Pirates and Rings

Currently in Earphones: Pirates of the Caribbean 2 soundtrack by Hans Zimmer

Righty, so I saw Pirates 2 with Anja about two weekends ago. Not too bad. I certainly had fun watching it. If one keeps in mind that it's half a movie (*cough* Matrix Reloaded *cough*, and don't go saying "Just like Two Towers" either, that's the middle of a known trilogy), it can be enjoyable. For the most part I've hear a lot of "meh"-type reviews and opinions. I have only two gripes...

1. Naomi Harris and her thick, thick, Jamaican accent. Interesting character, well portrayed, but did anyone else have trouble trying to decipher her lines? I think I got every one in three.

2. Davy Jones: if only they did more with his character. So he took out his heart for love of a woman? Fantastic! Tell me more....no really, tell me..........you mean I have to wait for the final movie to hear anything more? Gah! You were sympathetic to Barbossa in the first movie because you understood his plight: we love bad guys because they are so multifaceted. The script writers and director certainly were trying: if you see the movie again, watch Bill Nighy's eyes as Jack tells him of Will's situation ("He's trying to get back to his fiancee..." etc. or whatever Jack said). Through all that CG, tell me you can't see the humanity there! The problem was that it was so underplayed as to get lost amid the action and the struggle for the heart; "Awww, that's too ba--OMG, KRAKEN!!!!"

It seems to me that we fear Davy Jones because he controls the beastie. My sister admitted to me that she nearly burst out laughing every time she saw Jones on screen, because he just didn't have the ominous presence other villains have, and he looks kinda comical. I mean, c'mon! He's got an octopus for a face! That doesn't mean *I* thought he looked comical, but I can see the point. In my view, how cool is the first time Jones is on screen? With the Pipe? Admit it, you didn't expect that little touch.

On a small sidenote, it appears that the old-guard Soundtrack collectors are up in arms over the Zimmer/Media Ventures interpretations of swashbuckler music. (Note, this is intended for hardcore audiophiles, skip the links if you A. like the music for the Pirates movies so far, or B. don't want to read through musical drivel).

Secondly, I went to see and listen to the Lord of the Rings Symphony as the tour passed through SF. Davies Hall was packed to the gills with not only Symphony buffs, but LotR geeks as well. It made for a nice mix as at least a 100 voice choir, girls choir, several soloists, a full symphonic orchestra and various other instruments belted out Howard Shore's musical masterpiece.

It was a six movement "best of" performance, with the first half composed entirely of the main cues from Fellowship and the second half being roughly divided in two between Towers and RotK. There was also a bit of a lightshow and a montage of John Howard and Alan Lee's concept art for the films synched to the music. It was a lot of fun, and I came away with a cool poster to boot.

I came to appreciate how much thought goes into balancing orchestral elements when mixing a soundtrack, for I noticed a number of discrepancies between the performance and the recordings as I know them. For the most part, the performance was spot on, but there were a few sections when the choir, or the brass, or the percussion (especially the percussion) drowned out almost every other element. For instance, when performing "The Ring goes South" from Fellowship, there was a cool but loud (seemingly)-taiko drum line that I'd never heard before propelling it onward. I liked it, but felt it could have been toned down to allow the main Fellowship theme a chance to shine through. Also, during "The White Tree" from RotK, there's a great racing string line through the big, heroic Gondor theme. However, the brass completely dominated in their statement of the theme, and much else was lost.

Though there were other instances of the like, what comes to my mind now was having a classically trained choir alone perform the vocal parts. During "Khazad-Dum" when the recording people and Shore struck upon the wonderful idea of recruiting big, beefy football players for the guttural chanting, only having a bunch of reedy, starched choir men try to attempt it was kinda painful. For one, they weren't miked, so the had to belt out what they could at the top of their lungs to be heard. Secondly, what they could belt out was more like a shout than a grunt, which came close, but in the end was unsatisfying.

In the same vein, they had the choir people do some of the smaller solos. While the "Lament for Gandalf" worked well enough, hearing Viggo's little ditty in "The Return of the King" done as an operatic bass was a little strange. The performance in general suffered from the "lets race through all the big, cool themes because we're on a time constraint," and as a result, I don't think they had the presence they should have had. All in all, not bad, but having the recordings so firmly ingrained in my mind made me a little biased to alternate interpretations.

So, while not the perfect marriage of soundtrack and symphonic performance, it was still a lot of fun. Plenty of standing ovation to be had at the end, and quite worth it.

And that's about it for me.

Enough. More Later,
- James