Burn Hollywood Burn

Shigeru Umebayashi: 2046 Main Theme (With Percussion)
from 2046 Soundtrack (EMI 2005)

Danny Elfman: Dead Presidents Theme
from Dead Presidents: Music From The Motion Picture

Ennio Morricone: Man With A Harmonica
from Once Upon A Time In The West: The Original Soundtrack Recording


The purpose of this post is not so that I can pontificate using my erudite knowledge on movie soundtracks and wax philisophical on their contribution to the canon of classical compositions (actually I don't know shit about soundtracks, and what little I do know usually comes from the extras on dvd's). No, this here post is simply to point out three film compositions that I find particularly interesting. Whether it's from their odd placement on a motion picture soundtrack, their achingly precise ability to describe the theme of the film, or just because the song is so haunting, I've decided to share them with you in case you haven't heard them already.

The 2046 Main Theme is from the Wong Kar Wai film 2046. The film is basically, like a lot of his movies, a meditation on love. In this particular film it's about the loss of love and the effect it has on the present relations of the films characters. This theme of lost love is present throughout the whole piece with the reoccuring theme played in the minor key. Dominated by strings (viola, violin and cello) with the percussion serving as a point of emphasis, the reoccuring theme captures the main characters inability to fall in love and brings to mind the characters that float in and out of his life never connecting. The song is so effectively used that it's almost impossible to separate the film from the composition or the composition from the film.

Danny Elfman's Dead Presidents Theme is a lot more perplexing. Placed on an album of R&B hits, this single orchestral piece jarringly sticks out, seeming very much out of place amongst Sly & The Family Stone or the Aretha Franklin cuts on the album. In fact of the 10 pieces he composed for the film, this one was the only one released on CD. Using eclectic instrumentation, including what sounds like a didjeridoo to open the piece, the song has a very dark feel to it. Where an opening theme for a movie would usually be dominated by the brass and string section, the Dead Presidents Theme runs the gamut of musical instruments. Electric guitars play alongside strings, the brass section has been replaced by synths and various (often unrecognizable) styles of percussion and then there is the didjeridoo. In the movie, the narrative jumps through too many hoops and tries to do too much in a limited amount of space and the same could almost be said of the theme song. But unlike the movie, the theme song is able to coalesce this mish-mash of themes and ideas into a coherent and haunting piece.

The last track is Man With A Harmonica by Ennio Morricone. I won't go into too much detail simply because Morricones music doesn't need me heaping praises on it. I will say though that this piece uses two of the most disparate instruments to convey the greatest sense of dread and foreboding you might ever get the chance to hear. Perfectly used in the film it is a strong enough composition to be listened to outside the context of the movie.