Christopher Young: MURDER AT 1600

Even though Basil Poledouris composed (according to published opinions in the Internet) a score purportedly very superior (but rejected) to that from Christopher Young for the film Murder at 1600, this last one seemed to be more in taste of his director Dwight H. Little and the producers Warner Bros., but finally it did not had a commercial issue probably due to the poors results in the box office of the film. The same as in Hush, Young and Douglass Fake (Intrada) continue the tradition of the promotionals devoted to the composer of Hellraiser (1987) that begun a couple of years ago. Quite inferior to the undervalueed Shadow Conspiracy (1997) by Bruce Broughton, in a plot of similar issues, Young's music, underlying to a quite obtained functionality but in excess dependent to the images, codifies its well-intented dramatic sense with keys proposed in previous scores, producing thus an anodine exercise of hybrid suspense, a chaotic mixture of Jennifer 8 (1992) and Species (1995). The listening of the CD supposes, for the followers of this great musician, a distasteful sensation of dčja-vu, besides a slight fatigue that in moments is seen not at all eased by interesting action passages and brisky orchestral movements (Bacchanalia). Is notable the effective and malleable principal motive, that in only three notes registers the uneasiness and the intrigue atmosphere of the film, as well as the adequate percussion, so much electronical as physical -that is suggested as the base of the potent section used in Hard Rain (1998)-, and the blush sensation that creates Young through the strings section. A neat soundtrack, aseptic and scarcely risky, but that it does not cheat to anybody: it works very well in the movie and is correctly built, in spite of the evident lack of inspiration from his architect. D.R.C.

/ PRIVATE EDITION CD96006 / 51'


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