One of the hardest chores for composers planning a CD release of a season’s worth music is how to ensure it represents the essence of a show, contains all the themes beloved by fans, and functions as a dramatically satisfying album. Composers Wendy Melvoin and Lisa Coleman have opted to craft nine thematic suites for specific characters, as well as include music for the season finale where all of the Heroes characters duke it out in a big city plaza.

Peter Petrelli, he who flies and can absorb other people’s powers without having to slice open their skulls, is given a suite (“Peter”) that traces his arc from the misunderstood brother of an arrogant politician to a superhero destined to save the world from a terrible catastrophe.

There’s a nice contrast between the harsh orchestral dissonance that opens the suite, and a gentle, almost loving bass and piano pulse in the second half. Each suite flows into the next, and “Claire” starts with a delicate piano theme with little drops of processed strings, and progresses towards a more funky version with muted rock percussion. The composers also integrate South Asian harmonies and processed sitar before closing the suite with a full rock rendition and light guitar textures. In spite of her ability to heal from the most traumatic and grievous carnage, Claire Bennet is a basically teenager, and the lightness of her theme and the rock beat capture her experiences through the eyes of a youth still trying to find an identity and function in society.

The best music by far belongs to Hiro Nakamura (“Hiro”), if not for the exoticism and beautiful percussion textures, then for the vivid moods that are typical of a man delighted by his role as potential saviour as the world goes to hell. His childish emotions, the over-excitement that often gets him into trouble and sense of destiny under threat are his key traits, and Melvoin and Coleman encapsulate the lot through a great minimalist theme variation that combines wooden chimes, pinched and processed brass samples, and an undulating harmony.

Hiro’s suite also includes some brief Asian ingredients, including a thematic arc that’s starts on Asian harp and drifts to a western harp for the final bars. Some chimes ornament the theme’s midection, and the cue shows off the composer’s flair for reconfiguring a theme to suit a character’s psychological states, as well as his placement in the series’ complex narrative that frequently flips between time periods and global locales.

“HRG” is appropriately dark for Claire’s father Noah, a pretty complicated character whose career as a company man changes when daughter Claire is endangered. “HRG” provides a brooding contrast to the prior scores, as well as giving the listener some dramatic meat.

The composers have organized the suite into short thematic clouds, all of which are underpinned by subtle drones, wind sounds, and echoes. A solo string in the midsection and processed vocals that drift from tonal streams give the suite a dreamy quality, and Melvoin and Coleman also show off some the unusual instrumental combinations that emphasize emotional states and inner conflicts instead of hard action writing.

“Mohinder” may be the show’s most tragic character because he never manages to achieve the goals of his father – to connect with and save those ‘heroes’ with special abilities – and find redemption by saving the world using his non-supernatural powers. That conflict is very internal, and Melvoin and Coleman provide several glimpses by some eerie vocals, elongated tones, and a shifting/drifting design that hint at a character never at peace because he never manages to hold onto a victory. A percussive midsection with exotic textures, undulating bass, and intersecting vocals give the suite some momentum and thrust, as well as some traditional vocals and distorted electric guitar that conclude the album’s longest cue.

The pulsing rhythms for Hiro Nakamura are somewhat present in “Sylar,” and it’s a tactic that connects the characters because Hiro for Sylar is like an annoying fly that keeps buzzing around and getting in the way. Ticking sounds are tied to Sylar’s former role as a watch repairman, as well as his precision psyche that tracks down and extracts the abilities he craves from the skulls of other heroes. Twisting glass sounds and low vocal groans and hoarse breathing drift throughout the suite’s final third, which is anchored to a slow see-saw rhythm.

“Jessica / Niki / Gina” is essentially a portrait of reflecting images, and that’s best evidenced by a short theme which the composers affect using various tempo shifts when the emphasis isn’t on harsh dissonance, hard mechanical percussion, and a blend of South Asian and Native American vocal samples. There’s also organ-like chords and an ostinato in the middle, and the lack of a fully evolved theme suits this musical portrait of a disturbed woman whose physical body is overtaken by an angry Id whenever there’s a mortal threat on the horizon.

The composers show a bit of orchestral muscle in a cue from the season’s finale, “Kirby Plaza,” although heavy orchestral samples are used to set up the conflict before Melvoin and Coleman go against the grain and concentrate on intersecting tones, drones, brass samples, and bass pulse. There’s also some brief vocal samples that have been heavily processed, and the cue’s harmonic core nicely covers the scene’s theme of sacrifice and  loyalty.

“Fire and Regeneration” is probably the series’ strongest dramatic cue because while written for Claire’s realization of self-healing – saving a life from a burning train wreck – it swells with a redemptive quality. Shenkar’s vocals are at their most linear, because they literally carry the theme instead of providing short fragmentary quotes. It’s one of the reasons the theme is oft-used to close an episode (as well as the CD), because through a simple harmony it ties together the anguish and hopes of the characters.

The irony, though, is like the TV series, by closing the album with the cue, we’re also left with a cliffhanger, wondering and hoping whether more great material from the series will make its way to CD, or as a downloadable album.

Note: to read an interview with co-composer Lisa Coleman, click HERE.

© 2009 Mark R. Hasan