Alice in Wonderland (Danny Elfman)
(2010)
The collaboration between Tim Burton and Danny Elfman has now spanned 25 years, and is, without doubt, one of the best known collaborations of a director and composer – up there with Steven Spielberg and John Williams, Robert Zemeckis and Alan Silvestri, Alfred Hitchcock and Bernard Herrmann, and so on. Elfman’s music, whilst always good, is heard at its best when combined with Burton’s directorial style. Alice in Wonderland is the latest, and one of the prime examples of this.
Burton’s version of Alice in Wonderland is perhaps not what one would expect. As he has stated, it’s not a sequel or a remake. Essentially, all the well-known elements of Lewis Carroll’s are blended together into something completely new. It has been roundly praised by critics, albeit criticism for the 2D converted to 3D and the fact that the film concludes with typical fantasy action. Nevertheless, like all of Burton’s best works, the film covered its $200 million budget very quickly after its release.
Whilst I’m sure that Elfman’s score will be embraced with open arms by his fans, the first thing that has to be said about it is – familiarity – any listener familiar with Elfman’s previous work will be reminded quite a few times listening to this score of several scores by Elfman already in existence. That’s not a problem for me, but it may be a deterring factor for those who find self-referencing a distraction or irritation. If however, you’re an Elfman enthusiast who has been eagerly waiting for him to deliver yet another fantasy musical masterpiece, the familiarity issue should be quite easy to overlook.
Instead of scoring the film in a typical leitmotif fantasy fashion, all the recurring themes that Elfman has written are for Alice herself. There are three in total, one representing her past, one representing her present, and one her future, all of which are to be heard several times on the album. The single best cue is arguably the first – ‘Alice’s Theme’ which features wonderful fully orchestral and choral performances of the main theme. This appears regularly throughout the score, including the five Alice Reprises. The main theme is impressive enough without the choir, but the choral element does a wonderful job of inserting fantasy into the piece.
The score has some excellent action cues to offer as well. Elfman’s main themes are cleverly incorporated into most of them, and the heavy brass and percussion is wonderfully complimented several times by echoing choral segments.
Elfman’s standards have been high recently, but this is certainly his finest score in a fair while, one that will no doubt be embraced by those who love his early fantasy scores such as Batman and Edward Scissorhands. It’s the second-best score of 2010, and certainly not one your collection should be without.
Purchase from Amazon: CD | Download (UK)
Purchase from Amazon: CD | Download (USA)
Track Listing
1 – Alice’s Theme
2 – Little Alice
3 – Proposal / Down the Hole
4 – Doors
5 – Drink Me
6 – Into the Garden
7 – Alice Reprise #1
8 – Bandersnatched
9 – Finding Absolem
10 – Alice Reprise #2
11 – The Cheshire Cat
12 – Alice and Bayard’s Journey
13 – Alice Reprise #3
14 – Alice Escapes
15 – The White Queen
16 – Only a Dream
17 – The Dungeon
18 – Alice Decides
19 – Alice Reprise #4
20 – Going to Battle
21 – The Final Confrontation
22 – Blood of the Jabberwocky
23 – Alice Returns
24 – Alice Reprise #5
Credits
Composed & Produced by Danny Elfman
Orchestrations by Steve Bartek, Edgardo Simone, & David Slonaker
Conducted by Pete Anthony
Awards
Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score (nominated)
BAFTA for Best Music (nominated)
Insert Notes
None – Purchased as MP3 Download
All images and artwork are Copyright (C) Walt Disney Records.
