The Hours (Score) [SOUNDTRACK]

Philip Glass

Product Details

• Audio CD (December 10, 2002)
• Original Release Date: January 24, 2003
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Soundtrack
• Label: Nonesuch
• ASIN: B00007BH3Y
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (63 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #8,932 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

How better to score a movie that takes place in three tangentially related time periods than with music that strives for timelessness? The hallmarks of Philip Glass's minimalism serve The Hours well. The film, based on Michael Cunningham's novel, tells the stories of three women--Virginia Woolf in the early 1920s, a housewife just after World War II, and a book editor in the present--whose days relate in different ways to Woolf's novel Mrs. Dalloway. Yet rather than construct a sonic montage of these three time periods (perhaps some Ravel for Woolf, some Max Steiner for the housewife, some Enya for the editor), Hours producer Scott Rudin turned to Glass, a contemporary-classical composer who has had a substantial side career in film, most notably with Koyaanisqatsi. The familiar Glass sounds--the endlessly layered violins, the static melodies, the glacial rhythms--all lend a consistent aural foundation to a story that moves fluidly back and forth in time. The music is scored for orchestra, string quartet, and piano. Those plentiful strings lend a thick cushion, a triumph of tonal suspension, for the piano part, which Michael Riesman plays coolly, emphasizing what are often single notes separated by thoughtful silences, as well as short sets of scales cascading in slow motion. Not only will these compositional themes be familiar to fans of Glass's work, so too will several of the melodies. Some sections of the score are derived from his albums Glassworks and Solo Piano and from his opera Satyagraha--which, incidentally, involved the stories of three legendary men active in different eras. --Marc Weidenbaum

Product Description

The superb orchestral music for this powerfully affecting film is by Philip Glass, whose spellbinding 1999 score for Martin Scorcese's Kundun (also on Nonesuch) added an aura of portent and sweep that contributed significantly to the film's impact. The film stars Meryl Streep, Julianne Moore, Nicole Kidman & Ed Harris. Slipcase. 2002

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

46 of 50 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Finest Glass, January 25, 2003

By	James Hiller (Beaverton, OR) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

I must admit to not being very familiar with Philip Glass' music, although being a movie fan I'm sure that I've heard him before. Sitting through the monumental film, "The Hours", you realize that this music is a flawless marriage of screen and soundtrack, and immediately, after the film ended, I found myself in the nearest music store, soundtrack in hand.

"The Hours" weaves a complex tale of the seemingly intermingled lives of three complex women, all dealing with various internal crises at significant points of their lives. Virginia Woolf, Clarissa Vaughn, and Laura Brown lives orbit around each other, as each feels their lives are insignificant, yet their significance reigns supreme around the lives of the other, hidden, deep, penetrating.

A film of this calibar requires an equally complex, moving score, and Glass not only provides it, but inspires the movie. Each piece illuminates and frames each scene without imperfection. In the theater, you sit in awe at the methodical action on the screen as your ears hear the fluid, grand movements and it's as if Glass is reading the mind of the audience scoring the movie as you think it should be. It is impossible to imagine this movie without the music, and the music without the movie.

While it is impossible for me to select a favorite piece among all of them, for this is a soundtrack which each pieces lends autheticity to the next, I must profess a love for the second track, "Morning Passage". There is a section towards the end of that piece when I was listening to it, I literally stopped what I was doing and listened intently, and then replayed it several times before continuing, a very strange act indeed.

I highly recommend this work: the emotional depth and honesty, the sadness and enlightment it provides is truly revolutionary.

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Strong, Fragile, Revolutionary, July 11, 2004

By	Andrea Choe (Los Angeles, CA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

His music inspired the movie-literally. Michael Cunningham, the author of The Hours, was inspired by Glass in the writing of this novel and adeptly describes his influence in the leaflet of this soundtrack.

To begin with- he breaks all the rules. I bought the piano sheet music to "Dead Things" and where I naturally felt I should crescendo, he purposely demands pianississimo- very, very quiet. He purposely silences the most moving elements, as if to say "wait. just feel it first- dont take it."

I hate when people think his music is plain - if one understands music, they know that his work is composed of silk-thin layers of delicated melodies- triplets with one hand, doublets with the other. For those of you out there that dont read music, try to divide a second into 3 equal time frames and tap that beat with your left hand. Then take the same second and divide it into 2 equal time frames and tap that beat at the same time with your right hand. Intuitively, its difficult to do. This is his trademark- he forces musicians to play against their intuition.

As another example, try to tap your pinky and middle finger at the same time. Then tap your ring finger and thumb at the same time. Now alternate quickly. Try to do it for 5 minutes and when you have got that down- do it with your other hand. But use different fingers. And do that 3-2 ratio beat thing.

Confusing? I would certainly think so.

It seems as if such a product could only be made by an eccentric and unyielding mathematician- but when you listen, it has a depth of emotional delicacy that could only be compared to trying to hold onto something you truly love over the edge of the world, with a gradually thinning silver string.

I guess what Im saying is- pay the 10, 15 bucks. Its worth it.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Excellent Soundtrack from an Excellent Movie., March 15, 2003

By	The Groove (Boston, MA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

"The Hours" is a compelling drama involving the lives of three women in three cities in three decades and are somehow connected to the novel "Mrs. Dalloway." Throughout this universally acclaimed movie, we are guided through a myriad of themes including depression, suicide, child abandonment, AIDS, broken relationships, and physical illness. Hardly a feel good movie of the Disney variety, but it's a wonderful adaptation of the Michael Cunningham book that excels on the strength of its award-calibre performances. Now, I don't profess to be a guru of classical music, nor do I pretend to be terribly familiar with the work of Philip Glass. But I do know an excellent score when I hear one, and "The Hours" is such a score. The music is as much a character as the other cast members, and it adds emotional impact and depth to the film's more powerful scenes. "Morning Passages" is a beautifully composed piano number, while "For Your Own Benefit" and "The Poet Acts" are also strikingly good. You don't necessarily need to see "The Hours" to appreciate this CD (though it would certainly help), but this is one of the most elegant pieces of instrumental music I've heard in a while. It won an Academy Award nomination for Best Score, and it's very easy to see why.