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The Name of the Rose
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(1986)
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1986 Virgin (French) |
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Composed, Conducted, Performed, and Produced by:
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LABELS & RELEASE DATES
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Virgin (French)
Teldec (German)
(1986)
PDI (Spanish)
(1991)
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ALBUM AVAILABILITY
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No American release has ever existed for this title. A pair of 1986 albums
from France and Germany were joined by a Spanish re-issue in 1991; all of these products
contain the same music but utilize different cover art.
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AWARDS
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None.
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ALSO SEE
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Buy it... only if you have specifically appreciated James Horner's
mostly electronic and somber score in context and would be satisfied
with only a few late performances of the composer's somewhat pretty
(though still morbid), synth-string primary theme.
Avoid it... if you find a synthetic and very understated approach
to a murder mystery in a 14th Century Italian monastery to be not only
incredibly dull, but curiously misdirected as well.
BUY IT
 | | Horner |
The Name of the Rose: (James Horner) The 1986
European production of The Name of the Rose helmed by
Jean-Jacques Annaud went largely unnoticed in the United States despite
its lead star, likely testimony to the fact that the film's
14th-Century, religiously-embroiled plot had little appeal to American
sensibilities. A bare-headed Sean Connery plays William of Baskerville,
a Franciscan monk trying to solve a murder mystery in a 1327 Benedictine
Abbey before more irrational minds in the Church call upon a Holy
Inquisitor (F. Murray Abraham) to use less scientific means of accusing
and punishing a supposed killer. The Northern Italian setting and its
monastery are gloomy locations for the topic of the mystery, shot mostly
with extremely dark shades and using the grim castle-like structure as
its own character. The pursuit of the murder is seen through the
frustrating lens of illogical pious behavior, though that didn't stop
Annaud from exhibiting some nudity in a popular sex scene involving
Christian Slater as William's young assistant. By no means a
particularly memorable film, The Name of the Rose is still solid
entertainment, relying upon the performances by the two older leads to
carry the mystery to its thoughtful conclusion. Composer James Horner
was already becoming a mainstream name by 1986, with several high
profile projects already under his belt. In the 1980's (and again
sporadically in the 2000's), the composer experimented with almost
completely synthetic scores, sometimes by necessity and other times for
impact. One of the composer's more curious synthetic scores indeed
belongs to The Name of the Rose, a production that on the surface
does not seem to suggest that such an approach would be viable. There is
a fair amount of source material that better addresses popular
expectations of what one should hear when viewing scenes within a 14th
Century monastery, and Horner assisted in the recording of three
specific traditional choral pieces (with a soloist and school ensemble,
seemingly) that match the oppressive atmosphere of the story. This music
translates into the most varied and easily accessible portion of the
many European album releases of the soundtrack for The Name of the
Rose, though even in these portions it's difficult to find much more
than solemn beauty of a highly restrained character. As for Horner's
original contribution, there is no doubt that the composer sought to
accentuate the morbid ambience of a murder mystery first and cater to
the period and locale second. The result is unfortunately a very
pedestrian and cold effort.
Don't expect a plethora of stylistic references to
medieval stereotypes in the music for The Name of the Rose. In
fact, parts of the score are closely bound in rendering and scope to
Vibes and Unlawful Entry. The former score is specifically
reflected in the low keyboarding of faux-strings that Horner seemed fond
of utilizing at the time. The tone of the score is very drab,
establishing a heavy atmosphere of very slow tempos and only using
synthetic treble elements to poke at the listener when necessary to
pique interest at a small plot element. Horner does actually create and
maintain several motifs in the score, including one whimsical cascading
figure that appropriately closes the film (fading out both the cues
"Epilogue" and "End Titles"). A jabbing descending motif of rapid fire
from a synthetic harpsichord or chimes is heard best in "Flashbacks." A
rambling bass-region motif, perhaps for the Holy Inquisitor, consists of
a truly menacing alternating series of notes most powerful under a
choral effect in "Betrayed." None of these themes is memorable, however,
and without the sensitive primary theme that slowly reveals itself as
the film progresses, The Name of the Rose would exist without any
true identity. This theme first forms its final shape in the latter half
of "The Confession" (on eerily pretty solo woodwind over string quartet)
and finally receives the spotlight in "Epilogue" and "End Titles." It's
an elegantly redemptive theme, but its sparse construct still firmly
connects it to the extremely somber material heard in the rest of the
score. In the picture, this theme's prominence in the final scene is
almost a shock when compared to the remainder of the picture's
utilization of music. Therein exists the biggest problem that some will
have with The Name of the Rose. One man's intelligently
understated score is another man's underachieving bore. Because there
are times in the film during which Horner's score really does sound of
out place (as in the climactic first minute of "Epilogue"), it's hard
not to gravitate towards the latter group. The slight period references,
as in the percussion of "The Discovery," are weak. The insertion of deep
choral effects, as in "The Lesson," is too infrequent. The employment of
single shrill violin notes above those vocals is a major detraction
despite keeping the viewer on edge. The employment of solo accents
elsewhere is undermixed. Overall, The Name of the Rose is simply
too gloomy and too sparse to appreciate on album. That hasn't stopped
the score from experiencing a myriad of album offerings in Europe, from
French and German CDs in 1986 to a Spanish re-issue in 1991. All of
these albums feature the same contents, though unless you've appreciated
Horner's score in context, be weary of the depressing listening
experience.
** @Amazon.com: CD or
Download
| Bias Check: |
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 203,346 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.
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Review
Joel - May 26, 2013, at 1:57 p.m. |
1 comment (1123 views) |
rubbish review
Roger - August 21, 2010, at 11:38 p.m. |
1 comment (1548 views) |
| All Albums Tracks ▼ | Total Time: 41:57 |
• 1. Main Titles (3:01)
• 2. Beata Viscera** (2:19)
• 3. First Recognition (2:28)
• 4. The Lesson (4:18)
• 5. Kyrie* (2:22)
• 6. The Scriptorium (3:52)
• 7. Veni Sancte Spiritus* (3:13)
• 8. The Confession (3:10)
• 9. Flashbacks (2:05)
• 10. The Discovery (2:28)
• 11. Betrayed (2:56)
• 12. Epilogue (6:06)
• 13. End Titles (3:12)
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* traditional, performed by The Choir School Maria Schutz
** traditional, performed by Charles Brett |
The various inserts include no extra information about the score or film, but
some do contain a welcome screenshot of nudity from the film.
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