Conquest 1453
Benjamin Wallfisch
" Wallfisch creates enjoyable unoriginal blockbuster effort "Written by Thomas Glorieux - Review of the regular release
Fetih 1453 is one of the greatest Turkish movies ever made, based on Constantinople's siege by the Ottoman Turks during the reign of Sultan Mehmed II. For this movie, no expense was spared (especially for Turkish standards), but the result definitely paid off. The 160 minute epic movie was a hit in Turkey and a moment for composer Benjamin Wallfisch to go berserk with. After all, epic tales such as this demand for epic scores. And considering no expense was spared, there was room for a big orchestral score, so expect one in return.
Wallfisch created a powerful, colorful and potent orchestral score, enhanced by electronics that definitely heighten the experience on occasion. The main theme is no original winner, and feels like Vangelis in the opening track "Mehmet's Theme", but it does have merit when it occasionally enlightens an emotional soaring moment ("The Prophecy", "The Promise", "Journey" and "My Life or my Flag"). There's also a great heroic version of it in "Attack", delivering what is definitely the most enjoyable version of it on disc.
Speaking of the action music, it's by far the stuff you'll remember the most on this album. Hints of recent Bond scores, drum loops and rhythmic powerful beats surely enhance what feels like the typical action music of today. However and in this part I feel Conquest 1453 (the English name) does it right, there are hints of massive trumpets and whirling strings that heighten the power of cues such as "Duel" and "Arrows of Fire" (terrific adventure cue heightened by millions of whirling strings). And when needed, Wallfisch adds ethnic color to them by incorporating woodwinds, solo vocals or raw electronic roughness. No real originality there, but this is blockbuster stuff, and then it's necessary to do it right. Such as during the epic emotional sturm und drang of "Pulling the Ships".
In fact, when listening to the action music, I sometimes make the remark that this is perfect for video games of today. Stuff that would totally fit the recent stream of ethnic based shoot em up games. By then there's no surprise to add a bit of epic choir to it here and there, conquering furious tracks such as "Basilica", "Hippodrome", "Mehmet's War" and "End Game". And of course in every war, there's room for romance. And "Era and Hassan" and "Goodbye" doesn't hide it for a single moment, unleashing an equally unoriginal love theme in the outcome.
Conquest 1453 has many advantages and equally many disadvantages. For every plus there's one negative, and this will pretty much divide the people giving this one a chance. For me, this is perfect blockbuster music, enough variation and anthems to please the mainstream listener. It's a bit long, I'll give you that and originality was surely not the word of the day when Wallfisch began this Turkish adventure. However I feel like I want to approach this as a game score, ready to support the many many epic battles the gamer faces on screen. For that it has the power, the emotion and the rhythm. Trim this one down to 50 minutes and you'll probably enjoy it even more.
Favorite Moment - Attack (1.13 - 1.35)
No matter the corniness of it, I do enjoy the heroic variation of the main theme immensely
Track Listing
1. Mehmet's Theme (2.46)
2. Duel (3.35)
3. The Prophecy (2.22)
4. The Promise (1.57)
5. Basilica (1.45) Excellent track
6. The Resistance (1.50)
7. Harbour (0.49)
8. Nightmare (1.34)
9. Journey (2.03)
10. Destiny (4.03)
11. Diplomacy Fails (1.55)
12. Arrows of Fire (3.55) Excellent track
13. Era and Hassan (2.01)
14. Hippodrome (2.13)
15. Halil Summoned (3.32)
16. Easter (2.03)
17. War Drums (1.51)
18. Attack (1.49) Excellent track
19. Mehmet Contemplates (1.20)
20. Era's Transformation (0.53)
21. Factory (1.47)
22. Mehmet's War (2.17)
23. Aftermath (1.09)
24. Tunnel (2.42)
25. Isolation (2.17)
26. The Stone of Eyup (3.46)
27. Pulling the Ships (2.10) Excellent track
28. Leader of Men (1.35)
29. Goodbye (1.29)
30. End Game (3.41)
31. My Life For my Flag (2.20) Excellent track
32. A Child of Istanbul (3.01)
Total Length: 72.30
Wallfisch created a powerful, colorful and potent orchestral score, enhanced by electronics that definitely heighten the experience on occasion. The main theme is no original winner, and feels like Vangelis in the opening track "Mehmet's Theme", but it does have merit when it occasionally enlightens an emotional soaring moment ("The Prophecy", "The Promise", "Journey" and "My Life or my Flag"). There's also a great heroic version of it in "Attack", delivering what is definitely the most enjoyable version of it on disc.
Speaking of the action music, it's by far the stuff you'll remember the most on this album. Hints of recent Bond scores, drum loops and rhythmic powerful beats surely enhance what feels like the typical action music of today. However and in this part I feel Conquest 1453 (the English name) does it right, there are hints of massive trumpets and whirling strings that heighten the power of cues such as "Duel" and "Arrows of Fire" (terrific adventure cue heightened by millions of whirling strings). And when needed, Wallfisch adds ethnic color to them by incorporating woodwinds, solo vocals or raw electronic roughness. No real originality there, but this is blockbuster stuff, and then it's necessary to do it right. Such as during the epic emotional sturm und drang of "Pulling the Ships".
In fact, when listening to the action music, I sometimes make the remark that this is perfect for video games of today. Stuff that would totally fit the recent stream of ethnic based shoot em up games. By then there's no surprise to add a bit of epic choir to it here and there, conquering furious tracks such as "Basilica", "Hippodrome", "Mehmet's War" and "End Game". And of course in every war, there's room for romance. And "Era and Hassan" and "Goodbye" doesn't hide it for a single moment, unleashing an equally unoriginal love theme in the outcome.
Conquest 1453 has many advantages and equally many disadvantages. For every plus there's one negative, and this will pretty much divide the people giving this one a chance. For me, this is perfect blockbuster music, enough variation and anthems to please the mainstream listener. It's a bit long, I'll give you that and originality was surely not the word of the day when Wallfisch began this Turkish adventure. However I feel like I want to approach this as a game score, ready to support the many many epic battles the gamer faces on screen. For that it has the power, the emotion and the rhythm. Trim this one down to 50 minutes and you'll probably enjoy it even more.
Favorite Moment - Attack (1.13 - 1.35)
No matter the corniness of it, I do enjoy the heroic variation of the main theme immensely
Track Listing
1. Mehmet's Theme (2.46)
2. Duel (3.35)
3. The Prophecy (2.22)
4. The Promise (1.57)
5. Basilica (1.45) Excellent track
6. The Resistance (1.50)
7. Harbour (0.49)
8. Nightmare (1.34)
9. Journey (2.03)
10. Destiny (4.03)
11. Diplomacy Fails (1.55)
12. Arrows of Fire (3.55) Excellent track
13. Era and Hassan (2.01)
14. Hippodrome (2.13)
15. Halil Summoned (3.32)
16. Easter (2.03)
17. War Drums (1.51)
18. Attack (1.49) Excellent track
19. Mehmet Contemplates (1.20)
20. Era's Transformation (0.53)
21. Factory (1.47)
22. Mehmet's War (2.17)
23. Aftermath (1.09)
24. Tunnel (2.42)
25. Isolation (2.17)
26. The Stone of Eyup (3.46)
27. Pulling the Ships (2.10) Excellent track
28. Leader of Men (1.35)
29. Goodbye (1.29)
30. End Game (3.41)
31. My Life For my Flag (2.20) Excellent track
32. A Child of Istanbul (3.01)
Total Length: 72.30