“12 Years Later…” – The Music of Avatar

I saw my first James Cameron film when I was 10. It was T2. Like Steven Spielberg, James Cameron’s films have always had an impact on me and I’m always excited for a new one. If you asked my high school friends (and teachers) how much of a Titanic nut I was, they’d simply laugh and shake their head at you. Loving that film has never been an issue for me, and say what you will about it, the level of filmmaking mastery can’t be disputed in my opinion. Seeing it opening day with my friend Jason was one of those life moments that I’ll never forget. It was that film that cemented film editing as something I wanted to do.

So here we are, 12 years later, with Cameron finally back from his underwater documentary adventures to the feature film arena. With a rumored budget of over $300 million (varied reports place it at $400 with marketing costs, and it’s already made that back and then some) Cameron’s SciFi epic, “Avatar” promises to change the way we “see” films forever. To create this living and breathing world, Cameron brings newly developed technologies to the table, even creating some himself. Shot with the stereoscopic Pace/Cameron Fusion 3D camera system, and combining it with motion capture and photo realistic visual effects from the masters at WETA, Avatar paints a vidid jaw dropping picture of the living alien world, Pandora. Avatar is one of the most beautifully rendered films ever put on screen and it takes George Lucas’ idea of a “digital backlot” and elevates it to levels beyond anything we’ve seen or dreamed of.

Given his Oscar wins on Titanic, it was no surprise that Cameron asked James Horner to take this journey with him. Horner’s been MIA this past year and a half and returns to the screen with probably his most solid effort in the last decade.

The score opens with the ambient haunting sounds of “You Don’t Dream In Cryo.” Plenty of soundscape scoring here with very minimal use of a bold orchestra. Opening with tribal elements and drums, the cue slowly builds. Horner’s infamous “4 Note Danger Motif” makes a few appearances throughout the cue. Solo vocals mixed in with ethnic instrumentation glide in and out of the musical structure. There’s plenty of musical ambiguity here.

“Jake Enters His Avatar World” is a musical blueprint for a lot of what we’ll hear later, only very simplified. Using more tribal and ethic elements (mainly woodwinds) with some heavy breathing performances, Horner weaves these as a cushion before we first hear the main theme, which is largely string and brass based. It’s very whimsical, almost care free in tone, but it will be expanded and build upon throughout the score.

The next series of cues really go all out with the tribal and ethic instrumentation. “Pure Spirits Of The Forest” is largely woodwinds with some orchestral underpinnings. The main theme makes an appearence, but it’s only hinted at, a few notes here and there with various instruments and your brain connects the dots. Some light synth work hits around the middle of the cue while playing the main theme before giving way to the cold sound that was touched upon in the “Cryo” cue. Here Horner’s use of darker orchestral colors and atmosphere creates the sound for the humans in the film. The cue ends with sparse performances of a deep tribal vocal. With “Bioluminescence Of The Night,” Horner brings a softer performance of the main theme with the woodwinds again. As the title of the cue suggests, he uses chimes mixed with some light use of choral, ethnic instruments and the main theme make up a theme for the Pandorian night. The main title shifts into a grander dramatic performance for “Becoming One Of “The People” / Becoming One With Neytiri”. It morphs into a more tender love theme performance as Jake and Neytiri share a kiss (and then some) in the later half of the cue, which rounds out with another tender performance of the main theme. “Jake’s First Flight” really gives a grand performance of the main theme. Using the same instrumentation as the last few cues, Horner lets the orchestra have a go and really delivers a nice performance.

Most of the cues up to “Scorched Earth” are all using the same orchestral palette. You could call it the “Na’vi” sound. But when the listener arrives here, a larger, more traditional presence begins to clash with the Na’vi, that only means one thing…bigger things are coming. In the first part of the score, Horner shows great restraint and only now begins to loosen his grip before the final section. “Scorched Earth” and “Quaritch” set up a lot of the brass driven military thematic development. Of course what we get is reflective of the on screen action. But the “clashing” of these two musical ideas presents the listener with a much more interesting and layered orchestral palette then we’ve heard from Horner in a long while. As these two themes battle it out in the soundscape, Horner brings in the main theme once again with dramatic weight and sorrow. As we continue to “Destruction Of Hometree,” Horner expands greatly on what we heard in the two previous cues. Taking bits of development from each cue and fleshing them out, Horner makes you truly hear and feel the sadness for the Na’vi in this tragic cue. He employs the use of a large choir, a shakuhachi (from Willow and Legends of the Fall) and finally, his “4 Note Danger Motif” returns to end the cue on a sad note that is expanded upon further with a solo choral performance in “Shutting Down Grace’s Lab.”

The last two cues are worth the price of the CD, even if some of the representation here is less then fantastic. “Gathering the Na’vi Clans For Battle” and “War” are some of the best writing (if not the best) Horner’s done in the past ten years. For these cues, Horner pulls out all the stops on what he’s been building for the past 11 cues and hits it out of the park. Everything comes into play here, Horner leaves no orchestral stone unturned and layers the themes and orchestrations in such a way that leaves the listener in awe. Hearing these cues without seeing it in the film is a crime and there’s no way you’re going to get the full effect unless you hear every note (and that includes all the music they left off during and after the “War” sequence, the awesome end credits suite included).

I think ultimately what Horner delivers in the final film is nothing short of amazing. He really has worked the past year and a half and you can hear it. This score in complete form (as seen in the film) is one of Horner’s best, especially the last hour of the film. It’s awesome. But here on the CD, much of that grand effect is lost. It’s not a music issue, it’s a time issue. This is a score that deserves another CD. I’d even say more than just a second CD, a complete redo and release like The Lord Of The Rings. Rating this disc as a whole was difficult. The score as a complete whole is nothing less then 5.0 across the board. But the presentation on the CD really leaves a lot to be desired, and I think a 3.5 would be appropriate. Given both ratings, I think a 4.0 is a good average.

A lot of my enthusiasm for this score comes from seeing it with the film. Horner’s Avatar is a score that must be seen and heard first and listened to after.

Rating: 4/5 (3.5 CD / 5.0 Film)
Favorite Tracks: 12 and 13