Rating ~ Total Time ~ 64:12 Well, not being one of John
Barry's greatest fans, would still say that this is indeed a very
beautiful piece of music. It is generally very moody and tinged
with sadness throughout. The themes aren't as great as some of
Barry's other themes. The tune introduced in Yanko asks Amy Out
is more upbeat than a lot of the material, and cuts right through
the initial sadness very well. The words "Chamber
Orchestra" always put the fear of God into me, I'm not a
great fan of undersized chamber music, I always want some of the
instruments a full symphony orchestra affords, but in this case,
I need not have too much reason to worry. In fact, it is Barry's
attempts to make a smaller orchestra sound epic that perhaps
don't work as well, his broad sweeping style is best suited to
fuller orchestra. His usual, perhaps somewhat cliched horn chords
with lush strings are much in evidence. It is this, more than
anything that makes me think that one Barry score sounds just
like another. He does something to rectify some of this problem
in the introduction of an ethereal chorus which makes the music
very haunting indeed (it always does though). The effect is not
exactly Elfmanesque in the sadness, but adds great atmosphere to
soundscape. Yanko's Dance sounds like something Danny Elfman
might actually have written, it even has the fairground organ in
mix along with some ethnic sounding twanging. In the context of
the film, this music probably sounds fine, but rather cuts the
atmosphere of the score with a knife and so is very distracting,
especially if you aren't expecting it. Overall, I still can't
help thinking that a lot of this music is very similar in itself
as well as being similar to many other Barry works of the last
few years. The sadness and moodiness of the music does get to me
after a while and it's like listening to Edward
Scissorhands a couple of
times through and could turn me into a manic depressive. I think
I prefer my Barry a little more upbeat and with a small
sprinkling of action to be honest, I'll stick to Dances with
Wolves I think.
(I Would Change Nothing/Did Your Own Love Blind You to
Hers)