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FILMTRACKS.COM
PRINTER-FRIENDLY VIEW 
Review of Playing by Heart (John Barry)
FILMTRACKS RECOMMENDS:
Buy it... if you've been intrigued by the glimpses of 50's-style
jazz for small ensembles that have occasionally played minor roles in
John Barry's more recent film scores.
Avoid it... if you're more attached to Barry's grandiose style that feature a more ambitious, dramatic intent for full ensembles.
FILMTRACKS EDITORIAL REVIEW:
Playing by Heart: (John Barry) In a story that
eventually connects the lives of six couples seemingly unrelated and
each dealing with their own sets of troubles, Willard Carroll assembles
a remarkable cast worth the admission price alone. With Sean Connery,
Gena Rowlands, Angelina Jolie, Gillian Anderson, Madeleine Stowe, Dennis
Quaid, Ellen Burstyn, Jon Stewart, Ryan Phillippe, Jay Mohr, and
Nastassja Kinski, Playing by Heart only touches upon each of its
characters in a limited time frame, requiring the audience to rely on
the snapshot performances of each lead actor to keep them entertained
until the larger issues of the film's objective can be addressed. The
arthouse style of the film played well with critics (especially due to
the spunky performance of Jolie), but failed to connect with audiences.
The production process of the film was a disaster, changing titles
several times and running through various crew shifts. The director had
been a fan of the laid back nightclub jazz styles of the 1950's,
embodied by the music of trumpeter Chet Baker, and had decided to take
that music (representative of the couple played by Connery and Rowlands)
and use it as the overriding identity of all the couples' journey in the
story. Also a fan of Baker's style was, naturally, composer John Barry,
who had gotten his start in the exact same industry as Baker at roughly
the same time. As a trumpet player in his own band, The John Barry
Seven, back in the 1950's, he was well capable of writing trumpet and
sax music that captures the necessary emotion or mood. His career was
wrapping up by 1999, with assignments farther between and a handful
rejected after being recorded.
Barry's work had perhaps outlived its usefulness, becoming inflexible through the series of predictable drama assignments of the 1990's that didn't require the composer to challenge the style that had brought him his final awards recognition ten years earlier. Just as he was named an Officer of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II in 1999 for his achievements in music, Playing by Heart would become yet another disappointment in what would prove to be his final year of regular film score production. About three-quarters of John Barry's score for Playing by Heart would eventually be removed by the producers of the film --against the wishes of the director-- and replaced with hastily written material by Christopher Young. Barry's original score features a smaller ensemble for most of its length, utilizing Barry's traditional jazz elements (trumpet, alto sax, harmonica, piano, bass, and drums) to create an intimate, 50's style nightclub score. From Body Heat to The Specialist, fans could hear snippets of the influences from Barry's roots, but in many of those cases, the dramatic undertones of the music had been dominant. For Playing by Heart, Barry would offer lengthy, ambient performances by the small ensemble and his usual string orchestra for dramatic effect. For only a few moments in "A Place Inside Alive and Well," Barry's trademark harmonica style raises memories of Midnight Cowboy and Dance With Wolves. To fully enjoy the album, you have to be the sort of person who can become lost in Barry's simple, and yet beautiful small ensemble themes, two of which (introduced in the two opening cues on the album) repeat almost unhindered throughout the work here. Without an appreciation for the nostalgia conjured by this music, the score could easily pass you by without making much of an impression. There is an allure to these rare, intimate recordings for modern films that is perfect for the moody crowd browsing through the jazz section of the local CD store. Also likely to please that crowd will be three original tracks by Chet Baker that were recorded back in the 1950s. The switch to and from analog sound is noticeable, yet the source music fits so well into the score that the difference is hardly problematic. Chris Botti's "Remembering Chet" performances on the trumpet are also mixed in with the rest of the score; together, these tracks are a splendid compilation for the genre. As writer Jon Burlingame states in the album's notes, "L.A. musicians love to play on Barry dates because he is among the few true melodists writing movies these days." And it's because of this genuine style of thematic simplicity that the score functions so well. Playing by Heart won't be a good match for every film music fan, and it might not even interest those Barry fans who are attached to his grandiose scores with more ambitious intent. But if you enjoyed those glimpses of old-style Barry through the years, this is a fitting finale piece for his career. During all of 1999, only two tracks of Barry's score for Playing by Heart (the two primary suite cues) had been available domestically in the United States on a commercial album. Decca and Universal would provide the complete score on a 2000 CD with Barry's material occupying the majority of time on the product. The Young contribution, a sore spot for many viewers of the film (as well as crew members), has never been released commercially. ***
TRACK LISTINGS:
Total Time: 57:18
NOTES & QUOTES:
The insert contains lengthy notes about the score by Jon Burlingame of "Variety."
The CD comes with a cardboard slip cover.
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The reviews and other textual content contained on the filmtracks.com site may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of Christian Clemmensen at Filmtracks Publications. All artwork and sound clips from Playing by Heart are Copyright © 2000, Decca Records and cannot be redistributed without the label's expressed written consent. Page created 12/30/99 and last updated 4/15/07. |
