Despite some mild disappointment with his recent output - not so much a reduction in quality, more a lack of variation of style - Alexandre Desplat is a composer I will plump down my money for on almost every occasion. The Tree of Life was a no brainer of a choice. Terence Malick is one of Hollywood's most revered, but infrequent filmmakers so every effort is a big event. He's not a director who sticks to a composer, so after Hans Zimmer on The Thin Red Line and James Horner on The New World, Desplat gets his turn on The Tree of Life.
The best description of The Tree of Life I could think of is "epic chamber music". The orchestra is fairly small, strings and woodwind predominate, but the scope feels grand and somehow endless. There's more than a hint of Philip Glass or Steve Reich there from time to time, notably in the extended Circles, perhaps the score's finest single cue. Rarely has a cue sounded so much like its title; Desplat spinning short phrases one upon the other, but always with great clarity, never allowing the textures to become muddied. It sounds boundless and epic, but as my summary description suggests, is done with a fairly modest ensemble.
The Tree of Life is not an especially warm score, Desplat's harmonies are a bit too twisty to ever become truly satisfying. One feels that it could break out into something heroically uplifting, but it never does, minor key harmonies always pulling it back to a more nebulous harmonic framework. Apart from James Horner, few composers write long cues these days, but clearly The Tree of Life gave ample space for Desplat to craft well structured cues, albeit largely from smaller building blocks. A beautiful and elegant album that is sure to my one of the year's finest.
CDs don't grow on trees, so get it from Amazon instead.
No comments:
Post a Comment