Sleepy Hollow (1999)
Added on Tuesday, July 27, 2021 Posted by Philippe Mouchon
Intrada brings a taste of Halloween to the world a few months early with this new, 4-CD set of Danny Elfman's dark, serious work for Tim Burton's 1999 adaptation of Washington Irving's Sleepy Hollow.
Intrada brings a taste of Halloween to the world a few months early with this new, 4-CD set of Danny Elfman's dark, serious work for Tim Burton's 1999 adaptation of Washington Irving's Sleepy Hollow.
Sleepy Hollow was familiar territory for Elfman: gothic, mythical, creepy, action-packed and romantic. The score features a prominent main theme for the horseman himself. Or is it for Ichabod Crane? Perhaps it's a theme that unifies Crane's childhood and the headless horesman.
While the melody is as lyrical as anything Eflman has ever written, it resonates very differently in its various guises throughout the score, whether sung by a boy's choir or by the orchestra playing powerfully over a blasting pipe organ. It's a score that churns and moves in dark powerful currents, a storm of danger and dread.
The score in the film runs 95 minutes, from which Hollywood Records culled 68 minutes for its original album presentation.
With the support of both Hollywood Records and Paramount Pictures, Intrada presents a 4-CD set of the score, including some rare finds.
The first disc presents the original Hollywood Records program. Discs 2–3 cover the complete score as heard in the film, with the fourth disc featuring over 66 minutes of original and alternate versions, often markedly different from the versions ultimately used in the film.
In Burton’s version of the story, Johnny Depp stars as Ichabod Crane, a New York City homicide detective in 1799, working at the threshold of scientific advances and advocating the use of new forensics technology in a world full of skeptics.
Crane is sent to Sleepy Hollow, just up the Hudson River, to solve a string of mysterious beheadings.
There he finds a town full of silence and secrets, the heart of which is the Van Tassel family. Crane untangles a complex web of family history and conspiracy involving a dead pregnant widow, a rewritten will, and a possessed Tree of the Dead.
Around every turn is the ghost of a Hessian soldier, riding through town and lopping off heads. In digging up the town’s violent past, Crane ends up exhuming his own—a childhood traumatized by the murder of his witchcraft-practicing mother by his hyper-religious father.
INTRADA ISC 464
Danny Elfman’s powerful greatly expanded 1999 horror soundtrack on 4 CDs! Tim Burton directs,
Johnny Depp stars as Ichabod Crane, homicide detective from Washington Irving’s legendary short story. Supporting players include Christina Ricci, Miranda Richardson, Michael Gambon, Casper Van Dien, Jeffrey Jones, plus Christopher Walken as the brutal Hessian headless horseman.
Kevin Yagher creates graphic prosthetics, intense film’s art direction wins an Academy Award. Ichabod Crane, working outside New York City in 1799, brings new forensic technology to solve mystery of numerous beheadings.
Dark secrets, conspiracies, complicated family history juxtaposes with frightening Tree of Death and the headless mercenary roaming atop his black steed.
It’s strong, scary, violent stuff! Danny Elfman fashions arguably his biggest, most vividly terrifying score, written for massive orchestra, chorus plus boys choir and soloists, with pipe organ in tow. Elfman melds haunting lyricism with dynamic power and dense intensity. Results are now gentle, now thundering.
Epic indeed! Adding further weight to score, Elfman creates several lengthy sequences: The Tree Of Death, The Church Battle, The Windmill, The Chase and Final Confrontation, plus others. Some 95 minutes of music appears in the finished film.
All of it appears on this 4-CD release. But there is much much more! Over an hour of additional alternates and rescored sequences also appear.
Some of these offer considerably different takes on the same cue, others have rewritten bars that offer subtler alterations.
Rounding out lavish set is Elfman’s original Hollywood label release with 68-minutes of score as presented by the composer in 1999. Entire 4-disc set mastered from digital elements recorded by Shawn Murphy & Jonathan Allen in London and mixed by Robert Fernandez in New York. Sizeable orchestration duties handled by Conrad Pope, David Slonaker, Albert Olson, Steve Bartek, Mark McKenzie, Marc Mann. Allan Wilson conducts, choral work performed by Metro Voices and The London Oratory School SCHOLA.
Intrada presentation made possible through Hollywood Records and Paramount Pictures. Dramatic package design by Kay Marshall, literate booklet notes by Tim Greiving. Intrada 4-CD set available while quantities and interest remain!