: (James Horner) From the perspective of a typical,
unbiased moviegoer, it may be difficult to recall exactly why the 1997
mega-blockbuster
was so outrageously popular. The
production had its documented successes and failures, but beyond the
impressive technicalities of James Cameron's film, there was an
intangible sense of hysteria that floated the doomed ship for a whole
new generation of hopeless romantics upon the spectacle's release.
Sweeping through box office records and collecting more Academy Awards
than any other film in the modern era at the time,
was a
genuine phenomenon, and to adequately explain the reasons for its
immeasurable allure now would inevitably fail to address the countless
measures that supported it. In general, however, the three-hour epic
managed to merge two typically incongruent genres in film: the
historical tragedy with immense displays of special effects and the
compelling story of two unlikely young lovers. Cameron's obsession with
the sunken ship has since sent him on a journey to the farthest depths
of the ocean and, in the meantime, to a 3D version of
that earned countless more millions of dollars during its early 2012
theatrical release to coincide with the 100th anniversary of the ship's
demise. Of equal hoopla was, once again, the soundtrack for
, a pivotal element of the film's success. Only once in a
rare moon do the stars of the universe align so that a film score bursts
into the consciousness of the mainstream with such overwhelming appeal
as
had in early 1998. The same seemingly disparate
elements of disaster and romance (along with period authenticity) that
occupied the film demanded an atypical soundtrack from the start, for
the narrative of the doomed ship's maiden voyage required a
larger-than-life musical identity completely separate from the love
story involving the two primary characters. The score that Cameron
sought for
was radically unconventional, bypassing the
usual orchestral weight that would be expected for a period drama of
this magnitude. Massive brass fanfares with sweeping string interludes
were exactly what he did not want. Nor did he want proper 1912 English
music deemed too stuffy for this depiction. He instead settled upon a
distinctive style of timeless music to merge the two halves of the story
into one fluid musical identity rooted mostly in romance, both for the
leads and for the vessel.
, Cameron
concentrated on accentuating the love story and Irish undertones of both
the Jack Dawson character and the ship's origins by choosing the new
age, Celtic sounds popularized by Enya, Clannad, and several other
artists popular of the 1990's. The resulting temp track for several
portions of
featured the music of Enya and, most
specifically, the song "Book of Days" that had not only been released on
her album, "Shepherd Moons," but had been featured successfully in Ron
Howard's 1992 film
. There has always been
speculation about the method by which composer James Horner came to
receive a seven-figure salary for the composition and recording of the
score. There were unconfirmed reports that Cameron had approached Enya
directly to provide vocals for the score, though the same reports
indicate that she withdrew from the process after learning that Horner
would be writing the material rather than Enya being allowed to write
her own score. The more interesting aspect of
for film
score fans was the apparent reconciliation between Horner and Cameron,
who had not parted on good terms after the testy post-production
disagreements of
a decade before. Their shared success
with
more than a decade later.
Horner's track record of writing scores overly saturated with the tones
of both Ireland and Scotland in the 1990's was well known, with an
apparent obsession on the cultural influence forcing the tones of
uillean pipes and whistles, among other instruments, into scores that
didn't really require their overt contributions. While this somewhat
tiresome habit by Horner severely bothered many of the composer's many
detractors by the 1990's, Cameron must have seen a perfect fit with his
intended Celtic, new age sound and instructed Horner (who reportedly
agreed with Cameron on the unconventional direction of the music) to
closely follow the guidelines of the temp track. Horner was also skilled
in the adaptation of existing music into films with just enough
variation to avoid entangling studios in legal troubles, though he did
long remain one of the few major composers ever to be sued for
plagiarism. He succeeded at this task with better efficiency in some
projects than others, with perhaps the most laughable adaptation coming
over the credits of the prior dud,
.
indeed sounds very much
in parts like Enya's style in parts, and despite significant talk at the
time about a possible lawsuit and settlement between Enya and Horner, no
such event has been officially confirmed. There remains much speculation
about whether Eithne Patricia Ni Bhraonain (not quite as marketable a
name as "Enya") could have received damages from Horner for copyright
infringement in
, though enough mainstream viewers were
duped into thinking that they were listening to Enya during the film
that a case might have been merited. The chart-topping new age artist
was referred to by agents at the time as "the plaintiff," and while she
would not receive the public recognition for inspiring the soundtrack
for
that she deserved, she was eventually nominated for
an Academy Award herself for the song in the first
installment. (She, in an act of sad but appropriate justice,
lost the award to the long overdue Randy Newman). For Horner,
unsurprisingly netted him the only two Oscar wins of his
career (for both the score and accompanying song) after countless failed
nominations, and backstage after his win, he answered a media question
about Enya by stating that he was simply inspired by the same genre of
music rather than by Enya herself. With that comment, he brushed aside
the controversy and was once estimated to personally profit to the sum
of $30 million from the immense popularity of the initial two albums for
the soundtrack. The first album accompanied the film's late 1997
release, and, naturally, a sequel album was assembled to accompany the
video release of the film in August of 1998. The first album hit #1 on
Billboard's "Top 200 Chart" for the weeks of 1/24/98 and 1/31/98,
staying on pace with the film's continued earnings records for the same
weeks. Sony Music Distribution reported that they shipped more than
969,000 units in the first nine weeks of the album's release, making it
the fastest-selling score soundtrack and classical album of all time.
Sony then reported that an astounding 665,000 additional copies were
sold in the tenth week (ending 1/25/98) alone. It also set Sony records
for the most orders in a single day (January 20, 1998). By remaining at
the #1 position with Billboard during the week of 2/7/98,
as the top score soundtrack of all time in
cumulative sales.
, the Horner song for the film, "My Heart Will Go On,"
performed by Celine Dion, was ranked as "the most popular radio song"
according to national broadcasting summaries, receiving more airtime
than any other song of any genre of music. The first
album remained at the top of the Billboard charts all the way through
Oscar time in late March, weathering competition that included new
mainstream releases by Celine Dion and Madonna. Sony eventually sold 26
million copies of the first album overall and an additional 3 million
copies of "Back to Titanic." Such performance from a film score album
has not been witnessed since, not even from
, the two most
popular film score CDs in the following decade. For Horner personally,
the cumulative sales of the first
CDs, made
him the highest selling contemporary composer, surpassing John Williams.
When you factor in the more substantive score for
the following year, Horner distinguished himself as the most
dominant composer in Hollywood during the 1990's overall, defining the
decade of film music as being led by his efforts. But did he deserve it?
The scores for
, which was seen as a pandering to
screaming young girls rather than a gesture towards the seasoned film
score collector. In the mainstream, there seems to be a lingering soft
spot for
, not anywhere near as positive as it once was,
but it avoids the extreme discontent that a large section of the film
score community still extends towards
. For these
listeners, the score was a necessary evil, bringing attention to the
usually neglected genre of film music, though at an artistic price. For
the remainder of film score fans, the score went through three distinct
phases during its history. First, the hysteria that captured the
mainstream in December of 1997 was mirrored by many soundtrack
collectors. Then, for almost the entirety of 1998, a substantial
backlash against the score and Horner followed. In the years since, the
score still receives its share of disdainful criticism, though there is
a begrudging recognition that it was an understandable product and
triumph of its time.
The merits of the score itself are often overlooked
because of all of the above factors. The most interesting technical
aspect of the music for
Titanic is the fact that it is
frightfully simple in construct and execution. Horner can often infuse
substantial intelligence into his epic scores, but
Titanic seems
to have been built specifically with the intent of toning itself back to
coincide with the somewhat flat characters (and their often
poorly-worded conversations) and the primordial nature of the horror
that accompanies the ship's demise. In short, it's mostly a tonally
simplistic score for a thematically simplistic film, the majority of
challenging, dissonant passages recorded by Horner rejected by Cameron.
And while the film score collector looking for creativity in the remote
corners of the work will find less than he or she will discover in a
score like
The Rocketeer or
Legends of the Fall (or even
The Spitfire Grill, for that matter), the straight forward
techniques by Horner are exactly what the film needed. For a movie with
so much narrative, including an excess of characters, it may be
surprising to note that
Titanic only features two major themes.
One of the greatest strengths of Horner's conceptual endeavors for the
score is the memorability of both themes. They build off of each other
with outstanding development throughout the score and the attractive
statements of both melodies likely contributed to the success of the
score's two albums. The first theme is for the ship itself, offering
smoothly gliding progressions and vocal effects that would be the cause
of concern for Enya. The connections between this theme and the melody
of "Book of Days" are unmistakable, though Horner does distinguish his
performances with a forceful level of resolute power never really
evident in Enya's work. Also to consider is the fact that there is a
secondary theme for the ship, a whimsical, more traditional Horner-style
interlude (dating in style back to his outstanding music for the
animated children's film
The Land Before Time) that breaks up the
primary statements of the main theme with more flighty, optimistic hope.
This secondary sequence within the major performances of the ship's
themes is adapted far more often in the second half of the score by
Horner, seemingly representing the ship during the scenes taking place
in the present day. The other theme in
Titanic is, obviously, the
love theme that follows the character of Rose through the story and
serves as the melody for the Dion-performed song. Within this theme are
two adjoined melodies that often exist separately when adapted into the
score.
Sissel Kyrkjebø
For a score of this magnitude, a track-by-track analysis is warranted,
and so the following portions of the review will first discuss the 1997
album before diving into the supplemental material released the next
year on "Back to Titanic" and later on the comprehensive 2017 set for
the score. The first album mostly presents its music in chronological
order, though Cameron liberally moved parts of cues around in the film
and it is thus impossible to match the album to the film in some
sequences. Like the film, the first album can be divided into three
sections: the early ship and romance scenes, the lengthy sinking
sequence in the middle, and the scenes with the older Rose character at
the end. The first cue of the album is "Never an Absolution," which
opens immediately with solo pipes performing the second phrase of the
ship's theme for the logos and main title of the film. After a minute,
solo horn and woodwind (a recorder, perhaps?) are joined by the voice of
Norwegian performer Sissel Kyrkjebø to introduce the love theme
in slowly deliberate and eerie fashion. Sissel's voice serves as Rose's
musical identity throughout the film, and the only part of her
performances more remarkable than her singing resemblance to Enya are
their similar physical characteristic. The first track concludes with
continued exploration of the second phrase of the ship's theme by a
synthetically altered boy's choir. At the outset of "Distant Memories,"
Horner provides a motif that follows the older Rose's character as she
remembers the ship. This light, floating motif tingles effortlessly as
it does in
The Spitfire Grill and
The New World, leading
here to a minor dramatic motif on strings for the same character. This
material is expanded upon later in "An Ocean of Memories." The interlude
of the ship's theme is fleeting on horn before the traveling scene to
the modern exploration and discovery ship offers a restrained, but
buoyant version of the same theme. The following "Southampton" cue is
preceded by the sounds of someone giving stage directions during the
recording (it's actually contained at the end of "Distant Memories"),
possibly Horner himself. It's barely audible, but for those with larger
sound systems, it could be an annoyance. It's difficult to imagine that
it made the album by accident. The pivotal "Southampton" opens with a
phrase directly lifted from the launch sequence of
Apollo 13,
building to the famous statement of the ship's primary theme during its
introduction. This cue is a surprising, immediate tip of the hat to
Enya's "Book of Days," with the same pulsating bass rhythm and chord
progressions very similar to the popular Enya song.
The voices used in "Southampton" and subsequent cues are
electronically altered to give them an element of fantasy, a
controversial technique for Horner fans but one that proves to create a
timeless atmosphere in which the ship and the love story could
intertwine. This cue alternates between these blatant pulls of "Book of
Days" and the secondary phrase of ship's theme for more traditionally
dramatic string layers. The following track, "Rose," actually receives
its most prominent placement in the last scene of the film. A short
concert suite of sorts for the love theme, this cue was chopped into two
pieces by Cameron and combined with "Unable to Stay, Unwilling to Leave"
and placed over the finale of the film in which Rose dies and her spirit
rejoins those aboard the sunken ship. The solo voice of Sissel is joined
by piano, electric bass, and various solo woodwinds during the course of
this easy, romantic, and sentimental cue. The unexpected truncation of
the theme at the end of the cue is an interesting acknowledgement of a
love affair cut short. The following two cues are the actual
accompaniment to the beautiful scene in which the ship departs. One of
Horner's more intelligent motifs in
Titanic is the use of an
electronic pulsation effect, almost akin to the dull tapping of a piano
wire, for the purpose of imitating a telegraph signal. This effect opens
"Leaving Port" and would play a prominent role in "Hard to Starboard."
In "Leaving Port," however, the percussion section (and namely the
chimes and some large cymbal rolls) lead an extended treatment of the
ship's primary, Enya-like theme. Deep male voices, similar in ethnicity
to the kinds you might hear in
The Lion King, offer creative
puffing, exhaled accents to the pulsating electric bass in this cue.
Once again, the secondary phrase of the ship's theme exists on strings
in interludes. The same format from "Leaving Port" continues into "Take
Her to Sea, Mr. Murdock," though Horner collectors will enjoy (or be
plagued by) an obnoxiously standard Horner crescendo of chord
progressions at 1:05 into the cue. In a score that has relatively few
blatant self-references, instances such as this one stand out even more
than a listener might expect. The very dry synthetic effects in this
cue, however, are better aided by the orchestra, which exuberantly
accompanies the new age rhythms with more colorful brass solos. The
album then fast forwards to the action; in "Hard to Starboard," the
soft, synthetic tones of the love theme are overtaken at the minute mark
with the resumption of the tapping telegraph effect, keenly signaling
the problem dead ahead.
The rhythm of Horner's telegraph effect in "Hard to
Starboard" leads to a frightful ensemble blast assisted by a single
groan from an electric guitar, much the same way Horner had accomplished
a sense of panic in
Courage Under Fire. The following minute of
frantic action by the crew is accompanied by some of Horner's best
action material for the film, adding the clanging of an anvil to the
standard suspense rhythms transferred directly from
Apollo 13's
"Master Alarm" cue. A minor motif for the concept of death is performed
on brass at 2:45 in "Hard to Starboard," and this idea occurs several
times through the sinking sequence. The percussion section's movement in
these cues, including both the drums and piano, resembles Jerry
Goldsmith's much earlier score for
Capricorn One, with a very
obvious reference to the Goldsmith score in the bass region at 3:05 in
"Hard to Starboard." After a few moments of quiet string and brass
movements that sound like a precursor to similar ideas in orchestrator
Don Davis' own
The Matrix, Horner revisits familiar ensemble
strikes from
Courage Under Fire. A solemn brass statement of the
death motif closes the cue under a distant trumpet call for help. The
rhythmically compelling "Unable to Stay, Unwilling to Leave" cue is
brief relief from the panic, existing for the compelling scene when the
two lovers refuse to separate via lifeboat. The pretty, synthetic rhythm
leads the love theme to a duet for recorder and Sissel's voice that is
downright gorgeous. The explosive rendition of this theme at 1:40 into
the cue adds pipes and a synthetic effect that raises memories of
Vangelis' echoing
Chariots of Fire rhythm-setter for the
emotional highlight of the score. This is the piece that Cameron chose
to re-use for the descent during the finale of the film. After the love
theme's full burst in "Unable to Stay, Unwilling to Leave," the cue
quickly lets reality sink in. A strong segue into
Courage Under
Fire action territory finishes the cue and prepares the listener for
even more violent passages in the thirteen minutes of "The Sinking" (as
the ship is still upright at an angle) and "Death of Titanic" (after the
ship breaks in two and its stern starts to descend). While these cues
represent the weakest parts of the
Titanic score, they are
interesting in that they offer the best merging of the orchestra with
the synthetics. Horner lets the two elements engage in open warfare in
"The Sinking," with the chime-banging, snare-ripping orchestral suspense
often presented at dissonant odds with the softer synthetic effects that
had previously defined the ship's identity.
The fragmented synthetic elements of
Titanic
attempt valiantly to maintain their harmonious structures in "The
Sinking," though they jump chaotically from their intended thematic
base, an intelligent move by Horner to musically signal the death of the
ship. As the panic turns to obvious tragedy in the eyes of the survivors
in the lifeboats, Horner begins a swaying movement of ocean waves that
represents the frigid swells quite well. Not only does this technique
resemble the rescue sequence of Basil Poledouris'
The Hunt for Red
October, but the same general idea reappears in
A Perfect
Storm and Joel McNeely's typhoon cue in
Virus a few years
later. Pounding piano crashes recall
The Pelican Brief and
Apollo 13. In the other action cue, "Death of Titanic," Horner
continues the battle between synthetic and orchestral elements, with the
higher-pitched electronics almost seeming to cry for help. At 3:45 into
the cue, Horner returns to the original panic rhythms of "Hard to
Starboard," but with a frenzied and rising pitch to each bar of music
that accompanies the ultimate sinking of the ship's stern. Atonal
fragments of the love theme under meandering brass and constant snare
are appropriate. A horrific crescendo of synthesized voice provides the
ship's last gasp of air, twisting the once elegant new age vocal effect
into the kind of dissonant horror that inhabited the final action scenes
in
Willow. The total disintegration of those vocal effects, now
only one mass of cries at the conclusion of "Death of Titanic," is a
fitting end for the famed ship. A melancholy and barely audible series
of thematic fragments exists in the stunned aftermath in "A Promise
Kept." Horner understates himself in this cue, only eventually allowing
faint reminders of Sissel's beautiful tones to echo in the latter half
of the cue. Her voice serves as a mournful tribute in "A Life So
Changed," returning to the eerie atmosphere and instrumentation of the
opening track. Most of this cue is, unfortunately, redundant with "Never
an Absolution." In "An Ocean of Memories," Horner once again treats
Rose's older self with the fluttering ambience of "Distant Memories,"
but this time with an attractive mix of both Sissel's voice and,
eventually, the orchestra. The final moments of this cue are among the
few times when Sissel's voice actually mingles with the fuller ensemble.
The last two minutes of "An Ocean of Memories" are an emotional
powerhouse without much volume, and it's obvious that the synthetic
voices, piano, and tingling metallic percussion in this cue were
eventually Horner's inspiration for
A New World. A satisfyingly
tonal conclusion to the track is an outstanding close to the score.
The song performance of the love theme follows on the
first album for
Titanic, and Celine Dion's voice is thankfully
not as harsh in the upper regions as it can be at times. Little needs to
be said about the song; its popularity was testimony to the public's
craving for its sappy pop style in that era. It's by no means offensive,
though some listeners may not be able to appreciate its beauty decades
later due to that distinct 1990's style. At least Horner finally got the
opportunity to write a song for Dion, for whom he had written the song
in
American Tail 2: Fievel Goes West, only to have the producers
of the film reject her because her name was too obscure at the time.
There has been some speculation about why Sissel herself wasn't asked to
perform the song. Her operatic grace was quite evident in the concurrent
The Adventures of Pinocchio, in which she offered several
fantastic (and funny) performances in songs with robust orchestral
arrangement by Lee Holdridge. The choice of Dion obviously worked, but
there's still some lingering curiosity about how well Sissel could have
done with the song. Her lyrical singing voice is stunningly beautiful,
and it may have especially functioned well in regards to connecting the
song to the general sound of the score. The final cue on the first
album, "Hymn to the Sea," is heard during the second half of the end
credits for the film. Its tempo is significantly slower as it progresses
through performances of the love theme by Sissel and then pipes. The
interlude for the ship's theme on electronics yields to the typical,
drawn out conclusion that plagues some Horner scores. Better than
anyone, he could manage to accomplish practically nothing (musically) in
the last minutes of an end credits cue. For listeners concerned with
what they actually hear in the film's finale and end credits, the
descent cue opens with "Rose" and inserts the middle of "Unable to Stay,
Unwilling to Leave" into the famous transition to the spirit world
before returning to "Rose" for Cameron's own credit. Dion's song
follows, with the remainder of the credits switching between portions of
"Take Her to Sea, Mr. Murdoch" and "Southampton" before finishing with
"Hymn to the Sea." The album, while over 70 minutes in length, did leave
behind several noteworthy score cues, and two of them were offered on
the sequel album, "Back to Titanic," debuting in August of 1998 to
coincide with the highly-anticipated video release of the film. Much
like the "More Music from Braveheart" album released two years prior,
this second album for
Titanic covers all the major bases that the
original album missed, including traditional source pieces and more of
Horner's score.
Making the "Back to Titanic" album different from the
equivalent follow-up for
Braveheart, however, is the fact that
Horner spent early 1998 writing and orchestrating new arrangements of
his ideas from
Titanic for performance by the London Symphony
Orchestra. Thus, the compilation is a combination of additional original
score from the film, traditional pieces, and the newly recorded suites
by Horner's preferred ensemble in London. The most interesting aspect of
this album is just how different the recordings in Los Angeles and
London sound. Horner recorded many of his best scores with the LSO and
the Choristers of King's College in Cambridge, and to hear their
versions of
Titanic compared to the original Los Angeles
musicians' work is enlightening. The performances themselves may be
adequate in both cases, but the recordings in London are so much fuller,
even when combined with the synthetic and vocal elements, that you can't
help but wish that Horner had recorded the original film's score (along
with all others) with the LSO. It's good fodder for the ongoing debate
inside and outside the film music recording industry about the merits of
London over Los Angeles, regardless of the union issues that
historically guided such discussions. Aside from the robust quality of
the London recordings' sound, including the vibrant, real-life chorus
rather than the synthetic one for most of its time, there are some
disappointments within their three tracks on the album. First, Horner's
arrangements aren't the best, with lengthy sequences of dull, meandering
material (often for solo brass) given too much airtime. Sissel's voice
is mixed behind the ensemble so that her role is marginalized. The tempo
in the LSO's performances is significantly slower than the original
recording as well, which occasionally gives it the awesome resonance of
Legends of the Fall but sometimes defeats the personality of the
composition. The performance of the love theme by the full ensemble,
including the chorus, at the end of "Titanic Suite" is the highlight of
the album. The "Epilogue" replacement cue for the final track on the
first album features an interesting twist on the watery motif
representing Rose's older self. The "A Shore Never Reached" hymn is
largely unrelated to the rest of the score and features extended pipe
solos. Overall, these concert suites are impressive in their resounding
sound, but are surprisingly lackadaisical and subdued. Given that the
score and film were so popular at the time, there exist several 1998 and
999 renditions of music from
Titanic from some of the world's
most veteran film music-recording ensembles, and some of those offerings
are on par with the LSO performances here.
For the biggest die-hard fans of the film, the "Back to
Titanic" album provides practically all of the secondary source music
heard on screen. The Irish party dance music and the performances of the
small ensemble on the decks are included, as well as the song that Rose
mutters as she realizes that she has lost Jack. For Horner collectors,
this material may not be particularly interesting, though Irish
performer Maire Brennan's version of "Come Josephine" melds very well
with the score. The two versions of "Nearer my God to Thee" are equally
unexciting. Both "Jack Dawson's Luck" and "Lament" include more in the
way of traditional adaptations rather than actual new material from
Horner, leaving just two score cues prominently featured in the film
that appeared on this album for the first time. The highlight of the
album for most casual fans was the inclusion of a lengthier,
suite-arranged version of "The Portrait," the famous cue featuring a
solo piano version of the love theme. This much coveted, five-minute
piano performance by Horner himself is the only recognizably important
piece of score to be added, though "A Building Panic" may be more
intriguing for Horner's devotees. This later cue, heard in between the
cues "Hard to Starboard" and "Unable to Stay, Unwilling to Leave" on the
first album, accompanies the earlier portions of the sinking sequences
during the mad rush to the lifeboats. This 8-minute cue expands upon
some of Horner's better ideas for the other action cues in
Titanic, including the continuation of the telegraph tapping
motif at the outset. During this opening rhythm, it's somewhat amusing
to hear the puffs of the Japanese sakauhachi flute, proving that Horner
will indeed try to insert either that or his bagpipes into any score he
possibly can. Sharp series of medium drum hits later in "A Building
Panic," along with an excess of metallic tapping, easily connects the
music to
Apollo 13. The highlight of this cue is a singular motif
that Horner uses between 4:00 and 5:20; it's a sensationalistic choral
interlude of surprising tonality in the middle of the chaos. Appearing
twice during that time, one of these choral performances, almost playing
like a final tribute to the majesty of the ship before it succumbs, was
heard over the latter half of the trailers for the film (along with
Braveheart and James Newton Howard's
Waterworld). After
these somewhat incongruous performances, Horner unleashes a series of
piano rhythms of menacing character under entertainingly dark renditions
of the love theme. The final minute of this cue offers tragic layers of
bittersweet harmony until one final thud at about 7:30 marks the fate
the ship's remaining inhabitants.
On the whole, the "A Building Panic" cue debuting on
"Back to Titanic" is the most interesting sequence of any action
material on either original album, especially with its percussive
connections to early 1980's Horner material. (Listen for subtle
references to
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan in several places).
But it's not particularly enjoyable apart from the visuals. One of the
surprisingly positive aspects of "Back to Titanic" is the fact that its
material doesn't overlap with the original album's offerings. It may be
rather short on original score material, but like the second
Gladiator soundtrack product released in 2001, the sequel album
isn't simply redundant. Even the mix of the Celine Dion song is
different. Her vocals are given a wetter ambient mix and varied
overdubbing, and this radio-aimed version of the song features dialogue
from the film in between its statements (which is a tad obnoxious given
that the voices from the film aren't afforded the same echoing mix that
Dion's voice is given). Overall, "Back to Titanic" is an album that
original
Titanic fans have lovingly embraced, sending it to sales
levels in the millions of units that, like its predecessor, eclipse the
performance of most film score albums. A few weeks after "Back to
Titanic" hit the market, Sony offered a DTS DVD audio version of the
original album at a higher cost for enthusiasts with high end stereo
systems. When the
Titanic 3D event hit theatres in early 2012,
Sony jumped at the opportunity to release not just one new album for the
soundtrack, but two. The first, regular "Anniversary Edition" includes a
remastered edition of the original 1997 album and a full second CD of
music recorded by the quintet, I Salonisti, to provide the authentic
source music for the movie. Only the second CD contains previously
unreleased tracks. On a "Collector's Anniversary Edition" set released
concurrently and priced not significantly higher, Sony presents these
same two CDs but also a third CD with the remastered contents of the
"Back to Titanic" album and a fourth CD of unrelated music that was
popular at the time of the ship's short life. The remastering of the
score does actually make a difference, especially in the presentation of
Sissel's vocals, though Horner collectors were required to purchase the
4-CD "Collector's Anniversary Edition" set to assemble all of the
relevant score material in the better sound quality for their own
purposes. The additional original I Salonisti and vintage period tracks
will not be of any interest to most Horner enthusiasts, and there was
some lamentation to result from Sony's choice not to arrange the popular
and historically important score into one cohesive, chronological
presentation given this opportunity.
Unless you were a sentimental type with an attachment to
Titanic, it was difficult to recommend the 2012 albums for the
millions of people who already owned the 1997 and 1998 offerings. Sales
gimmicks like the four vintage luggage stickers contained in the 2012
products could not compensate for the lack of a truly comprehensive
written analysis of the music itself in their inserts, a common standard
of contemporary soundtrack re-releases absent in this case. For
audiophiles, the 1998 DVD audio product still obviously remains superior
to the remastered stereo contents on the 2012 albums. While there wasn't
really a tremendous amount of memorable score material in
Titanic
that went released in all these earlier products, especially when
considering Cameron's rearrangement of the cues within the context of
the film, there was a slew of additional music recorded for the film
that didn't make the final cut. Assembling much of this music into one
proper tribute was the intent of La-La Land Records when planning a
comprehensive, limited 2017 4-CD set of their own that focuses three of
its CDs on Horner's score. Most importantly, the product takes the first
two CDs to supply 113 minutes of the music that Horner intended to have
utilized in the film prior to Cameron's edits, presented in order. This
presentation of the score offers a much more rounded look at how Horner
balanced the darkly ethereal atmosphere of the ship's sunken condition
with the romanticism of its memories. This balance is explored
extensively in the 11-minute "2-1/2 Miles Down" cue of largely synthetic
or bass string stewing, most of which struck from the film's final cut
by Cameron. This material really illuminates Horner's descending
suspense motif starting at 1:15 into the cue and extending into
subsequent scenes. This music is not enjoyable, really, but it may
fascinate an avid Horner collector. The "To the Keldysh/Rose Revealed"
duo is somewhat redundant with the subsequent "Distant Memories,"
opening with a buoyant rendition of the ship's theme for the salvage
vessel and concluding with the bubbly, pleasant atmosphere of Rose's
connection to the sunken ship. All of this is expressed in the next cue,
but it's nice to hear especially the optimistic, opening transition of
"To the Keldysh." Also redundant with "Rose Revealed" and "Distant
Memories" is "My Drawing/Relics & Treasures," though this music is
easily digestible and contains a nice interlude for the ship's theme on
subdued brass. Cameron sought to reduce the otherworldliness that Horner
infused into these scenes by either dialing out the music or repeating
more romantically voluminous alternatives to the same ideas.
On the 2017 set for
Titanic, the trio of "First
Sighting/Rose's Suicide Attempt," "Jack Saves Rose," "The
Promenade/Butterfly Comb" are important connective tissue for the
narrative but not vital on album. As Jack spots Rose, "First Sighting"
offers the score's initial love theme performance, and "Rose's Suicide
Attempt" revisits the descending theme of dread from "2-1/2 Miles Down"
as the Titanic beckons. The varied vocal layers in this cue are of some
interest. The other two cues in the trio are surprisingly understated,
the soft piano tones of "The Promenade/Butterfly Comb" failing to really
foreshadow any musical relationship between the leads. The playful
ethnic jig in "Lovejoy Chases Jack and Rose," by contrast, is an
important inclusion here given its obvious placement in the scene. As
the action sequences begin, the set offers a slightly longer version of
"Hard to Starboard" (adding incidental filler) and "Rose Frees Jack,"
which is about as dull an atmospheric suspense cue as Horner was capable
of writing. The film version of "A Building Panic" is joined by the long
"Trapped On 'D' Deck" cue that presents some wicked Horner piano
dissonance and rolling action material akin to the highlights of
Aliens. The frightful scenes of the ship's smokestacks starting
to buckle and go under, with deck furniture and people sliding down the
promenade, is represented here; the passages starting at 3:03 are highly
memorable from the film, combining rousing
Alien and
Brainstorm piano and string rhythms with dying bursts of the
choir and electronics attempting to interject the ship's majesty into
the equation. Between this material and the percussive brutality of the
final minutes of the cue, Horner collectors will find "Trapped On 'D'
Deck" the most interesting new music from the film on album. The brief
"Murdoch's Suicide" and "A Woman's Heart is a Deep Ocean of Secrets"
cues are less appealing, the former synthetically ambient without much
impact and the latter redundant with "An Ocean of Memories." Likewise,
"Post" closes out the film score presentation with epilogue-related
material of little consequence, including mostly the bagpipes reprising
the opening logos music. The third CD on the 2017 La-La Land set
contains a number of alternate recordings, album edits, and other
related items of intrigue. Not contained on the product, interestingly,
is the collection of LSO recordings made by Horner for the 1998 "Back to
Titanic" album and, not surprisingly, the Dion song is also missing as
per licensing restrictions. The final, fourth CD on the set contains a
comprehensive collection of the I Salonisti and other source music
inspiring usage in the film.
The highlight of the third CD on the 2017 La-La Land is
the "Trailer" cue of four minutes that contains arrangements of the
score's major ideas into a rousing suite complete with transitional
music not heard in the final score. The ship's new age thematic
constructs are not completely formed in this rendition, and bagpipes
offer counterpoint to the idea in ways not heard in the final score. By
the dramatic action variant of the love theme in the latter half, this
trailer recording earns repeated enjoyment. The CD actually opens with
the prior album version of "Never an Absolution" and follows "Trailer"
with Horner's performance of "The Portrait." An alternate, extended
version of "Logo" transitions to a
Glory-like, percussive
crescendo of commanding presence, a muscular push of suspense up front.
A less new-agey version of "Southampton" is highly attractive, as is the
pair of "Leaving Port" variants with enhanced presence of metallic
percussion, the latter containing some fabulous transitional writing
between the thematic statements, especially at 1:49. The cimbalom-like
percussive tapping, abundance of chimes, and slashing gong effect in
"Leaving Port" were perhaps Horner's early method of addressing the
metallic nature of the ship. A fanfare-like rendition of the ship's
material late in the alternate take on "Take Her To Sea, Mr. Murdoch"
offers additional stature to the idea, including an almost
superhero-appropriate ending. Sissel's presence is accentuated in the
alternate version of "Rose," and the piano of the second solo recording
of "The Portrait" is even more raw than its polished counterpart. The
alternate take on "Lovejoy Chases Jack" is less exuberant and loud than
the final version, closer to the celebration music from the conclusion
of
Willow. A more symphonically robust opening to the alternate
version of "Hard to Starboard" arguably transitions better into the
start of the panic rhythm in that cue, and the electric guitar accent to
open the action is absent. After the 1998 album's edit of "A Building
Panic," an alternate but not particularly interesting version of "Death
of Titanic" follows. The romantic elements in the alternate mix of "A
Promise Kept" are played up in its latter half, yielding an arguably
more interesting tone. The CD ends with the existing "Hymn to the Sea"
piece. On the whole, the 2017 set does substantial justice to Horner's
important score by illuminating the composer's original intent prior to
Cameron's usual heavy-handedness with the final film edits. The
remastering of the music is not substantially different from the 2012
album presentation, but the score continues to sound fantastic.
For mainstream movie-goers, the original albums of
Titanic from 1997 and 1998 will likely suffice by conveying all
the score's highlights and, of course, the heartwarming Dion song. For
film music collectors already owning those early products, the 2017 set
is an expensive but worthy necessity, especially for the contents of the
third CD. The alternate versions are often substantially different in
structure and, at least in the ship's early cues, symphonic tone.
Between the alternates of "Southampton," "Leaving Port," and "Take Her
To Sea, Mr. Murdoch," you have four cues of seemingly new music from
Titanic despite familiarity with many of their passages. Add to
these fascinating tracks the "Trailer" cue and there is roughly 20
minutes of music on the third CD that should not be missed by any Horner
or
Titanic enthusiast. Despite lacking the song, the 2017 set is
a definitive representation of a classic score that made history. A
surround sound version of the product would be a godsend if ever
possible, but don't hold your breath. For Horner himself,
Titanic
obviously gave him a retirement account that most would dream of, and
outside of his two Zorro-related scores in 1998 and 2005, which were
really only praised within the film music community, and 2009's
Avatar, he failed to maintain the same level of consistent
quality and mainstream popularity since. Even
Avatar, despite its
multitudes of awards nominations, was derided by many for representing
the worst of the composer's self-referencing habits. You often hear film
music collectors (and even some in the larger population) claiming that
they never succumbed to the
Titanic fad in early 1998, and some
of these people are likely embarrassed to have jumped on the bandwagon
at the time. And yet, despite the hundreds of thousands of copies of the
first
Titanic album floating about in used CD bins for as low as
$0.01 (jewel cases, folks!), the score was a phenomenon worth all the
praise it could muster at its debut. Whether you like it or not, Horner
wrote one of those scores that only comes around every ten to twenty
years, a piece of music for the cinema so effective in its film that it
can attract people who don't own a single soundtrack. In the case of
Titanic, women primarily constituted that overwhelming interest,
a note of significance given that men represent the vast majority of
orchestral soundtrack buyers. Without a doubt,
Titanic could very
well end up being considered the crowning achievement of Horner's entire
career, and no sour aftertaste can change that fact.
@Amazon.com: CD or
Download
- Music as Written for the Film: *****
- Music as Heard on the 1998 "Back to Titanic" Album: ****
- Music as Heard on All Other Albums: *****
- Overall: *****
Bias Check: |
For James Horner reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3.15
(in 108 reviews) and the average viewer rating is 3.23
(in 200,365 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.
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