July 16, 2014

  • Re-evaluating Empire of the Sun

    Steven Spielberg’s Empire of the Sun appeared in the December 1987 holiday season.  It holds an interesting place in the canon of the director’s films coming off the critically-acclaimed The Color Purple (1985), a WWII drama set in Shangai during the Japanese occupation was worlds apart, though returned to a key historical period that he often explored.  Critics at the time seemed to be unsure about the film, though some 25+ years later it tends to be considered one of Spielberg’s unsung masterpieces.  Some of the renewed interest of late comes from the appearance of a very young Christian Bale who’s performance is among the film’s highlights.  After being require to use Quincy Jones as music supervisor and composer for The Color Purple (the only Spielberg film, save Duel, without a Williams score) Spielberg returned to oft-collaborator John Williams.  The project came at an equally transitional period for the composer who had recently begun his role as Music Director for the Boston Pops.  This new La-La Land limited edition release gives us all a chance to really hear this score anew.

    “Suo Gan”, a Welsh lullaby popular in choral settings, would be a signature piece that set the tone for the film.  The choral opening, with boy soprano, is indelibly linked to the film from its exclusive use in trailers up through the beginning of the film and its recurrence.  Williams’ score comes in some eight minutes into the film itself.  The score is noted for having one of the composer’s most wonderfully imagined musical sequences in “Cadillac of the Skies”.  “Jim’s New Life” becomes another important musical sequence.  Perhaps better known though is the choral finale “Exultate Justi” which has become a popular standalone concert work.  The original album release always felt lacking with the big musical moments tending to overpower what was going on in the score elsewhere making for a rather uneven listen.  By restoring the musical sequences here and returning them to their original order, listeners have a chance to delve into the finely constructed score that is revealed to be an exquisitely intricate work.

    Within the larger body of Williams’ work, Empire of the Sun is a score that finds the composer using a more subtle approach to help support the imagination of young Jim.  There are warm swathes of sound where thematic threads are but hinted at as “Home and Hearth” begins the score presentation proper (this is the cue where the Chopin mazurka is the center).  In a nutshell, we are able to hear a blend of dramatic underscoring that would become further developed in the composer’s serious dramatic scores, but always underlying the work is a sense of joy and inner beauty that somehow manages to overcome even the more serious tone of some scenes.  Often the more dissonant work bookends these thematic islands.  The orchestral writing has flashes of contemporary tone clusters and rich harmony.  “Trip Through the Crowd” is perhaps one of the most intriguing of these moments (it, and the later “The Streets of Shanghai”, are precursors for approaches in Williams’ later A.I. score).  Similar music will appear in these parallel sequences with chilling music (“Lost in the Crowd”).  More sinuous music has even altered the Chopin music it would seem by the time we enter “The Empty Swimming Pool”.  The vocalizing boys choir’s use (“Imaginary Air Battle”) seems to both recall the earlier lullaby idea and yet lend a real ethereal quality to the music as it too soars.  Also instructive are tracks such as the previously unreleased “Japanese Infantry” which seem to hearken back to the military scoring of the composer’s 1960s films, but now with a far more assured command of the intriguing percussion uses with ethnic instrumentation, especially Asian flute.  The approach recurs in “The Pheasant Hunt.”  After the more intense sequences, it is no wonder that when the flowing themes return, touching in “The Plane” and then soaring more as only Williams can do in “Jim’s New Life” they stand out all the more and feel far more effective than they did before.  Equally impressive is the chance to hear the nearly 8-minute sequence for “The Return to the City.”

    In addition to finally being able to hear this work in its entirety, one must also thank Mike Matessino for his rather in depth discussion of this score.  While not in keeping with the track-by-track analysis often in keeping with the label’s score presentations, his essay manages to try and share his own discoveries about the score’s intricacies making for a fascinating accompaniment to the music.  The primary film presentation fills out the first disc.  Disc Two is used to include the Chopin excerpt that appears in the film and a variety of alternate takes.  Finally, Empire of the Sun feels like the great score that lay hidden on that original release.  The sweeping melodies lie quite well alongside the more intense underscoring and now make great sense.  Williams would revisit some of this flying music many times, not long after in fact in the equally understated Always.  The present release is a superb way to finally appreciate this equally amazing score.