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Article - The
Lion in Winter; Impeccable
reading of classic score
James
Southall
The
Lion in Winter is a highly literate, intelligent movie set in France
in 1138: starring Peter O'Toole and Katherine Hepburn, it tells
the story of how Eleanor, wife of King Henry II, seeks revenge on
her husband as he releases her temporarily from prison in order
to name his heir to the throne from his three sons; meanwhile, they
are busy plotting against each other. John Barry was already well-known
by the time, having scored many Bond movies and Born Free, but must
still have seemed like a strange choice to score the movie: a highly
classical and refined score was required for the movie, something
Barry hadn't really written up to that point. He blew away any misconceptions
with his brilliant work on the movie, and deservedly won an Oscar
for his troubles.
The
score features by far Barry's most extensive use of choral music
set to lyrics: the opening choral theme is his most portentous,
and the choral writing of other cues such as "Allons Gai Gai Gai",
"Eya, eya, nova gaudia" and "Media vita in morte sumus" features
much variety but a consistent beauty and relevant dramatic thrust.
While not up front, the chorus is still usually heard behind the
orchestra, and the dramatic piece "To Rome" is nothing short of
stunning, becoming one of the most influential pieces Barry has
written (though it is rarely acknowledged as such). In my opinion
"We're All Jungle Creatures", the finale, is the ultimate piece
of Barry film music, beyond comparison with anything else he has
written: he wraps up the score with one last use of the heraldic
fanfare from his main theme and throws the choir into the mix for
an astonishing climax.
The
score has been released twice on CD before, both by Varèse Sarabande
in the early days of CDs and later by Sony Legacy in 1995. Sound
quality was not the best and so Silva Screen decided to augment
their growing Barry collection still further, with a re-recording
of the entire score, featuring the few minutes of music from the
movie that did not appear on the original release. (Most notable
among the "new" music is "Fanfare for Philip / The Great Hall Feast"
- certainly a welcome inclusion.) I'm pleased to say that both the
City of Prague Philharmonic and Crouch End Festival Chorus have
done themselves proud with a superb performance, marvellously captured
in the detailed recording by engineers John Timperley and Mike Ross-Trevor.
Film scores don't get much better than this, and re-recordings don't
get any better than this.
Also
featured on the album is a 15-minute suite from Mary, Queen of Scots
, another period score by Barry. Sadly it has never been released
on CD in any form and therefore it would have been nice to have
had a lengthier reconstruction, but we should be grateful for what
we are offered and this suite is a good representation of the score
as a whole. Terry Walstrom's liner notes are a step above from the
norm, and ultimately I can't recommend this album enough. A true
classic.
James
Southall |
