|
A long road was travelled by
Bear McCreary, since he began writing the music for the 2004's acclaimed
reimagining of Battlestar Galactica
(in the 2003 miniseries he served only as assistant composer for Richard
Gibbs). Although already composing for film and television since the early
1990s, his work has really draw attention thanks to the Ron Moore series.
During this period we've heard his music in productions ranging from 2006's
Rest Stop (and its sequel in 2008) to
other series like
Terminator: The
Sarah Connor Chronicles,
Eureka,
Human Target and
Caprica,
the spin-off of Battlestar Galactica.
During the running of the
series La-La Land Records has released four CDs, each one containing musical
selections from a season, and the fourth is a
2 disc album that includes
the final episode's full score. But there was an omission easily
noticeable by the fans - the scores of the direct-to-DVD / Blu-ray specials
Razor and
The Plan. This fault is at last fixed with
the release of this CD, which closes the La-La Land collection dedicated to
Battlestar Galactica - undoubtedly
indispensable for fans of the series or McCreary's work.
One can argue that McCreary
would not have been the creator of the show's musical identity, since as
mentioned above he was only an assistant in the miniseries. But undoubtedly,
having composed the soundtracks for each episode of the four seasons that
came after, he was the real responsible for the initial formula's
development and recognition. If that fact was already demonstrated in
previous CDs, in this one it is unquestionably established, like a tribute
to the series and the composer's own work.
Here we got a little more
of the same (and I say it in a positive sense), when McCreary incorporates
ideas and motifs we've already heard. But beyond that, he takes this stuff,
develops and concludes it, as if closing a long musical arc parallel to the
series. In some ways granting a more conceptual nature to the album, in its
nearly 70-minute the Razor and
The Plan tracks has not been separated - they
were grouped using concepts and themes for familiar characters, and
sometimes expanding them into new directions.
One example is the main
theme of The Plan, "Apocalypse": the most attentive will realize that this
track is actually the opening theme (european version) of the series, strong
and energetically reworked in a longer version that adds rock elements -
rhythmic percussion and electric guitar (played by Bear). The final track on
the album is a live, on stage performance of this song (actually, a concert
of Battlestar Galactica's music DVD
will be released soon), and the enthusiastic audience response (something
rare for a television score) shows us how successful is this McCreary's
creation. An old theme that says goodbye in a high style.
The album also features the
emotional or melancholic tracks from the series, such as "Kendra's
Memories", and the suspense and action moments that sometimes bring us
variations of The Plan's main theme ("Apocalypse,
Pt I" and "Apocalypse, Pt II ). Overall, a very recommendable album that
transcends the images for which its music was created, that can be enjoyed
on its own merits. With this release McCreary closes a brilliant chapter in
his career (or not, if we consider Caprica),
which certainly will be a long and promising one, given the talent he has
demonstrated.
|
