MP3: Atlas Shrugged Part 3 – Who is John Galt? (2014)
Label: Atlas Productions
Released: September, 2014
Tracks / Album Length: 15 tracks / (45:00)
Composer: Elia Cmiral
Special Notes: n/a
Review:
Elia Cmiral returns to the Atlas Shrugged franchise with another robust score, seamlessly integrating a large orchestra with fairly modest electronic elements in a classically written work that embraces expansive melody, rich harmonies, and beautiful colours from strings and a wordless chorus.
Most electronic elements seem isolated to backbeats and clattering rhythms, accentuating a hastening tempo, and adding extra percussive density to tracks like “The Strike,” but Cmiral uses a more organic group of percussion instruments in the moody “Project F,” with snare drums, deep drum hits, and a marvelous sonic wave with interweaving strings, emphasizing vibrato, and accentuating the musical drama with hard-hit piano keys.
Galt’s main theme is driven by an eddying ostinato, which Cmiral uses as the main underpinning for his striking variations, such as the string-heavy “Return to the Dark,” with cresting passages augmented with discretely applied brass. The tender variation “Desire” is performed on piano with strings in a kind of mini-concerto, and the cue is one of a few tender moments which balance the score’s more ominous sections.
Galt is very different from Cmiral’s horror films, showing the composer in a classical state of mind, and offering a striking variety of colours while staying close to the main theme’s romantic tone. The mastering is very clean – the CD edition likely contains more resonant bass tones than the digital release – and beautifully orchestrated.
Also available: a podcast interview with Elia Cmiral.
© 2014 Mark R. Hasan
Additional Links:
Editor’s Blog — Composer on IMDB — Composer Filmography — Soundtrack Album
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Category: Soundtrack Reviews
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