Kilar: Warsaw to Hollywood (Compilation)

Review by Thomas Glorieux:

A lot of people complain about not getting enough on the market of Wojciech Kilar's soundtracks. He rarely scores an American release and when he does, the score receives attention by commercialization and the fans pick up the thematic quality of his work. But what about those foreign releases? There might be good scores between them? True, and that's why Milan released a compilation of Wojciech Kilar in foreign mode, and making the fans at least happy for a change. But since this release has seen daylight in '97, there has been few word about it and that's why I investigated it for all my concern. For those who know little about Polish composer Kilar, he is perhaps the most classical inspired composer walking around (when it concerns American styled composers), his favorite threesome is strings, piano and harpsichord and his classical influence will make the score. But the question is; how would he translate it with foreign films? Easy, the same because the thematic voice is first and the classical influence guides it from begin to end, Kilar: Warsaw to Hollywood is the perfect example of that fact.

The entire compilation delivers you works from Kilar, categorized by the directors he worked with. Absent from this disc are two inclusions from which I have the score already. The album consisted of 2 other selections; Bram Stoker’s Dracula: 'Mina / Dracula' and 'The Storm' and Death and the Maiden: 'Paulina’s Revenge', 'Roberto’s Last Chance' and 'Paulina’s Theme' and in the end their absence is sad. I'll explain why later. First the material that does remained on the disc, this is all romantic / comedy genre and the sound doesn't really differ much. The style and tone is so close together that it is hard to really differentiate the one from the other. Of course certain memories are for instance 'La Grande Marche de la Cavalerie' which is a jolly march and has a varying tone that keeps it interesting, 'Galop I' which offers yet another march, 'Retour a la Maison' which uses harpsichord, strings and piano and by this leans close to The Portrait of a Lady in musical style and tone, 'Alla Polacca' which is a short but vibrant march, 'Saint Maximilien' which will be remembered and treasured by the most because this is the piece used in the soundtrack and film of The Truman Show, only this time with a short extension at the end that makes it even more better than before and a frenzy fierce tango version heard in the appropriate name 'Tango'. And without wanting to make it clear already, not a lot of the emotional comedy pieces are named here.

But why is that? Because, while all thematically perfect and interesting onto themselves, it leans so close together that it is hard to remember them at the end, just because every part follows the one and they hardly differ in style. It of course makes the evolution of the score solid and without flaws but in time they do start to drag a little. Of course, this will not bother the normal release because there you have the two darker pieces of Kilar's career, and without sounding too optimistic, they do offer a change of tone and a good set of better thematic highlights. Kilar: Warsaw to Hollywood is made for people nagging that they want more of the Polish composer. And they all offer more of drama, comedy, horror and psychological thriller moods but the one I'm having doesn't really differ (making it more a score to listen to while doing something else, the highlights you will pick up without a problem). Of course, its full and final release offers a little more, in length and diversity and gives just the fans what they want, a rich thematically classical voice that shows that Wojciech Kilar can make movies worth it with his way of composing.

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Tracks

Single Disc

Andrzej Wajda: "La Chronique des Evénements Amoureux"

1. La Grande Marche De La Cavalerie (5.12)

2. Witek Et Alina (4.07)

"La Ligne d'Ombre"

3. Sortie Du Port (3.08)

"La Ligne d'Ombre"

4. Valse Romantique (4.10)

Krzysztof Zanussi: "Full Gallop"

5. Galop I (2.27)

6. Générique (1.55)

7. Galop II (2.14)

"Bilan Trimenstriel"

8. Retour A La Maison (5.16)

"Contrat"

9. Alla Polacca (1.27)

"L'Année du Soleil Calme"

10. Emilie & Norman (2.24)

"Father Kolbe / Life for Life"

11. La Cellule D'auschwitz (2.26)

12. Saint Maximilien (2.45) Excellent Track

Krzysztof Kielslowski: "Hasard"

13. Thčme Pour Hautbois (1.38)

14. Thčme Pour Cordes (1.52)

Janusz Majewski: "Jalousie et Médecine"

15. Tango (2.29)

Jerzy Hoffman: "La Lépreuse"

16. Les Fontaines (3.25)

17. Grand Valse (5.04)

Total Length: 52.00

The use of artwork or photos is posted for non profitable reasons

=== Link to Composer Site: Wojciech Kilar ===