 |
| Pope |
Pavilion of Women: (Conrad Pope) This relatively
little known film by Yim Ho is a World War II account of the budding
romance between a Chinese woman and Western man set against the horrors
of the Japanese invasion and occupation of mainland China.
Unfortunately, the film was critically panned for its overplayed sense
of melodrama and it barely registered at the box office in May of 2001.
Willem Dafoe plays the white priest visiting the woman's village, and
the inevitable love story that results against opulent production values
is broken tragically by the encroaching war. For the project, therefore,
a composer with talents accentuating the mixture of Western and Eastern
instrumentation was required, and veteran orchestrator Conrad Pope
received the welcomed call. Known throughout the industry as one of the
most talented and prolific orchestrators of film music, Pope finally
ventured into his first compositional assignment with
Pavilion of
Women, causing enough interest to warrant an album release for the
diverse artist. Pope's orchestration credits were already to be found on
the scores of John Williams, James Horner, and Alan Silvestri throughout
the 1990's, and his knack for precise balance of instrumentation is
perhaps what caught the eye of the producers of
Pavilion of
Women. While dominantly Eastern scores had become more and more
popular over a period spanning the late 90's and early 2000's,
culminating in the Academy Award win for Tan Dun's
Crouching Tiger,
Hidden Dragon, that particular sound never proved to be the ideal
choice for many filmmakers (or, for that matter, the ears of Western
audiences). An approach similar to that of George Fenton's in his
fantastic
Anna and the King score from the previous year was
sought, however, for
Pavilion of Women, and Pope delivered a
popular work that was great applauded by most film music critics.
As with the introduction of any new
orchestrator-turned-composer's work, the listener often attempts to
identify the stylistic choices and traits of the composer himself (as
opposed to those inherent in his employer's styles). In this case, Pope
can be most easily identified with John Williams and Basil Poledouris,
both of whom used primary and secondary string sections in a fashion
similar to Pope's technique here, producing a rich depth to the sound of
the music. Without a doubt,
Pavilion of Women is a score led
through every cue by an overwhelming presence of strings. An even
greater attribute of Pope's talents is exhibited by the masterful
integration of the Eastern instrumental soloists and an 85-piece
orchestra. The ehru, a violin-like instrument of choice for the
representation of Chinese traditions and locale in many films, is melded
with the orchestra here better than in most other scores in this highly
specific genre. The zheng harp is a tad more obscure in its use, however
it holds the "Eternal Question" cue with ease. Pope also takes a
stylistic page from Williams'
Empire of the Sun in his
incorporation of a children's choir and adult chorus that are sprinkled
throughout the score (in addition to a song adapted from Giacomo
Puccini's
Madame Butterfly). Very much like Fenton's
Anna and
the King,
Pavilion of Women is extremely thematic, almost
never resting from the statement of at least a secondary motif, and the
theme for the female lead is that which shines as the highlight of the
score. With the string use so heavy in parts, the score transforms into
statements of adagios in the pivotal tracks near the end of the film and
album. The crescendo in the middle of "The Embrace" is among the most
poignant moments in film music during the strong year of 2001, using
brass in Williams-like fashion to expand the soundscape beneath the
strings' sugary harmony.
With a diverse composition and mostly crisp
performances (a few errors are noticeable late in the work),
Pavilion
of Women was a very impressive debut on album for Pope. The sole
weakness of the score is, ironically, the over-exertion of the
melodramatic tone of the music. There is no break from the overtly
tragic atmosphere, yielding a score with little deviation from the
expected. Aside from three cues portraying rape, fire, and invasion, the
score, while exhibiting no technical weakness, is somewhat redundant.
Pope explains that the music was requested to be melodramatic, but in
many places, he pushes the theme (and particularly the strings) too far
without allowing the score to stop for a moment to breathe. Moments like
"The Birthday," featuring a spirited duet of ehru and harp in a dancing
rhythm, show a character that the score, as a listening experience,
could have used a bit more of. After 45 minutes of its running time, as
enjoyable as it may be,
Pavilion of Women begins to weigh so
heavily on the listener with its grand expressions of theme and
suffering that it begins to lose some of the elegant style with which it
began the album so well. The height of the strings and operatic voices
may not wear on some listeners as much as others. For some, the over the
top drama, which is at a level not heard in a film scoring but for a few
times each year, is a tempting delight. For others, it might be a burden
too heavy to carry. In any case, though, Pope created a magnificent body
of music for this film, and more than proved his ability to compose for
major feature films. His compositional career unfortunately did not
launch into another gear because of this work, but the effective
integration of Eastern and Western instrumentation in
Pavilion of
Women is enough by itself to highly recommend this album and will
make many wonder why the career orchestrator didn't receive an increase
in offers for mainstream writing assignments thereafter.
**** @Amazon.com: CD or
Download
The insert includes a note from Conrad Pope about the music.
