Artist: Danny Elfman
Album: Dracula (Original Motion Picture Score)
Label: EuropaCorp
Link: www.dannyelfman.com
Style: Soundtrack
A true workaholic when it comes to composition, American Danny Elfman has written over a hundred film soundtracks, mainly for Hollywood, as well as music for TV series and more personal works such as Serenada Schizophrana. Unusually for his peers, he did not pursue academic training, coming instead from the world of rock music. From his early work in film, he became friends with the young director Tim Burton, for whom he would compose the music for seventeen of his films and voice animated characters, notably in The Nightmare Before Christmas.
A sought-after composer of soundtracks and a specialist in fantastical atmospheres, Danny Elfman was the obvious choice for the music of this new Dracula. Small miniatures create a moment suspended in time, revealing the wonderful and magical through the strings and choirs, almost fairy-like, rudely interrupted by percussive interventions that herald danger. Fortunately for those listening to the album in its entirety, the rendering avoids being too grandiose. Let’s hope that this music will have less trouble finding its audience than Luc Besson’s film itself.
We appreciate the timbres of the strings and voices that position themselves in front of us. The little tinkles that appear here and there carry us away delicately; nothing is missing. And when all the instruments come into play, with force and weight, the space seems to expand all at once. The brass remains in the lower register, leaving the strings and piano to take the higher notes and carry the tragic melodies that Danny Elfman is so fond of. The quality of the recording allows for high-volume listening, which enhances the immersion in these particular atmospheres as well as the differentiation between the sections. It then becomes possible to enjoy it on a soundbar, even without the images.