Ten Tracks Today – 20th August 2011

An eclectic mix of some of my more recent scores:

01 – “Master Blaster / The Manipulator / Embargo / Entity Humiliated” – Mad Max Beyond The Thunderdome – Maurice Jarre

I wasn’t as enthusiastic about this score when it received the complete release treatment as I thought I was going to be. But I like the feel of this cue with its low register suspense.

02 – “The New Kingdom” – Arn de Gothia – Marcos Ciscar

The main theme of this score is one that I enjoy every time I hear it. It does get repeated over and over again but in this cue, with the restrained playing of the theme in strings and with wordless vocals appeals to my Celtic sensibilities.

03 – “Why So Serious?” – The Dark Knight – Hans Zimmer & James Newton Howard

The soundscape of this score is excellent, particularly the full-blooded rhythms and urban electronics.

CUCKOO – Andrew Hewitt

Original Review by Alan Rogers (First uploaded at maintitles.net)

The end of 2010 saw the release of a low-budget UK movie entitled Cuckoo that, according to some mainstream movie magazines, wasn’t a particularly dramatic drama. Polly (a medical research student played by Laura Fraser) may or may not be hearing voices in her flat and her grasp of reality may be slipping. On top of this, her supervisor/mentor Professor Greengrass (Richard E. Grant) appears to be a bit too obsessed with her. Although praised in some quarters for having strong performances from the lead actors, the film didn’t make much of an impression generally. Which is unfortunate because newcomer composer Andrew Hewitt has composed a top-notch score that has a chance to flourish away from the film after being released by MovieScore Media.

To date, Hewitt has three feature films to his credit, the most recent of which Submarine (also released by MovieScore Media) has received more critical acclaim than Cuckoo. Hewitt’s resumé lists an emphasis in voice and choir in his training (and an interesting piece of trivia is that the composer sang in scores such as the more recent Star Wars films, the Lord of The Rings trilogy, Harry Potter and Pirates of The Caribbean) but his score for Cuckoo is written predominantly for strings. This emphasis instantly raises comparisons with Bernard Herrmann’s strings-only score for Psycho although Hewitt explains on the film’s DVD commentary that Howard Shore’s Silence of The Lambs also had a significant influence.

“Cuckoo – Part 1” sets the composer’s stall out from the start, highlighting a two-note motif played in the strings that appears time and time again throughout the score; a motif based on a cuckoo’s call.