Orchestrated by Leo Shuken and Jack Hayes

Conducted by Elmer Bernstein

Produced by Emilie A. Bernstein

Release Date: March 30, 2004

 Varèse Sarabande Records
 

     Ennio Morricone established himself as the primary voice of the Italian Western through his collaboration with director Sergio Leone. With such legendary scores as Once Upon a Time in the West and The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly under his belt, such a distinction would nay be disputed. But before Morricone left his mark on Westerns, Elmer Bernstein had long been in the saddle doing just that. So while Morricone may have been the musical voice for Italian Westerns, Bernstein is the decided voice of the American Westerns.

     Even so, Bernstein’s extensive credit list, contrary to what some might believe, is not primarily filled with Westerns. His first film score, Saturday’s Hero (1951), was a film about college athletics. Five years later he would burst out in a big way with an epic score to Cecil B. de Mille’s The Ten Commandments. From then on followed such titles as To Kill A Mockingbird, The Great Escape, and Heavy Metal. Of course, there are also plenty of Westerns, but one title that really stands out is his score to The Magnificent Seven. It was with this film that all of the American Western was defined and typified in a single movie (regardless of the fact that the basic plotline was borrowed from a Japanese film).

     To understand just how well this score works, let’s examine it from the very outset. The percussion starts off right away, signaling the romantic and adventurous Main Title. The theme is full of brass, percussion, frantic string work, and, of course, the obligatory guitar (what would a Western score be without one?). From this the music subsides into a subdued march that grows louder and more intense as the evil bandit Calvera arrives to terrorize the town. Both sections make up the Main Title cue and I cannot think of but a handful of scores that start off on such a strong note (such a type of opening would be duly emulated by John Williams for the first Star Wars film).

     But Bernstein doesn’t just leave us with a terrific opening and then switch into automation mode. He continues to build his themes (the main one is weaved around a tension building sequence in Strange Funeral) and nothing is left neglected through the score’s sixty-seven minute running time. Even the lulling moments between the two major confrontations with Calavera and his men are handled with the emotional underpinnings of Bernstein’s string composing (in addition to the nicely layered guitar sections).

     There is only one cue that gets on my nerves, and, surprise surprise, that would be the Fiesta, which is a source-like music cue. It is very basic and repeatable, which earns it a quick skip every time it comes up. Thankfully, it’s only one cue and only a bit over one minute in length at that.