| CLOSE WINDOW |
|
FILMTRACKS.COM
PRINTER-FRIENDLY VIEW 
Review of Glory (James Horner)
FILMTRACKS RECOMMENDS:
Buy it... if you're emotionally prepared for one of the most
effectively engaging and heartbreaking dramatic film scores of its
era.
Avoid it... if you cannot appreciate arguably James Horner's most gut-wrenching career achievement because of the composer's tendency to expose the sources of inspiration for his music.
FILMTRACKS EDITORIAL REVIEW:
Glory: (James Horner) Perhaps the best film ever
produced about the American Civil War, Ed Zwick's 1989 classic
Glory is the beautiful historical tragedy of Colonel Robert Gould
Shaw's 54th Massachusetts Voluntary Infantry unit, the first black
regiment in the Union Army. Its unlikely formation and ultimate
sacrifice gained both the soldiers and their loyal commanding officers
surprising respect from Union ranks unsure about the viability of black
regiments. The Oscar-recognized film's vivid brutality during the
opening scenes of the battle at Antietam allowed the story of the 54th
Massachusetts unit to be told without actually showing the gruesome
violence that would meet them along their journey. Despite winning three
Oscars and receiving nominations for other categories, the film was
shunned in major categories in which it had received due attention from
the Golden Globes. Since, however, Glory has continued to earn
respect for its powerful and progressive examination of historical
events, and its risky balance of acting talent has proven its perfection
ever since. Few movies convey redemptive sadness like Glory, and
much of that emotional punch is carried by composer James Horner's
music. In his long career, many of his scores could be identified as his
ultimate best. From the adventures of Willow and Zorro to
his remarkable year of 1995 and not forgetting the polarizing
Titanic, there can be no doubt that of all his scores,
Glory is the most emotionally bound to its film and had the most
profound effect in context. To imagine Zwick's visuals without Horner's
reverent military and choral themes is unfathomable, and to hear the
score apart from film evokes the same tear-jerking response. If there
were ever a score best built to make you weep when appreciating its
album, Glory competes with John Williams' Schindler's List
for that distinction. Like other scores that occasionally sweep up a new
generation of youths and introduce them to their first film score,
Glory did just that for countless people in 1989, helping earn
the work Grammy recognition.
Despite the puzzling choice by AMPAS to nominate the composer's Field of Dreams rather than Glory that year, the album was Horner's best-selling product until Braveheart and Titanic and has remained popular through the years. The more intellectual portion of the film music community has struggled to a degree with the success of Glory, as it represents a combination the composer's best and worst habits. His ability to deliver gut-wrenching melody while adapting various hymns and other elements of Civil War music presents Horner at his best. On the other hand, the score is highly derivative of prior works in parts, from his continued melodic reliance upon Russian composer Sergei Prokofiev to the hints of Carl Orff's "Carmina Burana" in "Charging Fort Wagner" and, most prominently for soundtrack enthusiasts, Ennio Morricone's secondary theme from The Mission in his motif for the 54th Regiment and especially prominent in "Preparations for Battle." The composer's repackaging of these inspirations remains his prevailing touch, however, and Glory succeeds brilliantly despite these references for several reasons. First and foremost is the composer's significant loyalty to his trio of themes for the entire length of the score. His main theme conveys military honor generally and offers the score's most overwhelmingly melancholic passages. This identity anchors the first two minutes of the "Closing Credits" after accumulating a wealth of good will throughout the score. The theme dominates "A Call to Arms" in the opening battle scene in the frayed and dissonant form it will eventually return to at the end, but the idea's greatest impact comes in the muted optimism it generates during the contemplative early portions of the 54th Regiment's forming. The element of hope in this theme manifests itself in the rising structure at its outset while its secondary phrases sway elegantly across a wide range, allowing Horner to maximize the dramatic variations on the chord scheme across the countless performances. The composer often meanders in the bassline during this theme with his bass strings, sometimes shifting a single note below key but always resolving back to the most impactful harmony possible at pivotal moments in the statement. Horner's method of creating a sense of anticipation in his bass presence throughout Glory also applies to his secondary theme for the 54th Regiment itself. This identity is arguably even more gut-wrenching in its applications than the main theme, and much of that power owes to Horner's withholding of the bass portions of each chord until a moment after each shift in the treble. Debuting on oboe late in "Jefferson & Liberty," immediately signaling connections to The Mission, this theme continues on that instrument in "The Decision" until a monumental rendition with delayed thumping below on piano announces the officers' relief that the regiment has decided to stay together. Horner passes this idea between all sections of the ensemble with quiet skill in "Lonely Christmas," extending the idea to the officers' personal struggles as well. After providing an outsized presence in the closing battle sequence (the moment at 3:49 into "Preparations for Battle" with timpani below remains as powerful in the film as ever), the idea occupies the third minute of "Closing Credits." It takes until "Brave Words and Deeds" for this theme to reveal itself as the inspiration for a supporting phrase in the bassline for the main identity, Horner sometimes spreading that primary theme's phrasing to allow for a variation on the 54th Regiment's theme to occupy the lower region. A third motif serving as a "call to arms" for solo trumpet is the distant cry of the Civil War itself, opening the film and "Forming the Regiment." The overlapping of this motif and the 54th's theme in "Our Time" is a rare and poignant moment of counterpoint. The bookending motif closes out the film in "An Epitaph to War" and the credits suite in "Closing Credits" with appropriate stoicism from choir and snare. Horner applies a handful of traditional tunes to his score as well, and the "Jefferson & Liberty" and "Old 1812" tunes both play prominent roles. These piccolo and snare-led marching themes hail the regiment as it marches to respectability, and Horner twice allows his own themes to overtake those source-like placements while retaining the underlying snare rhythms; these are magnificent moments in the score, with "Jefferson & Liberty" remaining a bit restrained in its enthusiasm but the more robust "The Year of Jubilee" particularly outstanding with the addition of choir against the gorgeous visuals in context. Horner's approach to Glory succeeds well beyond simply the thematic core. A second crucial element to the work's success is Horner's employment of the Boys Choir of Harlem to accent the use of a full adult chorus throughout the score. No dramatic cue exists without a passage or accompaniment for the voices, and it is the soothing nature of these vocals that brings an almost religious element to the score. Their performance at the outset of the "Closing Credits" is legendary and was heard in commercials and live events for years following the film's release. The intensity of their contributions increases as the work progresses, its posture by "An Epitaph to War" particularly intense. Another primary aspect of distinction in the score is Horner's obvious use of the snare drum for both authenticity and movement. Rarely has the snare been featured in so many different ways in one score; its precise mixing and subtle changes in tapping emphasis throughout the work place it at differing depths in the ensemble depending on its role in the film. This presence relates to Horner's ability to seamlessly integrate the source material into his score. Any regiment in the Civil War would have had drums, trumpets, and piccolos, among other instruments, and they are shown throughout the film as a regular part of the 54th Regiment's movements. These elements don't always need to transition directly into the original score passages to denote the same meaning; Horner will often shift the piccolo over to the oboe, the trumpet over to French horn, and the snare over to timpani for his own material, and those transitions are seamless. Together, these instruments and themes converge to form a fantastic narrative. As to be expected with any classic score, individual cues along this journey stand out. The early sequences in the score are often soulful and cautious, treating the aftermath of Antietam and the early days of the regiment with solitary contemplation. As the regiment comes together and signs of progress are made with the troops' training, the group is validated by a return to the snare-ripping opening cue that we hear as the white troops prepare for their encounters at Antietam. The score's two notably disturbing cues come with "The Whipping" and "Burning the Town of Darien," the latter of which features some the same tragic layering of strings used concurrently in the more disturbing performances of the Americana theme in John Williams' Born on the Fourth of July. As mentioned before, the march in "The Year of Jubilee" is the most triumphant cue in Glory; as we see the 54th Regiment marching in front of columned, Southern mansions, the snare and piccolo lead the entire ensemble into energized performances of the main and regiment themes. The "Preparations for Battle" cue will yank every one of your emotional chains as the unit prepares for certain death and Horner lays on every drop of drama potion onto the mix. That cue in particular is positioned in the film to be accentuated by the ceremonial firing of cannons as a (pseudo) tribute to the unit. The "Charging Fort Wagner" cue is most often denigrated by critics of Horner as pulling several references from Orff and others, and there is some merit to these complaints. The resulting merging of styles is still frightfully effective, however. In this cue, Horner's use of the chimes is of interest, whether sliding in octaves or tolling like bells. The composer also fully expands a rolling motif explored in his unused "The Battle of Grimball's Landing" cue; his timpani-aided rendition of this idea at 1:53 into "Charging Fort Wagner" remains a highlight of the score. After the regiment is annihilated, a solitary chorus and trumpet say farewell to the film's heroes in "An Epitaph to War" as we see the white commanders rolled into mass graves alongside their black soldiers. The "Closing Credits" is famous for the spectacular, one-minute performance of the choir at the outset in a format of electronic flourish that the composer would later apply to Apollo 13 as well. The deep male voices here, aided by a resounding synthetic bassline and tolling chimes in the treble regions, are nothing less than a magnificent finish to the film. (It should be noted that the film mix of this sequence enhances the snare and drops trumpet counterpoint, making the album version the superior choice by far.) The score fades away the same as it began, with noble snare tapping, just as the children's choir had been used as the bookends of Willow the previous year. In sum, Glory as a film has an overwhelming effect on your senses, and its music is key to that success. Even in its reflective cues, Horner's melodicism and grace prevail, the quiet interplay between strings and woodwinds in "Forming the Regiment" maintaining gravity without the need for much volume, subtly previewing the Charleston battle motifs, and an extended note at 2:40 for winds alone providing hints of the duality that smartly persists all over this score. The original 1989 album for Glory contains all the score's major cues, some of which re-arrangements of the film versions or, in some cases, alternate mixes of various recordings from the sessions. Unfortunately, the sound quality of this album was nowhere near as vibrant as in the film itself (Glory won an Oscar for "Best Sound," ironically, while being dominated in its mix by the score); the solo instruments like the piccolo and snare were not as prominently featured on that album presentation. A partial solution to that problem arose when the film was provided with an isolated score track on DVD. Some cues, like "The Year of Jubilee," were vastly improved on that isolated track while other cues, such as the awkward choral editing in "Charging Fort Wagner," were slightly muffled. On the whole, however, the bootlegs that resulted widely from the isolated score track did feature superior sound, and listeners interested in a handful of key cues, such as the Darien burning cue and the end titles, were likely impressed by the improvement. The choral interlude in "The Shaw Party" remained a bizarre diversion, and much of the newly revealed material on those bootlegs was actually the multitude of source music used in the film, which consisted mostly of drum rhythms. The most notable additions were "Jefferson & Liberty " and "The Decision" at the time. These bootlegs typically featured the original album edits of all the differing cues as well. In 2021, La-La Land Records offered an expanded though not complete presentation of Glory that officially provides the work in this significantly improved sound quality. Handling the source and original material well, this limited 2-CD set presents the film versions of the score's cues and a handful of the source recordings on the first CD, including some fascinating rejected cues. The second CD offers a remastering of the original album presentation, which is important for the superior version of the "Closing Credits," and five alternate cues. These alternates are not particularly revelatory, but the variations of "Worth a Life" are of interest. The alternate take on "Charging Fort Wagner" is decidedly worse than the final version and is actually somewhat obnoxious. The rejected cues from the middle of the film presentation of the score, though, including "The Battle of Grimball's Landing" and the Apollo 13-like "Our Time," are vital. The widespread bootlegs may have spoiled the 2021 set for fans, but it is a superb product worth a spot in any film music collection. No matter which album you ultimately enjoy more, Glory will always stand among Horner's top career works, and it prevails to this day as one of the most effectively engaging and heartbreaking scores of its era. *****
TRACK LISTINGS:
1989 Virgin Album:
Total Time: 43:21
1998 Bootleg Albums: Total Time: 78:06
* Previously unreleased ** Contains previously unreleased material These listings varied between the various bootlegs in circulation. The list provided here is for the second generation of bootlegs that contain the complete score with all source cues. 2021 La-La Land Album: Total Time: 112:37
* Composed by Franz Schubert
NOTES & QUOTES:
The insert of the 1989 Virgin album contains no extra information about the
score or film. The 1998 bootlegs offered no consistent packaging. The insert of the
2021 La-La Land album contains extensive notation about the score and film.
Copyright ©
1997-2024, Filmtracks Publications. All rights reserved.
The reviews and other textual content contained on the filmtracks.com site may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of Christian Clemmensen at Filmtracks Publications. All artwork and sound clips from Glory are Copyright © 1989, 1998, 2016, Virgin Records America, Bootlegs, La-La Land Records and cannot be redistributed without the label's expressed written consent. Page created 8/29/97 and last updated 1/10/22. |
