Ten Tracks Today – A 1960s Special – 1st September 2011

01 – “Concert Overture” – Exodus – Ernest Gold

For years I only had the Buddha Records release of the original and, although I love the theme, it was a struggle to listen to any of the cues because of the quality of the audio. Then came along Tadlow’s re-recording and the old release could be consigned to the back of the cupboard. This suite is a nice summary of the score.

02 – “Shook Up Fuzz / Mac Let’s Talk” – The Split – Quincy Jones

What a cool track this is! It’s almost musical doodling but it retains a suspenseful dynamic the film score demands. Reminds me a lot of Lalo Schifrin’s early Dirty Harry scores. The latter half of the track picks up a sense of urgency and features some funky rhythms and electric guitar.

03 – “Overture” – The 4 Horsemen of The Apocalypse – André Previn

A very raw and edgy start to this suite before it features the obligatory romantic theme. I wouldn’t say the themes have remained particularly popular but are nice to be reminded of when listening to this. The strings of the romantic theme reminds me somehow of Hugo Friedhofer.

ULTRAMARATHON MAN – Cody Westheimer

Original Review by Alan Rogers

After having such a positive response to hearing Cody Westheimer’s score to the endurance running documentary The Runner I wanted to take a listen to a score that he wrote a couple of years later for another documentary film that covered a similar topic. Directed by J.B Benna (The Runner), UltraMarathon Man follows the achievements of endurance runner Dean Karnazes who ran 50 marathons in 50 states on 50 consecutive days. Beginning with the Lewis and Clark Marathon in St. Louis in September 2006 he completed his journey with the New York Marathon on November 5th. I have to admit that upon listening to UltraMarathon Man I am slightly disappointed with the score, not because it is a poor score – for one thing it has a memorable main theme – but because it does not achieve the heights I think The Runner reaches.

Westheimer chooses to use a small ensemble of instruments that sounds more like a conventional band (with electric guitar, keyboards and drum kit) that is embellished with a small strings section (that plays both as an ensemble and as a solo voice) and occasional unusual percussion. The composer appears to move the emphasis of the role of the score. Rather than being an out-and-out driver of the movie, with powerful and energetic rhythms and soaring emotional strings (as heard in the aforementioned The Runner), the music for UltraMarathon Man sounds more like being an accompaniment that emphasises the camaraderie of the runner(s) as opposed to focusing on the running itself. That’s not a bad thing. As I already mentioned, Westheimer has composed a memorable main theme (heard to great effect in “Dean Karnazes’s Schedule” and the final “Escape From New York”) that appears throughout the score. This theme does have an obvious rhythm to start but it’s not an energetic one but rather an indication of solidity and strength.