The Bone Collector
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Composer: Craig Armstrong
Conductor: Cecilia Weston Orchestra: London Symphony Orchestra Lable (Release Year): Decca Records Availability: **** Rating: *** |
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New comer Craig Armstrong has scored William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, Plunkett and Macleane, and Best Laid Plains before this effort. He has also involved in the scoring of Goldeneye and The Negotiator. The Bone Collector is not a very remarkable score but it is not a score that people should over look either. The album starts off with a quite impressive track "New York City". It features a dominant two phrase (each with 8 notes) piano motif. The first phase gives you sort of positive feeling (having hope) and the second phase gives you sort of pessimistic feeling. The tracks also describe the night of New York City very well: many sad stories behind all those city bright lights. The motif, being the main one, appears through out the album and is quite effective. Craig Armstrong has kept the tone of the score very dark, ominous, and low key through out. Even the tracks "Amelia's Song" and "Rhyme and Amelia's Love Theme" are very low key and dark. Ironically, the Love Theme is one of the least melodic tracks on the album. For the intense action cues like "Seizure" and "Pier Pressure", they would not be too bombastic and overshadow the other tracks. They are much like other cues except they carry a heavier beat and have a few more brass instruments kick in. Strings and piano are the major instruments in this score. Sad and soft piano sound with the low-key strings background is basic style of this score. Occasionally, soft chorus voices are added to strengthen the sadness of the score. The score certainly does not need the virtuosity of the London Symphony Orchestra. Many parts of the score remind me of Howard Shore's music, who is the master of the same genre. The most famous one is being Silence of The Lambs. "Amelia's Song" introduces another low key piano motif, which is not heard as often as the previous motif in the score. Despite the great effort from Armstrong, this score certainly does not make me pay frequent visit to it. But if you are fond of Howard Shore's dark and ominous score, this one is definitely worth checking out. | |
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