MOVIE MUSIC UK

Original Review by Jonathan Broxton

Dragonkeeper is a Spanish-Chinese-American animated fantasy adventure film directed by Salvador Simó and Li Jianping, adapted from the popular novel by Australian author Carole Wilkinson. The film is set in ancient China and follows Ping, a slave girl for the evil master Lan, who saves the life of an aging dragon named Danzi and escapes from Lan’s palace. Pursued by a ruthless dragon hunter named Diao, Ping and Danzi make an epic journey across China carrying a mysterious stone that must be protected as it is vital to the dragon’s legacy. The film’s English-language voice cast includes Bill Nighy, Bill Bailey, Anthony Howell, and young Mayalinee Griffiths as Ping.

The score for Dragonkeeper is by Spanish-American composer Arturo Cardelús, who previously worked with director Simó on Buñuel in the Labyrinth of the Turtles in 2018. Clearly Simó brings out the best in Cardelús; Buñuel in the Labyrinth of the Turtles was one of the best animated scores of its year, and Dragonkeeper is likely to make many people’s lists at the end of this one. It’s a score that hits directly in my musical sweet spot – I feel like I have typed this sentence dozens of times before, but one of my favorite sub-genres in film music is when large, thematic, western orchestras are combined with textures and solo instruments from East Asia, and Dragonkeeper is exactly that. The score was recorded in Hungary with the Budapest Scoring Orchestra and features solos by Mátyás Ölveti, István Balász, Suuvi Bacelar, and Javier Romero on cello, Jiale Ji on the yangqin Chinese hammered dulcimer, Karen Han on erhu, and Veronika Vitazkova playing a qudi flute, while Cardelús himself performs many of the score’s piano solos.

The score is built around two main themes – one for the slave girl Ping, and one for the dragon Danzi – and once these ideas have been established Cardelús takes them on an epic journey through different emotions and settings, ranging from sorrow and tragedy to light comedy, and sweeping heroism, while also incorporating them into the several large-scale action sequences that dominate the score’s final third. Ping’s Theme is elegant, gently romantic, but just a little bit poignant, a reflection of the life of a sad little girl who yearns for friendship, and longs to be free. Danzi’s Theme, on the other hand, is noble and optimistic, but also with a sense of underpinning tragedy, which speaks to the duality of his character – while once he was powerful and fearsome, he is now older and more frail, and is looking to ensure the survival of his species with the help of his young friend.

These two themes dominate the score. There are especially notable performances of Ping’s Theme in several cues, including “Her Name Is Ping” where it is often carried by a gorgeous erhu, “A New Day” which focuses on the intimate textures of the qudi, the gentle pianos of “My Name Is Ping,” the bright and optimistic “I Will Fight For You,” and the more frantic and spiky “Arrest Her” which features some superb writing for low, growling brass. Meanwhile, Danzi’s Theme forms the core of cues like the pretty and elegant “The Wind Will Carry Us,” the rousing “Danzi Fights Back,” the wistful qudi-led “The Long Road,” and dramatically imposing “Hello My Friend”.

I also like the slightly sinister music for “Master Diao,” as well as the unnerving slithery cello textures that appear in “Dragon’s Dungeon,” “A Left-Handed Girl,” and “Get that Girl,” and which appears to be a secondary theme related to the dragon hunter who pursues the heroes across the land. Later, the music for Diao adopts an imposing and militaristic tone in “Diao Arrives” which is very engaging and satisfying; I love a good villain march, and this is a good one.

One observation I made, and which I think is correct, is how Ping’s Theme and Danzi’s Theme almost appear to be mirror images of each other, using similar chord progressions, but where Ping’s Theme goes up the scale, Danzi’s Theme goes down it. It’s an interesting musical illustration of the pair’s growing co-dependent relationship, and another indicator of how intelligently Cardelús has structured his score.

“Danzi Is Transported” is the first of the score’s action cues, an insistent and agitated piece full of scampering piano runs and tremolo strings, with statements of both main themes embedded within it. “The Bridge” is thrilling and intense, with a heavier emphasis on percussion within the orchestra, while “Dragon Attack!” is boisterous and adventurous, with a satisfying sweep to its orchestrations, and an inherent sense of fun that runs through the entire piece. The piece de resistance, however, is the terrific “The Great Battle,” which places both main themes into a dramatic, exhilarating action setting full of darting string runs, heavy and throaty clusters of brass, and interesting percussion patterns. There’s a superb moment of dashing heroism that emerges around the 2:40 mark, and it all builds up to a powerful statement of Ping’s Theme in the finale.

“I Am a Dragonkeeper” is deeply emotional, a duet for cello and piano that dances around the chords of both main themes, before becoming a florid and effervescent full statement of Ping’s Theme during its second half, filled with optimism and hope. This leads into the conclusive “A New World (End Credits),” which sees Cardelús augmenting the orchestra with a series of gorgeous piano textures, while the cello, the yangqin, and the qudi dance around it in lush, lovely fashion.

Dragonkeeper is an excellent score, melodic and emotional, intelligent and engaging. There is so much depth and sophistication on display here, and I just hope that it finds the audience that Arturo Cardelús’s music demands. There have been so many great scores for animated films from non-traditional markets in the last few years – I’m thinking of things like Bear McCreary’s Animal Crackers, Anne-Kathrin Dern’s Fearless, Philip Klein’s Wish Dragon, Michelino Bisceglia’s Charlotte, and Łukasz Rostkowski’s The Peasant from last year, not to mention all the great anime stuff from Japan – and Dragonkeeper is the latest to join that esteemed list. This comes highly recommended, especially for anyone who enjoys rich fantasy orchestral scores enlivened by textures from the east.

Buy the Dragonkeeper soundtrack from the Movie Music UK Store

Track Listing:

• Her Name Is Ping (1:16)
• Master Diao (1:05)
• In Ancient Times (1:08)
• My Son, It’s Too Late (1:24)
• A New Day (2:23)
• Dragon’s Dungeon (1:44)
• My Name Is Ping (1:45)
• The Wind Will Carry Us (1:41)
• A Dragon’s Death (1:19)
• A Left-Handed Girl? (1:44)
• Danzi Is Transported (1:46)
• I Will Fight For You (1:09)
• Get That Girl! (1:41)
• Danzi Fights Back (2:21)
• The Bridge (2:31)
• The Long Road (1:39)
• Diao Arrives (1:27)
• Did You Pay Attention? (1:02)
• Dragon Attack! (2:17)
• Arrest Her! (1:35)
• I’m Not a Servant (1:02)
• Hello, My Friend (2:00)
• The Great Battle (6:08)
• Kai (1:23)
• I Am a Dragonkeeper (3:16)
• A New World (End Credits) (2:47)
• Danzi’s Theme (Trio Version) (2:41)
• Ping’s Theme (Trio Version) (2:26)

Atresmúsica (2024)

Running Time: 54 minutes 28 seconds

Music composed by Arturo Cardelús. Conducted by Peter Illenyi. Performed by The Budapest Scoring Orchestra. Orchestrations by Kevin Kaska. Featured musical soloists Arturo Cardelús, Mátyás Ölveti, István Balász, Suuvi Bacelar, Javier Romero, Jiale Ji, Karen Han and Veronika Vitazkova. Recorded and mixed by Viktor Szábo, Mert Ozcan and Jose Luis Crespo. Edited by XXX. Album produced by Arturo Cardelús.