Trevor Rabin’s scores are unmistakable and are incredibly fun. With The Sorcerer’s Apprentice I honestly believe Rabin has delivered his best score in quite some time. With Jerry Bruckheimer producing and John Turteltaub directing I’m sure he felt right at home.
The Sorcerer’s Apprentice lets Rabin flex his action muscles like we haven’t heard in a while. He is able to balance some light fun cues with some incredibly grand and intense ones. The album opens with an appropriate homage to the Dukas piece from Fantasia and then a pretty big homage to Hans Zimmer. I don’t know exactly why Jack Sparrow’s theme is blatantly in the first track, but it is and I loved it. Rabin’s familiar arrangements flourish with stunning thematic material and get backed with a chorus on occasion. The main theme echoes in almost every cue giving this score its identity. Percussion, riffing guitars and pulsing strings keep the adrenaline level high. Yes, there were moments in this score that got the hairs on the back of my neck standing on end, which I didn’t expect. “The Urn” and “Car Chase” are two standout cues that bleed Trevor Rabin and are incredible.
Think what you want about the movie and all, but the score itself is a true delight and will please Rabin fans immensely. Toss this one up with Armageddon as one of his most memorable action scores. Like Armageddon it is heavy on the action cues with an epic quality, but has a fair amount of emotion laced into it. I think you’ll be surprised as to how invested you will become with this score as you listen through it.
One thing that I notice about the film composers I love is how they strive in simplicity, and Trevor Rabin is no exception. The melodies and tunes are simple and if that composer is talented then those simple tunes will have an enormous emotional effect. The score will also take the film it’s accompanying and make it soar.
Nice review! I am a Trevor Rabin fan as well as a film music fan. One thing though. It might sound a little like Pirates because the original tune is in "Asteroid Chase" off of the Armageddon soundtrack. Zimmer definately gets some of his Pirates score from Rabin's track. Great to see a blog about film scores. I shall be returning to read more! Keep up the great work!
ReplyDeleteAre you talking about a different track? There's no track titled "Asteroid Chase" on the Armageddon score.
ReplyDeleteIt might actually be an isolated section of the score from the movie that isn't on the soundtrack. There is a Youtube video for it. Originally, since the track name wasn't on the soundtrack, I checked to see if it was bogus, but it is the part when the shuttle is getting ready to go around the moon and catch up with the asteroid. If you want to hear it, all you have to do is type asteriod chase in youtube search.
ReplyDeleteI think that was a Gregson-williams cue. He co-wrote almost half the ARMAGEDDON score.
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