Sunday, January 8, 2017

Rogue One: A Star Wars Love Story (Michael Giacchino)


You always hope that the first listen to a score goes well. But halfway though listening to this score, I was resigned to relegating this to the middle tier of Giacchino’s impressive oeuvre. The themes were OK, the action was more simplistic than usual for the composer, and “Star-Dust” was perhaps one dip too many into the Lost well. As I listened to the lengthy “Confrontation on Eadu” lurch around in fits and starts, I was fully prepared to tell the score the bad news: It may be called Rogue One, but it wasn’t “the One.” Not for me. But then, the end of that cue happened, and I started to listen to this score with new ears, paying closer attention to its point of view, its thoughts and feelings. The use of the Imperial theme from A New Hope earned my respect, as did the “Shark Cage Fugue” tribute in the score’s eponymous track. Had I been taking this score for granted, ignoring its strengths all along? As the music for the film’s climatic action arrived, I underwent a climax of my own. And as “Hope” and the suites formed the score’s peroration, infatuation had turned into true adoration. Philia had become Eros. As the final soft, tender notes of the “Guardians of the Whills Suite” faded out, I gazed upon the score lovingly and whispered, my voice husky with emotion, “Let’s do it again.”

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