There have been very few cases where I have listened to a film score on an album before seeing the movie. In addition, I have always believed that a great film score is one that not only underlines and matches the material it for which it was written, but also surpasses it, becoming an enjoyable listening entity in it’s own right. Victor Reyes’ score for the thriller Grand Piano ticks both of those boxes, and as such I believe it deserves far more attention and praise from the film music world than what it got when the film was first released in 2013.
Here’s the thing: I still haven’t seen the movie. It was critically successful, with many Spanish award nominations (the film’s director Eugenio Mira is Spanish, as were much of the production team), but received mixed reviews from audiences – 5.9 on IMDB, 47% audience review on Rotten Tomatoes. As far as I am aware, the film centers on a young genius pianist, Tom Selznick (Elijah Wood), returning to the concert hall to play a brand new piano concerto after 10 years of absence due to a catastrophic performance and subsequent stage fright. As he performs the concerto he finds a note in his sheet music informing him that a trained sniper (John Cusack) has his sights on him, and that if he plays one wrong note, he will die. And so the plot unfolds as Tom desperately attempts to escape his precarious situation without putting his wife or the audience in danger. It’s a fairly ridiculous concept, but apparently it worked for creating some genuinely tense moments that cover up the film’s flaws.
I’m a little wary about seeing the movie, because I don’t want it to tarnish my opinion of Reyes’ fantastic score. I first heard about it from reading a review on Movie Music UK (and I will say again that it is a fantastic place for film music reviews that you should totally check out if you’re into film music), which was full of praise for the score, and so I listened to it. To be honest, I really should watch the movie to fully experience the technical mastery of Reyes and the excellence of the music, because this is one of the few cases in film history where the music plays a core role in the film’s plot. The concerto that Tom Selznick plays in the film was written by Reyes, serving as a propeller of the plot and the film’s score, and what’s more, the concerto’s dynamic arc mirrors the film’s, becoming more active and exciting or introspective and tense as the film dictates. This is truly “the ultimate diegetic cinematic experience” as Jon Broxton’s review on Movie Music UK states.
The album presents the concerto as three movements of roughly 12, 11 and 4 minutes respectively, bookended by a ‘Main Titles’ and an encore piece, ‘La Cinquette’. The concerto itself is in the style of Rachmaninoff – the piano is the core instrument, and the rest of the orchestra works around it, with time for solos in other instruments. One of the reasons why I became so attached to it without seeing the film is because it works as a classical piano concerto that would not be out of place in one of the premier concert halls of the world, performed as it is by a top-notch orchestra of supreme quality. There is a main thematic motif around which most of the music is structured, a simple 9 note melody that is first heard at 0:56 of the ‘1st Movement’ on the full orchestra, and restated in various formats throughout the rest of the concerto. The music is beautifully orchestrated, swooping around the piano with a real dramatic flair. There are many fantastic moments where the piano shines, many breathlessly active moments of excitement, many quieter, more tense and atmospheric phrases; it all melds together to create a seamless listening experience almost entirely separate from the film, if it weren’t for the listener’s knowledge that the music matches the arc of a film.
In general terms, the ‘1st Movement’ spends a lot of time introducing the listener to the core orchestral ideas of the music, repeating sections for familiarization. It begins with a piano solo that somehow captures the sense of tension that runs throughout the whole film in the first opening seconds, and the piano comes back for an extended solo at 9:06 full of twinkling fingering. There are many “classical” sub-melodies that take over for sections of the piece, such as at 1:24 and 10:00, a more frenetic action melody at 3:45, and quieter interludes in between. The ‘2nd Movement’ is generally more active and tense, opening with a faster tempo and putting the main motif into a minor key. There’s an frenetic piano melody section at 3:05, a gorgeously romantic/tragic melody that begins at 5:26 and gets a full orchestral treatment at 6:13, and it all climaxes with a chilling and breathless action finale that begins at 8:30. The ‘3rd Movement’ is more restrained, revisiting melodies from the previous two movements whilst including some orchestral hits and hesitant flourishes. It concludes by focusing on a more atmospheric finishing sequence with a sense of catharsis.
The ‘Main Titles’ is all low piano chords and synthesized percussive effects, building tension in an Ennio Morricone style. The final track on the album, ‘La Cinquette’ is entirely a piano solo, a bonkers piece really, opening fairly restrained, and moving into absolutely insanely complex at times. I think two sets of hands were necessary to play this piece. In conclusion, this is an achievement too good to overlook on Reyes’ part, a beautifully composed concerto that easily surpasses whatever qualities the film it was written for has. If you’re a fan of piano concertos and classical music, this is a modern masterpiece you shouldn’t miss.
God bless.
Purchase this album from iTunes here
Here is a link to a YouTube playlist of some highlights.
Highlights:
- Concerto: 1st Movement
- Concerto: 2nd Movement
- Concerto: 3rd Movement
Scores of Scores 