: (John Williams) For sixty years, America
was unaware of the tragedy that occurred in the small Florida town of
Rosewood in 1922. A race riot by whites from that and neighboring areas
left the town in ruins and led to the shooting, burning, or lynching
deaths of between 70 and 250 black residents. The cover-up of the
massacre at Rosewood is typical in the history of the deep southern
regions of America at the time; the state's police indicated after the
mob attack that only as many as half a dozen people actually died at
Rosewood in the riot. It wasn't until newspaper reports in the 1980's
and later descriptions of the event on the Discovery Channel that the
true extent of the mob's damage and carnage was exposed. By 1997,
director John Singleton had matured greatly since his debut with
was a
dramatic and significant endeavor that ended up being very expensive to
produce. It's hard to market films like
to the mass
American public because, if not for simply for the shame involved with
the actions of whites of that period, there remains little appeal for
people to witness such tragedy. This despite some effort to infuse the
tale with a fictional Western-styled hero and the survival of characters
who in real life perished during the assaults. One element that came in
over budget was the score for the movie, which was originally composed
by Wynton Marsalis and featured his distinctive jazz and blues touch.
Deeming Marsalis' music inadequate for the gravity of the picture,
however, the filmmakers would seek the ultimate upgrade by turning to
John Williams, who had won the world over with his score for another
challenging, emotional docudrama,
, not long
before. Marsalis' finished score can be heard, incidentally, on his 1999
CD release, "Reeltime," and portions of that work were utilized as
source material in the final cut. The move from Marsalis, an amateur at
film score writing on this level, to the maestro Williams is an enormous
leap, and a welcome one given the usual quality of Williams' work. Not
only had Williams already written music in the 1990's for dark passages
in America's past (
), but one can reach all the
way back to the early 1970's to realize that Williams is also skilled in
the bluesy twang of the Deep South.
Stylistic similarities between
Rosewood and
scores such as
The Sugarland Express,
Conrack, and
The
Missouri Breaks indicate that Williams doesn't just conjure the
attitude in
Rosewood from thin air, though the average
weightiness of his music had vastly increased in the meantime, partially
due to the composer's growth as a talent and the necessities of the
story of
Rosewood in particular. While on their surface, the
rhythms and instrumentation of
Rosewood may seem like a
significant departure from Williams' usual styles (it didn't help
Rosewood's cause that the Special Editions of the original
Star Wars trilogy were being released into theatres at exactly
the same time), it's easy to hear that the composer followed a very
clear process that mirrors, most interestingly,
Home Alone in
structure. For
Rosewood, Williams composes three gospel songs
that serve the same purpose (and are integrated in exactly the same way)
as his original carols in
Home Alone. The first, "Look Down,
Lord," is the piece of lament in the score, while the other two become
more progressively optimistic and eventually triumphant in "The Freedom
Train," which was unused in the picture but likely intended for the
conclusion of the train escape sequence near the end of the story. The
adult African American vocals in these songs, a far cry stylistically
from what was to follow shortly in Williams'
Amistad, extend to
sections of the original score, sometimes leading the start of an
orchestral cue. The score itself features two full, satisfying themes
and one darker motif to represent the whites' attitudes. The main theme
is performed by harmonica, fiddle, piano, guitar, and jaw harp, with a
full orchestral ensemble available for the more beautiful (and standard)
string renditions of Williams' Americana variants. A noble horn version
of the theme reflects the main black character's veteran status and his
efforts to bring Western-style order to the land, heard first in "The
Arrival of Mann" and several times thereafter. The second major theme in
Rosewood is for that character's love interest and is
interspersed in soft woodwind interludes for their scenes together. The
authenticity of the score's presentation of these themes is outstanding,
mixing the standout solo instruments with an occasional sound effect of
throaty exhales of voice and the expected rambling of timpani for
moments of dread.
The often twangy, four-note motif that Williams uses to
identify racism in general, and the impending danger that comes with it,
offers a minor-key progression that mixes well with the blues of the
surrounding music and is presented by the brass section in several cues.
Relentless string chopping, with continuous jaw harp and fluttering
woodwind performances over a violent acoustic guitar, represent the
actual moments of violence. The overarching attitude of Williams' music
has the same restrained pacing and outward respect as
JFK,
applying even some mournful brass solos of equivalent dignity. These
moments culminate in "Sylvester Joins the Group" (senselessly named
"Mann at Rosewood" on the initial album release), the score's deeply
melodic cue of redemption that, when accelerating the primary theme for
orchestra, begins to resemble
Far and Away. It's easy to have
respect for
Rosewood in how it tackles its duties, for it
accomplishes what it needs to do at Williams' normal standards of
excellence. But like a handful of similarly rendered Williams works,
Rosewood is not a readily enjoyable listening experience out of
context, especially when attempting to appreciate the performances
outside of those that feature the main Americana theme. The 50-minute
presentation assembled by Williams for the original 1997 album release
by Sony Classical contained the original songs and brief snippets of the
source material but only provided about half of Williams' actual
underscore. In 2013, La-La Land Records released a 2-CD set containing
that original presentation on one CD but including the full 78 minutes
of score on the other (without the gospel songs mixed in between). This
proper arrangement of the material does yield several notable new
moments, including the actual, full opening sequence of the score and
other renditions of the melodic content. In many cues, however, the
additional material is incidental. Even the newly offered performances
of the love theme are somewhat mundane, supporting Williams' initial
arrangement as a strong one. No matter which album for
Rosewood
you choose to explore, the score can be quite laborious unless you are
prepared to share the remembrance of the events by getting caught in the
emotional grip of the music's authentic tone. The gospel portions are
definitely not for every listener, and their very forward vocals break
the flow of the orchestral performances in many places on the original
album presentation. This is an entry likely to be revisited only
occasionally by even Williams' most ardent enthusiasts.
*** @Amazon.com: CD or
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