December 3, 2018

  • Williams's Dracula Rises From the Vaults

    For decades John Williams’ fans have watched multiple remastering and reissues of scores from the Star Wars series, Jaws, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, E.T.: The Extraterrestrial, and Superman and while other scores on either sides of these also received releases, the question remained:  When will we get 1979’s Dracula?  The soundtrack album released at the time was just over 30 minutes of music—it is provided here in its entirety on disc two.  Finally, Varese Sarabande has managed to discover elements that allowed for a more complete stereo version under the more than able care of Mike Mattessino.  Their new limited edition 2-disc set brings us the film score for the first time with the second disc presenting an improved remastering of the original soundtrack

    Dracula is one of the very rare times the composer scored a horror film, though arguably John Badham’s film tends toward Gothic romance.  Prior to this, there was the more psychological thriller, Images (1972), and the modern psychic thriller of The Fury (1978).  The latter’s edges have been warmed for Williams’ Dracula which came as Superman was being prepared for release and right before Spielberg’s 1941 and the second Star Wars film.  It is from that unbelievably fruitful collaborative period between the London Symphony Orchestra and Hollywood.  The result is thus a richer, more classical sound to the music.  In some respects, Williams’ approach is like a darker cousin to his Jane Eyre (1970).  And yet, those familiar with his scores of this time, will be able to discern a number of common tropes and scoring approaches that, while not borrowings, are certainly familiar thumbprints.

    With almost double the music now available to hear, one can be struck by the way the primary love theme, which literally heats up the screen in “Night Journeys”, weaves its way through the score.  Thematic nods to Van Helsing give some additional variety, but it is the former that Williams uses to take us down the thread of an almost impossible love story.  The primary score presentation creates this sense of darkness and foreboding well with the minor-mode love theme adding an important hook along the way.  Also fascinating is hearing the way Williams creates atmosphere and dramatic support in many of the sequences that are in the 1-, 2-minute mark.

    Disc one gives us a chance to hear the film versions of the opening titles and “Storm Sequence” (with some striking familiar Williams’ scoring motifs), “Night Journeys”, a slightly different “To Scarborough”, and an extended version of the finale, “Dracula’s Death”.  There are tracks that did not appear in the film and are included here along with some slight editing of shorter cues for better listening cohesion.  (These are unfortunately not marked on the track lists—only mentioned in the notes.)  Dark cues like “Meeting in the Cave” stretch the orchestra to the breaking point with some extremely high violin lines.  Some of the dense clusters of Close Encounters also appear from time to time in the score as well.  “Casting a Spell” is another quite fascinating dark cue exploring the swirls of the theme in the lower registers of the orchestra.  Alternates of the opening sequence and an extended “Love Scene” cue wrap things up well.

    The way the music works through the film is then given some slight reworking for the 1979 soundtrack album which appears on disc two.  Williams tended to create albums that provided a more musical listening experience that in this case also featured some slightly different reworkings of material and different edits from what appeared in the film.  Seeing the track titles side-by-side with the film sequence is an interesting way to get a sense for how he put these soundtrack albums togetherr.  This is almost a case where one may want to hear the soundtrack album first.

    Varese’s packaging here supports their intent to present a stellar release with the original booklet and photos in the CD case, and then an additional booklet with a host of film stills as well.  Easily one of the most anticipated film score releases for decades, Williams’ fans should be quite satisfied with this limited edition release.  It brings together some of the scoring techniques and musical approaches that have become familiar in those scores the composer wrote during this period.