Re: Passion Of The Christ English Audio Track Download
Delmare Masaracchia
It seems that whenever a film is made about Jesus, there is bound to be some kind of controversy. With The Last Temptation of Christ, Martin Scorsese dealt with a negative backlash. With The Passion of the Christ, Mel Gibson has been accused of anti-Semitism, among other charges. Regardless of your feelings of the film, it's the most successful R-rated film ever, and as of this writing, has already passed the $300-million mark. That kind of success is noteworthy, especially for a film which was originally expected to fail. Why it succeeded is open to various interpretation, but it probably goes without saying that it has an audience that was not only receptive to the film, but to the soundtrack as well. The Passion of the Christ is the most successful soundtrack album since Titanic. Except that this features no pop song by a Canadian diva. Instead, John Debney's score is filled with ethnic percussion and instruments, vocal chanting, and a rather classical "biblical epic" sensibility.
In "The Olive Garden", dark ominous creepy music is enhanced by Martin Tillman's electric cello (as he had done previously on Black Hawk Down). The dark music continues in "Jesus Arrested", sounding quite like something Debney might have written for a horror film. However, to break up the darkness, "Bearing the Cross" is sequenced between these two tracks, allowing for a rather religious moment, with a full choir building slowly through the rhythms and ethnic instruments. "Peter Denies Jesus" hints at a rather classical chord sequence that will be fully featured at the end of the album, but it's an emotional cue nonetheless. "The Stoning" occurs during a flashback sequence, and for this moody cue Debney worked with Shankar and Gingger, "the only two people in the world that play the Double Violin" (according to their website). It has a rather unique sound to it, as one would expect.
"Simon is Dismissed" is a raucous cue with atonal melodies and atmospheres. It should be noted that as dialogue in the film is spoken in Latin and Aramaic, the audience is not really listening to the words. Sure they're hearing them, but they're not interpreting them as you would normally. That leaves the sound effects and music as the primary audio tracks. While Jesus is being scourged, the music is strong and prominent ("Flagellation / Dark Choir / Disciples"). "Mary Goes To Jesus" is a highlight cue, featuring sweeping orchestra and soloist Lisbeth Scott. Speaking of vocals, Mel Gibson contributed to chanting and other vocalizations on the soundtrack, although I couldn't pick him out exactly.
"Crucifixion" is a more traditional score piece, and the next few tracks ("Raising the Cross", "It Is Done", "Jesus is Carried Down") all progress the storyline through a combination of full orchestra, ethnic instruments, and vocals. One could arguably point out a few similarities to Peter Gabriel's music from The Last Temptation of Christ, but I think it's just that both scores used a lot of percussion and ethnic instruments. The piece-de-resistance, the last cue on the album and the final cue in the film (which goes over the end credits) is "Resurrection". This full choir, strings, and percussion work on a very strong emotional level, and it easily brings to mind some of the more classic epic biblical scores from the 1950s and 60s, but with more ethnicity than you would ever find in those films, ironically.
John Debney has been one of the busier film composers working today, tackling sometimes five or more films a year. However, his work on The Passion of the Christ is easily some of his best work in recent years. Already the soundtrack's (and film's) success has given Debney greater recognition to the general public, and I personally hope that it gives the general audience out there a larger appreciation of the craft of film music. Meanwhile, get the soundtrack. If you've seen the film, you know how well it works. If you haven't seen the film (or are avoiding it for personal reasons), get the soundtrack! There is much less controversy in the music, and you won't be disappointed.
The Passion of the Christ is the soundtrack, on the Sony label, of the 2004 Academy Award-nominated film The Passion of the Christ starring James Caviezel, Maia Morgenstern and Monica Bellucci. The original score was composed by John Debney and conducted by Nick Ingman, with additional music by Jack Lenz.[1] The album was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Score.
James Horner and Rachel Portman were rumored to compose the film's score.[1] Mel Gibson first chose Canadian composer Jack Lenz to write the film's score, who began working on the project from September 2002. Lenz described the procedure as "completely uncommon" because "[composers are] usually the last people they call". While the film was in production, Lenz toured the Middle East to gather field recordings from different musicians in search of the "organic" sound that Gibson desired. Lenz scored eight CDs of original music, where he handed Gibson an additional 20 CDs of field recordings. Gibson was happy with Lenz's musical selection, though he struggled to express what he was looking for specifically. Furthermore, Gibson had also brought in Australian musician Lisa Gerrard to score the film, although her music was not used in the film.[3]
Debney, being a devout Catholic, was excited to compose the film's score, stating, "I just about fell off of my chair, because I had already heard a lot about the film over the previous few months...I offered to write some music because, being a life-long Catholic, that this is sort of dream come true. I wrote some music over a weekend...He [Gibson] heard the music I was writing and liked the direction I was going."[4] Debney wrote around 80 to 90 minutes of music for the film.[4] Debney was influenced by Peter Gabriel's The Last Temptation of Christ score.[4]
To avoid getting fired, Debney took a balanced approach on the film's score, stating, "I did know that the filmmakers liked an eclectic approach to the music, not wanting to make the score too literal or conventional. The result, I believe, is a nice blend between some very powerful, more traditional music, as well as some very interesting ethnic and contemporary textures."[1] During his work on the film, Debney stated, "What I was trying to do with the music was to write first of all the best that I could write and try to be true to the period, so I tried to utilize instruments from the period so there are a lot of ancient instruments in the music." He continues, "my studio is a lovely room and I have a work station with my keyboard...So that when Mel Gibson comes and sits in the room, he will hear a piece of music that is fully orchestrated; it's synthesized orchestrated. He'll hear the oboe, and then the clarinet and the strings, and so literally, I am composing note for note; instrument for instrument".[5]
Thom Jurek from Allmusic.com, who gave the score 4 out of 5, described the album as "a stunner, one that will offer those who choose to encounter it a far-reaching and deeply affective listening experience that is as aesthetically beautiful and unsettling as it is evocatively familiar."[6]
James Southall from Movie-Wave.net praised the composer and the album, giving it 4 and a half stars out of 5, stating, "I would refute any allegation of the music being dreary or depressing: it clearly has to convey a certain atmosphere, but it does so with beauty and, well, passion", where he concludes, "Shades of Gladiator and The Last Temptation of Christ there may be, but this is quite obviously music coming straight from Debney's heart, and The Passion of the Christ is a wonderful album."[7]
Dan Goldwasser from Soundtrack.net gave the score 4 out of 5 stars, stating the score was "the most successful soundtrack album since Titanic...John Debney's score is filled with ethnic percussion and instruments, vocal chanting, and a rather classical 'biblical epic' sensibility...", before adding, "his work [Debney] on The Passion of the Christ is easily some of his best work in recent years."[8]
Filmtracks critiqued, "there are parts of The Passion of the Christ that sound like they were inspired by The Prince of Egypt in instrumentation, although the pounding action cues seem better compared to Hans Zimmer's Gladiator", before adding "when awe is necessary, Debney's score is immense, even during dialogue-respecting underscore that often features a distant, powerfully beating drum and a rumbling cymbal to accentuate each pivotal statement by Jesus himself." Filmtracks then criticised the score, stating that it has "a disappointing lack of consistent melodic development...there are no overwhelming, central thematic identities in the film," besides the Resurrection theme heard at the end of the film. The review then concluded that the music "is the king of religious clich, utilizing the exact bloated sound that even Gibson had originally attempted to avoid."[1]
The film begins in the Garden of Olives where Jesus has gone to pray after the Last Supper. Jesus must resist the temptations of Satan. Betrayed by Judas Iscariot, Jesus is then arrested and taken within the city walls of Jerusalem where leaders of the Pharisees confront him with accusations of blasphemy and his trial results in a condemnation to death.
With inspiring performances from Jim Caviezel as Jesus and Monica Bellucci as Mary Magdalen, this new edition of The Passion of the Christ features English, Spanish and Portuguese language dubbed audio for the first time ever.
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