The Agony and the Ecstasy
The Deluxe Edition

I had always imagined Alex North to wrote dissonant music that wasn't at all easy on the ear. I guess I must have come to that conclusion having (several years ago) listened to his rejected score to Kubrick's 2001. To realise that Alex North also wrote very melodic music, but that he also wrote jazz and perhaps his most popular piece, the song Unchained Melody. Then again, how many people would actually realise that he wrote it? Virtually no-one I would suspect. With The Agony and the Ecstasy, North wrote a very melodic score that is actually very simple in many ways. The chords are all based on the modal scale, which often gives the impression that the thing is a hymn without words, full of very hymnal cadences. The entire score is also in 4/4 time which reinforces this feeling further. Of course, North was entirely justified in this approach since the conflict between religion and art is essentially what the story is about, therefore making the music beautiful and quasi-religious sounding at the same time has perhaps more meaning that it would at first seem.

I was very surprised at the simple-sounding nature of the score as well as the somewhat modern sound it has. It is as far from the Miklos Rosza epic sound that you can get, but it still sounds very grand and spacious, presumably the mirroring the great expanse of ceiling that Michelangelo had to work on. There are quite a few set pieces in this score, self contained works that work both in and out of context. The first is the amazing Main Title which starts with organ chords and gradually builds as the main melodic material is introduced to bring the track to a splendidly brassy conclusion. According to the comprehensive liner notes, The First Battle is a Battaglia which is apparently derived from a 14th Century Caccia where the instrumental voices chase each other. This is certainly evident as various sections of the orchestra sound off fanfares with each other. Festivity is indeed the joyous piece as it's name implies, but it doesn't in any ruin the more cerebral mood laid down by the intervening cues.

I think that most younger soundtrack fans will be surprised at the overall soundscape of this score as it doesn't sound like 'old' film music in any way, in fact it has a very timeless quality to it. I could be imagining, but there sound like hints of what Jerry Goldsmith was to write years after the score was composed. On that very subject, Goldsmith does a fine presentation of North's music and the RSNO's playing is generally excellent. Perhaps the only addition they could have made would have been to add the Prologue music that Goldsmith himself wrote as a prelude to the original film which was a tour of art galleries showing Michelangelo's work (apparently, in case the viewers confused this Michelangelo with another one - easily done I'm sure). Otherwise, another extremely highly recommended album.