MOVIE MUSIC UK

THROWBACK THIRTY

Original Review by Jonathan Broxton

As a classic of American literature, there have been multiple big screen adaptations of the 1868 novel Little Women by Louisa May Alcott over the years. The story follows the March sisters – headstrong and mercurial Jo, willful and artistic Amy, maternal and meek Meg, creative but sickly Beth – as they come of age in post-civil war Massachusetts. The narrative deals with numerous issues of the day, including the effects of ‘genteel poverty,’ the fallout of the war, sibling rivalries, the entrenched class system, and of course romance and love, the latter of which usually revolves around Laurie, the handsome grandson of the March’s wealthy neighbor. My favorite movie adaptation is the version from 1949 directed by Mervyn LeRoy starring June Allyson and Elizabeth Taylor, but this version from 1994 runs it a close second; it was directed by Gillian Armstrong from a screenplay by Robin Swicord, and stars Winona Ryder, Trini Alvarado, Samantha Mathis, Kirsten Dunst, and Claire Danes as the sisters, with Gabriel Byrne, Eric Stoltz, and a young Christian Bale as their various suitors, and Susan Sarandon as their beloved Marmee.

The score for Little Women was by composer Thomas Newman, and was his first collaboration with director Armstrong, with whom he would later work on titles like Oscar and Lucinda. The score was one of several that ushered in what many people consider to be his ‘golden romantic orchestral period’ (the others being things like Fried Green Tomatoes in 1991, Scent of a Woman in 1992, and of course The Shawshank Redemption from earlier in 1994), and many still consider it to be one of his career standout works – myself included. The film was nominated for three Academy Awards, including one for Newman, the first of his career, although he was also nominated for The Shawshank Redemption and likely split his own vote, which resulted in Hans Zimmer’s The Lion King taking home the trophy.

Considering that they are such a familiar part of his overall sound to contemporary ears, it’s easy to forget that in 1994 Thomas Newman was not so much known for his lovely romantic orchestral gestures as he was for his quirky synth and percussion scores, and so for many Little Women was a real departure from his expected sound. It would be easy to say that Newman was beginning to lean into his father Alfred’s more lush and thematic attitude, but in actual fact Little Women (and some of those aforementioned scores that preceded it) represent Newman evolving into his own composer with his own identifiable style and his own particular way of phrasing and combining certain instruments and textures. Despite it being a very strongly identifiable American story, Newman doesn’t really lean into the authentic music of the period, instead bringing a more timeless and universally emotional sound to the story that transcends any particular temporal specificity.

The score was recorded in England with the London Symphony Orchestra, and features large and expansive performances of the full ensemble, with special emphasis on strings, oboes, and piano, with notably prominent use of glockenspiels, marimbas, chimes, and other light items in the percussion section to enhance the film’s wintry Christmas setting. The cornerstone of the score is the main theme, performed notably in the main title cue “Orchard House,” which over time has become to be regarded as a quintessential piece of Thomas Newman loveliness.

The main theme actually contains three distinct parts; the first minute or so is a striking piece of pastoral Americana for tender oboes and elegant strings, purposeful and perhaps a little noble, speaking to the fact that the March family was formerly one of wealth and distinction, now fallen on harder times. This is followed by a vigorous interlude for light fanfare-style brass figures, before it switches back to the main theme at roughly the 1:30 mark, this time with the melody carried gloriously by the full orchestra. The music is so warm, so appealing, so engaging, a perfect musical representation of Alcott’s literary themes: wholesome family life, sisterly love, blossoming romance, and resilience in the face of adversity.

The sharp and bright brass writing returns at the 1:50 mark, almost regal in its manner, and the harmonies and counterpoints that pass through the entire section are just superb. The sequence ends with the third idea, a series of tender solo woodwind passages backed by light metallic textures that are perhaps a little more downbeat and introspective, but are still wholly lovely, and are perfectly redolent of Newman’s style at the time: there are echoes of his writing for aforementioned scores like Fried Green Tomatoes and Scent of a Woman, as well as more obscure title like Whispers in the Dark and The War.

The different parts of the main theme recur a few times during the body of the score proper, notably with an imposing and florid brassy grandeur in “New York” to underline Jo’s excitement as she moves to the city to follow her dreams of becoming a writer. Later the theme returns with a quieter and more contemplative sound in the gorgeous “Harvest Time,” with a sense of quiet reflection in “Letter from Jo,” with tenderness in “Little Women,” and then as a moving and solemn version for solo piano in “Valley of the Shadow” in recognition of lovely Beth’s sad death from scarlet fever. The light choral effect that Newman gives this latter cue enhances the emotional content even further. However, the main theme is not quite as prominent as one might expect, and instead Newman presents a series of delightful standalone vignettes that capture the various experiences of the four sisters as they grow up and begin to explore life and the world.

Newman doesn’t go so far as to assign a specific musical idea to each sister, but there are a couple of recognizable textures and thematic developments that appear, notably a spirited and exceptionally lovely waltz theme in “Spring,” “Amy Abroad,” and “The Laurence Boy” that seems to represent the fanciful and quite pampered life that the sister leads in Europe as a companion to her wealthy aunt.

Elsewhere, there are lyrical, magical passages for pianos and flutes backed by sparkling percussion running through “Meg’s Hair”. There’s a superb but much-too-brief passage of wintry energy in “Snowplay,” and then “A Telegram” has a sense of excitement and breathless energy to its vibrant string runs. All this is then tempered with darker and more pensive passages in cues like “Scarlet Fever,” “Ashes,” the moving and sentimental “Burdens,” the unexpectedly abstract “Limes,” and the somberly lovely “Beth’s Secret,” many of which explore the circumstances surrounding Beth’s illness, but do so with a sense of tender musicality and emotional understanding that is endlessly appealing.

The main theme returns in full force during the conclusive pair, “Lovelornity” and “Under the Umbrella (End Title),” which underscore the final scene of Gabriel Byrne’s character Professor Bhaer arriving at the March family home and decaring his love for Jo, climaxing as the two share a passionate kiss under the titular parasol, as the snow falls lightly around them, dusting their love in a romantic wintry sheen. Newman has always seemed to enjoy arranging his themes at their most lush and fulsome during the transition from final scene to end credits, and Little Women is one of the best examples of that – so much so that this version of the theme became a trailer music staple throughout the rest of the 1990s and beyond.

It’s interesting to note that, when you look back at Thomas Newman’s career, 1994 was probably the turning point that saw him transition from being someone on the up-and-coming trajectory to being firmly on the film music A-List, a position he would continue to hold for the next twenty years or more. Little Women and The Shawshank Redemption were instrumental in defining and solidifying the unique orchestral style that would dominate his work for the rest of the decade, especially scores like How to Make an American Quilt, Phenomenon, Oscar and Lucinda, The Horse Whisperer, Meet Joe Black, and The Green Mile – until the gargantuan success and influence of American Beauty took him off in the slightly quirkier direction that persists to this day.

For me, though, the sound of those other scores is my Thomas Newman sweet spot, and Little Women is one of the most engaging and satisfying of his entire career. The appealing warmth of the whole score, and the gorgeous lyricism of the main theme, captivated my imagination from the first moment I heard it, and thirty years later this remains one of my all-time favorite scores by him.

Buy the Little Women soundtrack from the Movie Music UK Store

Track Listing:

• Orchard House (Main Title) (3:28)
• Meg’s Hair (0:46)
• Snowplay (0:47)
• Scarlet Fever (1:10)
• Ashes (0:43)
• Spring (0:58)
• Layette’s Welcome (written by Frank Johnson) (1:03)
• A Telegram (0:45)
• Two Couples (1:33)
• Burdens (1:58)
• New York (2:16)
• Harvest Time (1:26)
• Maria Redowa (written by Gaetano Donizetti) (1:22)
• Letter from Jo (1:17)
• Amy Abroad (1:05)
• Limes (0:35)
• Beth’s Secret (2:08)
• For the Beauty of the Earth (written by Conrad Kocher and Folliott S. Pierpoint, performed by Trini Alvarado, Kirsten Dunst, and Claire Danes) (0:25)
• Little Women (1:21)
• Learning to Forget (2:21)
• Valley of the Shadow (2:10)
• Port Royal Gallop (written by Claudio Grafulla) (0:56)
• Domestic Experiences (0:52)
• The Laurence Boy (0:38)
• Lovelornity (1:22)
• Under the Umbrella (End Title) (3:41)

Sony Classical SK-66922 (1994)

Running Time: 36 minutes 52 seconds

Music composed and conducted by Thomas Newman. Performed by the London Symphony Orchestra. Orchestrations by Thomas Pasatieri. Recorded and mixed by Shawn Murphy. Edited by Bill Bernstein. Album produced by Thomas Newman.