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Review of Saving Private Ryan (John Williams)
FILMTRACKS RECOMMENDS:
Buy it... only if you are a true John Williams collector, for
Saving Private Ryan is among the maestro's less engaging and
repetitive stand-alone listening experiences.
Avoid it... if you expect more than faint hints of the dramatic weight of the music for Schindler's List or the dynamic, resonating appeal of Williams' other famous scores for Steven Spielberg's films.
FILMTRACKS EDITORIAL REVIEW:
Saving Private Ryan: (John Williams) Director
Steven Spielberg's two World War II masterpieces of the 1990's
unanimously rank among the top war films of all time, but whereas
Schindler's List used the greater concepts of good and evil to
jerk your tears, Saving Private Ryan did so with the terrifyingly
realistic depiction of the lives of common soldiers. The film easily
swept through 1998 with the most consistently positive critical reviews
seen in years, and only the brutal and gory nature of the story's
execution, which almost gained the film an NC-17 rating, deterred
audiences enough to quell the overwhelming popular interest that usually
accompanied a Spielberg film. Robert Rodat's screenplay, Spielberg's
direction, and an ensemble cast that acts with subtlety yield a
compelling tale of the American military's attempt to return one soldier
home from France, all the while conveying a level of respect rarely seen
on film. The emotionally powerful production left Spielberg's usual
collaborating composer, John Williams, in a difficult position.
Williams' scores for Spielberg films, including Schindler's List,
were a sure ticket to dramatic success, and yet, Saving Private
Ryan presented a number of unique challenges for the maestro. First,
the film's major scenes of action were deemed to be absent any music,
allowing the explosively impressive sound effects editing of the
production to more accurately represent the atmosphere of combat.
Secondly, the music that Williams provided amounted to less than an hour
in length and was to be mixed during only transitional scenes that
allowed audiences a temporary break from scenes of wartime intensity. As
such, the score's presence was not dominant enough to allow for
significant thematic development for the plethora of characters in the
unit at the heart of the story. At best, Williams could only provide an
overarching representation for their struggle together, and within the
short confines of his occasional synchronization points, any development
of those ideas would be minimal. Finally, the film had used the dramatic
theme to Marc Shaiman's The American President over its highly
popular trailers, and that music is about as far from the restrained
approach that Williams would take with the film as possible.
Generally, Williams succeeded in providing Saving Private Ryan with an appropriately restrained and respectful score, but at a distinct cost. As is customary and almost mandatory for a Williams project of this magnitude, a concert piece serving as a tribute to the soldiers who perished was written and used over the end titles of the film. Undoubtedly, "Hymn to the Fallen" is the highlight of the score, especially given that the theme from this cue is only developed with hesitation throughout the actual underscore of the film. Even amongst Williams' solemn tributes to previous subjects of considerable importance, this hymn is somewhat pedestrian. Gorgeous in its respectful statements, it follows the pattern of the rest of the score by exercising much restraint. Without the fanfares, the banging chimes, and the bold harmonies that extend throughout the full range of sonic spectrum, the hymn resides mostly in the lower registers outside of some meandering violin, woodwind, and xylophone movements above the brass and choir. There is nothing about the hymn to suggest the sharp edges of conflict or patriotism. No pronounced snare or lofty trumpet solos as in JFK and no overwhelming layers of strings as in Born on the Fourth of July are evident here. As a companion to a score with the typical dramatic gravity of the maestro's writing, the hymn would be a fine accompaniment. But the remainder of the score suffers in its entertainment value because of its solemn duty to accompany the overly grim and at times hopeless environment of the film. Williams has always stated that his scores are not aimed at enjoyment outside of the context of the film, and from his career of promoting and conducting his music around the world, that statement seems more than suspect. But in the case of Saving Private Ryan, he indeed produced a rare soundtrack that does not function to maintain much interest outside of the film, repetitive in motific performances and lacking significant variance in tone. The album is a product of the popularity of the composer, director, and the quality of the film. Most listeners would have been served just as well with a ten-minute single containing the primary hymn and a combination of the "Revisiting Normandy" and "Omaha Beach" cues, as well as the trumpet duet closing "The Last Battle." For a film that runs almost three hours in length, that's a surprising statement in and of itself. Still, hardcore film score fans will find considerable merit in Williams' underscore for the film's transitional scenes of movement and rest. Unless you can appreciate the delicately sequenced solos for woodwinds and especially French horn and trumpet, then the album could very well translate into a boring, eventless 50 minutes of a meandering and thematic void. So melancholy and subdued is Williams' touch here that even the lightly tapping snare is mixed far at the rear to avoid any sense of patriotic defiance. The lack of impactful thematic integration, action sequences, and even any significant suspense causes an abundance of low, rumbling, horn-dominated solos and dull, repetitious sequences of aimless strings. Outside of a few distinct moments of accentuation in "Revisiting Normandy" and "Omaha Beach," the eight tracks in between the identical concert performances of the hymn on the album feature no individual flavor. Parts of the score are practically inaudible, which raises memories of the feathery touch that James Horner utilized for some of Glory's more somber moments of reflection. But, in this case, there's nothing in the surrounding material to salvage an engaging listening experience. Only in "Defense Preparations" do fragments of action rhythms from the previous year's The Lost World: Jurassic Park provide a contribution. This cue alone, ironically enough, would likely function better if separated from the rest of Saving Private Ryan and placed with your library collection of Jurassic Park music. Otherwise, the slight and hopeful swing towards the positive harmonic structures of the hymn in the first half of "High School Teacher" represents the most robust thematic statement in the latter half of the score. On the whole, the work requires a devoted appreciation of the film and its subject matter to float your interest in the lengthy passages in between the opening cues and the hymn. The mix of the score is among its better qualities; Williams returned to the ensemble and location with which he recorded Schindler's List, and the recording of this Boston group and the Tanglewood Festival Chorus is precise. The placement of the trumpets in particular is worth noting; Williams seated the two trumpet principals in the balcony above the rest of the ensemble to guarantee an accentuation of a symphony hall effect he sought for the ambience. Despite this arrangement, the recording does not sound as wet in ambience as one might expect. In early 1998, there were reports that a few of the musicians in the Boston Symphony Hall broke down in tears during the recording of Saving Private Ryan. Unless this occurred during the emotional hymn's performance, then it's far more believable that the tears were caused by a screen with the rough edit of the film's visuals. Speculation will inevitably continue about whether or not the extremely restrained technique managed in this score was the most effective use of Williams for Saving Private Ryan. Ironically, the same debate arose for another Tom Hanks film a couple of years later, Robert Zemeckis' Cast Away, which also strikes an odd balance between an absence of score and the music's sometimes intrusive return to the mix in later scenes. Much of this speculation about Saving Private Ryan's score comes from fans of extremely powerful war films such as Platoon and Born on the Fourth of July, both of which enhanced by punchier, thematically strong music that functions well independently. The trailers for Saving Private Ryan only fueled the debate further, because Shaiman's theme for The American President is as flamboyantly dynamic as the composer always tended to be in such circumstances. And, frankly, the sound worked brilliantly to give the combined visuals of the trailer an extremely heroic edge. In the end, though, you have to chalk up Williams and Spielberg's decision as one of measured necessity and move on. The entirety of the score will be a slow, boring, and sometimes painfully unengaging listening experience for many collectors, but the hymn remains a welcome addition to any assembly of Williams' best themes. Re-recordings of this hymn have often been quite successful, with stunning results sometimes coming from various singing groups, and if you own one or two such re-recordings, then those should represent the Saving Private Ryan score well enough to bypass the dedicated albums for the film. A 2018 re-release of Williams' original album presentation is unable to illuminate anything new in the score, reprising the 1998 album's arrangements but adding the film versions of "High School Teacher" and "The Last Battle" because the original album had taken the liberty to pad the listening experience on those cues with material from "Omaha Beach" and others. On either album, Saving Private Ryan ranks among the least of Williams' Digital Age scores to be recommended for enjoyment outside of the film, for the score's appreciable, respectful tact in context may struggle to retain the same impact alone.
TRACK LISTINGS:
1998 Dreamworks Album:
Total Time: 64:12
2018 La-La Land Album: Total Time: 76:44
NOTES & QUOTES:
The inserts of both albums include the note below from Steven Spielberg. That of
the 2018 La-La Land Records album also features additional information about the film
and score.
"With Saving Private Ryan, John Williams has written a memorial for
all the soldiers who sacrificed themselves on the altar of
freedom in the Normandy Invasion on June 6, 1944. Pay particular
attention to the cue entitled 'Hymn to the Fallen,' which never appears in the
main text of the film, only at the end credit roll. It's a piece of
music and a testament to John Williams' sensitivity and brilliance that, in my opinion, will
stand the test of time and honor forever the fallen of this war and
possibly all wars. In all of our 16 collaborations, Saving Private Ryan possibly contains the least amount of score. Restraint was John Williams' primary objective. He did not want to sentimentalize or create emotion from what already existed in raw form. Saving Private Ryan is furious and relentless, as are all wars, but where there is music, it is exactly where John Williams intends for us the chance to breathe and remember. As with Schindler's List, John Williams chose the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the deeply resonant qualities of Symphony Hall to record the score for Saving Private Ryan. I would like to give special mention to Tim Morrison, Thomas Rolfs (trumpets) and Gus Sebring (French horn) for their heartfelt solos, and to Kenny Wannberg, who has been a close collaborator of John Williams and mine from almost the very beginning of my career."
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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 Saving Private Ryan are Copyright © 1998, 2018, Dreamworks Records, La-La Land Records and cannot be redistributed without the label's expressed written consent. Page created 7/21/98 and last updated 8/28/20. |
