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Review of Sabrina (John Williams)
FILMTRACKS RECOMMENDS:
Buy it... if you are nostalgic for the pleasantly romantic Golden
Age style of meandering piano solos and conservative barroom jazz.
Avoid it... if you expect that dated sound to provide a convincing expression of elegance for the otherwise modernized adaptation of the classic story.
FILMTRACKS EDITORIAL REVIEW:
Sabrina: (John Williams) Remakes of classic Golden
Age films are destined for tough scrutiny from hardened critics and
audiences, and while director Sydney Pollack's revision of the 1954
romance Sabrina was both admirable in its adaptation for the
1990's and in genuinely valiant attempts by Julia Ormond and Harrison
Ford to replace Audrey Hepburn and Humphrey Bogart, audiences never
warmed to the picture. Ormond and Ford were simply never Hepburn and
Bogart, despite whatever chemistry they may have sparked on screen.
Arguably part of the difficulty in remaking Sabrina was the
forced modernization of the story. There was far less romance inherent
in the surroundings of a 1990's world compared to that which existed in
the original film. The movie thus became a more standard contemporary
love triangle affair regardless of the soundtrack's attempts to pull it
back in time. Famed composer John Williams was brought on board the
project to help smooth over the time period's transition and dependably
provide a musical link to the Golden Age. Williams was coming off of his
longest break from film scoring in many years, deciding not to take a
scoring assignment in 1994 and instead focus on his concert tours and a
variety of other projects. Undoubtedly, 1993 had been his strongest year
in a long time, with Jurassic Park and Schindler's List
both destined for greatness, and Williams had a difficult time living up
to heightened expectations in 1995, especially by his own standards.
Indeed, both of his 1995 film projects, Nixon and Sabrina,
were generally considered muted disappointments, and his music for these
films has fallen victim to neglect by even many of Williams' own fans.
In the case of Sabrina, Williams was returning to a nostalgic age
he was fond of reproduced in his very early years of composition. Long
before his large-scale orchestral efforts, the maestro produced echoes
of the Golden Age in his barroom jazz-style compositions. Rather than
return to his trusted collaborator of a long time, Dave Grusin, Pollack
enthusiastically requested this romantic sound for the modern
incarnation of Sabrina from Williams, who responded with a
predictable score straight from that era.
Relatively early in the filming process for Sabrina, Williams wrote a pair of original light jazz romance songs of a 1950's vintage for on-screen performances, and both of them are steeped in yesteryear. Neither "(In the) Moonlight" nor "How Can I Remember?" is particularly memorable, despite some awards consideration for the former after the employment of pop artist String to perform it for the end credits. After becoming a staple of his concert tours, Williams revealed that "(In the) Moonlight" was largely written as a tribute to Hepburn, who he had known for years while she was living, regardless of its purpose for the 1995 movie. Performed on screen by Michael Dees and/or rearranged for instrumental source use with a vintage jazz band or solo piano, these songs are applied to the narrative alongside a wide variety of other, non-original tunes from the era. All of this source-like music was eventually recorded by Williams in Los Angeles, making for enough material to constitute a song-only soundtrack for the film. (Over an hour of it populates one of the two CDs of the 2023 score and song combination album.) The melodies of Williams' two original songs are rather drab, providing no competition for the reapplication of "La Vie en Rose" that had been used prominently in the 1954 film and steals the show again. (The 1954 movie didn't have an original score.) Built upon Williams' favorite instrumental source of romance, the piano, the score for Sabrina is an elegant, classically performed work unlike anything from the composer in the decade before or after. But was it the strategically right move by Pollack and Williams? Perhaps not, for this sound ultimately fell victim to the same criticism as the film. There is no doubt that, technically speaking, Williams' Sabrina is a superior piece of composition, especially for those who appreciate fine performances on piano. The instrument is the primary source of emotion in nearly every important moment prior to the triumphant "Linus' New Life," ranging from the tonally pleasant, rambling performances of the main theme to the fluid continuation of similar ideas in the conversational underscore. That primary identity, one without a song variant, is the concert bait from this work, and it is joined by an awkwardly descending motif of near mystery that opens the suite-like renditions and several of the score's cues. This theme seems redundant with "(In the) Moonlight" generally but does contain an outstanding bridge sequence that highlights the whole endeavor. However, like the film, the romance of Williams' tone seems out of place and forced into a mold that doesn't fit a modern representation of the story. Whether you encounter the music in the film or by itself, you hear the composer trying too hard to place Sabrina in the past, losing the authenticity of the elegance that he could have offered had he allowed that piano to perform rhythms and thematic progressions of a more contemporary style. It could be argued that several of his 1960's scores are more genuine than Sabrina in their performances; the modern ensemble also fails to swing with the appropriate, dancing steps required to accentuate the excitement of love in the story. Because of the lyrical weakness of the original two songs, the score's widespread applications of them causes a malaise to hinder the whole work. In other words, Williams wrote a functional and at times beautiful score, but an emotionally flat one. A solid example of elegance lost exists in the suite format of the main theme, which introduces the orchestra after a lengthy piano solo, and during the orchestral swells, the piano continues to meander hopelessly in the background, nearly ruining the tonality of the music. The middle portions of the score are uninspired by the romantic atmosphere or seemingly anything else, going through token motions with a muted trumpet in one cue and an accordion for Paris in another. The complexity of the continuously wandering piano lines continues, as it did in Williams' early 1970's scores, often mirrored by a single woodwind instrument. The "Nantucket Visit" cue breaks the monotony of the underscore for some brief comedy relief, and "Linus' New Life" provides overdue depth in drama, but when the film and album return to Williams' arrangements of classic Golden Age dance tunes, the placement of the music in a context of time is once again placed in flux. Sting's voice is too modern for "(In the) Moonlight," further confusing the era of this soundtrack. On the 1995 album, there is only about 25 minutes of original Williams material included non-chronologically, with arrangements, songs, and reprises comprising the rest of its length. A nicely expanded 2023 La-La Land Records product more than doubles that length, offering many more adaptations of the two songs into the score and a wealth of alternate takes. (Thankfully, the obnoxiously contemporary film version of "Learning the Ropes" is placed amongst the alternates.) For collectors of both Golden Age romances and Williams' modern orchestral efforts, Sabrina will seem just a touch out of place and, like the film, lacking in a convincing expression of elegance. **
TRACK LISTINGS:
1995 A&M Album:
Total Time: 51:31
* not contained in the film 2023 La-La Land Album: Total Time: 146:51
NOTES & QUOTES:
The insert of the 1995 A&M album includes no extra information about the
score or film. That of the 2023 La-La Land product contains details about both.
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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 Sabrina are Copyright © 1995, 2023, A&M Records, La-La Land Records and cannot be redistributed without the label's expressed written consent. Page created 9/24/96 and last updated 8/20/23. |
