Bridge to Terabithia
Aaron Zigman
" There are some incredibly witty ideas, where brass and choir pump up the energy of the battle really well. "Written by Thomas Glorieux
Described as a somewhat different kind of fantasy, The Bridge to Terabithia wasn't as successful as the movie that reassured Walden Media's fortune, namely The Chronicles of Narnia. However, while it wasn't a financial success, at least it was critically. While The Chronicles of Narnia was a money making success with multiple stories, Terabithia was only a one time deal. Enter Aaron Zigman, a composer who was just fresh off the success of Flicka and The Notebook, and up for a fantasy score was going to be his big breakthrough. Enter Hollywood Records. The geniuses behind the record labels nowadays understand the hot success of fantasy music, after The Lord of the Rings alone captivated a broad audience through the visuals and, most of all, the accompanying scores. This made Walt Disney Records at least understand the reason to secure the listeners with a full score of Harry Gregson-Williams' music for Narnia.
Hollywood Records, though, didn't quite believe that Aaron Zigman had the name or the fame of those two composers. So they decided to insert just 16 minutes of Zigman's music with the remainder of the used songs. I'm always happier with at least some score than no score, but it depends on the score being good or great. And Aaron Zigman's score seemed to capture more potential than Gregson-Williams’ music for The Chronicles of Narnia. Enter the promo. If labels continue to disrespect the cry of good filmmusic, then you often must hear the full picture. The song/soundtrack release at least covers the best track of them all, which is the 6 minute (4 on the promo) The Battle. Being the only full action piece heard in the movie, it's full of potential and sharp writing. There are some incredibly witty ideas, where brass and choir pump up the energy of the battle really well. And while it's very energetic, people will also hear a lot of John Williams in it. That’s a great compliment for a composer as Aaron Zigman.
The actual main theme of Bridge to Terabithia is a close cousin to material such as Flicka. Add rhythmic strings, melodic brass and a guitar to it, and you have Flicka. Add to that a certain choral gentleness, and you have the Main Theme. Entering the Forest holds a lot of charming fantasy chorals. Later on, some mystery writing will follow, with a wonderful ending where the choir meshes with the main theme. The fantasy follows the choral path in Crossing the River and in Seeing Terabithia. The fun rhythmic beginning of Troll Hunting gets a darker and, above all, choral magnitude in the middle, which is really fun to discover (Home Alone fans, watch out here!). Occasionally we get some frantic writing that recalls the action tone of The Battle. A track like The Darkmaster is proof of this. Furthermore, Jess Bridge holds the main theme in a fanfare moment and some Zimmer fanatics will spot some material of him as well. However, it's the soothing fantasy music that defines the overall tone of the film. We hear it in Janice Down and in the wonderful End Title.
What's really evident is that the promo presents the cues in anything but chronological order, and after End Title, we encounter some short cues. Like for instance Trap Going Off and Running across the Paddocks, both employing terrific moments, surely sounding short but stunning. The listening experience could be altered easily if you would listen to the music in chronological order. The short tracks aren't without merit, but it's sad that they are so short to begin with. While the original album brings a lot of charm due to the songs and score, it's the promo that holds the more fantastical edge of Bridge to Terabithia. In fantasy movies it is still the music that brings the story its wonder, and thereby this needs to be heard. With over a quarter of the music presented on the original album, we weren't fully satisfied. So fans of the movie and Zigman will surely find a lot of small hidden gems that could easily alter your perspective from hearing a fine score, to hearing a good score. Enter your choice.
Hollywood Records, though, didn't quite believe that Aaron Zigman had the name or the fame of those two composers. So they decided to insert just 16 minutes of Zigman's music with the remainder of the used songs. I'm always happier with at least some score than no score, but it depends on the score being good or great. And Aaron Zigman's score seemed to capture more potential than Gregson-Williams’ music for The Chronicles of Narnia. Enter the promo. If labels continue to disrespect the cry of good filmmusic, then you often must hear the full picture. The song/soundtrack release at least covers the best track of them all, which is the 6 minute (4 on the promo) The Battle. Being the only full action piece heard in the movie, it's full of potential and sharp writing. There are some incredibly witty ideas, where brass and choir pump up the energy of the battle really well. And while it's very energetic, people will also hear a lot of John Williams in it. That’s a great compliment for a composer as Aaron Zigman.
The actual main theme of Bridge to Terabithia is a close cousin to material such as Flicka. Add rhythmic strings, melodic brass and a guitar to it, and you have Flicka. Add to that a certain choral gentleness, and you have the Main Theme. Entering the Forest holds a lot of charming fantasy chorals. Later on, some mystery writing will follow, with a wonderful ending where the choir meshes with the main theme. The fantasy follows the choral path in Crossing the River and in Seeing Terabithia. The fun rhythmic beginning of Troll Hunting gets a darker and, above all, choral magnitude in the middle, which is really fun to discover (Home Alone fans, watch out here!). Occasionally we get some frantic writing that recalls the action tone of The Battle. A track like The Darkmaster is proof of this. Furthermore, Jess Bridge holds the main theme in a fanfare moment and some Zimmer fanatics will spot some material of him as well. However, it's the soothing fantasy music that defines the overall tone of the film. We hear it in Janice Down and in the wonderful End Title.
What's really evident is that the promo presents the cues in anything but chronological order, and after End Title, we encounter some short cues. Like for instance Trap Going Off and Running across the Paddocks, both employing terrific moments, surely sounding short but stunning. The listening experience could be altered easily if you would listen to the music in chronological order. The short tracks aren't without merit, but it's sad that they are so short to begin with. While the original album brings a lot of charm due to the songs and score, it's the promo that holds the more fantastical edge of Bridge to Terabithia. In fantasy movies it is still the music that brings the story its wonder, and thereby this needs to be heard. With over a quarter of the music presented on the original album, we weren't fully satisfied. So fans of the movie and Zigman will surely find a lot of small hidden gems that could easily alter your perspective from hearing a fine score, to hearing a good score. Enter your choice.
Tracklist
No tracklist has been added.