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CD Review: The Best Scores of 2009

(To purchase the year’s best soundtracks from this list, click on the CD cover)


ADORATION (Mychael Danna, Mychael Danna Records)

Mychael Danna has done some of his most creative work for the mysterious world of Atom Egoyan, with a wealth of stylistically existential scores that includes EXOTICA, THE SWEET HEREAFTER and FELICIA’S JOURNEY. But perhaps none top the devastating emotional power of this chamber work, where the especially pained sounds of violin and cello convey a teenager’s fantasia of familial guilt. The terrific ADORATION may have slipped under the cinematic radar, but Danna’s classical anguish for it is a demonstration of soundtrack simplicity at its finest.

ASTRO BOY (John Ottman, Varese Sarabande)

John Ottman has a talent for sending superheroes through the air with the likes of FANTASTIC FOUR, X-MEN UNITED and SUPERMAN RETURNS. But leave it to this anime-inspired robot to bring out this composer’s sense of soaring wonder like never before. Ottman pours on lush orchestral themes befitting John Williams, turning what could have been cartoony kids’ stuff into swooshing melodies befitting a flesh and blood icon of the imagination. Yet Ottman smartly conveys Astro’s origins with humorously clanking orchestrations, especially as he’s battling it out with other automatons. You can sense how glad Ottman is that there’s almost zero ennui from this hero, as adventurous fun saves the day from this delightful score’s start to its finish.

AVATAR (James Horner, Atlantic)

Given the task of musically conveying James Cameron’s game-changing FX world, James Horner does his work for the director’s ALIENS and TITANIC one step better with AVATAR’s spellbinding mixture of tribal textures and powerhouse action. While it certainly delivers on the E.T. vs. military stuff, the overall ethereal tone of AVATAR provides for a meditative, and surprisingly experimental sound that memorably sums up the kind of melodic worlds that Horner’s previously explored in such scores as THUNDERHEART and GLORY. With AVATAR, Horner re-discovers that sense of wonder like never before.

DRAG ME TO HELL (Christopher Young, Lakeshore)

If you’re going to hell, then you couldn’t ask for a better musical Beatrice than Christopher Young, who knows the inferno’s tuneful realms inside and out after his rampaging scores for the likes of GHOST RIDER, BLESS THE CHILD and two HELLRAISER flicks. Now Sam Raimi’s dragged him back in, and Young responds with dynamically fresh enthusiasm, pouring on hilariously macabre melodies with a vengeance- no more so than when an exorcism climaxes with a violin jig that would give even Old Scratch a smile.

KNOWING (Marco Beltrami, Varese Sarabande)

Though faced with a Hollywood world where the idea of big, thematic scores seem headed towards the apocalypse, Marco Beltrami defiantly goes for grandly stirring motifs, first hearing the oncoming end of the world with fearful, frantic string movements before reaching the final knowledge that family is all. It’s a sorrowful, if somehow optimistic epiphany that Beltrami knocks home with a devastating emotional wallop, hearing the angelic, final parting of a family with an orchestral passion worthy of Richard Strauss. And it’s these soaring, transcendent melodies of death and transfiguration that make KNOWING the year’s best score.

MOON (Clint Mansell, Black Records)

After finding a hallucinatory beat with such headtrip sci-fi films as PI and THE FOUNTAIN (not to mention the drug-addled mindscape of REQUIEM FOR A DREAM), Mansell’s hypnotically rhythmic approach reaches new heights with MOON. Beautifully repetitive minimalism conveys the brain-numbing isolation of a worker bee astronaut who discovers his true reason for being. And Mansell probes into his isolated anguish, and growing realization with spacey electronics, pianos and guitar samples that weave a mesmerizing, thematic web. Mansell’s MOON is a haunting score that shows that in space, no one can hear your nervous breakdown.

MY ONE AND ONLY (Mark Isham, unreleased)

Mark Isham has shown he can play every genre from berserk horror to rustic drama. But for fans of his jazz trumpeting days there’s nothing as sweet as Isham’s early, swinging scores for the likes of THE MODERNS, MRS. PARKER and QUIZ SHOW. Now this wonderful George Hamilton biopic returns Isham’s Blue Note sound to front and center scoring stage, giving it an even more intimate vibe. Isham’s playful swing is right in 1950’s tune for the husband-hunting antics of its wannabe socialite. Yet his lushly melodic score also goes beyond its spot-on sound to poignantly convey its heroine’s heartbreak. With every piano note and trumpet blow, MY ONE AND ONLY shows how happy Isham is back to be back home, with the kind of jazz scoring he truly does best.

SHERLOCK HOLMES (Hans Zimmer, New Line)

If Anton Karas’ classic score for THE THIRD MAN was given an adrenalized dose of morphine, then unleashed to do LETHAL WEAPON-like damage, then you might get something barely resembling the terrifically innovate score that Hans Zimmer has conjured for Victorian England’s most famous deducer. And you’ve certainly never heard a SHERLOCK HOLMES score like this, as Zimmer’s thrashing use of Cimaboloms, player pianos and the character’s favored violin turn industrial Blighty into a Gypsy music mosh pit, with throbbing percussion that puts the composer’s PIRATES OF THE CARRIBEAN scores to shame. Sure HOLMES’ completely out-of-the box sound could have been a mess in anyone else’s hands. But given Zimmer’s penchant for walls of exciting melody, the smashingly entertaining success of SHERLOCK’s score seems elementary.

A SINGLE MAN (Abel Korzeniowski, Alternative Distribution Aliance)

Gay ennui takes on a suspenseful, dramatic power worthy of Bernard Herrmann for this achingly gorgeous score by Polish composer Abel Korzeniowski (with an assist by Japan’s Shigeru Umebayashi). But then, you could say Eastern European composers have always had a thing for despondent characters, and Korzeniowski rises to the best of his compatriots’ emotionally raw, string-heavy sound with a score whose infinite beauty seems tailor-made for the impeccable sensibility of MAN’s fashionista writer-director Tom Ford. For even if his hero has a love that dare not speak its name, Korzeniowski’s strikingly poetic work isn’t afraid to shout that passion to the heavens. Between this composer’s SINGLE MAN and his terrific sci-fi score to BATTLE FOR TERRA, I’m looking forward to hearing more of Korzeniowski’s bold shouting.

WATCHMEN (Tyler Bates, Reprise)

From graphic novel to epic live-action, everything about WATCHMEN has turned the notions of super hero-ing on its head. And its underscore by Tyler Bates is no different. At once paying note to the orchestral and choral conventions of costumed characters while simultaneously subverting them, Bates’ score works on numerous levels as it also dives headfirst into the sound of WATCHMEN’s mid 80’s setting. Vangelis-like synths jam with kick-ass metal guitar licks, while Philip Glass-ian rhythms keep time alongside gnarled horror electronics, all before Bates reaches a symphonic near apocalypse. There’s a constant surprise to WATCHMEN’s fearlessly stylistic swings in what might be the coolest anti-hero score, and film yet produced.

THE RUNNERS-UP

TIE: CORALINE and PHOEBE IN WONDERLAND (Bruno Coulais, Koch and Christophe Beck, Varese Sarabande)

The pitfalls of too much childhood imagination get delightfully creative workouts, first in the surreal, breathless melodies of Bruno Coulais and the songs of They Might Be Giants. Their off-kilter melodies and children’s’ chorus help conjure a beautifully malefic animated realm where it seems any style of music might happen, from brassy circus bounce to lyrically forlorn melodies- all given a twist that tells us love can be an evil thing in the hands of the ultimate mother. Though the pop-orchestral talents of PHOEBE’s Christophe Beck have made him the go-to composer for such carefree teen comedies as A CINDERELLA STORY and THE PERFECT MAN, the composer shows he can be even more perceptive when looking at the troubled fantasy life of PHOEBE’s pubescent heroine. Her wonderland is a school play of the Lewis Carroll classic, which allows Beck to first approach the story with tender whimsy before delving into more psychologically troubling magic as he conveys Phoebe’s schism between dreams and reality with impressive delicacy.


THE EDGE OF LOVE (Angelo Badalamenti, UME Imports)

Composer Angelo Badalamenti’s time around David Lynch has certainly taught him a thing about twisted romance. Now his noir sound takes on a classic, poetic tone to play the havoc wreaked by Dylan Thomas on his loved ones. It’s a striking, symphonic sense of foreboding that lets Badalamenti go in directions quite outside the lands of TWIN PEAKS and BLUE VELET with a score that’s easily the swooning, doom-ridden equal of its crazier predecessors.


FANTASTIC MR. FOX (Alexandre Desplat, Abkco)

The characters of this titularly fantastic movie might not be bigger than a few inches. So leave it to the usually brilliant nature of composer Alexandre Desplat to shrink his usually lush ensemble down to a doll-sized sounding group of glistening guitars, banjos and strings. It’s a satirically pokey vibe that’s right in tune with director Wes Anderson’s sensibilities, while also going to Spaghetti Western territory for its funny animal battles with always-mean farmers. And all of it’s as wonderfully sly as a fox.


THE MEN WHO STARE AT GOATS (Rolfe Kent, ABKCO)

Rolfe Kent helped write the book on ethnically absurdist comedy scoring with ELECTION and ABOUT SCHMIDT. His latest venture to the lethally wacky war in Iraq just might be the only reason to crack a smile about the situation, as his energetic use of off-beat acoustical instruments convey its gob smacked psychic warriors. Yet there’s also real dramatic sincerity at play here amidst the oddball orchestrations, heartfelt strumming that helps make GOATS into one of the more unique, and musically affecting looks at the mother of all wars. And Kent certainly doesn’t need to be a mind reader to hear its black-humored futility.


9 (Deborah Lurie, Koch)

Not since the late Shirley Walker (FINAL DESTINATION) has a female composer taken on imposing, full-throttle action with the gusto of Deborah Lurie. Using themes provided by Danny Elfman (whom she abetted on such scores as SPIDER-MAN 2 and WANTED), Lurie’s eerily portentous sound creates a post-apocalyptic landscape caught somewhere between fantasy and science fiction, with a huge orchestral and choral approach effectively telling us that the world’s fate is at stake in the hands of humble sock puppets. Where most animated scores take pains to be sunny, Lurie’s mythically dark musical world for 9 is a welcome burst of pessimism.


STAR TREK (Michael Giacchino, Varese Sarabande)

If J.J. Abrams’ way of youthfully invigorating old genres (let alone TV franchises) has a sound, then it can be heard in the eclectically energetic sound of Michael Giacchino. But even the musical wonderment he’s put into the likes of ALIAS, LOST and MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE III would have to pale before their ultimate reboot with STAR TREK. Though Giacchino only lets loose with Alexandre Courage’s classic theme for the end credits, the boldly adventurous spirit that the composer, and so many notable others, have put into TREK over the decades is very much alive in Giacchino’s own voice for this powerhouse score. Sure the cool “big” theme he’s come up with here might get used a bit much, yet one never gets tired of it, especially when Abrams has the confidence in Giacchino’s work enough to let stirring, choral cues be the only thing heard on the soundtrack. It’s that kind of trust in the effectiveness of music that elevates this director-composer camaraderie to a level worthy of Kirk and Spock.


SURROGATES (Richard Marvin, Lakeshore)

Talented action composer Richard Marvin reteams with his U-571 director Jonathan Mostow for this hugely enjoyable sci-fi thriller, whose music visualizes a world of robot imposters with its percussive, and melodically invigorating combination of synths and orchestra. In a genre where busy music abounds, Marvin’s exciting SURROGATES score is the real, fresh deal.


THE YOUNG VICTORIA (Ilan Eshkeri, 101 Distribution)

Every memorable royal love score has got to have the theme, and Ilan Eshkeri has conjured a doozy for Queen Victoria. His melody is the kind of swooningly lush music that captures pomp, circumstance and the first-sight attraction that will beget the stuff of legends, let alone unleash the audience’s handkerchiefs. Victoria and Prince Albert may have been thought of as sexless fogies before this film and score, but leave it to Eshkeri give them modern passion while paying due to costume scores of yore- a soundtrack whose jewel in the crown is the lovely, theme-based Sinead O’Connor song “Only You.”


THE VAMPIRE’S ASSISTANT (Stephan Trask, Varese Sarabande)

Given his first pseudo-horror movie to score after such eclectic comedies as AMERICAN DREAMZ and SEX DRIVE, Stephan Trask rises to the challenge with a wonderfully eclectic score that flies from folk whimsy to symphonic fury, then back again with Indian circus stylings and fantastical wonder. Spooky as it might sometimes be, the charmingly offbeat VAMPIRE’S ASSISANT isn’t really that kind of movie, applying a HARRY POTTER-esque mythology to its Drac-in-training. But where those tonal shifts might make any other composer uneasy, Trask’s eager take on the material lets him navigate its tonal shifts with bat-worthy sonar, delivering a score that both teens can groove to, and fans of old school orchestral majesty can get a thrilling bite from.


ZOMBIELAND (David Sardy, Relativity)

The coolest in-your-brains zombie film ever gets a score worthy of its flippant attitude, as David Sardy follows up his catchy 21 score with even more grooving bad behavior, setting the tone straight up with a gnarled take on our national anthem. From there it’s a whacked-out, guitar-blasting road trip of meat-crazed dissonance, 70’s funk and hair metal grooviness with tongue planted firmly in flesh-filled cheek. But ZOMBIELAND’s undoubted musical highlight comes for its Pacific Playland battle, which delivers the most balls-out heavy guitar riffs yet committed to film scoring. All horror soundtracks should be this much fun.

THE COMPOSERS TO WATCH

Tim Attack (THE INVENTION OF LYING, unreleased)
Boris (THE LIMITS OF CONTROL, Lakeshore)
Michl Britsch (PANDORUM, Movie Score Media)
Gerald Brunskill (WORLD’S GREATEST DAD, unreleased)
Francois Eudes (DONKEY PUNCH, Warp)
Mario Girgorov (PRECIOUS, Geffen)
Miguel Mera (LITTLE ASHES, unreleased)
Nathaniel Mechaly (TAKEN, Razor & Tie)
James Peterson (THE RED CANVAS, Movie Score Media)
The Section Quartet (WHIP IT, unreleased)
Clinton Shorter (DISTRICT 9, Sony)
Rob Simonsen (500 DAYS OF SUMMER, unreleased)
Yo La Tengo (ADVENTURELAND, unreleased)
Philip Nashel-Watts (BIG FAN, unreleased)
Richard Wells(MUTANT CHRONICLES, Silva Screen)
Adrian Younge (BLACK DYNAMITE, Wax Poetics)

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