#94
Post
autor: Adam » pt paź 19, 2012 19:47 pm
tak jak ze Skyfall, Clammensen dał dużego posta o Lincolnie:
Lincoln: Initial reaction to full listen
I'm not sure when I'll get time, as with Skyfall, to fully review Lincoln, so here's my first round of notes:
1. Exactly what you'd expect from Williams: restrained and noble orchestral tones, somber at most times and exuding all his Americana traditions heard in scores from Born on the Fourth of July to The Patriot.
2. Rather short album (under an hour) highlighted by extensive solos, led by piano with little accompaniment. Trumpet and clarinet also take turns.
3. The rest of the orchestra sometimes gracefully weaves in and out of the solos, and these moments, as always with Williams, are the highlights.
4. The fuller ensemble moments are not substantial in length or dramatic weight compared to Williams' previous efforts. The opening track does have the pulsating whole notes on key to denote gravity, but such usage is rather rare elsewhere.
5. No chime-banging heroism appropriate for the subject. The most "heroic" moment comes at the end of "Equality Under the Law," a string crescendo of noble intent as expected.
6. Tortured violins in "Elegy" rise out of the French horns, which are present frequently to bolster the patriotism factor.
7. One interlude of electronic dissonance (standard Williams technique) in "The Southern Delegation and the Dream."
8. One wordless choral contribution in the middle of "Appomattox, April 9, 1865"... I wish there had been more of this type of material, though given Lincoln's "mystique," perhaps that would have been overkill.
9. Two jaunty cues of playfullness in "Getting Out the Vote" and "The Race to the House" for fiddles, banjo, and spirited percussion. The first of the two has beefy bass strings as well, reminding of Far and Away.
10. Standout unique cue is "Call to Muster and Battle Cry of Freedom," opening with snare and flute stereotype for marching to war and continuing into vocalized song for male voices first and then with females added.
11. Aside form the opening track, the "powerhouse" in the score is "The Peterson House and Finale," which rotates through Williams' themes in 11 minutes with significant attention provided to each.
12. The themes are long-lined, which means that they can be somewhat difficult to latch onto given their somber, slow performances. Don't expect anyone in the mainstream (or even most film score fans) to walk away humming a melody from this one.
Overall, thie score is EXACTLY what everyone expected to hear from Williams for the assignment. No surprises here. On the upside, this means that Williams has provided yet another tender, throughtful, and pleasantly fluid Americana score for our collections. On the downside, there is nothing new, other than the song, to distinguish Lincoln from the rest of his career. It's the kind of situation where we'll love and respect the score because it is yet another Williams work, a bonus at this point that brings back fond memories of the 1980's and 1990's rather than a transcendent individual work. That said, it still puts to shame most current composers' music, especially when you consider the maestro's writing methodology.
There is no doubt that Lincoln is a solid four-star score and will garner an Oscar nomination, but I doubt I'll listen to it frequently for entertainment. It does not have the large-scale romanticism of War Horse or the technical brilliance of Tintin, and its themes are a bit derivative of Williams' prior ideas. Put together a suite of "The People's House," "Getting Out the Vote," "Appomattox, April 9, 1865," and "The Peterson House and Finale" and you'll have the twenty most essential minutes.
More than anything else, this score defines the word nostalgia.
Christian
#FUCKVINYL