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Six Degrees
Of Separation
One of the composer's most
intriguing assignments since the 1960s. For the first time, Jerry
Goldsmith was essentially writing a score for a play, albeit
one that was made into a film for theatrical release. As a consequence
Goldsmith's score is not only of a short duration but the length
of the various cues are often very short too. Essentially the
composer was required to provide musical introductions to each
act sandwiched between a traditional main and end title.
Goldsmith's miniscule score is centred around his main theme,
which is a slow, but attractive, tango depicting the snobbish
and laid back attitudes of New York's upper classes. From here
Goldsmith's expands his score no further than minimalist Jazz,
highlighting piano, perhaps for Will Smith's clever con man.
With the Melbourne orchestra resembling a string quartet at times,
Goldsmith's music is polished, very clever and perfectly pitched
for Schepisi's critically acclaimed adaptation.
As a soundtrack album, Six Degrees doesn't quite work
though. Goldsmith himself wasn't keen that the score be released
in this form, but Elektra went ahead any way and tried to make
it more interesting by including both source music and dialogue
excerpts. Sadly this hasn't helped, giving the album a more muddled
feel. The best bet might have been to assemble the score into
a suite, scheduling the rest of the material after it. However,
for completists this album is no doubt a welcome inclusion in
their Goldsmith collection regardless, but the nature of the
score, no matter how good, and the album sequencing doesn't make
this CD an easy one to pick up and play. |
