GHOSTBUSTERS

ELMER BERNSTEIN AND VARIOUS SONY MUSIC CLASSICAL

FRESH SPINS

Ones from the heart and art…

THE HOLDOVERS

★★★★★

Undervalued Seattle song-man Damien Jurado provides a pitch-perfect opener for Alexander Payne’s latest with the soft-spun melancholy of Silver Joy. Elsewhere, era-specific pop/rock/folk cuts sit beautifully with Mark Orton’s wistful, wintery score, where rootsy stylings mix with warm woodwinds, bluesy piano and sleepy strings. Sweetly resolute closer Into the Unknown is a keeper, while the Christmas songs add succour to sorrows: Orton’s It’s Christmas! has just the right bittersweet seasonal spirit.

AMERICAN FICTION

★★★★★

Like Jeffrey Wright’s Monk, Laura Karpman (The Marvels) lost her father before scoring Cord Jefferson’s literary satire. Begun on her dad’s piano, the jazzy results – nodding to Thelonious Monk – ripple with understanding and intuition, woven into character with dexterity and feeling. Pensive and deliberately fractured themes slowly give way to warmer, catchier cues (Hi Lorraine), before cohering in Brothers and Romantic Ending: moments of grace and tenderness in a richly nuanced score.

Elmer Bernstein composed beautiful music for literary classics, scored for biblical epics and issued rousing fanfares for westerns.

But for some fans, he will always be the man who made music for marshmallow monsters and slimy spooks. And as he knew, there’s no shame in that: in his comedy phase, Bernstein invested Ghostbusters with a sure balance of invention and energy, irreverence and respect.

Not that he was alone. As was the 80s way, much of the space on the initially released Ghostbusters soundtrack went to the songs. Bernstein had his doubts about including certain songs on film, but the veteran composer couldn’t question the value of Ray Parker Jr.’s irrepressible title track. Echoes of Huey Lewis and the News’ I Want a New Drug aside, here was a song destined to haunt the airwaves eternally: resistance is useless.

On its own turf, Bernstein’s score is equally sure-footed. After previous comedies with Ivan Reitman, he wanted to make a score that honoured the film’s ‘fine line’ of comedy and serious spectral business. Neither overstating the LOLs or scares, he used the vintage ondes Martenot (an early electronic instrument), strings, piano and more to jaunty, spooky and mischievous effect on the indelible lead cue, an ‘off to work we go’ theme with the paranormal jitters.

He brought romance and beauty, too, to the melodic and dancing Dana’s Theme. And with nifty detail, he dotted high piano tinkles throughout the score – presumably because, as Venkman notes, they bug the ghosts. The spooks receive their due with cues ranging from eerily atmospheric (Fridge and Sign, the John Williams-ish Library) to jabbing (Attack). Elsewhere, there’s bombast in Who Brought the Dog and an almost awestruck sense of pseudoreligiosity in Gozer, where Bernstein indulges his 72-piece orchestra. Mr. Stay Puft is like music for marshmallow dinosaurs, leavened with a sure sense of the absurd. And for the stand-offs between the ’Busters and the spooks, Bernstein seemed to revisit his western form, only with proton packs instead of rifles.

With an aptitude for lurching moods, the result rolls along like a ghost train, full of twists and turns, silliness and suspense. Bernstein’s sense of melody and space ensures the music wears its density lightly, never labouring a point or losing the plot. Even if Parker Jr. banked the awards nominations, Bernstein pulled his weight with a classy score: a fine example of a genius composer at work and play.