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THE SPIDERWICK CHRONICLES
Enjoyable fantasy score is a change of pace from Horner's modern-day serious emphasis
 A review by JAMES SOUTHALL

Music composed by
JAMES HORNER

Rating
* * * *



Performed by
UNNAMED ORCHESTRA
conducted by
JAMES HORNER

Orchestration
J.A.C. REDFORD
STEVEN R. BERNSTEIN
CARL JOHNSON
EDDIE KARAM
GARY K. THOMAS

Engineer
SIMON RHODES
Music Editor
JIM HENRIKSON
Produced by
JAMES HORNER
SIMON RHODES

Album running time
71:30

Released by
LAKESHORE RECORDS
Catalog number
-

Album cover copyright (c) 2008 Paramount Pictures; review copyright (c) 2008 James Southall

I know he remains a controversial figure, so the following statement may not be to everybody's taste - but, given that John Williams seems to have all-but-retired, James Horner is probably the most consistently-impressive of the active major composers, with a run of scores going back over a period of several years containing numerous wonderful works and only a handful which don't come up to scratch.  With that, the credit "Music by James Horner" on front of a soundtrack album for a new film is perhaps the closest you can come to an assurance of quality these days - and, while he has concentrated on adult dramas in the years since he hit the jackpot with Titanic, he does still branch out occasionally, the latest example being his first score for a fantasy film since Willow twenty years ago - The Spiderwick Chronicles.

Horner is of course a very different composer today than he was in 1988, now pushing through a through-composed approach on the vast majority of his projects, often resulting in a balletic sound, with music not choreographed precisely to on-screen events but rather offering a more hands-off accompaniment, further helped by his tendency in recent years to eschew click-tracks and simply record the music as if it were pure music, rather than functional.  This sets him apart from his peers, in Hollywood at least, and in my mind is one of the reasons his music has been so impressive, so often, of late.  However, would such an approach really work on a film like The Spiderwick Chronicles, a children's fantasy (with all that entails)?  Apparently he still recorded the score without click, but there are slightly more concessions to hitting specific points with music.

The album opens with "Writing the Chronicles", with swirling string figures accompanied by little brass flourishes and synth colours setting the mysterious tone before hints of a theme occur.  It's a long-lined theme - Horner always favours those over simpler, shorter ones - so long-lined, in fact, that its impact might not be what it could have been, but I'm always willing to give the benefit of the doubt to composers who might be inclined towards making things a little too complex rather than going the other way.  Lots more ideas are explored in "So Many New Worlds Revealed", including the first little suggestions of what will become the score's main theme (more on that, later) and some wonderful extended florid passages which recall the composer's exceptional The New World album.  

Aside from a few little flashes of colour here and there (such as the harpsichord which first appears in "Thimbletack and the Goblins") Horner doesn't particularly emphasise the fantasy elements of the story in the way most film composers would, preferring to keep to a relatively standard symphonic palette and instead use careful harmonic constructs to transport the listener to the fantasy world.  It results in evocative music, though those expecting another Krull or Willow may not find their hopes fulfilled.  

There isn't really a great deal of action music towards the start of the album, but once it gets going ("Hosqueal's Warning of a Bargain with Mulgareth" features a thunderous, dark passage for deep brass and percussion) it doesn't let up for quite a while.  There's a hint of the desperate action music in Apollo 13 in "Dark Armies from the Forest Attack" - no doubt some will be offended by the recycling, but it's a style the composer hasn't revisited often so I don't see an issue here.  "Burning the Books" is the most intensely dramatic music of the score, offering fast-moving and tense material which is particularly impressive.  Like much of the score, it isn't exactly a bold new sound for the composer, but Horner does these tricks very well and so they can retain an air of freshness.  "A Desperate Run Through the Tunnels" is almost as thrilling, featuring some of Horner's best action material in a while.

That main theme I mentioned earlier finally gets revealed in full in the lengthy "Lucinda's Story".  It's sweet, moving and highly-attractive - and also the theme from Horner's Casper.  Well, not quite, but certainly not far off.  It doesn't have the Elfman-ish choir, and does pick up some of the mysterious little motifs used to introduce the score earlier on, but there's no doubting its origin.  Does it matter?  Well, that's a discussion which has raged so many times it feels redundant to go into it again, but since the piece is used rather sparingly in the album and there is so much other fine music it probably won't matter so much to people as has been the case in other scores from the composer.  

The finest piece is "The Flight of the Griffin", one of those free-flowing, soaring pieces of music which accompanies flying, always something to bring the best out of film composers.  The uplifting feel continues in "Escape from the Glade", where Horner's themes continue to soar away.  There's a fairly heroic feel to the music now, a definite change of tone.  "The Protective Circle is Broken!" sees the optimism beaten back down, and a return of the action style from earlier on - and the absurd track titles continue with "Jared and Mulgareth Fight for the Chronicles", which sees the atmosphere become ice-cold, and action music bordering on the abrasive, but cleverly, Horner gradually alters the feel before the heroic theme from earlier in the score makes a reappearance.  

"Coming Home" offers an attractive summary of the score's main themes, before the lengthy end credits piece essentially does the same thing, but in Horner's typically languorous style for such occasions.  The Spiderwick Chronicles is not a score which is instantly-striking, but upon closer inspection reveals a lot of hidden depths and Horner keeps momentum throughout the lengthy album.  It's been a while since the last new album from the composer so this one is more than welcome - it's a step or two down from his very finest work, but remains satisfying and very accomplished.

Tracks

  1. Writing the Chronicles (3:03)
  2. So Many New Worlds Revealed (5:12)
  3. Thimbletack and the Goblins (5:15)
  4. Hosqueal's Warning of a Bargain with Mulgareth (5:16)
  5. Discovering Spiderwick's Secret Workshop (3:24)
  6. Dark Armies from the Forest Attack (3:06)
  7. Burning the Book (2:43)
  8. A Desperate Run Through the Tunnels (4:47)
  9. Lucinda's Story (6:01)
  10. The Flight of the Griffin (6:55)
  11. Escape from the Glade (4:44)
  12. The Protective Circle is Broken! (2:07)
  13. Jared and Mulgareth Fight for the Chronicles (4:17)
  14. Coming Home (6:17)
  15. Closing Credits (8:23)
    16.