Iris

Where did this score come from? Horner fans were looking forward to the composers' score for Ron Howard's A Beautiful Mind when Sony Classical announced that they would be releasing James Horner's score for the English film Iris, early in 2002. Surprises of this kind are rare when it comes to James Horner, since we often know for months in advance what films the composer will score, often thanks to the type of films he normally writes music for - big budget, Hollywood productions, that is. But small scale, character driven dramas are films Horner often writes excellent music for. Some of the best scores by the composer have been written for such films as The Spitfire Grill, To Gillian on Her 37th Birthday, Searching for Bobby Fischer and The Man Without a Face. And the score for Iris is really good. Not as good as The Spitfire Grill, but still very beautiful and memorable. And, as often when it comes to Horner, it's far from being totally original. But hey, the familiar sound and material work really well in Iris, for some strange reason.

However, Iris is a score that grows on you. The more one listens to it, the better it gets. Give it just one listen and you will probably write this score off as yet another boring and unoriginal score by Mr Hey-that-sounds-familiar. But it's not. Oh no. But don't expect a score that will sweep you away, with a lovely, typical Horner theme, because that is not what you will get (sure, there are some terrific sweeping and lush moments in there, but they are not many). Actually, the score for Iris is rather themeless. Instead, one of the scores' most often used building stones is a descending line of a repeated four note motif, similar to and quite reminiscent of Horner's infamous four note danger motif. But it's not the same, mind you. And here, it doesn't sound evil at all.

If I have to compare this score with other scores, and music, by Horner, I would go with the lovely, shimmering forest and night music from the already mentioned The Spitfire Grill. The two scores share the same relaxing, warm, small scale and cozy sound, with low, meandering strings and woodwinds, with an occasional French horn solo and some writing for piano. And violin solos. Performed by famous violinist Joshua Bell (among film music listeners known for his collaboration with composer John Corigliano on his score for The Red Violin) these solos are really quite lovely and beautiful, as they weave in and out of the music. At times in the foreground, but other times hiding a little behind the rest of the orchestra. Excellent stuff.

The track titles are somewhat unconventional. There are eight tracks, that Horner has chosen to title "Part1", "Part2", "Part3" etc. What's up with that? A little strange, I think... The running time, just under fifty minutes, is rather short for a Horner soundtrack. But it is actually something I welcome. Most scores don't win on a playing time of over 70 minutes. Actually, I can only think of one 70 minutes plus soundtrack from 2001 that managed to entertain me and hold my attention the entire running time, and that is Howard Shore's The Lord of the Rings. 50 minutes is just perfect for Iris.

For more information, visit Sony Classicals Iris soundtrack site, located at www.irissoundtrack.com.