|
|
The Mask of Zorro
|
|
|
Composed, Co-Orchestrated, Conducted, and Co-Produced by:
Co-Orchestrated by:
Thomas Pasatieri
|
|
LABEL & RELEASE DATE
| |
|
|
ALBUM AVAILABILITY
| |
Regular U.S. release.
|
|
AWARDS
| |
None.
|
|
ALSO SEE
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Buy it... if you truly want to hear James Horner take his trademark
style of writing in a splashy and fascinatingly different ethnic
direction, resulting in one of the most engaging and flavorful action
scores of the digital era.
Avoid it... if you have no love for Latin instrumentation or were
not impressed by the more robust and mature variation of this score in
The Legend of Zorro.
BUY IT
 | Horner |
The Mask of Zorro: (James Horner) After decades
absent from the big screen, the legendary Zorro returned in the form of
Antonio Banderas during a 1998 summer season otherwise dominated by
underachieving disaster flicks. Martin Campbell's surprisingly enjoyable
film fed off the both the mystique of the concept and the chemistry
between its three leading stars. The film had a sense of charisma and
enthusiasm absent from the belated sequel, The Legend of Zorro,
and in many regards remains a guilty pleasure a decade later. For
composer James Horner, the concept of Zorro's plight represented a stark
departure from the genre of films for which he had begun to mechanically
provide Irish-laced themes and instrumentation. In the process of
adapting his comfort zone to fit the flamenco sounds with which he would
define The Mask of Zorro, Horner finally accomplished what many
of his long-time collectors had hoped for: a perfect blend of his
typical mannerisms with a refreshing new set of ideas and
instrumentation. In many ways, The Mask of Zorro is a Latin
variation on the composer's popular Willow, taking the best
thematic and instrumental tendencies from the 1988 score and performing
a cultural rearrangement for the setting of early California and the
flair of Zorro's personality. Horner himself was in no need of
introduction to mainstream audiences at the time; his score for
Titanic had just ended its four month dominance of the music
charts two months earlier, and his mantle had just received two Oscars.
His score for Deep Impact, released two months prior to The
Mask of Zorro, was adequate, but did little to satisfy fans awaiting
Horner's next major achievement. What those fans would hear in this film
is perhaps more exotic than expected, for despite significant critical
praise and long-standing respect in the following years, The Mask of
Zorro never caught on with audiences outside of the moderately
successful pop song that Horner adapted from his score. Still, this
score and The Legend of Zorro are together a powerhouse pairing
that exhibit the spirit of swashbuckling adventure and instrumental
creativity that has been lacking from Horner's career in the years
between.
While The Legend of Zorro is, on a technical level,
a superior score compared to its predecessor (despite the significant
plunge in the quality of the film itself), you cannot discount the
effectiveness of The Mask of Zorro as its own work. Horner may
have improved upon nearly every element of the music in the sequel (with
the exception of the actual flamenco accents), but the first score is as
entertaining as ever in its own right, with a few unique aspects of
its own to distinguish it. Horner introduces the two major themes of the
franchise in his opening cue, "The Plaza of Execution." The opening minute
of this cue was absolutely unique to this film in Horner's career,
starting with shakuhachi and acoustic guitar blasts that are joined by
flamenco foot dancing and hand clapping sound effects at an
ever-increasing tempo until Zorro's primary rhythmic device on guitar
--perhaps a theme in and of itself-- explodes with trumpet and castanet
accompaniment. The title theme takes the mariachi elements and bloats
them to the performance depth of a full, symphonic ensemble, a style
that continues throughout the score. The remainder of this cue, as Zorro
stops an execution and whips up a frenzy, offers several variants of
this title theme that would clearly delineate one of the composer's most
memorable ideas in years. Aside from the catchiness of the actual tune,
the use of castanets, maracas, tambourines, kena, zamponas, and
shakuhachi flute are all used as fascinating percussion accents; the
shakuhachi never carries a theme as it did in Willow, instead
wailing as representation of Zorro's entry or exit from the scene, or
puffing along with a rhythm a la Thunderheart. Traditional flute
performances carry the secondary theme, representing Elena and the love
affair, and Horner is quick to start pairing the Zorro and Elena theme
as early as the final moments of "The Plaza of Execution." These two ideas
would be inseparable in The Legend of Zorro, and the early
overlaps in The Mask of Zorro suggest that the love theme might
have been intended as a romantic interlude to the primary theme all
along. This secondary theme also accompanies the sentimentality of Don
Diego, the original Zorro played by Anthony Hopkins. His death scene
("Diego's Goodbye") features an outstanding flute rendition of the idea,
suggesting a familial application of the theme as well.
The integration of these two themes into both this
score and its sequel would be integral to their respective success.
Horner masterfully alters the tempo of especially the title theme for
Zorro, launching it with a sense of exuberance and high style that well
matches the classic Alfred Newman approach. If only Horner would
incorporate castanets into scores with the same frequency as his
bagpipes, perhaps his music would be more interesting and stylish. Three
of the action cues after the opening scene, "The Ride," (which was used
popularly in the trailers for the film), "Tornado in the Barracks," and
"Stealing the Map," all present stunningly frenetic and enjoyable
variations on the theme, also serving as the most ethnically rich
sequences. The pizzazz put forth by the trumpets alone is remarkable,
and more often than not, a rowdy acoustic guitar rhythm leads the way.
In most of these performances, Horner follows the action with lush
renditions of either Zorro's theme or the developing love theme. The
remaining action cues are slightly more anonymous in that very much
mimic the material in Willow, with "Leave No Witnesses..."
striking several similar notes. The infamous "Horner motif of evil"
(otherwise a simple series four sixteenth-notes for brass) is employed
in two cues for the purpose of suspense, most notably "Elena's Truth." A
snare rhythm with chime hits and shakuhachi wails represents Montero in
much the same fashion as the villains of Willow in "The Mine." A
third theme in The Mask of Zorro is sadly underutilized and
doesn't make more than a token appearance in the sequel score. In "Elena
and Esperanza," Horner experiments with a theme for Elena outside of the
one that ties her to Zorro. This idea's most relevant and poignant
appearance comes at the end of "The Confession," and yet even here the theme
is mostly swallowed up by the surrounding use of the overarching love
theme. In the latter moments of "Elena and Esperanza," Horner seems to
confuse the two, allowing the love theme to receive troubled, minor-key
counterpoint potentially more suitable for the other, third theme. On
the whole, this small complaint is really unsubstantial, because most
listeners won't notice the Elena-specific theme anyway.
A cue that needs specific mentioning is "The Fencing
Lesson," one of the more humorous developmental ideas in the film and
additionally one of the moments when the strikingly crisp sound effects
of the film merge very well with Horner's music. It is in this cue that
Horner makes the most out of his percussion section and soloists, taking
simple triangle hits and castanet spasms and slowly building them into
the recognizable Zorro rhythm for guitar as the younger man learns the
trade from Diego. Eventually, a triumphant burst of mariachi fanfare
signals the lesson learned. Additionally, bass strings pluck along with
the guitar to create a fuller sound, reminding in ways of Jerry
Goldsmith's more playful moments from The Shadow. The slashing of
a cymbal to represent the swoosh of a sword, most obvious at 4:25 into
"The Fencing Lesson," is the kind of creativity that more Horner scores
could use. Overall, you can't help but get the feeling that Horner
really enjoyed himself with The Mask of Zorro; whereas Deep
Impact seemed to aimlessly go through the motions, this score is
sharp, precise, funny, and resounding. Most of all, it's extremely
memorable. On album, a welcome 70 minutes of score material is offered
in outstanding sound quality and follows Horner's more favorable habit
of being arranged into longer cues. A concert version of the two themes
in "Zorro's Theme" is actually among the weaker offerings, with both
themes receiving more impressive performances in surrounding cues.
Because most ensembles wouldn't have the necessary specialty
instruments, this orchestra-only suite presentation seems rather dull.
The love theme is translated into a pop song, "I Want to Spend My
Lifetime Loving You," that had potential if not for the slashing sound
effects and cheap orchestral hits that diminish the style inherent in
the melody itself. While this song would go on to receive considerable
play on radio, it would take a more conservative mix thankfully absent
of these effects. As for the score, The Mask of Zorro may not be
as massive in scope or offer the incredible auxiliary action sequences
of The Legend of Zorro, but some of its snazzy solo performances,
especially in "Tornado in the Barracks" and "Stealing the Map," are more
raw in their enthusiasm. Both works mark high points in Horner's career,
and each is the best score released during its respective year. ***** @Amazon.com: CD or
Download
Bias Check: |
For James Horner reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3.16
(in 103 reviews) and the average viewer rating is 3.26
(in 193,471 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.
|
dance scene Expand >> athina - May 10, 2005, at 12:55 p.m. |
2 comments (6041 views) Newest: June 12, 2006, at 10:30 a.m. by Unknown |
Total Time: 77:16
1. The Plaza of Excecution (8:28)
2. Elena and Esperanza (8:20)
3. The Ride (3:25)
4. Elena's Truth (4:11)
5. The Fencing Lesson (5:29)
6. Tornado in the Barracks (5:12)
7. The Confession (3:43)
8. Zorro's Theme (3:01)
9. The Mine (Montero's Vision) (3:00)
10. Stealing the Map (6:30)
11. "Leave No Witnesses..." (13:21)
12. Diego's Goodbye (5:31)
13. "I Want to Spend My Lifetime Loving You" - performed by Marc Anthony and Tina Arena (4:41)
|
|
The insert includes lyrics from the song (provided below) and extensive credits, but
no extra information about the score or film. The trailers for The Mask of Zorro
included the use of "The Ride" from Horner's score, as well as excerpts from Hans Zimmer's
Drop Zone, David Newman's The Phantom, and original material from John Beal.
Lyrics to "I Want to Spend My Lifetime Loving You:"
Moon so bright, night so fine,
Keep your heart here with mine,
Life's a dream we are dreaming
Race the moon, catch the wind,
Ride the night to the end,
Seize the day, stand up for the light
I want to spend my lifetime loving you
If that is all in life I ever do
Heroes rise, heroes fall,
Rise again, win it all,
In your heart, can't you feel the glory?
Through our joy, through our pain,
We can move worlds again
Take my hand, dance the dance with me
I want to spend my lifetime loving you
If that is all in life I ever do
I will want nothing else to see me through
If I can spend my lifetime loving you
Though we know we will never come again
Where there is love, life begins
Over and over again
Save the night, save the day,
Save the love, come whay may,
Love is worth everything we pay
I want to spend my lifetime loving you
If that is all in life I ever do
I want to spend my lifetime loving you
If that is all in life I ever do
I will want nothing else to see me through
If I can spend my lifetime loving you.
|