January 15, 2009

• Review: The Reader (Muhly)

  I had a bit of a warning about this score earlier in the month that it was a strong one.  The Reader is a WWII mystery drama which appeared in a few theaters in December, to qualify perhaps for critical recognition, and which subsequently rolled out in early January.  Kate Winslet received a Golden Globe for her performance opposite Raph Fiennes.  The music is by relative newcomer Nico Muhly.  Muhly served as an assistant to Philip Glass and Michael Reisman and some of that has rubbed off a bit in his score for this film, mostly in good ways.  It does make you want to check out the film at the very least.

  The music for The Reader has an intriguing combination of minimalist pulses closer to the Warbeck of Shakespeare in Love.  This score is its darker cousin featuring denser harmonic language and interesting orchestral choices that lend the music a more complicated quality paralleling the dramatic tension that exists in the story itself.  You can hear this a bit early on in “Spying” where little wind lines seem somewhat disconnected from the sound of the rest of the ensemble moving around underneath these ideas.  “The First Bath” has a dark, almost sinister sense, to its music as almost magical ideas float above it keeping the tension palpable and blurring how one should feel about the emotional direction of the music.  There are moments of subtle beauty, heard often in a plaintive oboe line, often recessed further cak in the sound picture with a dominant piano arpeggio idea accompanying sparsely in higher registers.  “Tram at Dawn” just bubbles along with dark low string lines always just below the surface casting a somber sense to the fascinating orchestral colors floating around it.  The score plays out in this semi-minimalist framework but with some motives growing into near thematic statements that help hold the score together as it unfolds.  By the time “The Failed Visit” appears near the end of the disc, we can hear a thematic idea trying hard to assert itself but it is mostly foiled from growing into the sort of singly memorable idea that one could more easily recall.  The style lends a more timeless feel to the drama which unfolds on screen and is surprisingly engaging as it plays out on its own hereand throughout the score.    

  There is a lot to admire in this score.  Strong traditional thematic writing is not as prominent here, and perhaps in this Portman/Warbeck hybrid it is the one thing that might be what makes film music fans hesitate, but you will miss out on an intriguing and fascinating piece of contemporary film music by a composer that might just be worth keeping on your radar.  Easily recommendable to those who found Glass’ The Illusionist interesting, though The Reader is a bit more complicated orchestrally and even harmonically with less fear of stronger dissonances.  The score is worthy of contention for "original score" by AMPAS--and my guess is that if Glass, Portman, or Warbeck had written it, it would be quite possible. 

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