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Edward Scissorhands: (Danny Elfman) The times for
Tim Burton would never be better, with the immense success of
Batman proving his financial viability and a sequel on the way to
continue building upon that reputation. It would be the satirical
tragedies of
Edward Scissorhands and
The Nightmare Before
Christmas that would earn the director his most ardent fans,
however. The social commentary of
Edward Scissorhands speaks to
the heart of any outcast, offering a stark glimpse of Vincent Price's
final, suffering creation of horror thrust upon a "perfect" vision of
1950's suburbia. The fairy tale genre would serve both Burton and
collaborating composer Danny Elfman well, with the storytelling
structure of both
Edward Scissorhands and
The Nightmare Before
Christmas allowing for extremely tight parameters that help the
scores for both films tell the stories by themselves. For Elfman
specifically,
Edward Scissorhands further heightened expectations
for the young, classically untrained composer. The score remains a
powerful juggernaut in album sales charts two decades later, though its
success remains slightly bittersweet in that time would unfortunately
reveal that the successive triumphs of
Batman and
Edward
Scissorhands would not be equaled by the composer in any of those
following years. Incidentally, both would feature the orchestration work
of Steve Bartek and the conducting of Shirley Walker, though the latter
score would be recorded in Los Angeles rather than London. While
Batman appeals appropriately to the classically oriented
mainstream action collectors,
Edward Scissorhands reaches towards
fans of Elfman's very specific early styles of unconventional rhythms
and unashamed harmony. The score is somewhat of an enigma, combining
those two key elements of Elfman's early styles and packaging them into
one very serviceable score and album.
Edward Scissorhands is one
of Elfman's few scores (if not the only completely effective one) that
balances the best of both the zany quirkiness of his early scores and
the thematic enchantment of those that would follow.
The most remarkable aspect of the
Edward
Scissorhands score is its ability to tell Burton's story without the
visuals. The album takes you on the journey of this fable with masterful
precision, embodying the heart-wrenching emotions of Edward's discovery
and downfall with thematic and choral elements never restrained. In
terms of the orchestral ensemble, not much is different from Elfman's
previous scores, though a significant role is given to the celesta and
other high-ranging struck percussion. The celesta specifically offers
dual representation of both the innocence of the main character and the
wintry setting, lending a music-box style to the score that accentuates
the bedtime storytelling ambience. The piano, while an integral role of
other Elfman scores at the time, is largely displaced by the celesta,
though a few notable piano solos are registered. The harp returns from
Batman, leaving behind its grand flourishes for deliberate
plucking that, along with the strings, helps the celesta set the score's
delicate rhythms. Rowdy rhythms for brass and bass woodwinds explode in
"The Cookie Factory," serving as the score's only true direct reminder
of the sharp wackiness of
Pee Wee and
Beetlejuice. Few
brass solos have an impact on the score, though the longing trumpet
performance at the end of the title theme performance in "The End"
(among other instrumental techniques heard in that cue) would largely
foreshadow the upcoming spirit of
The Nightmare Before Christmas.
The true heart of
Edward Scissorhands, though, is provided by the
boy's chorus that brilliantly carries the imaginative elements of story
and is rarely absent for longer than a minute or two in the score. It
was not unusual for Elfman to employ a boy's chorus in his scores of the
time, but the performances by the Paulist Choristers of California for
Edward Scissorhands are incorporated with skill not heard
elsewhere in any score of the 1990's (by Elfman or otherwise). Elfman
layers the group, allowing portions to serve as counterpoint to itself
in an effort to maximize the harmonic resonance of the combined voices.
An adult choir is also worked into the score at times, though the boys'
performances clearly define the work.
Elfman uses the combination of the chorus, celesta, and
strings to explore two primary themes in
Edward Scissorhands. The
first is the obvious title theme provided in the credits. An overarching
idea for Edward's journey, this light waltz swings with elegance over
celesta and plucked strings as the chorus provides the primary wordless
statements of fantasy (bracketing a woodwind interlude that would serve
as a sub-theme later in the score). This cue would be fully reprised
with the same instrumentation in "Etiquette Lesson" and "The End," with
continuing, fragmented references in between. Despite the appeal of this
theme, however, it takes a back seat to the score's unofficial love
theme, which creates the undeniable tragedy in the score. It is this
theme that graces the score's two famous tracks, "Ice Dance" and "The
Grand Finale," and presents the chorus in its most beautiful, yearning
performances. Elfman teases you with this theme in "Storytime" and "Home
Sweet Home," and he never allows the theme to come to a natural
conclusion outside of the slowly fading departure in "The Grand Finale."
In the aforementioned early cues, as well as "Ice Dance" and "The End,"
Elfman always ends the theme (and cue) on a longing note, never
returning to its grounding key and thus drawing out the score's tragic
intent even further. The climactic choral majesty of "The Grand Finale"
is a dazzling, magical experience, and stands among the most powerful
single cues of the digital era of film music. The score's darker side,
dominating its second half, strikes the culture clash at the heart of
the film's dark edge. Elfman utilizes medium drums and lighter "la-la"
vocals to underline the pleasantly sickening nature of the somewhat
timeless 1950's suburbia setting. The world of the "Castle on the Hill,"
in opposition to the silliness of suburbia, is the menacing and
ultimately tragically frustrating core of Edward's upbringing and
seclusion. Several of the more horrifying moments of the tale, heard in
"Death!" and "The Tide Turns," recall troublesome ideas established by
Elfman in the just previous
Nightbreed. These cues are hardly
weak, but in contrast to the surrounding beauty, they merit far less
attention.
Like many of Elfman's earlier works,
Edward
Scissorhands has a few stand-out tracks of sheer wizardry or bizarre
deviation that deserve specific mention. You can always tell when Elfman
gets in a mood for ambitious fun when he pulls out the tubas for a wild
rhythm; that rhythm, along with the harshly muted brass of "The Cookie
Factory," would yield to a few playful performances by woodwinds in that
cue that would also foreshadow
The Nightmare Before Christmas.
The piano-led rhythm in "Ballet de Suburbia" allows the sax to lead a
motif that, once the percussion lets rip later in the cue, would mirror
much of the spirit of Elfman's famous theme for
The Simpsons. A
solo accordion in "Esmeralda" is a bizarre but short deviation. The most
colorful cue is "Edwardo the Barber," and for those who grow tired of
the score's overbearing choral performances of the two primary themes,
this cue is a constant pleasure. A mock-tango rhythm with castenets
underscores Edward's hairstyling talents, mutating the suburbia motif
for perhaps the score's most relaxed moment. In the middle of this cue,
however, is a hoedown style explosion for about a minute that actively
underscores Edward's most frenetic styling sequence. During this minute,
plucked strings and accordion establish an increasingly frantic pacing
over which a solo violin works wonders with its precise western-style
slurring. If the comically melodramatic conclusion to this sudden burst
of energy can't invigorate you, then you're not a true Elfman fan. The
Tom Jones song is an unfortunately downside to the album; his voice and
the style of the song may have been an attempt to mimic the 50's
atmosphere of the film, but its tinny recording sound is quite
irritating. Burton and Elfman would have been better served by having a
sensitive vocalist provide a song version of Elfman's love theme. The
balance of the mix between chorus and orchestra in
Edward
Scissorhands emphasizes the chorus far more than
Batman did,
without losing any of the orchestral elements in the process. This
masterful mixing would be lost by the time
Batman Returns would
yield a flat result. Overall, many collectors believe that Danny Elfman,
despite a productive career hereafter, has never really captured
Edward Scissorhands's essence of magic ever again. Whether he
does or not, this score will forever be noted as a grand highlight of
both his career and film music of the 1990's.
*****
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