April 9, 2014

  • Summary Goldsmith

    Perhaps released with an eye towards the latest Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit film, La-La Land has brought out this remastered and expanded limited edition score from 2002’s The Sum of All Fears.  Ben Affleck made a stab at playing Tom Clancy’s classic character in a film that focuses on a potential terrorist threat that will send the US and Russia into a cataclysmic nuclear war.    While not the worst of adaptations, it certainly was not the best, though it boasted a score by Jerry Goldsmith, one of his last works.

    Goldsmith’s score featured a ballad-like main theme that featured lyrics by Paul Williams for a key song, “If We Could Remember”.  The original album featured a performance by Yolanda Adams and Shane Blake Hill.  Another song cowritten by Carole King, Tabitha Fair (who performed it), and John Parrish, “If We Get Through This”, also took up some album space along with a performance of an aria from Puccini’s Turandot sung by Bruce Sledge.  The score itself focused on weaving Goldsmith’s thematic idea throughout.  The tone of that elegiac melody marked one of the most chilling in its attachment to the film’s outer edges creating a somewhat religious atmosphere coming in the light of the 9/11 attacks that provided a more personal approach than that Goldsmith used for The Last Castle.

    As is the case when these last scores of Goldsmith’s have been given fuller treatments, one can appreciate more the variety of thematic ideas that are used to highlight different aspects of the story (here character themes and music for the Russians and Americans) set against that stark opening melody.  What is most striking is the way Goldsmith uses dark growing crescendos in the strings for key moments of tension building.  Often a single note, often on the final beat of a measure, in high strings keeps everything just slightly off balance.  The result is a slower, more intense underscore that has its roots in earlier work such as Basic Instinct and later Hollow Man. Some of the more Middle Eastern flair is reminiscent of his score for The Mummy.  Reordered to provide a listening experience closer to the film’s order allows one to better hear how the elements of slight tension-building music grows over the course of the score and how slight repetition across the orchestra helps provide the sort of variety that lifts the music above your run-of-the-mill sound.  With several additional action tracks now available, one can hear the return of important motifs and material better which further enhances the score overall.

    Historically, this score is important as one of Goldsmith’s last works.  Completed after his surgery for cancer which would claim his life two years later, the piece now has a chance to breathe here in its nearly hour-long presentation.  Most striking is that this is not a score that provides non-stop action writing but instead uses other compositional techniques to increase tension and move the story forward saving the big pulsing cues for key moments.  Many classic Goldsmith gestures are sprinkled throughout the score which makes it an additional pleasure to hear in its entirety now.  La-La Land groups the song material (including a performance of “The Star-Spangled Banner”) after the score presentation.  Four additional bonuses include a synth choir version of “The Mission” and demo for the score’s theme.  The album version of “Clear the Stadium” and alternate of “His Name is Olson” also appear.  The original album tracks are often integrated back into longer sequences and edits here so that some may wish to hang on to the original release for comparison.