: (John Williams) While his continued attempts
to bring political docu-dramas of highly superior quality to the big
screen has been admired by all, Oliver Stone's marketability began to
lose steam with the studios by the time
failed to draw
audience interest. Though of extreme merit in its visuals and research,
's detailing of the life of the just-deceased president ran
too long and confused too many audience members to be as effectively
engrossing as
. Constant
shifts in time, with flashbacks within flashbacks, caused the narrative
of the film to lose viewers unfamiliar with all the specifics of Nixon's
presidency. On a technical level, however, Stone succeeding in providing
the outstanding ensemble cast performances with a sense of realism at
each time shown, and John Williams' score represents itself quite well
among these elements. The maestro was undergoing a transformation in his
career. After spending 1994 on the concert circuit and relishing the
grand success of
to introduce fans to
the darker side of his writing. Successive scores for
, and other films would be decisively gloomier and absent
the usual pomp of upbeat concert arrangements that had become customary
in the previous decades. In the case of
, the shadowy turns
were an obvious and necessary choice, for even the best moments of the
president's life story were driven by questionable intentions and
motivations. Even in the moments of victory for Nixon, the concept of
corruption and power were evident, and Williams explored his own
recollections of the era of Nixon's downfall to mould the music for the
film. The resulting alternation between dominant minor-key bombast and
electronically-driven dissonance makes the
Much like the score for
JFK, the
Nixon
product would offer two or three outstanding moments and be littered
with incongruous ideas during the rest of its duration. The common
thread connecting these ideas in
Nixon, of course, is an
uncomfortable sense of angst. When you look back at the score ten years
later, a very interesting new light is shed on its contents. There is,
without a doubt, that no score between 1983 and 1999 foreshadowed the
style of the
Star Wars prequel scores better than
Nixon,
with a significant carry-over of brass layering, percussion employment,
and even thematic progressions that would form a substantial part of the
basis for the Sith-related music in those
Star Wars prequels. The
title theme for
Nixon is a cousin of Williams' "Imperial March,"
introducing the theme with a similarly chopping rhythm, sharing the
opening three harsh trumpet notes on key, and utilizing the same minor
key structures throughout the theme's duration. This theme is given two
major performances; first, the concert piece used for the music over
Nixon's last full-length trailer opens the album presents the
theme with an electronic rhythm that yields to an ambitious string
rhythm with frantic high range brass blasts over the theme's interlude.
The second use of the theme is in the film's most triumphant cue, "Miami
Convention, 1968," and it'll be difficult to find any cue (outside the
strange similarities in James Horner's
The Legend of Zorro train
cue) that reeks more of
Star Wars action style than these three
minutes. As John Williams explains about
Nixon, however, the
score balances turbulence with nobility, and whereas the Sith-inspired
title theme represents the former, Williams provides a performance of
the triumphant victory theme bracketing the opening suite and unleashing
it in full during "The Farewell Scene." Still disturbing in its slightly
atonal nature, this more heartbreaking theme lacks the ambition of the
title theme and its twisted sense of nobility gives even it a sense of
Sith-like quality. Its own glassy, cold performances strip away any
Americana style that the score hints at during the cues for Nixon's
childhood.
A variant on the second theme is performed on trumpet
by Tim Morrison in "Growing Up in Whittier," with the crystal-clear
performances and a slightly rollicking rhythm underneath on strings
offering the score's only sense of hope. The remainder of the score for
Nixon is plagued by difficulties relating to its bleak outlook
and intentionally troubling electronic dissonance. Highlights include
the "Main Title" and "Miami Convention, 1968," which both feature
crescendos for the full ensemble very reminiscent of scenes of
wonderment in the two
Jurassic Park scores, especially with the
chime and timpani-banging crescendo during the main titles and White
House approach. An entirely separate motif is constructed for Nixon's
meeting with Mao, and in the 3-minute cue for that scene, the ominous
string progressions of this theme are both hopeful and guarded; it's a
superior, though not spectacular singular moment in the score. The
drawbacks of the score are all of the remaining cues, most of which
rumble with dissonant bass effects. Williams described using these bass
elements as a subliminal reference to napalm bombs exploding in the
distance, giving the listener an additional sense that something about
the scene isn't quite right. The "Ellsberg Break-In and Watergate" cue
attempts to capture the same rhythmic chaos so effectively churned up in
JFK, but instead lacks the instrumental clarity or precise
employment of electronic rhythms necessary to cause anything other than
irritation with the listener. Just as
JFK employed dissonant bass
synthetics to wash out the end of many of its thematic performances,
Nixon repeats and amplifies this use, sometimes incorporating the
same effect for several minutes underneath the rumbling orchestral
fragments of motifs and rhythms. Intelligent references, such as the
longing trumpet reprise in "Losing a Brother," make
Nixon an
accomplished score, but it is never an entirely listenable one. The
tumultuous stylings of the score take a toll on the listener, and while
the music is finely crafted in parts, the opening suite and "Miami
Convention" cues leave the only significantly lasting impression.
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- Music as Written for Film: ***
- Music as Heard on Album: **
- Overall: **
| Bias Check: |
For John Williams reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3.68
(in 91 reviews)
and the average viewer rating is 3.54
(in 363,716 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.
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