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Review of The Silence of the Lambs (Howard Shore)
FILMTRACKS RECOMMENDS:
Buy it... on any of the album options if you want to spend an hour
looking over your shoulder, because few scores are as consistently
unnerving as Howard Shore's morbidly dramatic The Silence of the
Lambs.
Avoid it... if you expect this score to accomplish much more than establish a suspenseful mood, for its structures really aren't that complicated when studied apart from the oppressive attitude of their performance.
FILMTRACKS EDITORIAL REVIEW:
The Silence of the Lambs: (Howard Shore) A number
of seemingly unrelated concepts were irrevocably tied to mental sickness
in Jonathan Demme's monumentally successful 1991 film, The Silence of
the Lambs, not the least entertaining of which were fava beans,
census takers, livers, and nice Chiantis. The world suddenly became
fascinated with the brilliant cannibal Hannibal Lecter, enough so to
encourage actor Anthony Hopkins to reprise his incredibly delicious
performance of the character in multiple sequels. He is the unfortunate
key to success for a young FBI agent (Jodie Foster) who solicits help
from the psychologically menacing criminal in her frantic investigation
into the mind of a psychotic kidnapper from whom she needs to rescue a
politician's daughter. As tense a conversational thriller to ever come
from Hollywood, The Silence of the Lambs swept through the awards
season like an uncontrollable wildfire, the highly disturbing
interactions between Hopkins and Foster achieving legendary cinematic
status. The substandard sequels did a great injustice to the
comprehensive quality of the original film, which managed to maintain an
uncomfortable level of tension throughout its entire length, even
extending its heavy atmosphere to the sudden plot shifts and demented
sexuality and humor contained in its story. Among the few aspects of the
production of The Silence of the Lambs that really didn't gain
much attention at the time was Howard Shore's effectively troubling
score. Had the composer enjoyed better mainstream name recognition at
the time, he might have been carried on to his own awards consideration
due to the overwhelming critical and popular triumphs of the film.
Despite producing quality suspense material for feature films dating
back to The Fly in the 1980's, Shore's reputation as a solid
composer for this genre didn't really become widespread until a variety
of higher profile projects later in the 1990's.
Stylistically, the tone of Shore's music for The Silence of the Lambs has many fundamental similarities to aspects of subsequent efforts for Seven, The Game, Sliver, and Panic Room, though none of these scores has ever been known for translating into standalone success in album form. Shore's approach to these assignments is effective nearly every time, perfecting his recipe for orchestral brooding and smothering the listener with uncomfortable tones of atmosphere and anonymously shifty motifs from each section of the ensemble in its lowest ranges. Unfortunately, while these functional scores have a following from Shore's devoted, pre-The Lord of the Rings collecting base, their appeal on album is limited to only these hardcore collectors. Although The Silence of the Lambs contains more thematic development and melodramatic chord structures than many of its siblings, including some phrasing that foreshadows the themes for the forces of darkness in the aforementioned The Lord of the Rings trilogy, the score's presentation on its numerous albums is nevertheless unnerving to the point of questionable standalone merit. This does not reflect the quality of the composition and its chilling performance for the intended context, though. Shore not only affords Foster's Clarice Starling a very appropriate seven-note ascending and descending figure reflective of her ambitious rise to prominence in the FBI and subsequent disgrace, but he provides an almost intoxicating, neo-classical series of dramatic chord shifts that may be somewhat stereotypical but are strikingly powerful for Lecter as he walks off into a crowd to have an old friend for dinner at the end. The adaptation of these two ideas during the course of the two characters' conversations is smart, with Starling's rising and falling theme becoming more clearly enunciated as she nears her answers (it starts as an immature, five-note fragment in the opening scenes) before turning slightly frantic as counterpoint to Lecter's far more methodical shifts of the minor-key in "Finale." These subtle manipulations of theme are intriguing upon careful listening, but they by no means define the score. The intangible sense of dread that accompanies Shore's constantly morbid chords and progressions is the heart of The Silence of the Lambs, and although many of those movements are accessibly tonal in nature, they have enough edgy character to take full advantage of the low woodwinds and brass in every cue. Slight percussive motifs offer some glimpses of hope at the opening and closing of the score (similar to vintage John Williams in parts of "Main Title"), countered at its darkest moment ("The Cellar") with alternatively challenging electronic textures. The whole listening experience is so bleak that it's difficult to recommend for standalone enjoyment. There really is no respite from the creepy environment of this score, which for some will be interpreted as an arguably boring hour on album. Because the Munich Symphony Orchestra is employed to dwell in the lower regions with such immense weight at every moment, there isn't much to intrigue in terms of instrumental or motific creativity. Some occasional ostinatos performed by mid-range woodwinds and violins are about the extent of such activity. It is an atmospheric work of the highest level of consistency, its volume only interrupted by Lecter's two "out and about" cues that stray into the tones heard at the end of Seven. The original 1991 MCA Records product contained more than enough music for casual enthusiasts, but there had long lingered some demand for a complete album presentation of The Silence of the Lambs. Quartet Records offered that product in 2018, adding about twenty minutes of additional material that is not unsurprisingly similar in almost every cue to the already-released music. There is further development of Shore's motifs in these additional cues, however, better completing the narrative. Unfortunately, the sound quality of this remastering is not significantly improved, and Quartet only pressed a woefully inadequate 1,000 copies of the album, yielding a predictable sellout within a matter of weeks. Quartet re-issued the same product in 2021 in unlimited form. Even the shorter album's hour is, in all reality, too much of this score to handle in one sitting for most listeners unless they are really keen on unnerving themselves or their roommates late at night. You'll likely respect this score and appreciate its impact in the film, but most listeners will rarely revisit it on either of its unpleasant, oppressive albums. ***
TRACK LISTINGS:
1991 MCA Album:
Total Time: 57:09
2018/2021 Quartet Albums: Total Time: 77:19
* previously unreleased ** contains previously unreleased material
NOTES & QUOTES:
The insert pf the 1991 MAC album includes no extra information about the score or film.
Those of the 2018 and 2021 Quartet products include notation 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 The Silence of the Lambs are Copyright © 1991, 2018, 2021, MCA Records, Quartet Records, Quartet Records and cannot be redistributed without the label's expressed written consent. Page created 11/24/09 and last updated 5/23/21. |
