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Review of The Master of Ballantrae (Bruce Broughton)
FILMTRACKS RECOMMENDS:
Buy it... only if you are an avid collector of either Bruce
Broughton's works or the swashbuckling genre, for the intended audience
of this album is extremely specific.
Avoid it... if you require both clarity in sound and depth in the size of the performance, both of which are severely lacking in this recording.
FILMTRACKS EDITORIAL REVIEW:
The Master of Ballantrae: (Bruce Broughton) A 1984
remake of the disappointing 1953 Errol Flynn swashbuckler, The Master
of Ballantrae, which aired on the CBS network in America, was a
lavish production of 150 minutes in length and starred Michael York and
Timothy Dalton in leading roles. The plot of the film merges all the
usual elements of a sea faring adventure of piracy and treasure, laced
with a side story of a pair of brothers fighting over their Scottish
homestead. Already known in the television scoring arena for his work on
the massive series The Blue and the Grey, composer Bruce
Broughton was well suited for the assignment. Although the budget for
the project as whole was quite large, Broughton only received enough
money from the producers to write a score for an unbelievably
restricting 36 musicians. In an age when orchestral music for the small
screen was starting to make a comeback, this circumstance was
surprising, and Broughton was forced to strip the Sinfonia of London
down to its bare parts, including only six brass players. In the face of
such adversity, Broughton still managed, somehow, to provide a score
that has moments of large swashbuckling action and dramatic depth for
the period-style romance element secondary in the plot. To do this,
Broughton inserted as much melody as possible into the score as a method
of counterbalancing the lack of power and carry the music in the film.
The score revolves around two major themes. The first is an excellent,
flighty affair for the titles of the film and vista shots of the sailing
vessels. It leaps and bounds with all the energy that a tale on the high
seas requires. The opening few tracks, including "Main Title" and
"Setting Out," have magnificent performances of this idea with all the
enthusiasm that the restrained ensemble can muster. Broughton adds a
touch of Scottish and Irish flavor to the score with the help of some
bagpipe accompaniment and distinctly Scottish rhythms that dance lightly
under portions of the thematic material. The second theme is much softer
and includes lead performances by a harpsichord and flute. The score
functions a bit better during these less ambitious moments, because the
lack of an adequate number of players isn't as obvious.
A certain amount of archival ambience does still accompany the romantic passages, however, diminishing the clarity of the solo performances. But compared to many of Broughton's other efforts at the time, this score holds its own due to its loyalty to locations and themes. Speaking about the composition itself, Broughton offered a musical product that is far more deserving of a fuller performance and, likely, a better film. Broughton and film score enthusiasts alike have agreed through the years that it would be interesting to hear what the composer could do on this score with a fully sized orchestral ensemble in a modern studio. The themes are noble, the suspense riveting, and the romantic courting scenes melodic (although not lush). Structurally, you can't ask for a better presentation of the themes, with "The Legacy and Finale" very neatly wrapping up all of the major ideas. Still, with so few players in the ensemble, there is a constant nagging feeling that something is missing from the score. The sound quality is adequate (at least it's in stereo), but not stellar. Muffled sound from the 1984 recording in some parts (especially in the small brass section), combined with the lack of power from the orchestra itself, makes The Master of Ballantrae a score rich with potential, but ultimately lacking on album. A better mix of the original recordings may have assisted in correcting this situation, but limited ensembles are much easier to dub, edit, and flesh out in the Digital Age than they were in the 1980's. To the credit of the Prometheus label, the music heard during the teaser advertisements for the film is included at the end of the album. With only 1,500 pressings in circulation, The Master of Ballantrae was the first release in the Prometheus Records CD Club. The series would go on to feature nearly twenty obscure scores from mostly the modern ages of film music (from 1970 to 1995). This first entry is an interesting study, especially for Broughton collectors, but is often difficult to enjoy because of the limited performance. It's a curious choice with which to start a limited series of soundtracks, and in retrospect, it seems better suited to be one of the more obscure entries in any of Intrada Records' later specialty collections. ***
TRACK LISTINGS:
Total Time: 49:19
NOTES & QUOTES:
The insert includes detailed notes about both the score and film.
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