3:10 to Yuma

『3時10分、決断のとき』(2007年アメリカ作品 /監督 ジェームズ・マンゴールド /原作 エルモア・レナード/撮影 フェドン・パパマイケル /音楽 マルコ・ベルトラミ /出演 ラッセル・クロウ、クリスチャン・ベイル、ローガン・ラーマン、ベン・フォスター、ピーター・フォンダ)のサウンドトラック拡張盤。

Like the 2006 score The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada, Marco Beltrami's previous foray into the Western genre, 3:10 to Yuma impresses the composer's unique stamp on the classic musical archetypes pioneered by Ennio Morricone and others -- despite familiar ingredients like electric guitar, mandolin, barroom piano, and brass band flourishes, the music deftly avoids cliche thanks to some intriguing electronic elements, samples, and other contemporary effects. But while the dusty, slap-leather grit of the arrangements further underscores the score's roots in Western traditions, Beltrami's taut, propulsive melodies are very much a reflection of the modern-day action thriller. The music is suspenseful to the point of suffocation, with none of the spaciousness and atmosphere that signify Morricone at his own finest. ~ Jason Ankeny|

Marco Beltrami scored five movies released in 2007: the American thriller Captivity, the Danish comedy Vikaren, the American mystery called The Invisible, the Bruce Willis action-adventure comeback Live Free or Die Hard, and, finally, director James Mangold's prestigious remake of the classic western 3 10 to Yuma staring Russell Crowe and Christian Bale. In all these scores, Beltrami is successful at achieving what he set out to accomplish -- intensifying the action onscreen -- but the best of them is 3:10 to Yuma. In Beltrami's lonely themes, spare textures, relentless rhythms, and quirky orchestrations, one hears echoes of the great scores of Ennio Morricone. But with his razor-sharp lines, searing single-note crescendos, and bludgeoning percussion attacks, Beltrami shows he has his own distinctive voice, too. Superbly played by an anonymous London studio ensemble and brilliantly recorded in Abbey Road Studios, the music on this disc, like the music of most soundtracks, cannot stand on its own. What in context of the film is absolutely appropriate, when heard alone sounds like a musical effect without a dramatic cause, a series of non sequiturs linked by themes and gestures but not joined into a cogent narrative by drive and development. Still, for anyone who enjoyed the film and anyone who's following Beltrami's career, this disc will be mandatory listening.

Like the 2006 score The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada, Marco Beltrami's previous foray into the Western genre, 3:10 to Yuma impresses the composer's unique stamp on the classic musical archetypes pioneered by Ennio Morricone and others -- despite familiar ingredients like electric guitar, mandolin, barroom piano, and brass band flourishes, the music deftly avoids cliche thanks to some intriguing electronic elements, samples, and other contemporary effects. But while the dusty, slap-leather grit of the arrangements further underscores the score's roots in Western traditions, Beltrami's taut, propulsive melodies are very much a reflection of the modern-day action thriller. The music is suspenseful to the point of suffocation, with none of the spaciousness and atmosphere that signify Morricone at his own finest. ~ Jason Ankeny