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Les Miserables: the movie soundtrack
Jan. 31st, 2013 09:01 amI know, I know! This may be my last Les Mis post for a while, though. I think. Maybe? Aaaaanyway, listened to it on Spotify and now have Opinions!
(Also, before I forget: for those of you who like such things,![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
rarewomen is starting up and you should all do it! My wibbling thoughts on nominations are here.)
-Iiiiiinterestingly, I thought I would laugh at Crowe's songs (and I did, when I listened before watching the movie), but listening to the recording after watching the movie, I didn't laugh, and it has actually reconciled me somewhat to Crowe's Javert. It's not the book Javert I imprinted hard on as a child, nor is it Terrence Mann's Javert (which closely follows book!Javert), but I'm coming to terms with the fact that it's just different and it's okay that way. Fine.
-"I dreamed a dream" I skipped right past because I could not take the raw pain in Hathaway's rendition. The other song I skipped halfway through was "Bring Him Home," which was okay in the theater because Jackman can act like whoa, but in the recording it's painfully obvious that he was stretching his voice to do it.
-"Suddenly" made me cry. I think listening to Hugh Jackman's performance of this song will always make me cry. I still think it's kind of a weird song, musically, but the words are so book!canon, and Hugh Jackman -- he -- I JUST -- maybe it's because I have a kid now myself, maybe it's because this part of the book where Valjean's heart is changed (again) by Cosette has always spoken to me so strongly, maybe it's because I spent the last year so angry at Once Upon a Time at its kid!storyline, maybe it's that Jackman has children himself (and adopted, for that matter) and all that just came through in the acting, I just do not know, but to me this has become the heart and soul of the movie and is very possibly the one part of the recording I think is worth owning for sure -- not for the music, but for all the emotion in Jackman's voice. (Well, that and "Empty Chairs." And Hathaway. And... oh, crap, what's happened to me?)
-I forgot to mention this in my movie notes, but the choice to start "Empty Chairs" a capella totally made my heart stop. Both watching the movie and listening to the recording. (Although Eddie Redmayne's voice, which I loved in the theater, distracted me a little in the recording -- though not in this song -- because it sounds a bit like his mouth is full of marbles.)
-The orchestration is very interesting to me. I especially loved their use of the -- is it cannons? Instead of timpani? Anyway, I love it. I love the orchestration. I love that they used the fact that it's not a musical to bring in a huge orchestra that wasn't limited to a pit, and occasionally random sound effects, and re-orchestrated the whole darn thing. LOVED.
(Also, before I forget: for those of you who like such things,
rarewomen is starting up and you should all do it! My wibbling thoughts on nominations are here.)-Iiiiiinterestingly, I thought I would laugh at Crowe's songs (and I did, when I listened before watching the movie), but listening to the recording after watching the movie, I didn't laugh, and it has actually reconciled me somewhat to Crowe's Javert. It's not the book Javert I imprinted hard on as a child, nor is it Terrence Mann's Javert (which closely follows book!Javert), but I'm coming to terms with the fact that it's just different and it's okay that way. Fine.
-"I dreamed a dream" I skipped right past because I could not take the raw pain in Hathaway's rendition. The other song I skipped halfway through was "Bring Him Home," which was okay in the theater because Jackman can act like whoa, but in the recording it's painfully obvious that he was stretching his voice to do it.
-"Suddenly" made me cry. I think listening to Hugh Jackman's performance of this song will always make me cry. I still think it's kind of a weird song, musically, but the words are so book!canon, and Hugh Jackman -- he -- I JUST -- maybe it's because I have a kid now myself, maybe it's because this part of the book where Valjean's heart is changed (again) by Cosette has always spoken to me so strongly, maybe it's because I spent the last year so angry at Once Upon a Time at its kid!storyline, maybe it's that Jackman has children himself (and adopted, for that matter) and all that just came through in the acting, I just do not know, but to me this has become the heart and soul of the movie and is very possibly the one part of the recording I think is worth owning for sure -- not for the music, but for all the emotion in Jackman's voice. (Well, that and "Empty Chairs." And Hathaway. And... oh, crap, what's happened to me?)
-I forgot to mention this in my movie notes, but the choice to start "Empty Chairs" a capella totally made my heart stop. Both watching the movie and listening to the recording. (Although Eddie Redmayne's voice, which I loved in the theater, distracted me a little in the recording -- though not in this song -- because it sounds a bit like his mouth is full of marbles.)
-The orchestration is very interesting to me. I especially loved their use of the -- is it cannons? Instead of timpani? Anyway, I love it. I love the orchestration. I love that they used the fact that it's not a musical to bring in a huge orchestra that wasn't limited to a pit, and occasionally random sound effects, and re-orchestrated the whole darn thing. LOVED.
