1001 Nights

Review by Thomas Glorieux:

David Newman's sole work of 1998 was for Mike Smith's tantalizing vision upon Yoshitaka Amano's work, and through 3D animation this 24 minute short feature was launched and celebrated by fans around the world for its look. No dialogue (apart from the opening narration) was used and so David Newman's sole score was featured and heard most prominently during the feature, and it could be that Newman's vision is so spot on the money, a lot of the magic is lost while listening separately from it. To tell you the truth, after hearing its music, you'll wonder if you heard either the most brilliant music alive or the most difficult and while its a little bit of both, its good to have music as demanding as this sometimes since it might listen harder then most, it also demands more in the end from your soul and after it, you feel more revived then you're were probably expecting. I could compare it a bit with Fantasia that the music makes the visuals work, meaning specifically drawn for the music and here you feel the same way too, yet the music was written after it and Newman therefore is to be commended for doing such a terrific job, you wonder what came first. This short bootleg features the entire 23 minutes of music for the piece, and was scored by the Philharmonic Orchestra so precisely, a lot of detail went in to revive every single pixel in the movie. Its amazing to hear such detail from a man we all know to score silly frenetic comedy movies, and by god these directors should have to hear more of this, because David Newman is truly as great as his fellow name composers, since its work like this that perhaps demands more, but brings more in the end as well.

As said, the entire piece is here, and in 1 track it might look as a tough nut, but you listen quite fluently through it, not like say Zimmer's mammoth pieces for Fools of Fortune. Its one orchestral tour de force and lacks a lot of thematic cohesion, but the expression behind it feels like clockwork for the scenes itself. Its feisty opening minutes in the begin, its ethnic touches which remind you especially with the vocal of Operation Dumbo Drop, its mysterious play during the first 5 minutes, its all shooked up later when frenetic and typical Newman music sets a little bit more cohesion to the fore, yet also the force of the sound, which is quite good yet not clear. Its actually after some 10 minutes the score receives its true climatic minutes, when first a solo piano is heard creating the most beautiful theme (especially when heard in the frenetic tones that came before it) and while some light choir makes up for the mystery, its the explosion of the orchestra which creates the climatic feel. Near the end even beats and brass set up the David Newman touch to end softly and dreamy with bells and strings. Its true, 1001 Nights is demanding and at the end, you even wonder what to remember of its thematic qualities. But the feel during it, effect after it and the special simply demanding quality surrounding it is enough for you to consider, it might not make for easy listening but sure as hell will fit for the scenery on screen. Not to be given to anyone, but a true Newman completist will feel he's witnessing something new from the maestro, and with great reason too.

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Tracks

Single Disc

1. Track 1 (22.44)

Total Length: 22.44

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

=== Link to Composer Site: David Newman ===