Van Helsing [ECD] - Various Artists > Reviews > Van Helsing

Author's product rating:   

Originality	Average
Lyrics	Not applicable
Quality and consistency of tracks	Flawless
Value for Money	Good

Advantages:	An exciting action score of great power and stature
Disadvantages:	The constant action will tire you easily

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

To respond with the gothic style of the film, composer Alan Silvestri follows suit by creating a heavy-duty action score, utilizing a very large orchestra and chorus with a complex thematic base and a larger than usual percussion section. This is a very noisy score to say the least. From the very start the score opens with a full assault of choral and orchestral might that starts the thematic movement immediately. As mentioned this is a very thematic score. There is barely a moment when there isn't some kind of a theme or motif playing in one form or another under or above the layers of orchestral frenzy. The theme for Van Helsing himself can first be heard in the latter part of the opening track "Transylvania 1887." The same track opens with the theme for Dracula that is a heavily pulsating march, featuring a chorus chanting in latin, I think, and with a massive amount of pounding percussion. Anna Valerious is given a romantic love theme, which unfortunately can only be heard in full in the last track "Reunited," which is a shame, since the theme would have provided much needed diversion from the constant action.

The most optimistic theme in the score is the more openly heroic brass theme, first heard in full in the cue "Useless Crucifix" and in its most complete presentation in "Transylvanian Horses." This theme bears a very close relation to the heroic theme in The Mummy Returns, only ending on a more solid note. A sub-theme for the moments when our heroes travel from place to place features a wildly scintillating guitar over a heavy orchestral backing heard in "Journey to Transylvania," in the beginning of "Transylvanian Horses" and at the very end of "Reunited," making for an interesting effect amid so much solid orchestral sound. The album is surprisingly short, lasting only 43 minutes. But the album never sounds too short due to the fact that the released score is almost non-stop action from start to finish. As it stands it is still a great and powerful score but without that one bit of extra spark that could have catapulted it to the top of 2004's offering.

1. Transylvania 1887 (1:27)
2. Burn It Down! (4:46)
3. Werewolf Trap (1:53)
4. Journey to Transylvania (1:34)
5. Attacking Brides (5:03)
6. Dracula's Nursery (5:47)
7. Useless Crucifix (2:35)
8. Transylvanian Horses (3:56)
9. All Hallow's Eve Ball (3:01)
10. Who Are They to Judge? (2:00)
11. Final Battle (6:29)
12. Reunited (4:23)

Produced by Alan Silvestri and David Bifano
Music Composed and Conducted by Alan Silvestri
Performed by The Hollywood Studio Symphony & Hollywood Film Chorale
Vocal Soloist: Deborah Dietrich
Orchestrated by Mark McKenzie, William Ross & David Slonaker
Supervising Music Editor: Kenneth Karman
Music Recorded and Mixed by Dennis Sands
Recorded at Sony Pictures Scoring Stage
Decca Records, 2004 (986 1999)

© berlioz