Phideas1
01-27-2018, 05:05 PM
(my edit, sans the wailing women)
"Troy: (Gabriel Yared/James Horner) In the arduous process of making what he deemed would be the biggest motion picture of all time, director Wolfgang Petersen spent $175 million taking over part of the Mediterranean island of Malta for the shooting of Troy. The 2004 re-envisioning of the Trojan War and attack on Troy by the armies of Greece had "epic" written all over its production values, including a variety of male leads led by Brad Pitt flexing his beach-appropriate muscles as famed warrior Achilles. Peter O'Toole's performance as the King of Troy, as true a nod to classic epics of Hollywood as anything in this movie, is made memorable by an unnatural, booming mix of his voice. Spectacular sets and costumes were betrayed, however, by the inane treatment of the story itself, alternating between boring conversational scenes and generic action involving special effects modeled after The Lord of the Rings. Critically, Troy has often been referred to as one of the most expensive flops in the history of cinema, though while it failed to recoup its budget domestically, lingering overseas grosses eventually neared half a billion dollars, at least earning Warner Brothers a fair sum of cash for its artistically flawed property. It has also often been said that no music score could have saved Troy from its much larger troubles, though its soundtrack has become its most famous production element. Petersen approached Academy Award winner Gabriel Yared more than a year before the film's scheduled release, hiring the classically-inclined composer despite the obvious fact that Yared had never written an epic battle score of this magnitude in his life. The director put a significant amount of faith in Yared based on the quality of music that he had heard in the composer's existing works, and Yared was eager to branch out of the romance and drama genres in which he felt himself trapped by his success in those modes (he sought Troy as means of expressing his action style and 1408 as an opportunity to finally tackle a mainstream thriller). In April of 2003, Yared began work on the score for Troy, researching source music necessary in the shooting of several scenes on location. Recording the rest of the score later in the year, Yared assembled a 100-piece orchestra in London, added layovers by a 25-member brass section, hired a Bulgarian chorus to produce authentic Eastern-European vocals and, most importantly, sought the help of Macedonian singer Tanja Tzarovska for a specific flavor of solo vocals.
The undertaking was immense, with considerable diversity in the recording sessions all dubbed into a nearly-finished product that was included as part of the film in test showings of Troy in March of 2004. Enthusiasm among all of those involved with the project was great (especially with the musicians and recording crew), including the strong approval of the music by the director. Hopes were sky high. In two test screenings in California, however, the film received very low marks, and the filmmakers claim that every viewer indicated that Yared's partially finished soundtrack was a primary reason for their dismay. It had been criticized as being "too brassy and bold," ironically too old-fashioned for the modern expectations of historical epic music. The studio went into a panic, and Petersen immediately sought help from other composers even before he summarily terminated Yared and expunged his score from the film. In general, rejected scores are a surprisingly frequent occurrence in Hollywood. High talent like Jerry Goldsmith and John Barry on many occasions had functional (if not exceptional) music rejected from a film for one curious reason or another. What happened with Troy, however, is an exception. Yared contended that he was offered no chance to remix or rerecord any of his music, with Warner Brothers executives very suddenly dismissing the entire work as being too incompatible with their newfound notions of what the score should sound like. Peterson, who was largely responsible for requesting the old-fashioned epic sound from Yared in the first place, did nothing to defend Yared despite his overflowing support for the composer prior to the screenings. Even as Yared still had orchestral sessions scheduled to put the finishing touches on the score, Peterson desperately called John Debney for last minute assistance and was turned down. The director then pleaded for help from James Horner, with whom he had collaborated on The Perfect Storm. Horner's reaction was one of smug, indignant disdain for how his score was badly mixed with the sound effects of the oceans in that prior work, but he accepted the challenge of scoring Troy in just ten days after viewing the same unfinished version presented in the screenings and being horrified by Yared's score. "I don't even know how to describe how atrocious the music was," Horner stated not long after. "It was like a 1950's Hercules movie. And it wasn't because Gabriel's not a gifted writer; it's because he just doesn't have any knowledge of writing film scores. Real film scores like that. It was so corny. It was unbelievable."
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One of the unexpected bonuses that resulted from Yared’s fate was the creation of a lengthy “promo” CD comprising the 18 score tracks which had been fully recorded and mastered prior to it being rejected. Sound clips (which he was subsequently forced to remove) were made available on Yared’s website for all to hear; this CD is the real deal – almost 80 minutes of wonderful music which, when listened to, cannot help but make one wonder what the film would have sounded like with this music attached to it. While I certainly enjoyed the version of Troy that hit cinemas, with Horner’s score attached, I feel sure Yared’s music would have made it better still.
Yared’s Troy is a full-throated, balls-out epic of the classic kind, written for a huge orchestra, full choir, assorted percussion instruments, and solo ethnic vocals. The core of the score is a descending-ascending three-note motif, first heard during the opening moments of “Approach of the Greeks”, and which forms the cornerstone of the majority of the film’s action cues thereafter. “D-Day Battle” features the 3-note motif in a powerful brass setting, surrounded by fluid, swelling, melodically-led orchestral action that majestically accompanies the approach of Menelaus’ Greek army to the shores of Troy. “Battle of the Arrows” sees the motif being sung by the choir under a churning orchestral onslaught, before emerging into a stirring rendition of the beautiful choral hymn first heard in “Achilles’ Destiny”. “The Sacking of Troy” sees the motif used in a more nervous way, underwritten by off-center snare drums and a more ominous feel, before emerging into a triumphant orchestral sequence that segues, via an interesting contrapuntal choral segment, into the menacing-yet-moving finale, “Achilles’ Death”.
These bold action sequences are counterbalanced by a delicate love theme, which seems to be a direct descendent from his work on The English Patient and others. “Helen and Paris” and “Achilles and Briseis” both offer touchingly simple melodies for woodwinds and strings, the romance of which comes as a welcome breathing opportunity, and the restraint of which underlines Yared’s confidence in the strength of the emotion of his music.
In addition to this, there are many wonderful individual moments which hint at the kind of music Yared is capable of creating for this kind of canvas. “Achilles and Boagrius” is another wonderfully realized action cue, eventually emerging into a muscular, throbbing piece for brass and percussion that illustrates a domineering side we didn’t know Yared had. “Sparta” echoes to wonderfully exotic middle-eastern rhythms and more than a hint of the Turkish bazaar. “1000 Ships” swells to an enormous crescendo that reverberates with choral majesty as Achilles and the Greeks cross the mighty Aegean. “Hector! Hector!” is more subdued that one might imagine, playing on notions of heroism and noble resignation as the Trojan leader reluctantly agrees to fight the Greek warrior Achilles; the fight itself is underpinned by tribal, almost savage percussive rhythms which rattle and reverberate alongside the swords and shields of the protagonists.
And then there is Macedonian-born vocalist Tanja Tzarovska, who lends her thoroughly unique voice to “Mourning Women” and “Hector’s Funeral”. Without wanting to be unkind, at times Tzarovska sounds as though she is being murdered: her voice is shrill, loud, and uncompromising, but despite the discomfort of actually listening to her performance, its effectiveness cannot be denied. Her strangled, tortured tones add a sense of lamentable desperation and grief – exactly the intended effect, and her performance of the “End Credits Song” gives the score a sense of moving finality. In the end, war is futile. Everyone dies. It is perhaps no coincidence that Tzarovska’s vocal work is one of the elements Horner chose to carry over to his replacement score.
Despite all the glowing praise, Yared’s score is certainly not 100% perfect. At times his percussive rhythms bring to mind Ravel’s ‘Bolero’ or Holst’s “Mars the Bringer of War” from The Planets, and although Yared has himself stated that he has no “culture” in film music, and does not listen to other film scores, his music is also occasionally reminiscent of Zimmer’s Gladiator, and references the stylistics of Poledouris, Goldsmith, and the choral writing of Graeme Revell (although this is likely to be nothing more than a coincidence, probably due to the fact that all composers draw inspiration from similar classical sources). Having said all this, Yared’s Troy remains a blisteringly good score, a thoroughly entertaining listen, and one cannot help but wonder how much better the film would have been had this music remained intact. I just hope Warner Brothers see fit to give Yared’s work the recognition it deserves and allow it to be released to the general public; music this good should not go un-heard. As it is, had it not been rejected, it would unquestionably have been one of the best scores – if not the best score – of 2004."
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