MASADA

JERRY GOLDSMITH

Rating:

Original Review: After graduating from the small screen to the big screen in the early Sixties, Jerry Goldsmith has rarely ventured back to into the world of television music, apart from of a couple of high-profile theme tunes such as Star Trek: Voyager. The one exception came in 1981 when he was tempted back to write for Masada, an epic movie about a Judean city under siege from the massed Roman army. The end result is undoubtedly one of Goldsmith's finest achievements in any genre, and is arguably one of the best TV scores of all time.

The 'Main Title' opens with a sorrowful, plaintive passage for oboes and strings before presenting the first performance of the centrepiece of the score - a massive, absurdly catchy march for the advancing legions which, with repeated refrains, gains hand over fist in power and intensity. Performed first by woodwinds, then by the brasses with a rapid string countermelody, and then by the full string section with an immense percussion accompaniment, it is a truly rousing, glorious theme which I personally have been humming for days. In subsequent tracks, such the uproariously magnificent 'The Road to Masada' and 'No Water', the march is performed several times in all its glory, the former featuring a series of especially noticeable horn trills. 'Night Raid' is where Goldsmith briefly descends into pure action territory, emerging with an intense orchestral attack on the eardrums which incorporates several unusual ascending notes performed on what sounds like a kazoo. Where the march is not present, there is a sense of anguish to the music which effectively enhances the human tragedy befalling the inhabitants of the city of Masada at the hands of the Roman empire.

The influence of Golden Age composers such as Alex North and Miklós Rózsa is unmistakable in these sections of the score - the vibrato in the performances are highly reminiscent of the quieter parts of Ben-Hur, King of Kings, The Greatest Story Ever Told and others. 'The Old City' is a prime example of this - a track which expertly combines sadness and despair with an almost subliminal echo of the film's middle-eastern location, something accomplished by faintly exotic inflections in the woodwinds and strings. Similarly, the slightly more optimistic and attractive 'The Planting' and the sombre 'The Encampment' feature the same subtle "Jewish" influences, while the majestic 'Our Land' and the conclusive 'The Slaves', feature moving, quasi-religious refrains of the secondary theme which really tug at the heart strings.

Masada disappeared from the shelves quite quickly after its initial release in 1990, and is now one of Goldsmith's most sought-after legitimate releases. As with Under Fire and others, it is a great shame that magnificent scores such as this one are not being heard and enjoyed by the masses ranks of film music fans out there. It also goes to prove further that Jerry Goldsmith is surely one of the most talented composers, classical or otherwise, the Twentieth Century has seen.

Track Listing: Running Time: 37 minutes 29 seconds

Varése Sarabande VSD-5249 (1981)

Music composed and conducted by Jerry Goldsmith. Orchestrations by Arthur Morton. Recorded and mixed by Eric Tomlinson. Edited by Ken Hall. Album produced by Jerry Goldsmith.


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