Stardust: (Ilan Eshkeri) At a time in Hollywood
when the fantasy genre was dominated by massive, multi-part epics of
mind-boggling scope, films like 2007's singular
Stardust could
easily get lost. Never intended to compete on the same scale with its
larger siblings, this Matthew Vaughn film adapted a 1997 graphic novel
by Neil Gaiman and Charles Vess. The target of the story was an adult
audience, pulling on some of the same comedy strings as
The Princess
Bride but with meatier horror material too dark for that carefree
environment. The tale takes inspiration from staples from across the
entire range of fantasy topics, rarely postulating anything new (outside
of Robert De Niro as the gay, cross-dressing captain of a
lightning-powered, flying ship), but the package was widely enough
praised by critics even if audiences weren't particularly impressed.
It's the kind of assignment that aspiring composers long for, because
there await endless possibilities in the fantasy genre with which to awe
listeners with a massive choral and symphonic score. Having collaborated
with Vaughn before and dabbled in this genre was Ilan Eshkeri, whose
budding career in the 2000's was defined by mostly obscure projects
outside of the duo of
Stardust and
Hannibal Rising in
2007. His work for
Stardust, replacing a rejected score recorded
by John Ottman, was perhaps as predictable as any score for this film
could possibly be, but it's difficult to fault the composer for playing
to expectations very efficiently. Despite significant positive buzz
surrounding his score, his career wasn't immediately shifted into a
higher level by the assignment, something of a disappointment given the
potential that he had displayed in the execution of
Stardust. The
base ingredients for the score were alone promising, starting with an
ensemble of London performers and adding a choir, various soloists on
exotic instruments, and tasteful electronic embellishments. The touches
of vocal or electronic creativity like the groaning effect in the middle
of "The Star Shines" are interesting (but too few, though). The
structures of
Stardust are also diverse in their inspiration,
sometimes using tongue-in-cheek references to famous classical pieces
and even Mozart's "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" for good measure. The
connections between several of Eshkeri's ideas here and famous
predecessors in the genre are obvious, too, and it is in this marginally
recycled environment that the most substantial criticisms against the
score are grounded. Indeed,
Stardust is more than just a tad
transparent, but it still resides firmly in the guilty pleasure category
due to its penchant for fun, good-natured swash and buckle and swoon and
pomp. It's not over-thought, and that can sometimes be a refreshing
approach to take.
There are several themes developed by Eshkeri
throughout
Stardust, but some listeners may find them a bit
anonymous because the rendering of the entire score in the same bloated
fantasy mould doesn't really allow for any of them to be enunciated
clearly. There are, for instance, no really compelling solo performances
of any of the ideas. Instead, what you get is a wall of sound approach
in its best possible form, swirling high strings and chopping basses
leading bold French horns and supporting woodwind phrases in mostly
generous harmony. Tingling percussion, heard in abundance at the start,
loses its magical touch later in the score. The straight fantasy
portions are as harmless as they come, and even the villains' theme
doesn't really pack much power. The score's opening two minutes
establish a whimsical atmosphere as friendly as they come, leading to a
flowing performance of the story' primary theme. Heard in the second
minute of "Prologue," this idea owes a bit to Jerry Goldsmith's
interlude to the "Star Trek: Voyager" theme, but the similarity is not
deafening. A little more obvious is the theme for the protagonist,
Tristan, that develops into a love theme later in the picture.
Resembling Howard Shore's Hobbit material from
The Lord of the
Rings, this theme is best heard in "Tristan & Yvaine" and
"Coronation," remaining a lightweight until the muscular and deliberate,
Lionheart-like brass performance in the latter cue. The theme for
Yvaine (the shooting star herself) is offered high choral treatment in
"Shooting Star" and "The Star Shines," and this idea is generic enough
to emulate several other scores. Specifically, this material mirrors
Jane Antonia Cornish's
Island of Lost Souls and foreshadows
Debbie Wiseman's
Lesbian Vampire Killers, both similarly
predictable fantasy scores. The most unique identity in
Stardust
is that of the witches, lead by Michelle Pfeiffer's heart-eating
persona. Their cues are punctuated by a forceful bass string rhythm that
eventually gains strong percussive accompaniment over its evolution from
"Three Witches" to "Lamia's Lair." The uplifting themes are summarized
in "Coronation," arguably the score's lasting highlight. A theme carried
over from the song "Rule the World" by the group "Take That" is heard
briefly in "Epilogue," though the song itself does not appear on the
score-only album from Decca. On the whole, Eshkeri's
Stardust is
a somewhat brainless score with several interruptions from specifically
referenced pieces in the mid-section. The use of Offenbach's "Galop
Infernal" in "Pirate Fight" is a bit too reminiscent of
Moulin
Rouge to take seriously in context of the rest of the recording. But
the score is as dynamic as any to debut in its year, and for pure
fantasy enthusiasts, it's a solid recommendation. Just don't expect a
significant amount of originality despite the music's effectiveness.
**** @Amazon.com: CD or
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The insert includes no extra information about the score or film.
