Villa Rides!
Label: Tadlow Music
Catalogue No: TADLOW014
Release Date: 22-Aug-2011
Total Duration: 75:39
UPN: 0-626570-615279
City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Nic Raine
Although this CD follows on from Tadlow’s recent release of TARAS BULBA, it is not actually sub-titled THE CLASSIC FILMS OF YUL BRYNNER VOL 2! Not that VILLA RIDES could easily be described as a classic film anyway, because what we are presented with in this recording is yet another score which is substantially more impressive than the film for which it was composed. Producer James Fitzpatrick has described Marice Jarre’s VILLA RIDES as a personal favourite and after recording TARAS BULBA and similar large scale epic scores he welcomed the opportunity to do a smaller, gentler, score. As it turns out, smaller is something of a misnomer because some of the cues are written for an orchestra of over 100 musicians. Jarre seemed to have a natural talent for effervescent Latin American/Mexican flavoured music, albeit with a European slant, as evidenced by THE PROFESSIONALS, EL CONDOR, A WALK IN THE CLOUDS and MOON OVER PARADOR and, apart from the music being dominated by extensive use of percussion instruments, it features many of Jarre’s familiar stylistic characteristics which make his music so distinctive.
Cymbals and timpani herald the opening of the “Main Title” followed, as on the original soundtrack, with the atmospheric sound of the wind. The theme for Pancho Villa is then introduced but is at first whistled by a sole performer before being taken up by the orchestra – first with percussion and then building up towards the full orchestra. A more overtly joyous Mexican styled theme is introduced in “Much More Money” which represents the revolution in general whilst something of Jarre’s Gallic charm can be discerned in the theme for the character portrayed by Robert Mitchum in the delightful music for ”Lee and Fina at the River”. Some of the most attractive music is heard in numerous cues featuring solo or small combinations of instruments, as well as source music cues – some of which derive from traditional Mexican folk tunes. I’d single out “Hacienda Dance”, “After the Marriage”, “Love in the Boxcar”, Fina and Lee” and “Cantina Dance” as some of the especially appealing cues. As a contrast, the full array of the orchestra is summoned for such savagely action packed music as in “Colorados in the Village” and “The Battle”, which make effective use of strident brass together with some truly unusual orchestral effects. As Frank DeWald explains in his concise liner notes, Jarre makes much use of the huapango dance pattern – characterized by a complex rhythmic structure mixing alternate duple and triple meters. Overall VILLA RIDES is a hugely enjoyable score, inventive and varied, with Jarre at his most harmonically accomplished.
VILLA RIDES contains about 55 minutes of music and to round out the CD several tracks from other Jarre western film scores are included. These include the stylistically associated main titles from EL CONDOR and THE PROFESSIONALS (one of Jarre’s very best) as well as the distinctively low-key title music for THE LIFE AND TIMES OF JUDGE ROY BEAN with its intriguing opening combination of percussion and cimbalom. Music from RED SUN and CIMARRON STRIP (a TV series for which Jarre did the pilot episode) complete the package. As always, the City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra under Nick Raine’s direction perform with admirable gusto throughout and the quality of the recording, engineered by Smecky Studios’ Jan Holzner, is impressively bright and spacious.
