(Well, I had written this yesterday but just as I went to post it our internet connection went down.  So here it is.)

It has been a somewhat slow month this past May but here are 5 of my favorite "new" to the library here in no particular order.

First off is Denver Brass Play John Williams.  The recording came out last year and features arrangements of the composers music from some of his favorite film scores.  They all work very well and this is a wonderful release.  Completists take note that the premiere recording of the Winter Games Fanfare appears here.  It does not have the same immediately catchy tune but within the form it works well.  There is also a suite of sorts of themes from the Star Wars films.  They are linked by variations on "Yoda's Theme" that begins each track sometimes not working as well but it is an interesting take. 

Next up is The Enforcer.  I reviewed this release earlier this week so check out Tuesday's blog for a fuller review.  Jerry Fielding is well-respected in the film music community and this release for one of the Dirty Harry films is one of his most accessible to the casual film music fan.  Fielding's music is rewarding and not always filled with the simple tunes popular during the 1960s and 1970s.  The disc officially appears June 26.

April was the 100th anniversary of the birth of the great Miklos Rozsa.  To celebrate, Varese Sarabande put together a 3-disc budget set of re-recordings that is an essential collection for any music library.  Many of Rozsa's recordings of music from Ben Hur, Quo Vadis, King of Kings, and El Cid have been widely available over the years, so Varese wisely opted to include some other recordings of music from these films which are no less wonderful to hear.  The set covers the 40+ years of the composer's career and of great interest are the selections from some of the last scores in Rozsa's career.  The last CD ends appropriately with a suite of music from Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid.  Another highlight occurs on disc two where we get a 2-piano version of the Spellbound Concerto and another 2-piano and orchestra piece, New England Concerto, with themes from films taking place in the Northeast.  (Also highly recommended is Tadlow's new re-recording of The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes released on-line and in a hard copy late last month.)

Taking a turn from the other releases mentioned here is the score for Pirates 3.  It's the first big blockbuster score of the year and it gives you a lot of bang for its buck.  I reviewed it here last week on the blog.  Basically it combines that Bruckheimer film music style with some of the more subtle orchestration and approaches that Zimmer used on last year's The Da Vinci Code.  I'm usually not a big Zimmer fan, but his last few scores seem to be taking the composer in new directions that are integrating his older approach with something decidedly different.

Finally, I picked up a copy of Rolfe Kent's score for Reign Over Me.  This jazz-styled score has some parallels with his more popular and lauded music for Sideways but tends to be a bit more understated.  There are a couple of theme tracks with semi-improvisational performances to round off the album.

It arrived yesterday in the mail.  The first potential blockbuster film scoreof the summer, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End was there to be seen.  The packaging is in one of those new partially cardboard cases with a booklet that is filled with tons of pictures.  The score will sail into stores before Memorial Day.

Hans Zimmer, with several other “additional composers,” returns to provide this score which one notices takes on a musical tactic different than the last film’s score release.  The second film featured several character set pieces with more thematic material expanded upon and made for a rather enjoyable listen.  The current disc is a bit more traditional in its titling of tracks around specific sequences.  As some of the film heads to the East, there are blends of world musics to follow commenting in the orchestration itself about the journey taking place on screen.  It also means that new thematic material is presented less in larger complete statements and gets distributed throughout any given track whether it is a dirge-like anthem or a semi-lyrical love theme.

“Hoist the Colors” opens the disc with a large battery of percussion, sounding almost like rushing water, and a simple faux ballade sung first by a boy soprano and then with full male chorus setting a rather dirge-like opening.  I realized that this track may illustrate part of that subtle shift in Zimmer's music which is discovering ways to do with orchestral instruments what he generally achieved with high end synthetic sounds.

“Singapore” follows and is a large scale Asian-influenced piece which moves us from The Last Samurai-styled sounds into typical big Bruckheimer action cues complete with synth and orchestral blends that Zimmer has been writing for a long time.  The difference here is that there is a bit more care in instrumental color than we have heard from this composer but which was beginning to show up in last year’s music for The Da Vinci Code.  The dirge like opening melody returns in “Singapore” (and elsewhere) translated into a more heroic anthem for just a moment before we get a little tag with comic overtones.  That unique choral sound heard in Da Vinci returns here cast in a deeply moving moment with somewhat supernatural qualities in “At Wit’s End” that moves into a larger thematic statement and the track ends with a gentle statement of this thematic idea given a music box quality before we return to the big Zimmer epic sweep.   This is another wonderfully shaped track playing out to over eight minutes and presenting a grand overview that blends both Zimmer’s familiar sound with some of the more recent developments in his music.

“Multiple Jacks” introduces an eerie experimental sound to the score that is more than just ambient backdrop.  This has violin, banjo, and some ethnic instruments blended to create something that has to be among the weirdest things to come from this composer.  Here Zimmer takes a variety of musical sounds and ideas and creates something that slowly layers in these different sounds.  This same approach recurs later in “The Brethren Court” alternating Jack’s theme with the new dirge-anthem heard in the opening track.  It is in an interesting ponderous waltz whose interest is kept by the variety of instrumental choices employed. 

 “Up is Down” moves into a Celtic-flavored dance sound back to traditional orchestral and synth blends with pieces of thematic ideas coming to the front and growing into a fuller orchestral action cue.  Often times one can complain that Zimmer’s harmonic language tends to be rather uninspired.  But here one can hear that even with a simple chromatic move into new harmonic territory, there are interesting things going on in the harmony.  Though often these things are more evident when the new lyrical love theme appears in “I See Dead People in Boats” played here with oboe against strings.   While the scenic implications of this cue play out gradually over its seven minutes, this new theme is taken apart in segments and serves to separate the more unusual otherworldly sections of this track.   This approach is what will make or break your enjoyment of the album.

“Parley” is not so much an homage to Morricone spaghetti westerns as it is a cut and paste from them, in particular “Man With a Harmonica” from Once Upon a Time in the West.  The joke may work if anyone in particular remembers its original context, but it will be an insider laugh for the most part.   And truth be told, Morricone should receive a credit for this piece of music since it is his theme being used here the way say Bernstein used the Jaws theme in Airplane!.   

Though most of the tracks do not bleed into one another, the big choral track, “What Shall We Die For,” one of the more thematically “pure” tracks of the disc, moves right into the extensive 11 minute extravaganza “I Don’t Think Now is the Best Time.”  Here again Zimmer moves through a variety of the thematic ideas and creates an amazingly satisfying track that is almost exhausting in its energy.  There is so much stuff going on even here that it is hard to hear all that is going on musically.  It goes from mostly loud to terribly loud rather often.  Full choral sounds are recessed so that any lyric can not be heard.  The large orchestra and drum work continues to ebb and flow intending to create a sound that one comes to expect in the grandiose conclusions of the likes of The Matrix or the Star Wars movies.  Zimmer does here for the pirate movie what the respective composers of those series did for science fiction. 

What would have made this disc even more enjoyable would have been at least a couple of theme specific tracks that could have appeared in the body of the disc perhaps.  Instead those familiar with the ins and outs of the various thematic ideas from the series will have much to admire in the way that these various themes recur in such a variety of ways.  All the same, this is a first rate action score illustrating continued growth in Zimmer’s talents and vision for updating the swashbuckler score.  One interesting picture is of the scoring session with a tired looking and stubble-faced Zimmer sitting at the controls looking like he could use some sleep and a cup of coffee.  You will probably feel the same way after experiencing this powerfully exciting score.