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BALTO
Thrilling score is a real gem from Horner
A review by JAMES SOUTHALL

Music composed by
JAMES HORNER

Rating
* * * * *



Performed by
THE LONDON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
conducted by
JAMES HORNER

Song written by
JAMES HORNER
BARRY MANN
CYNTHIA WEIL

Orchestration
STEVE BRAMSON
DON DAVIS

Engineered by
SHAWN MURPHY
Music Editor
JIM HENRIKSON
Produced by
JAMES HORNER

Album running time
53:58

Released by
MCA SOUNDTRACKS
Catalog number
MCAD-11388

Album cover copyright (c) 1995 Universal City Studios; review copyright (c) 2006 James Southall

James Horner's phase of scoring animations reached an end in 1995 with Balto.  Certainly not the most well-known or liked of the animations he worked on (it's about a wolf trying to save everyone from some sort of epidemic in Alaska, and I guess he did it because it was directed by Simon Wells, who'd done Fievel Goes West and We're Back! with Horner), it nonetheless inspired a magnificent score.  Vibrant, exciting, rich, colourful and rewarding, it's the kind of full-bodied orchestral music which made Horner so popular in the first place in the 1980s but which he had virtually abandoned by the time of Balto. He still wrote fine scores around that time, as he does today, but rarely with quite the same  vibrancy he used to display so frequently - of course, he's matured as a composer, but still it would be great to hear just slightly more of this sort of thing from him today.

Balto has attractive melody, vibrant action, colourful texture - and more - in spades.  When the striking main theme appears in all its glory (and Horner unleashes it, accompanied by the full forces of the London Symphony Orchestra, on several occasions) it's a really powerful, moving statement of heroism that seems to belong in a far better film.  Particularly strong are the two final tracks of score, "Heritage of the Wolf" and "Balto Brings the Medicine", with their combined ten minutes providing some of the richest and most rewarding music of Horner's career.  ("Heritage of the Wolf" also introduces a new theme which would later turn up as the main theme from Enemy at the Gates.)  Elsewhere, the action music is particularly strong, such as "Grizzly Bear", which conjures up just the right amount of thrills and excitement to provide the requisite level of thrill for the young audience; but I suspect the older film score audience will appreciate it even more.  There are only very occasional journies into more comedic territory - the tuba line which opens "Rosy Goes to the Doctor" being a nice highlight, reminiscent of Bruce Broughton's work on this type of film - with Horner's music being far more serious for the most part.  That's no bad thing - as well as Balto, 1995 was also the year of Apollo 13 and Braveheart - and neither of those excellent scores contains a piece of dramatic music finer than "The Journey Begins".  There's also the touching, tender "Jenna / Telegraphing the News", the first half of which is a sweeping dramatic piece reminiscent of Legends of the Fall, written around the same time; and the second half features an ingenious little device with a flute manically playing a morse code-style rhythm over the top of a grand horn statement of the main theme.

This is one of Horner's richest and most full-bodied scores.  The music is beautifully-orchestrated, admirably-constructed (how did Horner manage to get such long, free-flowing but musically-sound pieces into an animation?) and boasts some wonderful highlights.  There's one song here, written by Horner with his American Tail collaborators Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil, which would be beautiful in the right arrangement, but sadly is more likely to result in serious injury from too much laughter in the arrangement here, sung in the most ludicrous power-ballad style by Steve Winwood (whoever he is) in a way which would probably make even Michael Bolton sit back and wonder whether he was overdoing it.  But that's not the best part - when the children's choir is added, you'd better hope you have a deep shag pile carpet, because you'll be rolling all over it.

Balto is a wonderful score, Horner's finest for an animation, and right up there with the best of his output overall.  It's still possible to get copies if you look hard enough (there are plenty of used copies available at the Amazon link above) and I can't recommend it highly enough.

Tracks

  1. Reach for the Light Steve Winwood (4:24)
  2. Balto's Story Unfolds (4:40)
  3. The Dogsled Race (1:41)
  4. Rosy Goes to the Doctor (4:05)
  5. Boris and Balto (1:29)
  6. The Journey Begins (5:06)
  7. Grizzly Bear (5:23)
  8. Jenna / Telegraphing the News (2:22)
  9. Steele's Treachery (4:38)
  10. The Epidemic's Toll (3:29)
  11. Heritage of the Wolf (5:54)
  12. Balto Brings the Medicine! (4:53)
  13. Reach for the Light Steve Winwood (5:27)
    14.