions experienced
by both sides of the Roman/Jewish conflict in
Masada is expertly
captured by Goldsmith, resulting in a varied, highly engaging work that
is grippingly emotive in most of its major sequences. He logically
writes a score of opposing thematic identities and states them with
inherently disparate styles of ambition and tragedy. The primary theme
is a spirited march that pulls some inspiration from Goldsmith's
patriotic military scores, though with just enough edge of the Old World
to contain the score in the fantastic, larger-than-life atmosphere.
Heard extensively in "Main Title" and "The Road to Masada," it is the
kind of broad, stomping identity one would expect for grand aspirations
of freedom and independence, summarizing not only the stereotypical
sense of bravado for any epic set in this locale, but also the more
spirited side of the Jewish resistance. The theme's bridge sequence
transitions from brass to strings for a surprisingly fluid and elegant
secondary representation. In these regards, the format is not much
different from
The Wind and the Lion, though the ensemble relies
far more heavily on non-percussive elements.
Very few of Goldsmith's specialty instruments prevail
in the final mix of
Masada. Only a faint hint of a
harpsichord-like instrument, likely one of the contributors inspired
from ancient times, strays from the typical orchestral sounds in these
performances. Growing out of the same stature as the Jewish material but
more rigidly structured is Goldsmith's brass march for the Romans,
utilized like source music at times but sometimes also stated in heroic
fragments reminiscent of
The Wind and the Lion. In "Roman March,"
Goldsmith translates this theme into almost an exotic environment heavy
on percussive colors to firmly place it in the same region and time
period. Casual listeners will find some similarities between this
relatively simplistic idea and the fanfare for Arthur in
First
Knight. A secondary theme for the suffering of the Jews in Masada is
thoroughly explored in "The Slaves" and opens both that cue and "The Old
City," among others. There is languishing of biblical proportion in the
unmistakably melodramatic string movements of the Jewish suffering
theme, utilizing just enough progressions that play to the stereotypes
of the culture and time without making the overall sound too foreign.
The two themes for the Jews don't mingle in satisfactory ways in their
presentation on album, though Goldsmith's standard five-minute concert
suite arrangement of
Masada is more impressively representative
of the score than anything on its own albums. The complete 2011 album
reveals a love theme involving the Romans, heard from "Her Desire" to
"Sheva's Decision." This tender string-led theme is a clear precursor to
Under Fire and others to follow. Stevens contributes a notable
secondary theme in the closing episode as well, representing the final
assault upon the hilltop fortress and the battering ram used by the
Romans to ultimately end the siege. While Goldsmith's action stance for
Masada may not compete with his classics, he does offer snippets
of great, rambunctious force, highlighted by "The Granary," which is
another clear
The Wind and the Lion holdover. But Stevens' music
from the climax of the fourth episode, culminating in a massive
ten-minute cue, arguably overshadows Goldsmith's earlier work of this
kind.
The original album selections for
Masada largely
omitted the more challenging music from the first two episodes, and
perhaps for good reason; especially in the suspense portions, it's
rather limp compared to contemporary efforts like
Night Crossing.
Goldsmith doesn't handle the sequences of tension or sustained explosive
statements for the full ensemble with the kind of interesting rhythmic
consistency in
Masada, including music in "Night Raid" that is
comparatively disappointing. Still, for its other two primary identities
for the Jews,
Masada is a very strong score, one that deserves
appreciation as part of any Goldsmith collection. There are many
differences in the performance, recording, and mixing aspects of the
1990 and 2011 CD offerings. The full score on the limited 2011 set
definitely provided an outstanding presentation of the actual score in a
raw and precise crispness, though while Intrada may denigrate the mix of
the London recording as heard on the 1990 CD, some listeners will prefer
its more dynamic reverb and depth. Cost and licensing issues made a
combination release from Intrada impossible in 2011, unfortunately
keeping the 1990 CD relevant for Goldsmith collectors. Upon going out of
print, the 2-CD set escalated to three times its original price. Intrada
rectified that issue in 2021 by offering both the film and album
recordings on one immense and limited 4-CD set. The improvement in the
sound of the Goldsmith film version is minimal compared to the admirable
difference on the Stevens portion; the prior album only had access to
mono sources and this product provides a full stereo presentation.
Enthusiasts of the fourth episode will rejoice at this clearly enhanced
sound quality. The first two CDs of the set largely match the 2011
product, with the addition of the MCA logo music. The third CD presents
35 minutes of alternate takes split between the two composers, though
few of these cues are of vital importance. Finally, the original album
recording is included on the fourth CD (even though it could have been
fit onto CD #3), making the 2021 product the definitive representation
of the soundtrack. Expect the improved sound quality and inclusion of
the beefier album recording to impress. While the 1990 CD may suffice
for some listeners still, the 2011 product should no longer be sought.
On the 2021 album, the magnitude of this score finally receives its
ultimate due treatment.
**** @Amazon.com: CD or
Download
| Bias Check: |
For Jerry Goldsmith reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3.27
(in 122 reviews)
and the average viewer rating is 3.3
(in 150,403 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.
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The inserts of all the Varèse and Intrada albums include
information about the score and mini-series, the Intrada products also sharing
technical details about the original recording.
