MOBY DICK

CHRISTOPHER GORDON

Rating:

Original Review: Australian composer Christopher Gordon burst forth as a talent to watch in 1998 with his score for the epic Hallmark Entertainment mini-series Moby Dick, based on the classic novel by Herman Melville and directed by Franc Roddam. Moby Dick is, of course, the great white whale being hunted down by the crippled, embittered Captain Ahab (Patrick Stewart) and the crew of the Pequod, one of whom, the young and inexperienced Ishmael (Henry Thomas) begins to doubt the sanity of the ship's commander when he risks everything - including the lives of his men - in his incessant pursuit of the behemoth of the deep. With a cameo from Gregory Peck as Father Mapple, who himself portrayed Ahab in John Huston's classic 1956 movie of the same name, and a great supporting turn from Ted Levine, Moby Dick was a resounding critical and commercial success.

As one would expect for a story of revenge and obsession on the high seas, Christopher Gordon's score is a stirring piece of adventure writing. Utilising the might of a full orchestra, augmented by choir and a range of ethnic percussion elements, Gordon occasionally brings to mind the work of Philip Sainton and his 1956 original score in the call-and-response brass performances, and the generally undulating nature of the music, making none-too-subtle references to the ebbs and flows of the sea itself.

The opening cue, 'Call Me Ishmael', is a great, introducing the a massive seafaring central theme. Full of passion and bravery, the theme tries to capture the bravado of Ahab's quest with rolling horn calls, soaring strings and cymbal crashes which pound and echo like waves breaking onto a windswept beach. Stirring recapitulations in 'The Voyage Begins', 'The Crow's Nest', 'Midnight Sea' allow the score to maintain a thematic continuity, but the infrequency of the theme's appearance ensure that, when it does appear, it has the greatest possible impact. Other cues which leave an impression include the imperial but somewhat drab brass-led marches in 'An Indissoluble League' and 'Ye Shall Will It'; the John Williams-style light-hearted action of 'There She Blows!', 'Man Overboard' and 'Lower The Boats'; the Goldenthalesque ragged horns in the wonderfully-named 'Ye Hairy-Hearted Ghouls' and 'The Pilot'; the extreme dissonance of 'Bad Magic' and the spiritual-sounding 'St. Elmo's Fire'.

A busy sea shanty ('Nantucket Docks'), and occasional bursts percussion-led frivolity ('Devoured It Was') lighten the mood a little, while moments of coarse ethnic percussion and a whispering choir are used as a leitmotif to illustrate the background of the Pequod's worldly-wise harpooner in cues such as 'Queequeg', 'The Harpooner', 'Ahab', 'Queequeg's Prophecy' and 'Queequeg's Death'. The final eight cues, from 'Lower The Boats' onward, end the score in grand style, building to a stirring climax in which the 'Moby Dick Theme' is performed in all its glory.

If one was to be overly-critical, it is possible for Moby Dick to be considered just a touch too long. With 41 cues amounting just over 74 minutes of original music, it is inevitable that there would be quite a large amount of "filler music" fulfilling no discernible purpose on the album other than to take up space, and this is the case here. Twenty seven cues last for less than two minutes, with seven of those being under 60 seconds in length, and for a more seamless and less fragmented listening experience, it would have been better for all concerned to have lost some of the less important cues and kept the running time to under an hour. Having said that, Christopher Gordon's debut work is still a commendable and worthy score, and I look forward to hearing more from him in the future.

Track Listing: Running Time: 74 minutes 23 seconds

Varése Sarabande VSD-5921 (1998)

Music composed, conducted and orchestrated by Christopher Gordon. Recorded and mixed by Christo Curtis. Edited by Matthew Jones and Katrina Schiller. Mastered by Don Bartley. Album produced by Christopher Gordon.

Cinemusic Online: Review by Roderick Scott (****)
Filmtracks: Review by Christian Clemmenson (****)
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