One thing you cannot count on from
Romeo & Juliet,
however, is earth-shattering complexity. While the work does feature
some of the rambling piano lines you can now expect from Korzeniowski in
this circumstance, the underlying structures of this music are somewhat
basic and repetitive, a blend of 1990's John Barry and Rachel Portman
styles for the 2010's. As usual for Korzeniowski, there is a tremendous
amount of thematic development but not always a tightly woven tapestry
to bring these threads together. Like
W.E.,
Romeo & Juliet
is approached with vignettes for individual scenes in mind, only three
or so ideas reprised in multiple places throughout the score. Detractors
of these scores will point to the redundancy of their material, and
while that really was an issue with
W.E., the core ideas in
Romeo & Juliet are better manipulated in between the singular
offshoots throughout the work. There are two love themes and one
repeated waltz in
Romeo & Juliet, the two identities of romance
potentially delineated as the "tragic love theme" and the "dreamy love
theme." The former is the actual, primary identity of the score,
introduced in "Forbidden Love" and extremely reminiscent of
W.E.
in its progressions. This string theme churns through melodramatic
rhythmic movements until its actual melody inevitably builds to a
similar, rousing crescendo. In "Forbidden Love" and "A Thousand Times
Good Night," the timpani and cymbals provide the momentous culmination
of the theme, the latter adding more percussive tingling for good
measure. Near the end of "The Crypt (Part 2)," the theme's slower, truly
tragic rendition features a more resolute brass presence. By contrast,
the "dreamy love theme" is soaring and hopeful identity for the duet of
cello and soprano voice over flowing piano rhythms, the ominously
interrupted "Wedding Vows" foreshadowing the sublime "Eternal Love,"
which adds ethereal chorus to the mix. Both of these cues eventually
utilize the "tragic love theme" melody as an interlude, perhaps
suggesting that the dreamy theme is simply a doomed variant of the
primary identity. In these cues, listeners may be reminded of the tone
of solitary romantic despair heard in John Williams'
A.I. Artificial
Intelligence. While a solo violin and viola contribute to several of
the other cues in the score, the cello performances in these cues'
counterpoint lines are spectacular, especially against the voice and
piano.
The secondary thematic ideas in
Romeo & Juliet
are led by a waltz introduced in the latter half of "Queen Mab" that is
one of few themes to receive noteworthy evolutionary development as the
score progresses. While some listeners may be repelled by its somewhat
dainty, quiet introduction, its reprise in "Death is My Heir,"
increasing in intensity from a single drumbeat early to the full
ensemble late, is an impressive moment not to be missed. Otherwise,
Romeo & Juliet is mostly a collection of self-contained themes
within cues, the opening "Juliet's Dream" theme another idea pulled
directly from the piano lines of
W.E.. The duo of "The Check of
Night" and "Trooping With Crows" both offer stately waltz rhythms of
classical self-importance and little extended development. The former
does overlay some intriguingly chirpy vocals in the first half, while
the latter elongates the vocal lines over more forceful, lower string
chops. The piano's activity in "Trooping With Crows" is rewarding,
especially in the pronounced bass role at 2:20 into the track, and this
cue more than any other conveys the benefits of the slightly wet ambient
mix. A somber and restrained piano theme in "First Kiss" builds with
Craig Armstrong deliberation and broken chords until its own symphonic
crescendo brings it to peace at the end. The same exact formula is
followed in "Come, Gentle Night," but oddly with a different melody, one
that is revisited by the composer in later fragmentary echoes. The
flourishing pulses of strings marking each measure of the highlighting
portions of "Come, Gentle Night" are a friendly Korzeniowski technique.
The score's darker material, representing the chasing and sword-fighting
in the tale, begins abruptly with "Fortune's Fool," the full choir
chanting over churning string and brass rhythms and viola stabs. The
middle portion of this cue offers the score's only truly unpleasant,
dissonant ambience before yielding to partial renditions of the tragic
love theme. A similar sense of urgency opens "From Ancient Grudge," but
without the choir, the pulsating strings of the "Come, Gentle Night" cue
replaced with muscular brass. The rhythmic tension of "Tempt Not a
Desperate Man" follows the style set forth by the unique cues that had
come before, but replacing the piano with varied strings. The expression
of brass resolve in the second half of that cue seemingly takes
inspiration from the chords of "Juliet's Dream" as it pounds its way to
a cymbal-rolled conclusion.
The pair of "The Crypt" cues present the least
interesting material from
Romeo & Juliet when skimmed casually,
though Korzeniowski does seem to be deconstructing the score's themes in
very slow fashion throughout their length. The first of these utilizes a
distant choir and takes the "Come, Gentle Night" melody through
depressingly wrenching high-string motions. Listeners expecting to hear
Korzeniowski crank up the romantic tragedy in "The Crypt (Part 2)" may
be disappointed by the solo cello meanderings that occupy much of that
cue. But the main love theme rendition in last two minutes are worth the
wait, especially as the composer slows the pace and allows the harmonic
tonality to remain purely intact. With "Eternal Love," he sends the
listener off with a performance of the secondary love theme variant so
fanciful and wondrous that mainstream listeners might confuse its early
moments with Danny Elfman's
Edward Scissorhands. On the whole,
Korzeniowski's score is only 50 minutes in length on its album
presentation, but that material presents enough of the romantic appeal
in its first half and narrative cohesiveness in the second half to serve
the listener and the score well. The product was initially available as
a digital download-only release in America, but Sony Classical pressed
CDs of the same contents in Europe. Those in America hoping to
experience the best sonic presentation of the score will want to import
this CD. Interest remains, obviously, for Horner's score, which was only
weeks away from its own album release by the same label, and there were
some rumors from the industry in 2013 suggesting that a belated pressing
of that solid, rejected score will eventually exist. As for
Korzeniowski's effort, film music collectors who tend to sway towards
the romantic side of the genre will be heartened by the composer's
unashamed tonality and straight forward melodies, even if they don't
always connect from the beginning to form a coherent narrative. Each cue
in this score contains enough unique merit to recommend, with the dreamy
love theme versions standing as among the best music for all of cinema
in 2013. All of that said, however, be prepared to hear distracting
influences from
W.E., especially in the progressions and
orchestration of the opening cues on the
Romeo & Juliet album.
Given the strength of the 2011 score, this expansion will by no means be
a negative aspect for many listeners. Expect the epic romance of
Korzeniowski's
Romeo & Juliet to soften the blow for even the
avid Horner enthusiast. This project is proof that pure crap on screen
can still inspire greatness out of the right composer.
***** @Amazon.com: CD or
Download
