Les Choristes

Bernard Coulais, who is admired for his scores for Winged Migration and Microcosmos, is again showing his resourcefulness in using instruments that are available to him. The soundtrack for the popular European film Les Choristes combines songs, sung by the boys' choir in the story, and regular soundtrack music to accompany the action of the film. Christophe Barratier, the film's director and a classical guitarist, wrote the main theme of the film, "Cerf-Volant," which is woven into the first track "Les Choristes." But Coulais composed and arranged most of Les Choristes' score. Themes from the songs are woven into underscore tracks, which are written along the lines of scores by Rachel Portman or Danny Elfman, and they demonstrate Coulais' facility with instrumental and vocal color. Affecting melodic material is tied to rhythmic accompaniments, primarily using strings and light woodwinds, with brass and percussion providing reinforcement at times. Other tracks add the choir or harp, piano, or celesta to the mix. The opening "Les Choristes" is similar to Faure's Pavane, with a soloist singing with the accompaniment of the choir and pizzicato strings. "Action Reaction" is an adagio for strings, beginning in unsettling dissonances and ending in dark unison. Songs written for the film have memorable melodies, easy lyrics and generally easy harmonies, perfect for a chorus of schoolboys (not to mention soundtrack sales). These include a very brief, jolly arrangement of a folk song about a legendary highwayman, "Compere Guilleri." "In Memoriam" tests the boys' part-singing skills with its frequent passing dissonances in its harmonies, which remind you of Mozart's choral writing. The boys are not always pitch perfect or together, but then they shouldn't be, as they are portraying a group of boys just beginning music lessons. Nor do they sound like a crystalline English boys' choir, but the unpolished dimension of their voices blends well with the rich orchestral writing. While there are a few tracks that obviously are film music and do not quite stand up by themselves, the soundtrack as a whole is charming and listenable, with an appeal of its own that should attract more than just fans of the film.

Director Christophe Barratier's 2004 film Les Choristes, released in the U.S. in January 2005 as The Chorus, is, depending on your point of view, either a heart-warming or a saccharine story set in post-World War II France about a choral director at a school for delinquent children who reforms his charges by teaching them to sing together. Sing together they do on this album (a French best-seller), presenting new music by Bruno Coulais that sounds old. Actually, it isn't the boys' choir of the movie that's doing the singing, but rather Les Petits Chanteurs de Saint-Marc Choir, who, by the list of names, appear to include quite a few girls. In any case, the music is pleasant and harmonious, and the few snatches of Coulais' score played by the Bulgarian Symphony Orchestra (which no doubt charges less than a French orchestra would) are equally listenable. There are also bits of dialogue, notably in the final track, "Nous Sommes de Fond de l'Etang" ("We Are from Fond de l'Etang"), which is an audition in which the boys sing some of their favorites while trying out. ~ William Ruhlmann

もちろん、映画『コーラス』に感動した方は、こちらもどうぞ。彼らによる、ライブ盤の登場です!! (C)馬場敏裕

フランスで記録的ヒットとなった、少年たちの コーラスの感動の実話!!!のサントラ!! 『コーラス』(2004) サウンドトラック 音楽　ブリュノ・クーレ 監督　クリストフ・バラティエ もちろん、全編、少年たちの美しいハーモニー を聴いていただくアルバムです。すごいのは、ほぼ すべて、いまや、フランス映画音楽になくては ならない巨匠、ブリュノ・クーレ(『キャラバン』や 『ワタリドリ』などの巨匠!!)のオリジナル楽曲 であるということ。完成された、感動の少年コーラス・ アルバムとしてお聴きいただきます。 (C)馬場敏裕

さまざまな事情をもった男の子が暮らす寄宿舎、満たされない心を持て余す子供たちに歌うことを教えたひとりの先生――歌を通じて大切なものを見つけていく軌跡を綴ったこの映画のサントラには、サンマルク少年少女合唱団の繊細で美しい神聖な歌声が収録。そしてピエール役で出演している合唱団のソリスト、ジャン・バティスト・モニエの天使のように憂いを帯びた儚げな歌声が心に響く。大切にしたい作品です。
bounce (C)入江 玲子

フランスで記録的ヒットとなった、少年たちの コーラスの感動の実話!!!のサントラ!! 『コーラス』(2004) サウンドトラック 音楽　ブリュノ・クーレ 監督　クリストフ・バラティエ もちろん、全編、少年たちの美しいハーモニー を聴いていただくアルバムです。すごいのは、ほぼ すべて、いまや、フランス映画音楽になくては ならない巨匠、ブリュノ・クーレ(『キャラバン』や 『ワタリドリ』などの巨匠!!)のオリジナル楽曲 であるということ。完成された、感動の少年コーラス・ アルバムとしてお聴きいただきます。 (C)馬場敏裕