Not the normal sort of music to review is this, but nevertheless it is very interesting and extremely good. Personally I love soundtracks and by that I mean something that has been scored with the movie and its scenes in mind, as opposed to a collection of songs assembled for the purpose of merchandising. This is a real treat for fans of British horror movies, particularly from the 60s and 70s, and is the original soundtrack lovingly restored from quarter inch master tapes and including two previously unheard and unused tracks.
What we have here are over thirty pieces so I won’t be giving a rundown of each individual track, rather an overview of the general feel of it. This is Medieval England, a truly barbaric time and place and Paul Ferris used a fifty-five piece orchestra to evoke this mood. He had intended to use more ‘ancient’ instruments in keeping with the period but this proposal was vetoed by executives! There is sense of foreboding throughout but occasionally this is lightened with the use of a motif not dissimilar to Greensleeves and Ferris freely admitted this was his inspiration.
In some respects it does not seem that he had fifty-five players at his disposal and certainly he appears to have used a lot less for many of the pieces. Often you hear the kind of drums that used to march us into war, or rather to the gallows or the funeral pyre, or worse. Not only is time and place evoked but perhaps also the minds of the characters, in principal, the ‘Witchfinder General for all England’, Matthew Hopkins. It would be fair to say that here was a man who took his job a little too seriously but clearly he must have had his motivations? Still, some of this music is actually very beautiful.
|
Other characters also get a look in but really each piece has been designed for a scene, and a cursory scroll through the titles tells us this. Nearly Home, A Ride In The Dark, By The Water, The Gaol and The Castle Dungeon. I think that says it all really. This is the castle dungeon of soundtracks. If De Wolfe have done their job properly (and I expect they have) and provided extensive liner notes detailing the story of both the film and the soundtrack, then this would make for a very good release and it is also available on limited edition vinyl.
|
