“Why then, O
brawling love! O loving hate!
O any thing,
of nothing first create!
O heavy
lightness, serious vanity,
Misshapen
chaos of well-seeming forms,
Feather of
lead, bright smoke, cold fire, sick health,
Still-waking
sleep, that is not what it is! This love feel I, that feel no love in this.”
-William Shakespeare (From the book Romeo and Juliet)
If thou hast
read the sprawling text above, then thou may as well knowest that they convey
my deep feelings of affection for this tragically gorgeous work of musical art.
The 2013
movie was yet, another remake of the Shakespearean classic; Romeo and Juliet.
Polish
composer, Abel Korzeniowski was chosen to take on this project. Korzeniowski is
still, as of yet, a somewhat obscure composer having only composed for a few
projects (A Single Man, W.E., Copernicus' Star, etc.).
The album is
infused with classical Shakespearean sounding orchestra, wordless soaring female
vocals, and heartbreaking piano arpeggios heard in the cues, The Cheek of Night, Trooping With Crows, and
Juliet's Dream most notably.
The main
love theme heard in the cue, First Kiss, is a tragic piano theme with a
crescendo underscore of strings. An organic sounding violin theme comes to play
in the 6 minute cue, A Thousand Times Good Night, as the strings and a piano
bellows dramatically in the background.
Several cues
seem to pay composer Patrick Doyle laud, given he worked on several Shakespeare
films (Henry V, Hamlet, Much Ado About Nothing, etc).
The real
moving female vocals are heard in the cue, Wedding Vows. After that the real
thematic material starts in the following cue, Fortunes Fool. Frenetic
percussion supports the fast-paced strings and wordless choir creating a sense
of foreboding while the organic sounding violin is heard once again.
The darker
material is heard in the cues, The Crypt Parts 1 and 2 *spoiler alert* as the love-laden couple dies together (But we already knew that was going to happen, so it isn't much of a spoiler, right?).
The theme is
then gloriously revised, choir and all, in the final cue, Eternal Love.
In closing,
is this one of the best soundtracks alone? No, but it is one of the best I've
heard for any score accompanying a Shakespearean film. Korzeniowski did not
only do what he was supposed to do, but even better!
“Did
my heart love till now? forswear it, sight! For I ne'er saw true beauty till
this night.” -William Shakespeare (From the book Romeo and Juliet)Best Cue(s)
- First Kiss
- A Thousand Times Goodnight
- Trooping With Crows
- Wedding Vows
- Eternal Love
Rating: ****1/2
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