CITY OF ANGELS

GABRIEL YARED

Rating:

Original Review: Gabriel Yared has had a tough time of it since winning his Oscar for The English Patient. He was summarily dropped from Les Misérables in favour of Basil Poledouris, having written virtually a complete score. The people involved with The Wings of the Dove let him go in favour of the comparatively unknown Edward Shearmur. And, to cap it all, his exquisite score for City of Angels, which director Brad Silberling actually did decide to keep, is forced to play second fiddle to an CD filled with songs from an unlikely gathering of musical talent including the likes of Peter Gabriel, Alanis Morissette, U2, Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, John Lee Hooker and Goo Goo Dolls. Perhaps I'm being a little unfair here. Yared's score does take up over 20 minutes of the score's 70 minute running time, and all the most important and beautiful pieces are included. The majority of the music is filled with Yared's trademark slow, almost static strings, the impact of which are altered throughout the score by various instrumental solos. The first selection, "An Angel Falls", underscores the scene where Nicolas Cage's character Seth is contemplating his fall from grace on the rooftops of Los Angeles. It's a magical piece that builds up to a lovely crescendo and, when the gorgeous tones of a female choir begin to appear (as Seth falls gently earthwards), it takes on a suitably heavenly aura. "The Unfeeling Kiss" is an attractive track, containing a distinctive, fresh acoustic guitar solo by Dario Rossetti Bonell. The opening moments of 'Spreading Wings" (written for the scene where Meg Ryan's character Maggie is cycling back from the grocery store) have an almost hypnotic quality to them, and Yared's usage of pianos and synthesisers to create a dream-like atmosphere is noticeably effective here. The final track, "City of Angels" reminds me of "Cave of Swimmers" from The English Patient because, like that cue, the lush, emotional climax has much more of an impact due to the generally low-key nature of the rest of the score. As far as the songs go, Sarah McLachlan's "Angel" is my personal favourite. Her unique, country-tinged tones and the endearing catch in her voice are very pleasing to the ear, and the song's lyrics seem to accurately reflect the film's themes of impossible love and longing. Alanis Morissette's "Uninvited" and Peter Gabriel's "I Grieve" are also worth a repeated listen, but the majority of the others are not much more than CD space fillers. Yared's delicate style of music always comes as a refreshing change from the orchestral histrionics that many Hollywood composers tend to churn out these days and, gripes about large chunks of beautiful scores being ignored in favour of commercial song compilations aside, City of Angels comes highly recommended for devotees of scores where the emotional content is set to maximum.

Track Listing: Running Time: 72 minutes 15 seconds

Warner Sunset/Reprise 9362-46867-2 (1998)

Music composed by Gabriel Yared. Conducted by Harry Rabinowitz. Orchestrations by Gabriel Yared and John Bell. Featured musical soloists Kenneth Sillito, Rolf Wilson, Dario Rossetti Bonell and Carlos Bonell. Vocal soloist Carys Lane. Recorded and mixed by Paul Hulme, Keith Grant and Ben Georgiades. Edited by Robert Randles. Score produced by Gabriel Yared. Album produced by Danny Bramson


You can read this review in Soundtrack, September 1998, pp 17.


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These web pages were designed and maintained by Jonathan Broxton copyright 1998. All opinions and views expressed on these pages are my own and are in no way intended to reflect those of my employer, the Trent Institute for Health Services Research, or those of the University of Sheffield.