Customer Reviews

Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World

5 star:		(37)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Usually when a film score is described as "effective" or "based on musical idioms rather than melody" you end up with a score that may work on the screen but is a disappointment as a soundtrack. When film director and composer also rely upon "source matertial" or classical excerpts the problem is generally compounded. The score for Peter Weir's "Master and Commander" is, however, something of an exception to all that. Here is a musical treatment by committee that succeeds by sailing against existing currents. The original orchestral music is by Iva Davies, Christopher Gordon and Richard Tognetti. But a good deal of "source material": Mozart, Vaughn Williams, Corelli, and Boccherini (on the soundtrack) is used especially since two of the main characters are musicians as well as sea-captain and ship's surgeon. In fact, it all works very well both as a dramatic score and as a soundtrack album. The original score does depend on idioms rather than melodies, unlike Korngold's "The Sea Hawk or even Horner's "Perfect Storm," but the composers are quite masterful in capturing the moment, whether it is dramatic, mysterious, or militant. The use of percussion is quite effective and somewhat unexpected. The musical atmosphere for "Master and Commander" is clearly tinged by sea spray and a touch of gunpowder. Amazingly, the collection provides an album that is very nice to listen to. Ably produced and packaged by Decca.

The use of classical music in the "Master" soundtrack is inspired.

Yo-Yo Ma's playing of the first of J.S Bach's Unaccompanied Cello Suites seems perfect for the scenes on the Galapagos Islands. The snippets of Mozart's Violin Concerto # 3 and Boccherini's sublime "Musica Notturna" are well chosen as the music played by the captain and the doctor.

Those eager to hear more by Baroque composer Luigi Boccherini, whose swoon-worthy piece, "Passacalle," closes the movie, will find what seems to be the original recording of it on the CD "Respighi: Fontane di Roma, Pini di Roma," by the Berlin Philharmonic, directed by Herbert Von Karajan. The last five tracks are Boccherini's "La Musica Notturna Delle Strade di Madrid" op.30 No.6, including "Passacalle." That's the danceable, contemporary-sounding number at the end of the movie, the one in which Paul Bettany and Russell Crowe pick up their instruments and strum them like guitars, and Bettany (or his counterpart in the Berlin Philharmonic)launches into a passage high on the top string.

For those who wish to hear more of Mozart's violin concertos, several great recordings are available, one by Arthur Grumiaux with the London Symphony Orchestra. Listen to the third movement for the passage used so effectively in one of the captain-doctor jam sessions.

As I sit here listening to this soundtrack, I felt I should really add my 2 cents here.

I'm not much of a soundtrack buyer, though there are exceptions. I absolutely loved a tribal song in "Thin Red Line," and bought the soundtrack based on that one song. It was a mistake though. The rest of the soundtrack was just slow & moody - effectively building the atmosphere for the movie but depressing to listen to. (In my opinion.)

All that said, I made the same decision again for this soundtrack. I loved the last movement they played in the movie & couldn't get it out of my head. Thus, I took a plunge & went for the soundtrack.

What I found was a true musical gem. It does have some of the mood building scene pieces that "Thin Red Line" and other soundtracks employ. However, interspersed with this are some old folk melodies & delightful bits of Corelli, Bach, & Boccherini (to name a few). I was delighted to learn how much I enjoyed classical pieces highlighting the violin & cello. Most of what I listen to tends to be full orchestral pieces, but I definitely want to look more into this type of music.

All the more so, I feel deeply that the balance of mood-building pieces, folk pieces & classical pieces capture the spirit of the books & the movie in unexpected ways. It swings from low, somber tones to light & hope-filled pieces to joyful dancing tunes...effectively showing the constant triumph of the sailors' spirit over their frequent danger & despair. Yes, there were many dark times, but the same instruments that create the dark atmosphere suddenly pull together in a new score, turning around an oppressive situation. I find listening to the sound-track to be very soulful but also hopeful.

My one criticism is that they often cut short the classical pieces. Perhaps this is for the flow of the entire soundtrack, but I do long for more. Overall, however, I definitely recommend this soundtrack.

The soundtrack for Master and Commander contains two distinct types of music. First there is the incidental music for the film. These pieces are heavy on the bass side of the orchestra and are often emphasized with bass drums and tympani. This music is very effective and appropriate for the scenes in the film, and I commend the composers for making a soundtrack that so seemlessly and effortlessly invokes the moods and excitement of the visuals. Unfortunately, these pieces are quite moody and slow moving - great as incidental music but not so interesting to listen to as straight orchestral music.

The second type of music is much more enjoyable to listen to. Those that have seen the film know there are several scenes in which people are playing music - for example, Aubrey and Maturin in the captain's cabin performing a cello-violin duet, or the sailors on deck playing sea shanties on tin whistles. The pieces chosen for the film range from Bach to traditional folk music, and are a welcome addition to the soundtrack. The performances are very good (including a cello solo by Yo Yo Ma), and the recording quality is excellent. Deserving special mention is the Boccherini piece (La Musica Notturna Delle Strada di Madrid), which serves as a second unofficial theme song for the movie. The piece itself is presented in its entirety, and there is a callback to the piece in the incidental music as well, which is a welcome ray of levity in an otherwise oppressive piece.

People purchasing this disc run the real risk of being disappointed - the incidental music works so well in the context of the film that you are likely to think (as I did) that the music is itself worth listening to alone. Unfortunately, I don't find this is the case, but the classical music that is included makes this a soundtrack worth having, especially for the Boccherini piece.

I really mean it as a compliment when I say that the score for "Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World" suffers a bit when you are listening to it divorced from the film. It would be the same thing as saying that Jack Aubrey is not quite the man ashore that he is when he is afloat on H.M.S. "Surprise," so fans of Patrick O'Brian's seafaring yarns of the British Navy during the Napoleonic era will understand my point. It is not surprising that in the search for authenticity, which was one of the hallmark of the Aubry-Maturin series, that director Peter Weir went in a different direction from the stirring music associated with movies where Errol Flynn was sailing the seven seas. After all, a score was needed for this film that would compliment those moments when the crew would break into song or the captain and his particular friend would retire to play a duet for violin and cello. Violinist Richard Tognetti plays the violin and taught actor Russell Crowe how to play as well. The other main contributors to the soundtrack are composers Iva Davies ("The Ghost of Time") and Christopher Gordon ("Moulin Rouge"), but Weir also selected several classical and traditional folk pieces to appear in the film as well. If you were expecting a bold brassy score for "Master and Commander" then you will be disappointed, but you would have known better if you ever read the books.

With two composers and the other two types of music thrown into the mix, this soundtrack does not offer anything close to a cohesive whole, and you preference is probably going to be for the fiddle and drum songs of the sailors on deck (e.g., the medley of "O'Sullivan's March, Cuckold Comes Out of the Amery, Mother Hen, Mary Scott, Nancy Dawson") and the duets played in the captain's quarters (e.g., Mozart's Violin Concerto No. 3 "Straussburg" K.215, 3rd Movement). The main plot of the film involves a chase between "Surprise" and a French raider, but there are also sections of dramatic tedium, for which the classical music plays nicely. The music for the battles seem almost out of place given what we have become accustomed to in the rest of the film.

What stands out in the battle sequences is Mike Fisher on his Taiko drums, who provides the driving power of the scenes, matching the action on screen below the decks as the guns are being run out and fired. The emphasis is more on rhythm than anything else, which is why what works on screen is not as interesting when listening to the CD. Of the three composers the string work by Tognetti stands out the most, even as it distances itself from what is written by Davies and Gordon. The soundtrack is pretty much divided evenly between the original and classical/traditional works, and with a total playing time of barely over a half-hour you have to be disappointed on that score as well. An appropriate reaction would be to just go back and watch the film or to track down complete recordings of the classical pieces by Mozart, Bach, Ralph Vaughn Williams, Arcangelo Corelli, and Luigi Boccherini, or even some of the traditional sailor songs.

I am usually not a fan of soundtracks which include compilations of music, but this one is the rare exception. It is a splendid mix of new compositions - which offer effective usage of percussion - along with fascinating excerpts from Mozart, Boccherini and Vaughn Williams, among others. Taken as a whole this is a very effective musical score for "Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World", underscoring the musical tastes of fellow musicians Captain Jack Aubrey (Russell Crowe) and ship surgeon Stephen Maturin (Paul Bettany). This isn't a bombastic, exhilirating score such as those for the "Star Wars" films or "Pirates of the Caribbean". Instead, the subtle nature of the compositions seem most appropriate for this intellectual action adventure film. Decca deserves highest honors for producing a splendid album.

The soundtrack for MASTER AND COMMANDER is simply splendid! Contemporary compositions made for the movie are absolutely wonderful and complement beautifully the classical offerings featured in the movie that include Mozart's Violin Concerto, No. 3: "Strassburg" K. 216, 3rd Movement, The Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis by Ralph Vaughan Williams, Corelli's Adagio from Concerto Grosso Op. 6, No. 8 in G Minor: Christmas Concerto and J. S. Bach's Prelude (From the Unaccompanied Cello Suite No. 1 in G Major, BWV 1007) performed by Yo-Yo Ma.

One might expect a movie like this to be filled with heavy music to carry war scenes characterized by cannon fire and death. Instead what you will find here is a wonderful collection of musical moods that range from the light and airy to the the solemn and serious.

THE HORSEMAN

The Soundtrack to Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World is a delightful collection of contemporary and classical melodies. Lacking the usual theme that permeates so many movie tracts, this is a rather ecclectic collection. Pieces written specifically for the movie are permeated by various percussion while the classics recall Aubrey and Maturin's string duets in the captain's great room. While many swashbucklers are punctuated by the thunderous heroic strains of a complete orchestra, M-and-C is dedciated to more thoughtful evocations of the movie's quieter moments. An interesting treat, too, is "The Battle" (tract #13 of 15) whose percussion and flute will make the listener mindful of Native American medoldies (e.g. Last of the Mohicans). Other selections take the listener, a pint of ale and good companion to the quiet corner of a colonial tavern ca. 1800. In all a reflective complement to a fine movie and another time.

I have been listening to this CD regularly since January and have yet to be bored with it. It has a wonderful variety of the powerful, serious and playful. And it gives more complete versions of the music in the film.

I bought this cd after watching the film and I'm not regretting the decision. Fantasia on a Theme was a song that inspired me to think upon listening to it once again. This is a good thing - thinking. A very powerful score. There are also a number of very beautiful classical pieces on this soundtrack and two very upbeat "seamen" songs that will make you want to break out the ole gin and rum and begin doing an Irish jig in your living room - or perhaps that's just me? ;-)