:
(Compilation) By 2004, it had been several years since Silva Screen's
collaboration with the City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra and Crouch
End Festival Chorus yielded the original "Cinema Choral Classics" albums
and many other highly successful ventures. Despite the efforts of Silva
Screen producer James Fitzpatrick, which yielded several magnificent
albums during that time, one had to begin wondering in the mid-2000's if
the magic was starting to run out for the label's offerings, especially
given that most of the sellable material worth re-recording was already
existing in their library of previous offerings. While their production
together had slowed since those glorious days of the late 1990's, that
didn't mean that this extensive library of recordings couldn't be
plucked for yet another new combination of these renditions along a new,
common theme. Some of these compilations of the 2000's have been
suspicious in their inclusion of some recordings while they omit others,
and perhaps it's not surprising that many of their most effective
products are those devoted to a single score (such as the fantastic
trilogy set or the James Bond-related albums). The 2004
"Reel Chill" album from Silva Screen looks to have the ice cube
philosophy at work, with the selection of cues this time seemingly
centered on those soundtrack themes deemed soothing and relaxing. You
used to see redundant compilations arranged along a similar theme in the
"Various" area of music stores' soundtrack sections all the time, but
the good thing about Silva Screen albums is that there is actually a
real (and often a very good) orchestral and choral ensemble behind those
recordings. Seeing one of these Silva Screen compilations sitting next
to "Classics Performed by Neil Norman and His Cosmic Orchestra" does put
the situation into perspective. Even so, albums like "Reel Chill" are
aimed at film music novices more than hardened critics of the genre, and
the label's honorable intent with this album is to get people either
hooked on film music or hooked on their re-recordings of it, and either
is a positive goal. Whether it actually chills you out is an entirely
other matter. Learned film music collectors are often driven nuts by
these compilations, because they could argue for hours about the merits
of the inclusion of music on them. With two CDs in the case of "Reel
Chill," there's plenty to consider.
The product seems heavily weighted with material by
Ennio Morricone and John Barry, the former dominating the end of the
first CD and the latter no surprise given the label's deepest regards
and prior success with re-recording his music. The absence of material
by classic romance writers of the modern age, including Patrick Doyle,
Rachel Portman, and Georges Delerue, blows a huge hole in this
compilation, however, and exposes the fact that this label and ensemble
pairing had long neglected especially the works of Delerue and Portman.
Perhaps they're just not marketable enough, though few would argue their
ability to lull a person into a slumber. Another interesting aspect of
"Reel Chill" is that the selections have been made for their aural
beauty outside of context rather than the content of the movies they
originally accompanied. If you're the type of person who pictures
Anthony Hopkins eating a person's brain when hearing any music from
Hannibal or envisions Willem Dafoe needlessly riddled with
bullets when hearing Samuel Barber's depressing "Agnus Dei" for
Platoon, then "Reel Chill" might not function correctly for you.
Even if you're one of those hard ass personalities, however, a set like
this does offer you a chance to hear the ensemble's more recent
recordings. In this case, you get a glimpse into their interpretations
of
The Lord of the Rings (released together on a separate,
concurrent album that is far superior to this one) as well as items such
as
A.I. Artificial Intelligence by John Williams and
Gladiator by Hans Zimmer and Lisa Gerrard (this version of "Now
We Are Free" starts over again for some reason halfway through and
repeats itself). Despite its somewhat awkward suite arrangement that
diminishes the oboe performances, it's always nice to hear
The
Mission (despite, once again, its gloomy implications). Likewise,
the
You Only Live Twice suite is among the label's best James
Bond offerings. The hidden gem of the set may be the lovely "Woman of
Ireland" from
Barry Lyndon. One thankful omission is
Dances
With Wolves, the classic already badly overexposed. Overall, the
"Reel Chill" set, unlike some of Silva Screen's other, more highly
targeted compilations, is aimed at the mainstream listener rather than
the film score collector. The stock photography on these albums is
always curious, with an ice cube all over the outside and a picture of
some bald, vascular dude in Zen meditation on (far too much of) the
inside. No meditation is likely for the listener of the album, though,
for the performances are strong and the selections are varied enough to
keep you pleasantly awake and lucid.
*** @Amazon.com: CD or
Download
