James Horner's ROMEO AND JULIET (2013)

[bollemanneke 4,321]

[ymenard 68]

Is this the first time we hear a rejected Horner score? (The New World cues are partially in the movie, and Streets of Fire Suite seems fake)   

 

Also, does he again quote Prokofiev' ballet for Romeo and Juliet? 

[Not Mr. Big 4,955]

What?

[Edmilson 12,209]

Where can you listen to Horner's rejected score?

[Koray Savas 2,260]

It’s never leaked. 

[bollemanneke 4,321]

It did today.

[TheUlyssesian 2,696]

Is there a confirmed list of cues that Horner actually composed?

[Edmilson 12,209]

Geez, Horner wasn't exactly inspired when he recorded this score. I guess Abel's effort was better.

 

It's not a bad score by any means if you don't mind Horner repeating himself, as he does here bringing back material from Sneakers, The Spitfire Grill, Apollo 13 and The New World.

 

I never had a problem with his repetitions, but I don't like when he reuses material in an uninspired way. For example, in Bicentennial Man he brings back his beautiful For the Love of a Princess theme from Braveheart, but it's a variation so bad that it actually hurts both (otherwise great) scores. And unfortunately the same happens here, with several bland variations on Sneakers and the love theme from New World.

 

And don't even get me started on the woeful song which I presume was written for the End Credits on track 13.

[Bayesian 1,613]

Hypothetically, what would someone NOT do if he or she was interested in locating, um, non-sanctioned releases?

[Kylo Ray 1]

7 minutes ago, Edmilson said:

Geez, Horner wasn't exactly inspired when he recorded this score. I guess Abel's effort was better.

 

It's not a bad score by any means if you don't mind Horner repeating himself, as he does here bringing back material from Sneakers, The Spitfire Grill, Apollo 13 and The New World.

 

I never had a problem with his repetitions, but I don't like when he reuses material in an uninspired way. For example, in Bicentennial Man he brings back his beautiful For the Love of a Princess theme from Braveheart, but it's a variation so bad that it actually hurts both (otherwise great) scores. And unfortunately the same happens here, with several bland variations on Sneakers and the love theme from New World.

 

And don't even get me started on the woeful song which I presume was written for the End Credits on track 13.

Yeah... Judging by the uninspired music it should have stayed away and never surfaced.

[Edmilson 12,209]

11 minutes ago, Kylo Ray said:

Yeah... Judging by the uninspired music it should have stayed away and never surfaced.

 

I don't think it shouldn't have surfaced. It's still old school Horner, and surprising that he managed to write in 2012/3 like he did on the 90s to 2005 - by then, his style already had changed (see Avatar, The Amazing Spider-Man). It's like if Williams wrote the Star Wars sequel scores in a similar style of the Original Trilogy in the 70s/80s. 

 

In any case, the score is not brilliant, but I'm still thankful we got a previously unheard Horner score to analyze and study.

[Bounty95 587]

13 minutes ago, Kylo Ray said:

Yeah... Judging by the uninspired music it should have stayed away and never surfaced.

 

Horner is my second favourite composer, so I would not go this far. Still I, too, cannot help being disappointed with this music, but that may also be because it was so highly praised by people who attended the sessions. 

 

3 minutes ago, Edmilson said:

It's still old school Horner

 

In any case, the score is not brilliant, but I'm still thankful we got a previously unheard Horner score to analyze and study.

 

This. 

[bollemanneke 4,321]

I mostly liked what I heard in the first seven tracks. I'm surprised the reception is so lukewarm here.

[Kylo Ray 1]

11 minutes ago, bollemanneke said:

I mostly liked what I heard in the first seven tracks. I'm surprised the reception is so lukewarm here.

It's just not good

[bollemanneke 4,321]

I disagree. It's Horner through and through, for better or for worse.

[crocodile 9,634]

I'd definitely buy it on CD.

 

Karol

[Henry Janislaus Feigensand 621]

can't believe I'm about to listen to it. I remember vividly Sony Classical had already published press releases about the album. And it has Sissel. So in my mind it's like Titanic 2. ;-) 

[bollemanneke 4,321]

Yeah, we need track titles though.

[rough cut 1,785]

Abel Korzeniowski’s score is sublime.

 

This is one instance where I’m not curious about the alternative.

 

I recommend any one who haven’t spent time with Abel’s score to do so.

[Henry Janislaus Feigensand 621]

I'm not an expert with this but I had to create something.

[Xander Harris 9,546]

I'm entertained so far, but it's nothing new...to say the least.

[Thor 9,347]

12 minutes ago, rough cut said:

I recommend any one who haven’t spent time with Abel’s score to do so.

 

Totally agreed. It's a fantastic score, superior to the Horner version (which I've just now heard). I mean, I like what I'm hearing from the late master. This is one of his best in the 2010s, but that bar is relatively low. I'll need to spend some more time with the rejected Horner first.

[rough cut 1,785]

I haven’t heard Horner’s yet - and no disrespect - but Abel’s score is one of the top scores I’ve heard in the last 30 years.

[Thor 9,347]

5 minutes ago, rough cut said:

I haven’t heard Horner’s yet - and no disrespect - but Abel’s score is one of the top scores I’ve heard in the last 30 years.

 

Yes. He was on an amazing streak between roughly 2008 to 2013 (METROPOLIS A SINGLE MAN [which is my favourite of his], COPERNICUS STAR, W.E, ESCAPE FROM TOMORROW, ROMEO & JULIET). The last 5-6 years or so, it's been more silent and/or less impressive. Didn't care particularly for PENNY DREADFUL, NOCTURNAL ANIMALS and the generic THE NUN. Hopefully, he'll back on track again soon.

[Edmilson 12,209]

Penny Dreadful is amazing, probably my favorite TV score ever (although the bar for TV scores is a little low, most of them are dull as dishwater). But PD contains some exquisite dramatic cues. 

[Yavar Moradi 4,359]

Agreed. Penny Dreadful is incredible. Surprised you don’t care for it, Thor.

 

Yavar

[Thor 9,347]

It's OK, but rather harsh and brooding compared to the post-minimalist romanticism of his earlier work.

[Jurassic Shark 16,355]

9 hours ago, Thor said:

 

Yes. He was on an amazing streak between roughly 2008 to 2013 (METROPOLIS A SINGLE MAN [which is my favourite of his], COPERNICUS STAR, W.E, ESCAPE FROM TOMORROW, ROMEO & JULIET). The last 5-6 years or so, it's been more silent and/or less impressive. Didn't care particularly for PENNY DREADFUL, NOCTURNAL ANIMALS and the generic THE NUN. Hopefully, he'll back on track again soon.

 

I didn't care for his Romeo & Juliet. Better get the Rota version! Which I know you have, Thor, although the Silva / CPPO release...

[Thor 9,347]

7 minutes ago, Jurassic Shark said:

 

I didn't care for his Romeo & Juliet. Better get the Rota version! Which I know you have, Thor, although the Silva / CPPO release...

 

Oh yes, Rota's is in a class of its own. 

[Yavar Moradi 4,359]

29 minutes ago, Thor said:

It's OK, but rather harsh and brooding compared to the post-minimalist romanticism of his earlier work.

 

Yavar

 

[Jurassic Shark 16,355]

Meh.

[Thor 9,347]

Yeah, I know people rave about PENNY DREADFUL, but I just don't get it. It's merely OK, and not really the Korzeniowski I "signed up for". The ultimate sign to me, however, that Korzeniowski has been swallowed by more generic tropes, is the Netflix series LOCKE & KEY. Again, people rave about it, but it's just anonymous, insistant, at times even bombastic genre tropes without any trace whatsoever of his usual skill and style. So yeah.....ROMEO & JULIET 7 years ago was the last time he fired on all cylinders, but I have hope he'll return to that level again soon. He just needs the right director and project to work with.

[publicist 4,650]

 

Unfortunately, no hitherto-unknown late masterpiece was unearthed with James Horner's rejected 2013 score for 'Romeo & Juliet' (Abel Korzeniowski took the honours). Written around the same time as 'For Greater Glory' it shares the formers perplexing fixation on extreme self-recycling, though R&J easily wins the race. 

 

Laying low outright romance, Horner instead opts for slavish facsimiles of two cues, namely 'Sneakers's technoid Playtronics Break-In (complete with saxophone danger motif, crashing pianos, screeching strings and angelic voices) and 'The New World's All is Lost (right down to the chord progressions), adding very little that makes R&J stand out on its own, especially thematically. What this curious combination adds to a medieval Verona setting might be answered by someone who has seen the movie (few did), it also might gives us a clue why it was thrown out.

 

Comparing it to Korzeniowski's Desplat-light approach, one might as well ask what exactly the filmmakers had in mind. However the circumstances, it's the one subject i couldn't imagine Horner to fail, but he did. Bummer.

(for posteriority now in this thread, too)

 

R&J by Korzeniowski is also rather superficial and second-hand (Desplat, Nyman etc.), though it's admittedly a much more rounded listen than Horner's somewhat schizophrenic approach.

[Jill Sandwich 11,030]

12 minutes ago, publicist said:

Comparing it to Korzeniowski's Desplat-light approach, one might as well ask what exactly the filmmakers had in mind. However the circumstances, it's the one subject i couldn't imagine Horner to fail, but he did. Bummer.

(for posteriority now in this thread, too)

 

I found so much of his score to The Perfect Storm to be bafflingly inappropriate. But it was good music on album.

[Jurassic Shark 16,355]

A perfect storm of inappropriateness?

[Jill Sandwich 11,030]

Precisely!

[bollemanneke 4,321]

With no goodbyes, only love.

[Jurassic Shark 16,355]

Is that a line from the film? I can't remember.

[publicist 4,650]

50 minutes ago, Þekþiþm said:

 

I found so much of his score to The Perfect Storm to be bafflingly inappropriate. But it was good music on album.

 

Sadly R&J is not even remotely on this level of inappropriateness.

[bollemanneke 4,321]

1 hour ago, Jurassic Shark said:

Is that a line from the film? I can't remember.

No, I'm just a natural poet.

[Jurassic Shark 16,355]

14 minutes ago, bollemanneke said:

No, I'm just a natural poet.

 

Rather an unnatural one, I'd say. 

[bollemanneke 4,321]

What do you mean?

[Jurassic Shark 16,355]

I'm just pulling your leg. You don't have a leg?

[Jill Sandwich 11,030]

Pull harder.

[Jurassic Shark 16,355]

So that's how your knee was injured!

[Jill Sandwich 11,030]

You pulled too hard!

[bollemanneke 4,321]

Yes you did. Hard to starboard. PICK UP YOU BASTaRDS!

 

Oh my God, what a nice song at the end!

[Jurassic Shark 16,355]

This is getting out of hand!

[Jill Sandwich 11,030]

Nao dere arr tuu of dem!

[Not Mr. Big 4,955]

Juliet: "Romeo oh Romeo, wherefore art though Romeo?"

Romeo: danger motif