A SIMPLE TWIST OF FATE

CLIFF EIDELMAN

Rating:

Original Review: It continually staggers me that some the most brilliant composers in Hollywood keep being overlooked in favour of bigger-named but less talented contemporaries. Cliff Eidelman falls squarely into this category - he is surely one of the best young writers around, but is constantly and criminally under-utilised. He hasn't really had a half way decent project to work on since Star Trek VI way back in 1989, and since then has been toiling away writing for sappy melodramas (One True Thing), pointless sequels (Free Willy 3), inane comedies (The Beautician and the Beast), and conducting the Royal Scottish National Orchestra for Varese's on their series of classic score re-recordings. One of his undiscovered gems is A Simple Twist of Fate, a heart-warming and touching retelling of George Elliot's old Silas Marner tale, with Steve Martin in the lead role as a reclusive and generally unlikeable teacher whose humanity is slowly restored by a little girl who enters his life after her parents are killed. Eidelman's music is pretty, engaging, and a real treat to listen to. Written for a small, intimate orchestral complement, the score has an almost innocent feel and a constant child-like nature, obviously written to convey Martin's transformation from mean-spirited miser to caring, generous surrogate father. The main theme is a beautifully understated piece for strings and flutes, and is given a lovely performance in the opening suite, 'A Simple Twist of Fate', when it is accompanied by some mysterious-sounding woodwinds. It binds the score together, as all good themes should, reappearing in many of the score's cues, and it's final performance, in 'Michael's Theme', features a passionate piano solo from Eidelman himself. Additionally, 'Floating on Air' sounds just like the cue title suggests, with a series deliciously dream-like performances of the main theme, augmented by magical-sounding chimes and a harp, while 'Into The Light' adds a women's choir into the mix. The two performances of 'Red Is The Rose' (also known as 'Loch Lomond') are also good, as arranged by Eidelman into an old-style country hoe-down with banjos and guitars. Some darker material does creep in occasionally, such as in 'Prelude to Tanny's Fate', where the circular clarinet motif and jagged stringwork no doubt captures the desperate circumstances Steve Martin's character finds himself in. On the whole, though, this score is one to relax to. Despite being under half an hour in length, it makes for an undemanding and thoroughly enjoyable listen which, in the bigger picture of things, is never going to set the world alight, but as good film music comes highly recommended.

Track Listing: Running Time: 28 minutes 05 seconds

Varèse Sarabande VSD-5538 (1994)

Music composed and conducted by Cliff Eidelman. Orchestrations by Mark McKenzie. Solo piano performed by Cliff Eidelman. Recorded and mixed by Armin Steiner. Edited by Scott Stambler. Album produced by Cliff Eidelman.


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