Munich
John Williams
" Reflective John Williams score "Written by Thomas Glorieux - Review of the regular release
Munich is the true story about the Israeli government's secret retaliation attacks after the massacre of Israeli athletes by the Black September terrorist group during the 1972 Summer Olympics. The film stars Eric Bana and was directed by Steven Spielberg. Naturally a film as powerful as this, coming from a legendary director as Steven Spielberg received critical acclaim, including 5 Oscar nominations (Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Film Editing and Best Original Score). When checking out whether they were right about the score, you come to the conclusion that this remains John Williams for goodness sake. Whatever he writes is meant to conquer today's music without a fight, but to call it a classic is something else.
Opening with a heartbreaking solo vocal of Lisbeth Scott in "Munich, 1972", it soon transcends into madness. Despite the horrific actions that will appear on screen, Williams keep it quite tonal all round. But Williams disturbs you easily enough through mere dark threatening percussion and uneasy piano work. This is heard in "Munich, 1972", "Encounter in London and Bomb Malfunctions" and "The Raid in Tarifa". This is pretty effective and spells out danger and suspense without making it too apparent. Some tracks even bring it without making any statement at all. The 8 minute long "Bearing the Burden" and "Stalking Carl" turn out to disappear too easily from one's memory, delivering some of Williams most forgettable tracks in years.
But for most of the time, Williams' score to Munich remains dramatic and emotionally reflective. The solo vocal returning in "Remembering Munich", the main theme versions on guitar in "Avner's Theme" and "Bonding" and through piano in "Discovering Hans", or the heartbreaking versions of that main theme in "A Prayer for Peace", "Thoughts of Home" and "End Credits", Williams is never bad at writing emotional and thoughtful reflective pieces. It's much more personal here, reflecting the character of Avner in general. Of course it's not a surprise that these moments link themselves easily enough to the other dramatic scores of his career (Shindler's List and Angela's Ashes to name a few).
However in general Munich is quite normal. It's a masterpiece of depth and construction if one compares it with today's scores, but when placing it in the John Williams catalog, it somewhat fails to inspire. I'm even bound to say that Munich is actually a background score, never breaking out with an atonal burst, a soaring moment or a powerful piece. On the contrary, like the terrorists who have to stage their attacks out of sight, so too does Munich deliver its delicacies out of sight, but luckily not out of range. It's a fine score from John Williams, but a calmer more restrained one as well, and one that will perhaps slip by too easily from time to time.
Tracklisting
1. Munich, 1972 (2.37)
2. The Attack at Olympic Village (3.00)
3. Hatikvah (The Hope) (2.02)
4. Remembering Munich (4.38)
5. Letter Bombs (2.48)
6. A Prayer for Peace (3.51) Excellent track
7. Bearing the Burden (8.11)
8. Avner and Daphna (4.02)
9. The Tarmac at Munich (3.59)
10. Avner's Theme (3.07)
11. Stalking Carl (4.24)
12. Bonding (1.57)
13. Encounter in London and Bomb Malfunctions (3.37)
14. Discovering Hans (2.47)
15. The Raid in Tarifa (2.03)
16. Thoughts of Home (4.03)
17. Hiding the Family (1.25)
18. End Credits (4.06) Excellent track
Total Length: 62.37
Opening with a heartbreaking solo vocal of Lisbeth Scott in "Munich, 1972", it soon transcends into madness. Despite the horrific actions that will appear on screen, Williams keep it quite tonal all round. But Williams disturbs you easily enough through mere dark threatening percussion and uneasy piano work. This is heard in "Munich, 1972", "Encounter in London and Bomb Malfunctions" and "The Raid in Tarifa". This is pretty effective and spells out danger and suspense without making it too apparent. Some tracks even bring it without making any statement at all. The 8 minute long "Bearing the Burden" and "Stalking Carl" turn out to disappear too easily from one's memory, delivering some of Williams most forgettable tracks in years.
But for most of the time, Williams' score to Munich remains dramatic and emotionally reflective. The solo vocal returning in "Remembering Munich", the main theme versions on guitar in "Avner's Theme" and "Bonding" and through piano in "Discovering Hans", or the heartbreaking versions of that main theme in "A Prayer for Peace", "Thoughts of Home" and "End Credits", Williams is never bad at writing emotional and thoughtful reflective pieces. It's much more personal here, reflecting the character of Avner in general. Of course it's not a surprise that these moments link themselves easily enough to the other dramatic scores of his career (Shindler's List and Angela's Ashes to name a few).
However in general Munich is quite normal. It's a masterpiece of depth and construction if one compares it with today's scores, but when placing it in the John Williams catalog, it somewhat fails to inspire. I'm even bound to say that Munich is actually a background score, never breaking out with an atonal burst, a soaring moment or a powerful piece. On the contrary, like the terrorists who have to stage their attacks out of sight, so too does Munich deliver its delicacies out of sight, but luckily not out of range. It's a fine score from John Williams, but a calmer more restrained one as well, and one that will perhaps slip by too easily from time to time.
Tracklisting
1. Munich, 1972 (2.37)
2. The Attack at Olympic Village (3.00)
3. Hatikvah (The Hope) (2.02)
4. Remembering Munich (4.38)
5. Letter Bombs (2.48)
6. A Prayer for Peace (3.51) Excellent track
7. Bearing the Burden (8.11)
8. Avner and Daphna (4.02)
9. The Tarmac at Munich (3.59)
10. Avner's Theme (3.07)
11. Stalking Carl (4.24)
12. Bonding (1.57)
13. Encounter in London and Bomb Malfunctions (3.37)
14. Discovering Hans (2.47)
15. The Raid in Tarifa (2.03)
16. Thoughts of Home (4.03)
17. Hiding the Family (1.25)
18. End Credits (4.06) Excellent track
Total Length: 62.37