ST VI: Adagio misterioso e molto suspenso (Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country - Cliff Eidelman - Soundtrack)

Member Name: berlioz II

Product:	Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country - Cliff Eidelman - Soundtrack
Date:	25/11/07 (126 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Fantastically dark Star Trek score unlike any other

Disadvantages: The almost all-encompassing darkness and suspense may not be ideal for a lot of people

By the turn of the 1990's, the viability of the original crew Star Trek features were becoming seriously questionable as the Next Generation TV series was becoming more and more popular and the fifth film tanked among fans and general movie goers. Therefore the decision to make a sixth Star Trek film was perhaps quite rightfully laid on the shoulders of Nicholas Meyer, who had previously saved the franchise after the original Star Trek film didn't prove to be the great success it was designed to be. With Star Trek VI, Meyer finally was able to use the title "The Undiscovered Country" he had originally planned to call Trek II, and bring some more Shakespearean influences into the mix, thus creating a political thriller that was both eloquent and dramatically suspenseful than any other Star Trek film had been before. Dedicated to the memory of Gene Roddenberry, who died only a short time before the film's premiere, Star Trek VI deals with the necessity of the usually hostile Klingon Empire to come to peace negotiations with the Federation after their main power supplying planet of Praxis explodes, causing some drastic measures to be taken in order for their survival. Of course, certain factions within the Klingon Empire and the Federation are not that happy for such an outcome and hatch up a conspiracy to frame one of their own as the assassin of the peace emissary of the Klingon Ambassador Gorkon. As you may guess, the blame will be laid on James T. Kirk, who is set for retirement in a few months time with the rest of the crew of the Enterprise, resulting in his friends to find a way to clear his charges and take the real culprits down to justice. Based heavily on the political turmoil that was going on at the time as the Soviet Union was coming crashing down, Star Trek VI is by far one of the best Star Trek films ever made, once again proving the credentials of Nicholas Meyer in pulling a falling series back into something more truly fantastic.

In many ways Star Trek VI is a very atypical Star Trek film in having a more politically driven plot, a very mobile style of camera movement, and a more suspenseful atmosphere than outrightly heroic, while again playing the aging card of Star trek II with a lot of literary references Meyer was obviously fond of dropping here and there (Shakespeare's Hamlet being the main source this time). Musically the film has an even more strangely checkered past. Originally Meyer wanted to simply skip past in having an original score and to have the music arranged from Gustav Holst's famous The Planets suite. Unfortunately for him, he was defeated by the stellar re-use fees of adapting the existing score into a feature length film and was thus forced to hire a traditional composer to write a specific score for the film (thankfully for us). But not wanting to plod old ground, Meyer instantly wanted a fresh, new composer and not an established one like Jerry Goldsmith, or James Horner for that matter. Instead, having listened to several composers, he came across Cliff Eidelman whose demo for the opening of the film impressed him so much that he hired the man right there and then. Eidelman is one of those composers working today that really boggles the mind as to what happened to his career. Star Trek VI was Eidelman's first chance at a major blockbuster and this was followed by a series of other quite engaging scores like Christopher Columbus: The Discovery and Free Willy 3. However, since then he has mostly been reduced to the extremely ungratifying role of writing music for films that usually don't require interesting music at all, like The Lizzie McGuire Movie and The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, films far removed from the promising symphonic mastery of his early career and making him one of the people film score fans would most want to see returning to score another big, epic film where his talents would be far better utilized.

The score for Trek VI is quite a departure from the usual triumphal nature of the previous Trek scores in being distinctly more dark and suspenseful. This new approach is established right at the outset in the opening "Overture" that begins, not with an optimistically heraldic fanfare or with adventurous fantasy, but with the dark and low tones of the film's Klingon theme. This overture perfectly sets up what you are about to hear for the majority of the following score, which is darkly moody suspense, interspersed with moments of more excitement-filled militaristic snare-drum led ostinatos, complimented by a dark choir for the first time in a Star Trek film and an atmosphere that can only be called disturbingly dramatic. Indeed, unlike the other Star Trek scores, Trek VI doesn't rely on a positive main theme to bring forth the more gallant and "good always triumphs over evil" type of happy music you have been used to in the franchise, but instead focuses on the dark aspects of the conspiracy at the heart of the film, the Klingon theme (dispensing from using the clanging and rattling percussion of its predecessors) coming topmost as a strange, and malevolent identifier of both the little-known Klingon civilisation and the grand plan of the conspirators on both sides. After perfectly building to the opening explosion of the planet Praxis in the "Overture", the menacing theme often pops up in the following cues such as in "Assassination", "Surrender for Peace", "Revealed", and finally coming to a head in "The Battle for Peace" cue, the overall demeanour and sound of the theme and the idealogies that it carried behind it permeating the entire score in a wrapper of black and dark blue. As such it does make most of the score quite bleak and suspenseful that may not be that much appreciated by casual listeners.

This leads to cues such as "Surrender for Peace", "Death of Gorkon", "Rura Penthe" (with the choir interestingly chanting "taH pagh, taHBe'" in the background, meaning "To be, or not to be"), "Revealed" and most of "Escape from Rura Penthe" feel like boring underscore that needs an acute mind to revel in Eidelman's resplendent dark material for these long stretches of the score. To counteract the darker Klingon and conspiracy material, there is a more traditionally optimistic theme heard in the cues "Clear All Moorings", "Dining on Ashes" and "Sign Off" that more prominently accompanies the Enterprise and her crew with their bittersweet final sendoff in the Star Trek universe (together at least). It never really gets to the point that you could mistake it as being a truly happy theme due to this bittersweet aftertaste, but it still goes a long way in lifting up spirits amid all the surrounding darkness. Thirdly there is also a theme for Spock that appears in the beginning half of "Assassination" with a metallic synth twist practically identical with James Horner's similar Vulcan music in Trek II and this theme also makes a particularly strong appearance on full orchestra in the middle of the "Escape from Rura Penthe" cue for the long tracking shot of the ice glaciers of the prison planet as Kirk and McCoy are making their way outside of the surrounding reflective shield. The big action sequence of "The Battle for Peace" is a great cue, though somewhat marred on CD by being so closely tailored to fit the action on screen that it comes across as being a little too stop/start in execution when it follows various transitions between the Enterprise battle, some dialogue moments and shots from the peace conference on the adjoining planet. The entire score is then very finely summed up with the final "Star Trek VI Suite/End Credits" that has become a popular concert piece in its own right, though the coda feels a little tagged on to be fully satisfying.

The album release is by far the most comprehensive Star Trek album yet in featuring just about all of the score apart from a few cues still left missing, clocking in at about 46 minutes overall. Sound quality is fantastic and perfectly in keeping with the technology of the 1990's, though still leaving a little to be desired with the scope of the sound not feeling that the orchestra used was particularly large, which is a general characteristic of an Armin Steiner recording (particularly when comparing to say Bruce Botnick's amplified recording of Trek V). Taken as a whole, Eidelman's Star Trek VI is a score that is significantly different to any of the other Trek scores by Goldsmith, Horner, or even Rosenman, in being so deeply rooted in the darkness of the story to almost seem like not a Star Trek score at all. Still, it fares a lot better in the stakes of fitting in with the franchise than the fluffy Rosenman comedy effort for Trek IV, upping the dramatic side with its fantastic use of the new Klingon theme so very different from previous Klingon incarnations, yet retaining that level of mystery and nobility the Klingon Empire has held before, and what Goldsmith also managed to convey very well with his own Klingon theme. Whether you are going to enjoy Eidelman's effort will reflect on how much you can tolerate darkly suspenseful material for long stretches at a time and not feel like resorting to the more all-out action moments of Goldsmith's or Horner's respective efforts. Likewise it is a score that may garner better appreciation after seeing the film as some cues are very scene specific in construction to not make that much sense to those not knowing what the music is telling you at any given time, unlike Horner's Star Trek II had a habit of doing. For my own part, Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country has always remained among my strongest favourites in the series just because of its unrelentingly dark atmosphere and methodical approach at keeping everything on the level of not handing out cheap thrills before the film ends. It may not make for the best album listen for the uninitiated, but makes for one heck of a film score. Unfortunately, the album is starting to get hard to find, so the used market is your best bet to find it, keeping in mind as far as asking prices reflect your desire to get this score, that is, and your personal taste in music.


1. Overture (2:57)
2. An Incident (0:53)
3. Clear All Moorings (1:39)
4. Assassination (4:45)
5. Surrender for Peace (2:46)
6. Death of Gorkon (1:10)
7. Rura Penthe (4:22)
8. Revealed (2:38)
9. Escape from Rura Penthe (5:34)
10. Dining on Ashes (1:00)
11. The Battle for Peace (8:03)
12. Sign Off (3:13)
13. Star Trek VI Suite/End Credits (6:18)

Music Composed and Conducted by Cliff Eidelman
Orchestrated by Mark McKenzie & William Kidd
Music Recorded and Mixed by Armin Steiner
Recorded at Twentieth Century Fox
Music Editors: Bunny Andrews & Robin K. Eidelman
MCA, 1991 (MCLD-19348)

© berlioz, 2007

Summary: Warp Factor 6, just cruisin' along...