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1976 marked
literally a change of pace for Lalo Schifrin, one of the
greatest composers of the Silver Age. After his highly
successful jazz/funk oriented TV and film scores (like
Mission: Impossible,
Mannix, Bullit,
the
Dirty Harry movies
and Enter the Dragon)
Schifrin shifted his musical output to more classical,
orquestral works. It was the year where Schifrin would see
his fully orchestral score for Voyage of the Damned
to receive an Academy Award nomination.
Previously in
the same year, Douglas Hickox's Sky Riders
was the perfect bridge for Schifrin to point his skills to a
elaborated, dramatic and suspenseful style. In the film
James Coburn hires a group of professional mountain gliders
to rescue his ex-wife (Susannah York) and kids from a
mountain lair in Greece, where they are held by their
kidnappers. The hang-gliding sequences against wondrous
rocky backgrounds were the highlight of the movie. And of
course, helping to boost the man-made wings was Schifrin's
score.
Schifrin's
fans will
immediately recognize
many of the composer's trademarks:
the traditional circus instrumentation he often utilizes,
here underscoring the first appearance of the hang-gliders
in the disc's opening track ("Flying Circus"); very
effective suspense / action cues ("Climbers", "Gliding", "The
Terrorists"); the wonderful work of the strings section and
powerful brass lines to achieve a sensation of dread; the
distinguished style of the piano, played by Schifrin himself;
sweeping and majestic chords packed with a well elaborated
orchestration ("The Riders"); and the list goes on.
The music
also features some Greek instrumentation (bouzouki) and folk
rhythm that helps to effectively build the musical
landscapes demanded by the action. The joy of the Greek
music reaches its apex in the final track of the album, "End
Credits", that closes this tribute to the composer's
creativity and versatility. In short, a very fine, well
crafted score - happily for the first time now receiving a
legitimate release on disc by Schifrin's own Aleph label. |
