ET Reviews Music: Wolf OST (1994)

Review #8

ALBUM INFO

Artiste: Ennio Morricone

Year: 1994

Genre: OST / Orchestral

Duration: 64min

Label: Sony Classical

Format: CD

TRACK LISTING

‘Wolf and Love’ – 3:32
‘The Barn’ – 1:59
‘The Dream and the Deer’ – 9:15
‘The Moon’ – 5:28
‘Laura Goes to Join Wolf’ – 2:20
‘Laura and Wolf United’ – 1:24
‘First Transition’ – 1:28
‘The Howl and the City’ – 3:21
‘Animals and Encounters’ – 4:37
‘Laura Transformed’ – 3:36
‘Wolf’ – 2:48
‘Second Transition’ – 1:17
‘Will’s Final Goodbye’ – 1:31
‘Chase’ – 5:43
‘Confirmed Doubts’ – 3:41
‘The Talisman’ – 3:27
‘Third Transition’ – 0:57
‘A Shock for Laura’ – 2:43
‘Laura and Will’ – 2:26
‘Laura’ – 2:36

CAPSULE REVIEW

Ennio Morricone’s score for the 1994 Mike Nichols movie starring Jack Nicholson and Michelle Pfeiffer is rather underrated. He doesn’t do a lot of horror scores for Hollywood – you have to go back to John Carpenter’s The Thing (1982) for a memorable one. Here in Wolf, he channels a jazzy noir-ish style mixed with orchestral strings and electronic synths. The result is not quite spectacular, but interesting enough for fans of Morricone. It is a score that grows on you, centering less on clear, discernible melodies; instead the music is more atonal and atmospheric, but with structural cues to guide the listener.

Highlights:

‘Wolf and Love’ – The opening track sets the mood. It is ominous, but the lush strings at the start give it a sense of warmth and love. The French horns play one of the score’s two main melodies with accompanying strings and synths. There is a quick rhythmic electronic cue that punctuates the track with attacking intensity. This would be a recurring leitmotif throughout the score, perhaps indicating a kind of hybrid transformation i.e. a wolf-man, as paralleled by the score’s mix of electronic synths with organic orchestral instruments. The leitmotif gives the score a more startling emphasis or dissonance.

‘The Barn’ – Harp and strings accompaniment give this track a serene quality. The score’s other main melody is performed by the saxophone in a jazzy sensual manner. Wished this piece was longer.

‘Animals and Encounters’ – A terrific dramatic cue underscored with elements of horror. The theme from ‘The Barn’ recurs, before the electronic leitmotif sets in as a prelude to a sudden change in rhythm. Morricone masterfully paces the track with the use of drums.

‘Chase’ – The score’s most thrilling section. This track is a solid blast, with heavy use of brass combined with the saxophone. It can get rather frightening with the layering of brass and woodwind instruments together with the incessant, thumping rhythm.