MOVIE MUSIC UK

Original Review by Jonathan Broxton

Since winning the Oscar for Shakespeare In Love in 1998, the international profile of Stephen Warbeck has skyrocketed, as has the amount of his music released on CD. In 1999 alone, Warbeck has seen his music used in high profile films such as Fanny & Elvis and Mystery Men, and now he joins the ranks of the eminent composers working on TV films as part of the Hallmark Entertainment series – in this case, a retelling of the Dickens classic A Christmas Carol.

No-one needs me to tell them what A Christmas Carol is about – Ebeneezer Scrooge, the Ghosts of Christmases Past, Present and Yet To Come, Jacob Cratchit and Bob Marley. Or something like that, anyway. Patrick Stewart (Captain Picard from Star Trek: The Next Generation) dons the pyjamas and bobble hat to take on the central role of the miserable money-lender who is shown the error of his tight-fisted ways by a procession of spectres, and who prove to him that there is more to life than accumulating wealth and counting pennies. The movie, which aired on TV in the USA over the festive period, is directed by David Jones and features an all-star supporting cast including Richard E. Grant and Joel Grey.

On the whole, Warbeck’s music is rather dark and forbidding, but with a slightly better-defined thematic sense than his score for Shakespeare In Love, which tended to just drift along amiably without ever going anywhere. The problem, as has been the case with all the Warbeck scores I have heard to date, is that his orchestrations are clear and precise, but it is all far too bland for its own good. Several cues, especially the dirge-like ‘Funeral’, the dramatically dark ‘Walking Home’, the bell-tolling ‘Wandering Ghosts’ and ‘The Ghost of Christmas Future’, the gently sorrowful ‘Scrooge Alone’, and other such as ‘Touch My Robe’, ‘Little Child’, the rather frightening ‘Death’, and the conclusive ‘A Different Side to Scrooge’ are all very interesting and enjoyable to experience at the time, but as soon as they finish they just vanish from memory. If Warbeck is to live up to his status as an Oscar-winning composer (he has as many as James Horner now!) he’s going to have to come up with something that lingers longer in the minds of his listeners.

Far too many of A Christmas Carol’s cues are nothing more than wallpaper – undulating string textures and a bit of brass, occasionally livened up by some percussion – and fulfil no discernible purpose outside the film’s setting. This is a case of an album where less really would have been more. With 29 cues lasting for 44 minutes, around half a dozen of the more superfluous selections could easily have been omitted from the final release without damaging the package as a whole. At around the half hour mark, the album begins to drag – the time when most of Varese’s albums would be drawing to a close. As much as it pains me to say so, a 35 minute release of this score would have been more than enough.

Having said that, several lively period tunes (‘Fezziwig’s Party’, ‘Christmas Polka’) bolster the central core of the score, and Warbeck also cleverly manages to work in a series of beautifully orchestrated traditional carols, including ‘O Little Town of Bethlehem’, ‘Silent Night’, ‘The First Noël’ and ‘God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen’, many of which feature unusual but effective vocal performances. In addition, ‘Fran’s Tune’ is a sprightly little 29-second recorder melody which would have benefited from being expanded upon.

In my opinion, Stephen Warbeck has yet to prove that his Academy triumph for Shakespeare In Love was anything more than a fortuitous flash in the pan – a case of a composer being attached to the right project at the right time and being swept along on the tide of the film’s success. The fact that he beat off far more deserving scores by Jerry Goldsmith, Randy Newman, Marc Shaiman and Hans Zimmer makes a mockery of the whole process. A Christmas Carol is passable, as scores go, but certainly not the work one would expect of an Oscar winner.

Track Listing:

• Funeral (1:14)
• Walking Home (2:16)
• O’ Little Town of Bethlehem (1:29)
• Marley’s Ghost (1:02)
• Torture of Remorse (1:41)
• Wandering Ghosts (2:45)
• The Ghost of Christmas Past/School (2:01)
• Fran’s Tune (0:29)
• Arrival ar Fezziwig’s (0:42)
• Fezziwig’s Party (6:35)
• Scrooge Alone (1:56)
• Haunt Me No Longer (0:41)
• Touch My Robe (1:00)
• Fear for Tim (0:58)
• Silent Night (2:22)
• Scrooge Reappears (0:27)
• Fran’s Piano (0:54)
• The First Noël/The Workhouse (1:11)
• Ignorance and Want (1:14)
• The Ghost of Christmas Future (1:02)
• The Corpse (1:58)
• Little Child (1:03)
• Death (2:52)
• A Merry Christmas (1:07)
• God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen (1:01)
• Topper’s Song (0:50)
• Christmas Polka (0:53)
• A Different Side to Scrooge (1:24)
• The End (1:04)

Running Time: 44 minutes 16 seconds

Varèse Sarabande VSD-6071 (1999)

Music composed by Stephen Warbeck. Conducted by Nick Ingman. Orchestrations by Stephen Warbeck and Nick Ingman. Recorded and mixed by Chris Dibble. Edited by Andy Glen. Album produced by Stephen Warbeck.