Filmtracks Traffic Rank: #671
Written 8/16/03, Revised 9/20/08
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Buy it... if you desire one of Thomas Newman's most readily
accessible orchestral works, consistent in its pastoral definition of
Americana and its use of metallic percussion to create a convincing
wintertime environment.
Avoid it... if you appreciate Newman's career instead for his
exotic choices of rhythm and instrumentation, both of which are largely
absent from this score.
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| Newman |
Little Women: (Thomas Newman) Of the several
adaptations of Louisa May Alcott's 1868 novel to the screen, the 1994
version by Gillian Armstrong is likely the strongest, nominated for
three Academy Awards and gaining respect for its well-rounded cast
performance. The story is familiar to the period romances and dramas of
the British from roughly the same era, but set here in New England
during America's Civil War. A mother is left raising four daughters when
her husband goes to war, and those daughters are each wildly varied in
their personalities, making the film into a character study of not only
the outsiders who seek their affections but also the family's own
diversity. Other than a few twists of sadness, Little Women is
generally a soft and child-safe picture, and despite its strong
cinematography and other technical elements, it gained little traction
with wider audiences (in other words: groaning men). The film
represented half of composer Thomas Newman's strong tandem of
Oscar-nominated scores from 1994, catapulting him into the mainstream
after a series of lesser known projects. His music for both Little
Women and The Shawshank Redemption merge Newman's talents of
unique instrumentation and rhythms with his grand orchestral
sensibilities, and it's the style of the latter sound that largely
defined the composer's works of the mid-1990's. As Newman transformed
his career into one of more minimal experimentation and genre crossover
efforts, many of his collectors look back fondly at 1994 as perhaps the
year of the composer's greatest achievements. Most such fans agree that
The Shawshank Redemption is the superior score when directly
comparing the two, though Little Women also has its share of
attractive attributes. Among the highlights of this score are the
melodic passages robustly performed by the London Symphony Orchestra,
the occasionally jaunty rhythms that propel the exuberant atmosphere of
the film, and the light tones of musicians with mallets, who produce a
distinctly spine-tingling musical representation of the seasons of
autumn and winter. The score maintains a pleasant tone from start to
finish, exuding just enough classicism to suffice as credible without
becoming dense. In fact, the score offers some of the most lyrical
material to ever come from the composer.
The score opens and closes with Newman's stately title
theme, performed deliberately on strings with a sense of history and
majesty. It's trademark pastoral Americana for Newman, who then launches
into a spirited interlude for brass figures that plays a role in the
maintaining enthusiasm in several later scenes. At roughly the 1:30 mark
into "Orchard House (Main Title)," Newman transfers the primary theme to
the full ensemble, a highlight of both the score and Newman's career. It
is in these sequences that the performance by the London players is
especially important, for the brass section is so crisp that it conveys
an almost royal atmosphere. Solo woodwinds finish off the theme with a
more down-to-earth performance. One of the score's more disappointing
aspects is the lack of the weighty string performances of this theme
during the actual running of the film. In the subsequent cues, however,
Newman begins to unleash the xylophone and chime performances that
define the innocence of the girls and their environment. These moments
are truly Newman at his best, when the composer uses a slightly unusual
sound to solicit a specific emotional response from the listener. After
several cues of a non-offensive, quiet nature, Newman eventually returns
to the full ensemble for "New York," which offers a sense of
magnificence that is another highlight of the entire work. The following
"Harvest Time" explores the interlude to the title theme on strings with
attractive elegance. Several secondary motifs exist throughout
Little
Women, never so obvious as to represent each girl or personality
with a devoted theme, but keeping the score fresh. The music's darkest
moments, punctuated by "Valley of the Shadow" and its slight choral
effect, are never too solemn, using their inherent beauty to extend the
listenability to these sections. The "Lovelornity" cue allows Newman one
last romantic burst of melody before "Under the Umbrella (End Title)"
largely reprises the opening cue (but perhaps at a slightly slower
pace). The score on album is not without its detriments, however. First,
it's not unusual for Newman's scores to feature a plethora of cues of
short length, and the listening experience of
Little Women
suffers a bit from this format. Also, the four period source pieces
mixed throughout the album are distractions. A DVD release of the film
offers an isolated score track in Dolby Digital 5.1 sound for serious
fans. Overall,
Little Women remains one of Newman's most readily
accessible works.
**** @Amazon.com: CD or
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Bias Check:
For Thomas Newman reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3.14
(in 37 reviews) and the average viewer rating is 3.18
(in 60,837 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.
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