Leaves brush past in the wind... All's calm again (Memoirs Of A Geisha - Soundtrack)

Name: berlioz II

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Product:	Memoirs Of A Geisha - Soundtrack
Date:	06.10.06 (219 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Intelligent and thoughtful that grows on you with intoxicating results

Disadvantages: Restrained and very calm throughout that will lull the unwary to sleep

2005 was quite a busy year for composer John Williams with a total of four film scores appearing throughout the year (the last time this happened was in 1997). Beginning with the Spielberg blockbuster War of the Worlds, it was followed by the final Star Wars score, Revenge of the Sith, and later in the year came another Spielberg film, Munich. All of those were competent and dramatic, though none of them have escaped feelings of a mixed nature. While I have similar feelings towards those three as well, the fourth score, Memoirs of a Geisha, certainly is an absolute delight, and one I consider as one of the absolute highlight scores of 2005. Based on the popular novel of Arthur Golden, Memoirs of a Geisha is the story of an impoverished Japanese girl Chiyo (played by Suzuka Ohgo as a child and Ziyi Zhang as an adult), who is taken to school in the Hanamachi to become a geisha (where she takes on the name Sayuri) prior and during the Second World War. Once there she soon gathers the resentment of the older geisha Hatsumomo, who is jealous of her youthful appearance and, particularly after attracting the attention of the elusive Chairman (Ken Watanabe), denies her the entry into the geisha school. It is only with the help of another geisha, Mamesha (Michelle Yeoh), that Sayuri secretly learns the ways of the geisha and is introduced into society, only to be faced with the coming of war that threatens to shatter the traditions of centuries. The film has been long in the making due to several disputes over the rights of the story, which delayed production until 2005. With Steven Spielberg originally slated as director, he would eventually remain as executive producer with Rob Marshall of Chicago fame becoming the final director. Featuring beautiful cinematography and costumes, along with powerful performances from all involved, the film was quite possibly the most prestigious project of 2005, and its artistic values are very high, though its contents are pretty shallow.

John Williams, like Spielberg, also had taken a special liking to the story, and had made sure that he would be available to write the music. Therefore he forsook the concurrent Harry Potter franchise (leaving Patrick Doyle to write an excellent score for The Goblet of Fire) and set out to compose the music that would be one of his most ethnically laced efforts yet. Also along for the ride came two of Williams' old friends, the cellist Yo-Yo Ma and violinist Itzhak Perlman, to whom the composer had already written corresponding concertos and had been playing with in concerts and films. The score is very restrained and relies mostly on soloistic devices. Ma's cello is the dominating force which in many places brings to mind his collaboration with Williams in the 1997 film Seven Years in Tibet, which shares several similarities in both tone and ethnically thematic material. The main theme, first heard in "Sayuri's Theme," is from the outset entrusted to the cello. This main theme has a distinctly sweepish Asian flavour to it, but is still one that western audiences can relate to and is the major driving force of the score, which is recapitulated throughout the music, most notably in the cue "Becoming a Geisha," an absolutely fabulous five-minute play with the theme.

The secondary theme for Sayuri's secret love, the Chairman, is entrusted to Perlman's violin (best heard in "The Chairman's Waltz") and is much more tragic in tone, in its turn bringing to mind Perlman's 1993 collaboration on Schindler's List, which may be more due to the tone of the violinist than the music itself. However, Perlman is remarkably little used in this score as opposed to Ma, and this does create a slight imbalance, though not with the cost of enjoyability. On a more ethnically Japanese level are cues such as "Going to School," which uses much traditional Japanese instrumentation along with the cello in a light-hearted scherzo that is extremely delightful and almost magical; the charming "Brush on Silk" that uses almost nothing else than the koto and some bubbly and light percussion; "The Rooftops of the Hanamachi," which features one of the scores rare moments of dissonance; and "The Fire Scene and the Coming of War" where the traditional Japanese tragic opera Ogi no Mato (The Folding Fan as a Target) is paraphrased, among many other moments of more threatening nature, parts of it sounding very similar to his scores for Munich and Revenge of the Sith as well.

Other standout highlights include "The Journey to the Hanamachi," where Sayuri's Theme is heard in a beautiful string arrangement in the middle of the otherwise tense underscore, complete with the shakuhachi solos of Masakazu Yoshizawa à la James Horner; "The Garden Meeting" and "A New Name...a New Life" where the two main themes are circulated among each other one on top of the other to a beautiful effect; the gently impressionistic "Destiny's Path"; the absolutely fantastic "Confluence," quite possibly the finest track on the album (the most emotional moment the score gets), featuring surging strings, Ma's passionate cello, a beautiful oboe and flute solo, and finally ends with a gentle trombone statement of Sayuri's Theme (one of the few moments where brass is used in the score), that always makes my spine tingle; and the final "Sayuri's Theme and End Credits," that brings the score to a wonderful conclusion in recapitulating the main theme in a five minute suite with Ma and Perlman both having a turn at the main melody. On the whole, Memoirs of a Geisha is Williams' most restrained score in a long while (even Seven Years in Tibet featured a very grandiose and sweeping main theme). The fact that a 72-year old American can write such authentically sounding Japanese music is ample proof that John Williams is more than deserving the title of "the greatest film composer around today." To put it simply, Memoirs of a Geisha is by far the most beautiful score I heard in all 2005, which after the bombastic War of the Worlds and Revenge of the Sith was a welcomed diversion from Williams' usually larger than life thematic work. The main problem really with this score is its great restraint and avoidance of big, saturated melodies that keep ringing in your head hours later. I have read many comments of people complaining that this score is "boring," "uneventful" and simply "a poor Williams score." These sentiments are something I completely disagree with, and I think people making these statements have never really even listened to the music. This is a score that does not rely on your big themes, but appeals to your concentration and thoughtful repose.

Indeed, Memoirs is not only a beautiful film score, it is beautiful music. Period. It is something you need to listen to in order to fully absorb, but it can also be enjoyed as calming background music. There is nothing incredibly demanding here, but for those wishing to hear intelligent music, or just enjoy more restrained material, there is not much you can go wrong with this album. Released by Sony Classical, the album runs for 60 minutes and offers a nicely balanced listening experience, one that lures for repeat listenings. Of all the scores released in 2005, Memoirs of a Geisha stands as one of the best, and its Oscar nomination came as no surprise, particularly after winning the Golden Globe for Best Original Score. However, as it so often happens, the Academy once again made the most unfathomable decision of giving the award to Gustavo Santaolalla's extremely simplistic and unashamedly manipulative 15-minute play-it-in-a-loop score for Brokeback Mountain (personally I think the theme in that score is strangely annoying and highlights the Hollywood aspect of the film that really should be downplayed), also beating the similarly fine score for Munich at the same time. Hopefully this is not becoming a trend as it has been the case for two years in a row now to award "pleasant", major-keyed fluffiness (I still think The Village has a much better score than Finding Neverland) instead of more dramatically and intellectually satisfying work. Oh, well, what ever the case is with Brokeback's incomprehensible popularity, the undeniable fact is that Memoirs of a Geisha is an extremely well-made, if not one of Williams' absolute classic scores ever. Elegant and beautiful, this is the kind of music this world needs more of.


1. Sayuri's Theme (1:31)
2. The Journey to the Hanamachi (4:06)
3. Going to School (2:43)
4. Brush on Silk (2:31)
5. Chiyo's Prayer (3:37)
6. Becoming a Geisha (4:52)
7. Finding Satsu (3:45)
8. The Chairman's Waltz (2:39)
9. The Rooftops of the Hanamachi (3:50)
10. The Garden Meeting (2:44)
11. Dr. Crab's Prize (2:19)
12. Destiny's Path (3:21)
13. A New Name...A New Life (3:33)
14. The Fire Scene and the Coming of War (6:49)
15. As the Water (2:01)
16. Confluence (3:43)
17. A Dream Discarded (2:00)
18. Sayuri's Theme and End Credits (5:07)

Produced by John Williams
Music Composed and Conducted by John Williams
Cello Solos: Yo-Yo Ma
Violin Solos: Itzhak Perlman
Music Recorded and Mixed by Shawn Murphy
Recorded at Royce Hall, UCLA & Sony Pictures Studios, Culver City, CA
Music Editors: Ken Wannberg, Ken Karman & Ramiro Belgardt
Sony Classical, 2005 (82876747082)

© berlioz, 2006

Summary: Williams in Japanese mode works wonders