October 26, 2009

• Reviews: Silva releases 2 Rolfe Kent romantic comedy scores

  Rolfe Kent’s winter was evidently spent working on romantic comedies.  Silva has released two of his scores for late spring releases now giving film music fans a chance to enjoy two somewhat different takes on the genre. 

   

  Though brief, this new Silva release of 17 Again should be welcome by fans of Kent looking to see how the composer handles a blend of comedy, romance, and great adventure scoring.  The film is a sort of retelling of Freaky Friday with guys (a remake of which Kent also scored) featuring teen heartthrob Zac Ephron.  At any rate, the music may turn out to be the best thing about the film and it definitely gives film music fans something to enjoy in a score that has to work hard to point out the obvious.

  Kent’s brief  “Game Theme” which opens the disc, is like a light-pop version of a Thomas Newman score, but that’s where the similarities will end for the most part (another longer segment appears in “It’s Not About Basketball”).  The music here tends to take a page from the jazzier aspects of approaches Kent used in Sideways but translated, and well, to a larger ensemble.  The heartbreakingly beautiful music that follows in “Scarlett” (another thematic presentation) is among the composer’s finest.  This continues to be the case as a huger orchestral sound moves into the magically-tinged sound of “Mike Realises” which is among the better tracks on the CD.  The score illustrates a great mixture of wonderful big orchestral sounds hinting at romance or adventure, as well as lightly-scored, thematically rich moments of romance and mystery.  It all works fairly well with the only caveat being that of many comedy scores in the brevity of their cues.   Somehow though, Kent’s music in miniature tracks are offset by enough longer cues on this brief disc, to make it work very well as a coherent listening experience.  The longer tracks tend to allow us to hear Kent’s approach to dramatic narrative underscoring over the long haul and this is on great display in “Mark Sees the Janitor” where a wonderful little waltz becomes overcome by increasing tension and dissolves into comedic underscoring over the course of 3 minutes.  The blend of action and comedic scoring should please most fans.  And the semi-Lord of the Rings parody in the brief “Elfish at Dinner” should bring an appropriate smile to film music fan’s faces. 

  This is not the light-jazz Kent styles of Sideways but the Kent of Kate and Leopold with far more engaging thematic material.  Something else worth noting is that the score was recorded in San Francisco using the “Skywalker Symphony Orchestra”—a group of musicians in the bay area that freelances in dramatic and operatic performing lending this score an almost electric sense of energy.

   

  .............................................

   

  Ghosts of Girlfriends Past was another immediately forgettable (and perhaps regrettable?) featuring Matthew McConaughey.  The music features several character themes, or musical styles/sounds, that help easily identify there appearance and cast their shadow in specific scenes.  Uncle Wayne’s music tends to be cast in a jazzier swing a la Sideways less integrated with the orchestra than in his music for 17 Again (the Jazz group is even given a separate performer listing in the credits) .  Jenny’s music moves between gentle lyrical presentations of innocence and beauty but can also get a bit punchy when it has to.  It appears in several cues where it can be more percussive (“Jenny and Connor Meet and Spar”) or in more fragile reflective moments (“The Swings, Young Jenny”).  Along the way many light comedic rhythms appear as well.  There is another bittersweet idea in “Pauly’s Theme” as well that gets a fuller treatment there.  The film gives the composer to score some darker musical explorations in the ghost moments of the narrative (“Graveside Narrative”).  Another fascinating cue is “Conjuring the Ghost of Future” which features a darker texture in the orchestration as it bubbles along with interesting whistling (reminiscent of Twisted Nerve-a suddenly popular Herrmann score) and percussion ideas cast against a full orchestral sound.

  Film music fans know that when a film tends to be bad, good composers like Kent can deliver music which they will most likely enjoy.  There is enough variety here for fans of romantic comedies and plenty of unique orchestral ideas to make for a great listening experience apart from the film where the music is forced to tell you what to do with lighter Hollywood fare like this.  As with 17 Again, Kent headed to the Bay area to record the score at the Skywalker Ranch.

  • 2:28 pm
  • 3 Comments