The Silence of the Lambs

I could be fair to say that The Silence of the Lambs did for Anthony Hopkins what Star Wars did for Alec Guiness. Both had always been superb and highly respected actors, but if one were asked to name a film either was in, I suspect that those famous efforts would be the first that spring to mind for most people. However, unlike Guiness' gig on Lucas' sci-fi epic, Hannibal Lecter is a considerably more interesting role and it was Hopkins' truly chilling performance played against Jodie Foster's more down to earth, but no less measured performance as Clarice Starling that made the film the success it became. It even managed to make fava beans famous.

I suspect that had this been made 40 years previously, Bernard Herrmann might have been the ideal composer to bring the psychological tension to Jonathan Demme's award winning adaptation of Thomas Harris' book, but today I suspect there are few composers as ideally suited as Howard Shore. Having said that, this is not easy listening by any means; the sonorities insistently dark and intense with the orchestra more often than not growling around in the lower registers; almost certainly an orchestration trick that Herrmann would have used. The Main Title isn't nearly as intense as the underscore proper and has considerably more movement, but it still suggests the tone of the score effectively.

Shore's writing is sustained; the layers of the orchestra seem to slide about on top of one another, yet clustered together as to be almost inseparable at times. Even the more surging moments are still embedded in the lower end of the orchestra, although Shore allows himself to break free for something a little more operatic during Lecter Escapes. Shores more controlled approach and strong use of the orchestra is somewhat dispensed with in The Cellar; eerie textures and the orchestral recording somewhat distorted so that it sounds slightly more muffled (at least I assume it's meant to be like that) which is somewhat less appealing as pure music, although extremely effective in the film. The final track threatens to verge into that overused film music horror cliché, the lullaby melody, but Shore overlaps some more of the trademark sustained strings and then brings in some more movement with an ostinato arpeggio figure that becomes quite a welcome relief and change of pace to close out the album.

Despite the undeniable effectiveness of the music in the film and on disc, at an hour, the score rather turns into something akin to wading through treacle. Despite giving the album numerous listens, I'm still undecided as to how many people would simply find the whole thing too intense and uninteresting. It is worth persevering as the carefully honed atmosphere is absorbed by the listener and disturbed nightmares of dingy prisons and electrifying discussions are easily evoked. This still isn't the kind of album you 'enjoy' as such. Had it been slightly shorter, the gloom wouldn't become so oppressive, but compared to some of the trashy horror scores that are written these days, this is certainly several cuts above average.