Rollerball

A soundtrack album of famous and not so famous classical bits, plus a few cringe-worthy original tracks. Sounds like a Stanley Kubrick soundtrack to me. Only in this case, it isn't, but the soundtrack to a futuristic thriller about a very violent sport and corporate corruption that surrounds it. To coincide with the detrital remake, Varese have released a soundtrack for the original film, using the original classical excerpts conducted by André Previn, plus the original music Previn composed as source music for the party sequences. The album opens, curiously with neither of the above, but with Bach's infamous Toccata in D Minor, performed in fine style by Simon Preston. As a side bar, for an hilarious spoof on its use to underscore the game of rollerball itself, see Monty Python's Meaning of Life and its boys versus teachers rugby match.

Next is one of three Shostakovich excerpts, the first two are fairly slow going, with long, drawn out string lines that while excellent in the context of the entire respective symphonies, they can be a little hard going on their own. The problem being that the dramatic payoff never comes, due to their abbreviated nature. The excerpt from the Fifth Symphony that rounds out the album is considerably more rousing and certainly closer to what one usually expects of 'typical' Shostakovich. Although the selections here don't really suggest it, Shostakovich has had a marked influence on symphonic film music, but I don't honestly imagine these selections inspiring younger fans to seek out more of Shostakovich's work, simply because of the relative lethargy of the selections. A pity as much of his music would be enjoyed immensely by fans of Horner or Williams.

André Previn's contributions outside of conducting are frankly atrocious, dated and horrid in any context, but next to such grand orchestral music, stick out like James Horner at an originality conference. Best skipped every time. Albinoni's Adagio forms the main theme for the film - makes a change from Barber's I suppose - and is accompanied by expert solo violin playing from John Brown. Compared to the other classical selections, Tchaikovsky's Sleeping Beauty Waltz is very flamboyant and over the top, as most Tchaikovsky tends to be. Still, a little dash of on the sleeve romance does inject some life into an album that veers from grandly sobering to the hideously crass.

The performances by the London Symphony Orchestra are of course superb, Previn was the in house conductor at the time so the conductor-orchestra rapport is ready made. The same cannot be said of Previn's compositions which give the album the feeling of someone badly joining a campy 70's pop tunes album with a classical selections compilation. While doubtlessly effective in the film, the slightly eclectic mixture makes for a somewhat unsatisfactory album. As mentioned, most of the Shostakovich movements are best heard in context of either the film or their original symphonies, while the other items just sit uncomfortably next to each other. An album that is less than the sum of its parts.