was one close to his heart. The
film is a Romeo & Juliet tale set at the time of the cultural division
of Muslims and Sikhs in the late 1940's, when Pakistan and India were
officially divided and the Muslims migrated to Pakistan. Sarin was
raised in the disputed Kashmir region, and the tragic plot of
is partly based on real people his family knew at the
time. In the love story, a Sikh servant to a British family discovers a
young Muslim woman hiding near his village one day. He takes her in and
protects her, and as the years pass, they fall in love, marry, and gain
acceptance in their Indian village. The woman later decides to visit her
family in Pakistan, which can only result in tragedy when her brothers
hold her captive as punishment for marrying a Sikh. Her husband makes
the dangerous journey into Pakistan to find her, only to tempt a worse
fate. Driving secular humanists nuts, the film opened to modest praise
outside of the United States, seen closest in a limited run in Canada.
Composer Brian Tyler has balanced arthouse and B-rate assignments since
his splash into the mainstream five years prior to
, and
this project is a refreshing arthouse endeavor that helps the composer
transcend beyond the muck of
(although parts of those scores are guilty pleasures). The dynamic at
work in
is particularly interesting; the location
demanded music that fits the cultural clash central to the story'
conflict, and yet the story is undeniably romantic in high tragic
fashion. Ironically, it was Tyler who leaned in favor of emphasizing the
ethnic flavor, being the instrumentally creative and ambitious artist
that he is. The director, however, wanted more of the flowing melodrama
of a Western orchestra. Thus, a balance was born, and Tyler employed a
partial orchestral ensemble to meet the romantic needs of the film while
ordering an array of specialty instruments from India which he could
perform himself in order to streamline the recording process and save
costs.
It's hard to determine if Tyler is either a musical genius
for taking on so many roles himself or, perhaps, simply a glutton for
punishment in his expanded role orchestrating, conducting, performing,
and mixing his own works. In the case of
Partition, his efforts
pay off. He has stated that the score touched him more deeply than many
others, defining the project as a "personal kind of journey" for him as
well as the director and his characters. That might explain the fact
that Tyler's own contribution in performance for this score is equal in
weight to that of the orchestral ensemble. The textures that he provides
in everything ranging from acoustic guitar and standard percussion to a
sitar, Indian percussion, and a range of other regional specialty
instruments, is astounding. Not only in performance does Tyler succeed,
but he manages to perform all of these lines separately and merge them
with such attention to balance that you can't help but admire the
talent. In his blend between the resonance of the orchestra, a keen
sense of rhythmic movement, and the exotic sounds of his solo
performances, Tyler produces a sound as varied and occasionally
intoxicating as his commonly-considered career highlight to date, the
television production of
Children of Dune. A strong offering of
themes in
Partition will also remind listeners of that previous,
popular work, as well as a few other sources. Tyler writes two primary
themes and one minor one for
Partition. He has claimed in
interviews that of the two primary orchestral themes, the "Partition"
theme is devoted to the love story as a whole. Meanwhile, the "Crossing"
theme represents the historical division of the two cultures. The first
theme is fluid in its melodramatic movement, and although appropriate in
every aspect of its form, film music collectors may have a difficult
time looking past the similarities between this theme and the ideas of
other composers who have tackled scores for the region in the past. The
expansive chord progressions early in the theme, as well as the
repeating of the first stanza twice consecutively, is saturated with the
style of John Barry.
So thorough is the adaptation of Barry's style in the
primary theme, right down to the heavy string layers in unison over
accompanying horns and alternating lines for violins, that the opening
ten seconds of the score will be almost an exact match for Alan
Williams' score for the IMAX film
Island of the Sharks, itself
considered a significant tribute to the style of John Barry. In the
second half of this love theme, Tyler pulls a few chord progressions
that are clearly influenced by Maurice Jarre's essential
Lawrence of
Arabia, which lends a feel not only for the region, but also for the
scope of the drama. In between the repetitive statements of the theme,
Tyler inserts a line on the deep strings and/or horns that descends down
a major-key chord to emphasize the start of the next statement in a
fashion typical to James Horner's career. All of this said, however, the
theme is harmonically gorgeous and, if you can lose the memories of
High Road to China and Barry's closely-related romantic themes of
the 1980's while listening to
Partition, then you'll be rewarded
by the experience. Its major performances can be enjoyed in "Partition,"
"Sirsa," "New Delhi, 1942," and "Partition End Title." An intimate
acoustic guitar performance of this theme in "Tears of Joy," aided by
lush strings and a beautiful contribution to the second stanza by a solo
woodwind, is exquisitely beautiful. The second theme in the score
doesn't reference other composers, but rather adapts the theme of
nobility from Tyler's
Children of Dune for the occasion. Not only
does the melody follow very similar dramatic lines from the one in
Children of Dune, but it also features the exact same descending
counterpoint motif on horns from that earlier score. As opposed to the
love theme, this theme representing the historical division of the
countries often benefits from the ambience and accentuated tempo of
light percussion. As such, this theme, though performed fewer times in
the score (mainly in "The Crossing," "Transformation of Gian," and
"Partition End Title"), is the stronger of the two.
There exists a third theme that, while easily
overlooked, plays an important role in emphasizing the more positive
aspects of the story. Led by rambling acoustic guitar and medium-range
drum rhythms, this theme is as joyous as
Partition gets. Short
performances of this upbeat idea (which seemingly reminds of Hans
Zimmer's contemporary music for some reason) can be heard in "Naseem's
Journey," "Tears of Joy" and "Partition End Titles." As you can likely
tell by now, the five-minute "Partition End Titles" track contains a
delightful summary of these themes in concert fashion. The album for
Partition is arranged so that outside of this suite placement at
the end, the strongest cues are presented in the first ten tracks of the
release. The most interesting development of all three themes exists in
these early tracks; the remaining cues, while occasionally offering
highlights to match the early portions of the album, are closer to the
minimalistic and dissonant end of the spectrum. The only notable action
cue in the score is among the early highlights. By two minutes into
"Attack at the Crossing," Tyler has whipped up such a frenzy with his
ensemble and self-made percussion section (mostly in harmony) that you
might momentarily think you're listening to
Alien Vs. Predator:
Requiem. One of the album's faults is that it indeed runs too long
at 78 minutes. We can be thankful to Tyler for less expensive re-use
fees due to his habit of playing so many roles himself, but much of the
second half of the album (outside of the exotic source piece "Festival
of Holi," which could find a home in Mychael Danna's
Exotica or
Eight Millimeter) could have been jettisoned. If you take the
first ten cues and combine them with "Partition End Title," though, you
do have 40 minutes of outstanding music. Overall, if you can relax,
enjoy the blend of exotic and Western instruments in harmonic
structures, and forget the obvious influences that inspired Tyler in
writing his themes for this film, then you may find yourself revisiting
Partition frequently. Despite its flaws in thematic structure and
length of album, it is easily among the best scores of 2007.
**** @Amazon.com: CD or
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| Bias Check: |
For Brian Tyler reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3.32
(in 32 reviews)
and the average viewer rating is 3.11
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