“eyes_wide_shut”
Eyes Wide Shut
Music From the Motion Picture
Warner
Stanley Kubrick films are well known for their soundtracks. 2001 had “Thus Spoke Zarathursa” and the slashing violins of Gyorgi Ligeti. The Shining had the strange, otherworldly music of Penderecki. A Clockwork Orange had “Singing in the Rain” and Walter/Wendy Carlos. Eyes Wide Shut , while not quite living up to the high standards of those other works, is still a worthy listen. Much of the music on this album reflects the life of the movie’s main characters, very upper class and proper. We have the Victor Silvester Orchestra playing “When I Fall in Love” and the Peter Huges Orchestra playing “Strangers in the Night” which may or may not be jazz standards. The music composed for the film by Jocelyn Pook is excellent. “Masked Ball” is dark and haunting, while “Migration” incorporates some Far Eastern elements to add and air of the exotic to the film’s most controversial scene. “Baby Did a Bad Bad Thing” by Chris Isaak originally lured me to this soundtrack. It is a desperate, pulling song until Mr. Isaak decides that he needs to rock out. And, of course, we have the solo piano of Gyorgi Ligeti played by Dominic Harlan. Ligeti applies slow pressure to the listener, culminating with Harlan playing one note over and over, so that it feels that Ligeti has found the soft spot on our heads and is banging on it with a hammer. The soundtrack reflects the movie, so if you enjoyed the atmosphere of the film, you’ll enjoy this.
Warner Brothers Records, 75 Rockefeller Plaza, New York, NY 10019-6908
