Fabelmans =Music By John Williams=＜限定盤＞

With John Williams nearing his announced retirement, his score for the Oscar-nominated coming-of-age drama The Fabelmans (2022) represents his 31st film collaboration with director Steven Spielberg, on whose life the film is loosely based. (The screenplay was written by Spielberg and Tony Kushner.) Intimate and mostly piano-based, the films score was nominated for an Academy Award, as well, despite its relatively brief run time of 31 minutes -- including pre-existing classical material. That material consists of selections from concertos and sonatinas by J.S. Bach, Joseph Haydn, Muzio Clementi, and Friedrich Kuhlau, some of which are performed on-camera by actress Michelle Williams, with Joanne Pearce Martin, then principal pianist of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, providing most of the solos on the recording. Sentimental opener "The Fabelmans" sets the tone with its wistful piano theme and simple broken triads before the lightly orchestrated "Mitzis Dance" adds celeste, strings, harp, and other components to its nostalgic sentiment. The more animated, non-Williams pieces gently lighten the mood between cues with titles like "Reverie," "Reflections," and "The Letter." None of the Williams tracks here cross the three-minute mark until the closing six-minute track, "The Journey Begins," a more cathartic, fully orchestrated passage that includes an excerpt of the first movement of Haydns Sonata No. 48 in C Major and which ends on a not-quite-resolved chord. Fans of the film should note that period songs like "Walk on By" by Dionne Warwick and "Goodbye Cruel World" by James Darren that appear in the movie are not included here. ~ Marcy Donelson

第47回トロント国際映画祭で最高賞である観客賞(ピープルズ・チョイス・アワード)を受賞したスティーヴン・スピルバーグ監督新作『The Fabelmans』。音楽は、これまで『E.T.』、『ジョーズ』、『インディ・ジョーンズ』、『ジュラシック・パーク』、『シンドラーのリスト』など、数多くのタッグを組み、大ヒットを生み出している映画音楽の巨匠ジョン・ウィリアムズ。スピルバーグ監督の半自伝的映画というパーソナルな作品で、その内面を音楽でも表現。壮大な音楽はないけれど、とてもエモーショナル。大きな愛に包まれた、見守るように柔らかなメロディで紡がれる。
intoxicate (C)上村友美絵