{"id":3961,"date":"2011-12-16T15:53:31","date_gmt":"2011-12-16T20:53:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=3961"},"modified":"2011-12-16T15:53:31","modified_gmt":"2011-12-16T20:53:31","slug":"cd-artist-the-2011","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=3961","title":{"rendered":"CD: Artist, The (2011)"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Return to<\/strong>:\u00a0Home <\/a>\/\u00a0Soundtrack \u00a0Reviews<\/a> \/ <\/em>A<\/a><\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/a>Rating: Excellent<\/p>\n

Label: Sony Classical\/ Released: November 21, 2011<\/p>\n

Tracks & Album Length: 24 tracks \/ (77:55)<\/p>\n

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Special Notes: 12-page colour booklet with a Q&A with composer Ludovic Bource in English and French.<\/p>\n

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Composer: Ludovic Bource<\/p>\n

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Review:<\/p>\n

After scoring a series of short films, composer Ludovic Bource\u2019s feature film debut was launched with two of Michel Hazanavicius\u2019 OSS 117 films, and the pair\u2019s third collaboration, The Artist<\/strong>, is filled with a heavy mix of nostalgia for classic film composition and the fast-moving tempo of silent movies.<\/p>\n

One can easily find unsubtle references to the styles of Bernard Herrmann (the brooding, eerie chords from Citizen Kane<\/strong>\u2019s opening titles are quoted in \u201cComme un rosee de larmes\u201d), and it\u2019s not hard to hear the influence of Danny Elfman either (as in the rambunctious \u201c1927 A Russian Affair,\u201d which brims with fast-ascending figures). One can also argue the opening bars of :The Artist Overture\u201d pay quick homage to Franz Waxman\u2019s Sunset Boulevard<\/strong>, but Bource\u2019s score is a genuinely fine evocation of the energy and romanticism silent movie fans believed oozed during glamorous era of the late twenties, just as sound was starting to make inroads in filmmaking and film exhibition.<\/p>\n

As fanciful as a Charlie Chaplin soundtrack, Bource makes sure every cue sways with lyrical beauty, be it from sweeping strings or excited, trilling brass; and lovely ornamentations from woodwinds, harp; and little performance gestures which accent comedic moments.<\/p>\n

Chiming exotica dominates the light jazz interlude in \u201cFantasie d\u2019amour,\u201d and although the cue\u2019s hippity-hoppity rhythm is a bit cloying, the score has its fair balance of action, romance, and heavy drama. Central to the score\u2019s success is the lovely arrangement of Alberto Ginastera\u2019s \u201cEstancia Op.8,\u201d with its elegantly subtle violin solo. There\u2019s also Bource\u2019s deliberate emphasis on lyricism over dissonance, although \u201cGhosts from the Past\u201d is invigorated by some brooding metallic colours as arching brass and trilling notes swirl into a ferocious little crescendo of malice, with menacing, resonant brass. (It\u2019s also one of the best-recorded cues on this album, with the microphones picking of the sharpness of the metallic vibrato from the French horns’ inner guts.)<\/p>\n

Sony\u2019s CD features a solid collection of cues, and although the editing between tracks is often super-tight (the moment any jazz source ends, we\u2019re immediately pushed back to original score within seconds), the tactic keeps the score moving fast and fluid.<\/p>\n

Whether one pegs The Artist<\/strong> as homage, a nostalgic tribute, or a rich musical fantasy of ancient glamorous Hollywood, Bource has captured the melodic richness and elegance that once dominated Hollywood films, and whose original practitioners would probably be amused by his own unabashed fondness.<\/p>\n

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\u00a9 2011 Mark R. Hasan<\/p>\n

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External References:<\/p>\n

IMDB <\/a>— Soundtrack Album<\/a> — Composer Filmography<\/a><\/p>\n

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Return to<\/strong>:\u00a0Home <\/a>\/\u00a0Soundtrack Reviews<\/a> <\/em>\/\u00a0A<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Return to:\u00a0Home \/\u00a0Soundtrack \u00a0Reviews \/ A . Rating: Excellent Label: Sony Classical\/ Released: November 21, 2011 Tracks & Album Length: 24 tracks \/ (77:55) . Special Notes: 12-page colour booklet with a Q&A with composer Ludovic Bource in English and French. . Composer: Ludovic Bource . . Review: After scoring a series of short films, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[944,945],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8nuyW-11T","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3961"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3961"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3961\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3985,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3961\/revisions\/3985"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3961"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3961"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3961"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}