rating: | *** |
composer: | James Newton Howard |
label: | Sony BMG Music |
The Water Horse – Legend of the Deep marks one of the six scores produced by James Newton Howard in a versatile year for the American composer. 2007, like previous years, has given Howard the opportunity to show off his talents, not to mention reaffirm his popularity among Hollywood directors en producers. In my opinion, his scores are not all of the same quality, let that be clear. This year’s Michael Clayton was last years Freedomland: not quite what you were hoping for when the project was announced. Still, Howard’s projects that do shine, shine brightly and the amount of Howard-scores to occupy my disc player for extended periods of time is generous to say the least.
Water Horse on the other hand left me a tad unsatisfied. Last years brilliant Lady in the Water filled my heart with desire for more of the same writing, but alas Water Horse can only give us brief moments of Lady’s excellence. The score is more ethnic than I’d assumed, with more than one Celtic element returning throughout the score. Instrumentation is, likewise, (probably appropriately) accommodating the film’s location. I always tend to get bored somewhat by the joyful strings and upbeat flute play, as I must confess I did with the material presented by Howard here. However, it has to be said that Howard professionally handles the characteristics of this ‘children’s score’. The main theme is pretty good and well integrated into the entire (namely first half) of the score. With every track Howard offers new idea and motifs to the listener and that he does so with merit. Although never very complex, this variation in compositional aspects keeps the experience fresh.
I suppose I’m a spoiled Howard fan for saying this, but the material never reaches the heights you want it to. Perhaps the setting of the film and the required tone of the score limited Howard’s capacity to write something truly captivating. ‘Swimming’ is definitely the highlight of the album: with its orchestra appearance and mixed-in solo vocals it is not only the most interesting, but also the most distanced track in respect to the rest of the score (although this fine track is not entirely free of the Celtic-chains either). As the album proceeds the tracks get lengthier, but one of my greater complaints is that it’s very noticeable that the music never relinquishes direct contact with its visuals. As hectic as I can imagine the film can become at times, that’s exactly how hectic Howard’s score can get. Action music is written in a style more like you’d expect from your average Howard score, but its constantly all over the place, not allowing for that free-from-visuals development Howard’s able to put in his music while working with, say, Night Shyalaman (There’s that Lady popping up again…).
All in all, Howard does a fine job, as he always does, creating the right atmosphere for the film with his in many ways impressive score. In most ways however, the score just reminds me of the much more impressive material Howard has written in recent years. I understand that not every film warrants itself for a majestic and complex musical accompaniment, but I must admit I was hoping for Water Horse to be that kind of film and it did not meet my expectations. At times, Howard’s brilliance shines through, but I’m afraid those moments are too short and too sparse in amount for you to thoroughly enjoy. With James Newton Howard’s impressive filmography, there’s a great quantity of albums I would recommend before advising you to purchase this particular score.
by Derek Tersmette • February 23, 2008
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