Filmtracks Traffic Rank: #1,455
Written 1/15/00, Revised 4/7/07
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Buy it... if you relax to the modern adaptations of style from 19th
Century Americana spirit and could tolerate some John Philip Sousa
thrown in as well.
Avoid it... if you become impatient with scores that do not vary in
style, instrumentation, or emotional attitude from scene to scene.
P.T. Barnum: (Hummie Mann) The early days of
Hallmark Entertainment's television movies were successful in part
because they always featured strong scores, many of which Emmy
nomination material. These scores were often influential enough in their
films that a commercial album release would soon follow their debut on
the small screen (usually on the Varèse Sarabande label). The
first one to rely solely on a promotional release instead was Hummie
Mann's P.T. Barnum, a score that certainly didn't deserve no
release at all. By this time, Hallmark's films had begun their tour on
the A&E cable channel, and their 1999 telling of the early life of
circus master P.T. Barnum detailed his triumphs and tragedies before he
hooked up with Bailey to form the now famed circus. The film was
directed by Simon Wincer, the mastermind behind the Emmy-rich
Lonesome Dove, though a comparatively weaker cast led by Beau
Bridges carried forth in this tale. Canadian composer Hummie Mann has
never had a spectacular career, though some of his orchestral music for
Mel Brooks' comedies has been noteworthy. His score here has been
mistakenly advertised as a resurrection of the style of John Philip
Sousa, the master of big bang 19th Century Americana swing, and while
some of his music contains the same general type of material, it's
usually restrained to a source-like style of inclusion. Instead, Mann
created a score far more influenced by American's foremost classical
composer, Aaron Copland, than any other. With this more reminiscent
style of restraint in mind, Mann's score is a softer variant on James
Horner's Legends of the Fall and features a fair amount of his
own style as well. The similarities between this score and the Horner
favorite are mainly rooted in the similar constructs of title theme,
with much of Mann's tender underscore existing closer to the range of
John Debney and Marc Shaiman (for whom Mann sometimes
orchestrated).
The consistency of the score's soft, orchestrally
pleasing themes is both its strength and weakness. It's a simple score,
very melodic in the usual Mann sense, and don't be surprised to hear
restatements of the score's several themes over and over again. A modest
ensemble performs with enthusiasm and handles well a slight edge of folk
built into the score's rhythmic parts (perhaps a carry-over request from
Wincer's successful collaboration with Basil Poledouris for
Lonesome
Dove, for which the folk approach was widely praised). There is nary
a moment of dissonance or surprise in the first 40 minutes on album,
with an optimistic tone maintained through light, percussion rhythms
that exude a circus-like atmosphere. The connection to Shaiman's work in
particular is evident because of Mann's endlessly tender and emboldening
style. A piccolo over snare and fiddle march in "Discovering Tom Thumb"
begins to break from the mold, and more such variation in
instrumentation would have been welcomed. The lack of genuine swings
toward the tragedy in the story is an ailment here, with the several
death scenes handled by Mann without a convincing tone of resilience or
anguish. The Sousa-inspired cues exist mostly toward the victorious end
of the album, and while they are technically quite competent, Mann's
interpretations can sometimes become overwhelming compared to
surrounding material. He remains remarkably original in his
compositions, though, only directly quoting the "Battle Hymn of the
Republic" theme into the final moments. On album,
P.T. Barnum
suffers a bit from its extended length. The short cues are mixed
together and presented into suites that don't always share the same
style of content; this sudden shift at times can be annoying. At over an
hour in playing time, there is considerable redundancy in the first half
of the album, making it a bit laborious to get through. The sound
quality of the album is vibrant, however, with few technical flaws. In
its sum,
P.T. Barnum is a very strong score for its medium, and
Mann's contributions should be recognized as always. But the score's
presentation on album threatens to drown you with too much of a
consistent style.
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