Gus Van Sant’s little seen Restless (2011) is a romantic drama with a bit of a maudlin theme.  The young lovers, played by Henry Hopper and Mia Wasikowska, make for an interesting coupling.  He likes to attend funerals and she is terminally ill.  An odd encounter with the ghost of a Japanese Kamikaze pilot frames their relationship.  After appearing at Cannes in 2011, the film made the festival circuit route and received a limited release in the fall of that year here in the states.  These aspects of the story must certainly have appealed to composer Danny Elfman whose resulting score is striking.

Restless is going to sit rather differently in Elfman’s overall film music canon.  This is a very intimate little score of gentle melodic ideas, somewhat guitar driven, with a delicate sound reminiscent of indie-film music.  Mallet percussion lend the score an additionally light texture and provide further minimalist-like gestures with repetitive smaller cells driving the music.  These shifts in color, sometimes coupled with string responses, create a shimmering tapestry upon which the composer hangs his melodic material.  While one can certainly hear Elfman’s signature style, hearkening back to his earlier more experimental days, many will see it as an alternative approach to Thomas Newman’s intimate scoring styles.  The way there is a melancholy shift in the music in places like “Morgue” is also part of the composer’s style coupled with slight bell-like sounds.  It is still uniquely Elfman and most fans will surely want to explore the many aspects of this little score that will nestle against Promised Land and Milk as unique in the composer’s canon of film scores.  Connections to Good Will Hunting are also appropriate as “Weepy Donuts”—an in-joke—has a titular appearance here.  Subtle gestures are rarely called upon these days and this gentle score is filled with them.

SUPERHEROES!

Adam West, narrator.; Julie Spangler, piano. May Festival Youth Chorus,
Cincinnati Pops Orchestra/John Morris Russell
Fanfare Cincinnati 002
Total Time:  55:39
Recording:   ****/****
Performance: ****/****

The unexpected death of Erich Kunzel, long time conductor of the Cincinnati Pops, was a great loss to the music world and especially fans of orchestral film pops recordings.  The long history of great film music releases is an amazing legacy of popular and classic film music presented in stellar sound, though at times marred (depending on one’s point of view) by the addition of “special effects”.  The orchestra’s new conductor, John Morris Russell, debuted with the orchestra in an initial Christmas pops release.  This second release certainly is a return to the interesting program choices that Kunzel brought to disc and focuses on music from superhero films and television series.

Pops recordings are certainly an acquired taste for those who prefer “original” soundtrack performances.  Often the music is re-orchestrated, or adapted more specifically, to the needs of the ensemble often showing off various sections.  For an album such as this, one is easily appreciative of the Pops’ great brass section on display throughout the included selections.  One of the hallmarks of more recent Pops releases is a need to connect with younger audiences and the inclusion of an “arrangement” of the “Iron Man” song by Black Sabbath may do that to some extent.  It is the concluding work on the album and while well-realized, may be the one thing that wears thin over time.  The same might be said for the songs “Star-Spangled Man” and “Make Way for Tomorrow Today” which tend to shift us closer to Broadway-esque musical styles.  They are essentially contrasting material to the surrounding orchestral excitement.  There is also a unique arrangement by Rebecca Pellett of some classic superhero TV themes in a medley called “To The Rescue!”  Some will smile at the inclusion of tunes here and Adam West’s great, and somewhat hammy, narration.  One tune tends to receive too much focus however.

All of that said, the remainder of the album features some fabulous performances and is intelligently chosen from a wide swath of contemporary and classic film scores.  Elfman’s slow-building theme for Spider-Man opens the album and is well done, though not terribly impressive.  Next follows the “Captain’s March” from Silvestri’s Captain America score.  The piece is well-played but all too brief needing a bit more filling out to the four, or five-minute mark (it is just over two minutes in length).  Pete Anthony’s arrangement from The Dark Knight allows for some interesting contemporary orchestral scoring examples and is a could inclusion here.  Anthony also has a premiere recording of a commissioned piece, “The Launch”, which appears later on the album.  It is a good Copland-meets-Williams sort of fanfare to show off the orchestra.  One of the great surprises here is music from Goldsmith’s Supergirl.  The “End Credits” music receive a fine performance (minus electronic effects from the original score) and perhaps the orchestra will consider an all Goldsmith release at some point as it is obvious there is an affinity for this music.  It is followed by what may be one of the best pops recordings of Williams’ “Superman March” (including the composer’s own with Boston!).  The recording is helped by crisp playing, spot-on tempi and great audio.  The album then continues with music from more contemporary superhero films.  The suite from Thor seems a bit underwhelming musically.  The Debney selection from Iron Man 2 (“I Am Iron Man”) and John Powell’s “End Credits” from X-MEN: The Last Stand both show their musical roots in the superhero settings fo Williams and Goldsmith and make for great contrasts to the material that surrounds them on the disc.  Another of the disc’s highlights is the gorgeous “Lonely Man Theme” from Joe Harnell’s The Incredible Hulk score.  It is beautifully played by Julie Spangler in her own touching arrangement.

The variety of newer scores is certainly a positive feature of this release.  The inclusion of a couple lesser known scores helps introduce older music to young audiences as well.  The only real complaint is that the album is too short at only 55 minutes.  Many selections are at the 2-minute mark and it feels like more music within these selections would have helped fill out the album.  That said, this is really superb music making with excellent recording.  Certainly, this is another great entry in the Cincinnati Pops film music discography that bodes well for a successful future for them with their new conductor.