MEDICINE MAN

JERRY GOLDSMITH

Rating:

Original Review: There's a lovely anecdote that Jerry Goldsmith sometimes relates about the time he met Sean Connery at the premiere of the film The Russia House. The Scottish actor, ever the rapier wit, walked up to the composer, tugged at his trademark silver ponytail and said "Jerry, I love your hair!" Lo and behold, when Connery learned that Jerry would be scoring his next movie Medicine Man, he took it upon himself to style his character's follicles on none other than Mr. Goldsmith, which is why, in the film's credits, Jerry is also listed as "hair designer".

Goldsmith's score for John McTiernan's environmentally-themed drama starring Connery and Lorraine Bracco, about the search for a cure for cancer in an area of the Brazilian rain forest threatened by deforestation, sees the maestro utilising lots of synthesisers, marimbas, woodwinds and ethnic percussion give a definite flavour of the film's far-flung location down among the South American Indians. These unique orchestrations are used to great effect in the opening track, 'Rae's Arrival', which introduces the score's first recurring theme, an endearingly sweet little dance which bounces along whimsically for a few minutes before picking up a slightly more urgent tone with the introduction of some watery-sounding electronics and jungle rhythms. The film's second major theme is hinted at during the beginning of 'Campbell and the Children', before it is given a glorious performance in 'The Trees', a track which acts as a showcase for Goldsmith's musical majesty.

This theme, which is vaguely reminiscent of the one he would compose for Powder three years later, is surely one of Goldsmith's most beautiful melodies. Performed by the full orchestra with a particular emphasis on strings, it is a graceful and elegant homage to the unspoiled beauty and tranquillity of the rain forest. At 3:34, when Goldsmith's music rises as Connery's character emerges from below the foliage and gazes in wonder across the rooftop of the world, it gives you one of those "spine-tingling" film music moments we all love. The majority of the other cues provide appropriate colour and texture to the scenes without being particularly memorable, other than when they contain brief recapitulations of either of the two central melodies (such as in the cues 'Mocara', 'Without A Net', 'Finger Painting', 'The Injection', 'The Sugar' and the magical finale 'A Meal and a Bath').

Having said that, Goldsmith does apply quite a few interesting musical touches to some of these tracks. The delicate strings and unusual, but effective, electronic yawns in 'First Morning' have an idyllic, almost pastoral sound. The subtle acoustic guitar during the opening moments of 'The Harvest', the breathy pan-pipes in 'Mountain High' and the lovely playful flute in the first half of the aforementioned 'Without A Net' are fine examples of Goldsmith's solo sensibilities. The rather sinister percussive rumblings and propulsive synthesisers in 'The Fire' represent the omnipresent danger of the unscrupulous developers, and the very clever dripping effects which permeate the entire score seemingly signify the denseness and humidity of the jungle. The inspired combination of the electronic and the acoustic in Medicine Man represents Goldsmith on peak form. It's a fairly long album by Varèse's standards - a smidgen over 50 minutes - and the music leaves you with a warm, flavoursome, and exotically romantic feeling long after the CD has finished.

Track Listing: Running Time: 50 minutes 10 seconds

Varèse Sarabande VSD-5350 (1992)

Music composed and conducted by Jerry Goldsmith. Performed by The National Philharmonic Orchestra. Orchestrations by Arthur Morton. Recorded and mixed by Mike Ross. Edited by Ken Hall. Album produced by Jerry Goldsmith.


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