In a larger sense, Elfman's score is better remembered for
the three general styles of sound that he establishes based upon those
early scenes he tackled. The propulsive rhythms of the main theme are
the first all-encompassing idea to represent the brutality of the
species. Secondly, the hunting scenes during which the apes are chasing
and rounding up the humans are among the most primitively toned, with
gut-wrenching ferociousness and unrelenting drums. The third rhythmic
portion of the score is that which accompanies battle scenes further
into the story, and these are the ones that present some of the most
clearly articulated thematic statements of the score. Tonal expressions
of melody come at a premium in this series of films, and no reflection
of Elfman's masterful talents in the area of unbridled harmony and
majesty can be heard in
Planet of the Apes without some
substantial digging. The space station and, to a lesser degree, the
humans native to the ape planet, receive appropriately accessible string
performances, the station in particular treated to Elfman's only true
fantasy (and understandably slightly religious) material aided by choir.
Even the tender moments of character interaction are handled with a
somewhat oppressive spirit. The highlights of the score are ironically
those that lay off the relentlessly pounding drums and cyclical
synthetic/brass motifs, despite the fact that those sounds are the heart
and soul of the work. The cues for space travel, "Deep Space Launch" and
the middle of "The Return," are delicately handled with an appropriate
level of wonderment and foreshadowing. A hauntingly beautiful remnant of
this material is performed with typical Elfman sadness in the latter
half of "Calima," as the fate of his space station is revealed. The
first "Ape Suite" track finishes with an attractive, longing performance
of the "love theme" on woodwinds, and "Escape From Ape City/The Legend"
holds the only glimpse of heroic neatness in the score, utilizing a
light choral effect for added color to hint at the "Calima" connection.
Along with portions of the score's final two major cues, the optimistic
tones for the human savior in the story are provided a sound not too
much unlike the noble horns that Elfman later applied in
Spider-Man. Both "Old Flames" and "The Return" offer reflective,
mellow, and very enjoyable rests from the action material by exploring
hints of the exotically rendered romance material for the elusively low
flute.
As for those nearly constant action cues, they can be
described in two different ways, depending on the kind of Elfman
enthusiast you are, as well as your tolerance for straight bombast
without obvious theme or extended tonality. To the Elfman fan, the mass
of
Planet of the Apes will be described as "challengingly
complex." The "complex" part should get no argument from anyone. This is
an extremely brutally layered and sophisticated composition. As for
"challenging" part, well, that can easily be countered with the word
"noisy." If nothing else, even Elfman's greatest critics must recognize
that he has created a sheer amount of noise for
Planet of the
Apes that had overshadowed any other score of 2001 to that point,
including Elliot Goldenthal's
Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within.
For those who don't follow Elfman's career closely, the score, while it
likely could have been effective in the film given the right mixing, is
a headache waiting to happen on album. The viewpoint that the
Planet
of the Apes score on album contains not much more than drum beating
monotony at high volumes is fine, as long as it is also recognized that
the music is impressively constructed at its root. The only totally
unlistenable track is the Paul Oakenfold remix introduced at the end of
the commercial product, with warped dialogue and unnecessary electronic
droning and manipulation. In regards to listenability, the Goldsmith and
Elfman scores will be equally divisive on album. Elfman's work for the
2001 film is not entirely pleasant, outside of the few reflective
moments described above. But it doesn't have to be pleasant in order to
both function and impress, which Elfman's
Planet of the Apes does
far more aggressively than Goldsmith's original. There are those several
places in Elfman's score where, for only a matter of seconds, the music
ceases its churning percussion and actually hits a note of easy harmonic
appeal, but don't seek the albums specifically for those interludes. The
story of the original Sony soundtrack album is an entirely other
discussion. There were rumors swirling around online venues just prior
to the film's release that 20th Century Fox executives were unhappy with
Elfman's work and desired a more accessible, heroic score for the
obviously troubled film. Elfman denied these rumors in an official
public statement, saying that Fox was actually satisfied enough with the
music to say nothing about it (and that additional session dates were
cancelled).
There was truth, however, to the hectic schedule of
Sony's album release, however, which necessitated that Elfman rearrange
his recording schedule to accommodate their desired street date. With
the score not yet finished, Elfman assembled the key cues he had already
written for the film and then wrote the two "Ape Suite" tracks as
elaboration on other music in the film (as well as expanding the "Main
Titles" and "The Hunt") to simply pad the running time of the album.
Interestingly, some of the music in the second suite ended up in the
final cut of the film, a curious reversal of the norm. The "Main Title
Deconstruction" (a self-described "reversal" of the cue, though it
doesn't really sound that impressive), along with some of this other
padding, makes the product a bit redundant. The sound quality of the
presentation, even though Elfman added extra players to the brass and
drum sections and recorded it in the spacious Newman Scoring Stage at
Fox, is not as resounding as you'd expect. Choral accents are drowned
out, and lost is the potential that deep male chanting or grunting could
have added to this work. An expanded presentation of the score debuted
in 2011 on CD #9 of "The Danny Elfman and Tim Burton 25th Anniversary
Music Box," adding twelve minutes of score that includes the important
"Calima" and redundant "Escape." The "Dinner Source" is actually quite
appealing despite using the same synthetic and percussive elements as
the rest of the score. Fans could also finally hear those two parts of
Elfman's overlays alone for "Main Title" and "Camp Raid," as well as the
orchestra-only recording of "Ape Suite" material (unfortunately in lossy
format on the included USB stick). Still, this extraordinarily expensive
set was still missing more than half an hour of music that was actually
heard in the film. Solving this oversight was La-La Land Records in
2012, which released a three-CD set of
Planet of the Apes that
includes the full 96 minutes of music heard in context, the two suites,
and a wealth of alternate mixes over two CDs (with the third CD
reassembling the original album presentation). This outstanding
treatment of the score may not change many established opinions about
it, and the quality of sound is not significantly improved, but the
product is a resounding alternative to the massive, disappointing 2011
box set that did not afford this score a proper presentation. On any
album, Elfman's music for the ape world is difficult and complex
barbarian bombast that clearly suffices but will test the tolerance of
mainstream ears.
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