How to Train Your Dragon (not to be confused with the entirely fictitious remake of the Clint Eastwood musical How to Paint Your Wagon) is one of Dreamworks' most entertaining films and gets an equally entertaining score. Imagine manic ceilidh (pronounced cay-lee for those not of a north of the border persuasion) music performed by a 693 piece (more or less) orchestra and you have a fair idea of what much of How to Train Your Dragon. It's especially suitable for action music as its inherent energy ensures the music gallops along. The quiet moments are not to be forgotten, they are sweet without being cloying, but it's definitely the high voltage material that sticks in the mind the longest, albeit more as an overall impression than individual melodic ideas.
Having seen Powell conduct a suite from the score at the Royal Albert Hall, the orchestra did look like they could do with a long lie down in a darkened room afterward. It was a stonking performance though and the orchestra did a fantastic job. Naturally the studio recording has a bit more polish, but I can't help wonder if some of the brass players had a minor cardiac arrest when they first saw the music, realising they were going to be playing what is essentially fiddle music on a trumpet with virtually zero practise. Yeah, those studio musicians are startlingly good. Still, it sounds stupendous and gets an impressively lucid recording for something that could sound hopelessly muddled. A Sigur Ros on prozac song by lead singer Jonsi (don't skip it, it's good) rounds out another winning entry from Powell.
Acquire it from Amazon.com.
Acquire it from Amazon.com.
No comments:
Post a Comment