BELOVED

RACHEL PORTMAN

Rating:

Original Review: Over the years, British composer Rachel Portman has become well known for her light, attractive woodwind-based scores for comedies and romances such as Only You, Addicted To Love and the Oscar-winning Emma, with the occasional drama such as The Joy Luck Club thrown in for good measure. Throughout her career, Portman has shown an outstanding talent for crafting instantly beguiling, unashamedly beautiful melodies which speak of freedom, and hope, and love. It may come as a surprise, therefore, that the dark, moody, sometimes frightening music from Beloved is the work of the same woman.

Beloved is based on the celebrated, Pulitzer prize winning novel by Toni Morrison, and tells the story of runaway slave Sethe (Oprah Winfrey) who tries to start a new life for herself and her teenage daughter Denver (Kimberly Elise) in rural, turn of the century Ohio. She begins a new relationship with an old friend (Danny Glover), but quickly finds her world turning upside down after a strange, dishevelled young woman calling herself Beloved turns up on their doorstep. Sethe is strangely drawn to Beloved, and takes her in as a member of the family. However, mysterious spiritual forces are at work, and it soon becomes apparent that Beloved is not as benign as she first appears, and is harbouring a dark secret from Sethe's past.

Portman's unusual, but highly effective score is firmly rooted in the sounds of the old country - Africa - and considering that all this is coming from the pen of a quiet English woman from a small town in Oxfordshire, the level of authenticity is quite remarkable. Throughout the album, the vocals of Oumou Sangare and the African Children's Choir are prominent features, conspiring to lend the score a sense of time, place, and more importantly history, acting as both a musical catalyst for Sethe's desire to escape from her past, but also as a strong link to her roots and heritage. Several tracks remain in the memory because of Sangare's voice, such as 'Headstone', 'Nature', '28 Days', and 'Love Your Heart', while other cues such as the strangely Indian-sounding 'Cincinnati Streets', the more conventionally melodic 'Sethe Recognises Beloved' and 'Denver Goes Out Yonder' seem to be trying to emerge from the despondency and provide at least some kind of warmth and respite.

The one identifiable main theme, a truly beautiful choral work, is first performed in the soothing ten-minute 'That's Ohio', and later heard in a shortened version during 'Denver and Baby Suggs', parts of which remind me of the quieter moments of John Williams' Amistad. It receives a full, rapturous final rendition in the cue entitled 'Uhura' (the Swahili word for freedom), which is undoubtedly the best track on the album. However, in an attempt to capture the supernatural elements inherent in the story, some of Portman's tracks break new ground for her by featuring unnerving, dissonant flute and percussion elements. Cues such as the frantic 'Attic', the moaning 'Housefits' embrace this style, and make for somewhat unusual listening.

Beloved is a lengthy score, clocking in at just over an hour, but in this case this is more of a drawback than a benefit, as there is far too little deviation from the sombre, "haunting" music for it to be a truly engrossing work. Instead, you listen intently for the first 20 minutes or so, but eventually become bored with all the sameness. Ultimately, your tolerance for more unorthodox musical approaches to scoring will dictate whether or not you enjoy this score. Personally, I find it difficult to "enjoy" a score such as Beloved, which for all intents and purposes is nothing more than mood music, but I can certainly appreciate the effort invested in its creation. Portman maintains that this is her favourite score of her own, and it's easy to see why, in a technical sense, it would be highly regarded. From a purely commercial standpoint, however, I can see this having limited appeal.

Track Listing: Running Time: 63 minutes 51 seconds

Epic/Sony Music Soundtrax EK-69656 (1998)

Music composed by Rachel Portman. Conducted by David Arch. Orchestrations by Rachel Portman. Additional music by Oumou Sangare. Featured musical soloists Jan Hendrickse, Simon Allen, Nicholas Bucknall, Paul Clarvis, William Cumberbache, Cafe Dasilva, Hassan Hakmoun, Kevin Nathaniel Hylton, Seikou Susso and Felipe Garcia Villamil. Special vocal performances by Oumou Sangare and Miriam Stockley with La Troupe Makandal and The African Children's Choir, conducted by Colette Louis. Recorded and mixed by Chris Dibble. Edited by Suzana Peric. Mastered by M.G. Wilder. Album produced by Rachel Portman and Suzana Peric.


Home Page | Reviews A-M | Reviews N-Z | Composers | Links

Movie Music U.K is designed and maintained by Jonathan Broxton (c) 1999. All opinions and views expressed on these pages are my own and are in no way intended to reflect those the University of Sheffield. All photos and album artwork used on Movie Music U.K. are only for the non-profit making promotional purposes and no copyright infringement is intended.