PRINTER FRIENDLY VIEW
(inverts site colors)

An even more eloquent and dignified offspring of the House Atreides theme is provided for Lady Jessica, conveyed when she both descends and departs from Arrakis. Both of these cues are presented in full on the album, including the lovely "The Arrival of Lady Jessica." Easily the most fluidly romantic of the themes for "Children of Dune," this idea merges the sensibilities of both Jerry Goldsmith and John Barry in their most melodramatic forms. The third major theme that Tyler presents in the score is the one of romance between Paul and Chani. Even though the bulk of its performances in the score are mostly limited to the second half of the show (especially compared to the other major themes), it represents the highlight of Tyler's effort and was likened at the time to the popular revolution caused by Lisa Gerrard with the Gladiator finale sequence. It appears during the otherwise silent montage while Chani is giving birth to Leto II and Ghanima in one location and Alia is prosecuting the execution of Atreides' enemies in another, including the Bene Gesserit witch from the previous Emperor's throne. The cue is effective because it represents the most powerful moment of the narrative without any interference from other sounds, a technique used to accentuate scenes in concepts ranging from The Godfather to The Lord of the Rings. The comparisons between this cue and Gladiator are not just limited in reason to the style of non-English vocals and lightly tingling percussive effects over a synthetically-aided, harmonic bass, but also in the rising structure of the piece that, like its predecessor, gives it an extremely inspirational and optimistic personality. A version without the vocals and featuring a stronger percussion mix in the farewell scene at the end of the series ("Farewell" on album) has even been heard adapted by mega-churches for their pop-oriented calls out to their savior with their own typically sappy and ridiculous lyrics (let's hope that Tyler is receiving royalties for this usage, for the irony inherent in these churches' use of a song written for Herbert novel is not alone enough compensation). This haunting piece of music was alone responsible for all the hype you heard about this score at its debut, and "Inama Nushif" was the same four-minute piece of music that you heard in the show's previews.

While some jaded listeners have blasted the love theme in "Inama Nushif" as either unoriginal or at least playing far too heavily on the kind of cliches that appeal to hopeless fangirls, you can't help but admire how well Tyler executes the idea. He painstakingly sifted through the Herbert novels to gain enough knowledge about the Fremen language (which Herbert created himself) to write the rhyming lyrics for that montage (a technique perhaps inspired by Howard Shore). The final theme that Tyler creates for "Children of Dune" is a hybrid of the above-mentioned love theme and a more percussive and guitar oriented one for Leto II, the true Messiah. Early in Leto's appearances, Tyler's House Atreides theme accompanies his character, but by the end of the film, as Leto has merged with the worms (doesn't this guy wear a shirt ever again?), he and Ganima are the product of the romance between Paul (of the Atreides) and Chani (of the Fremen) and the combined theme thus becomes theirs. The evolution is logical and keenly developed by Tyler throughout the work. The scenes of Leto in the desert during the final hour of the show are heavy on the percussive rhythms that relate to this theme. Leto's abandonment of safety justifies the loss of that orchestral organization and the introduction of wilder acoustic guitar rhythms, though this late music doesn't cross over onto album as effectively and becomes the product's only weakness. In the context of the series, Tyler's music follows a steady progression from the pompous and grandiose orchestral music for the Empire at the start of the narrative to a more ethnically sensitive and internalized sound as the last original remnants of House Atreides die off or leave the planet. The worms themselves don't have the same effect on the score as they did with the title theme of Toto's 1984 score, perhaps due in part to less screen time for the worms in these books. Still, Tyler's ability to establish identities for each of the major players in this score and revisit them (and in some cases adapt and mature them) is extremely satisfying, not only in the statements of outward melody but also in the specific applications of the duduk, varied percussion, solo voices, and other unique specialty sounds. An engaging performance from the orchestra is also key to giving invaluable vibrance to the massive ensemble statements early in the series. Both styles would inspire Tyler's forthcoming work for Partition and Timeline, respectively.

One creative aspect of Tyler's score that requires special notice is his tip of the hat when various scenes in "Children of Dune" discuss the topic of events that occurred in the first novel, and especially in scenes involving Paul. Here, Tyler inserts progressions in his deep bass string performances that remind strongly of Toto's title theme for Dune. While this similarity could possibly be coincidental given how common the usage of ascending minor thirds can be in such situations, it's hard to believe that Tyler (who has shown the ability to reference previous franchise themes and styles in subsequent works) didn't insert these ideas with specific referential intent in cues like "Dune Messiah" and "Sign of the Bene Gesserit." As mentioned before, Tyler's music also seems to take a few cues from other established composers; the Lady Jessica theme, especially as she arrives on Arrakis, is an interesting meld of themes from Goldsmith's Hoosiers and John Barry's Cry, the Beloved Country. The Middle-Eastern elements, centered around the duduk, are very similar to the tone often employed by the master of such music, Mychael Danna. This probably wasn't intentional on Tyler's part, but it shows the kind of influences from which he was working. On the lengthy album release, 36 of his 174 cues are presented, largely out of order but in a good sequence for listening. All pertinent cues of significant length in the film are included, spanning most of the styles and themes equally. The elegant themes for the full ensemble are presented at the front, with more of Leto's guitar and percussion music presented in the latter half. The product was an overwhelming success for Varèse Sarabande, so much so that the label's original pressing of the CD sold out within a week after the show's first airing. And there was good reason for this success; Tyler's music is among the best television scores to hit the air waves in the history of the medium, better even than Lee Holdridge's "The Mists of Avalon" a few years before (another album that kept Varèse on solid financial footing). No matter your knowledge about Frank Herbert and the Dune universe, "Children of Dune" is a diverse powerhouse that all film music fans should appreciate. It's a superb example of a case in which outstanding execution compensates for structural and textural concepts that may not be original. As the decade concludes, it remains Tyler's crowning achievement.  *****   @Amazon.com: CD or Download

Bias Check:

For Brian Tyler reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3.33 (in 31 reviews) and the average viewer rating is 3.1 (in 14,916 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.

Total Time: 77:22