Hollow Music

Many weeks ago, I went to a special concert by the Colorado Symphony Orchestra. They presented two hours of music composed by Danny Elfman, all from the films of Tim Burton. Over a dozen movies were covered, spanning their decades-long collaboration. Much of the music presented came from soundtrack albums that have been a much-loved part of my collection for some time. But some of it, though taken from movies I have seen, was music with which I'm far less familiar.

An example from this latter category was a suite of the score to Sleepy Hollow. I don't remember thinking too much of the movie when I saw it in the theater back in 1999. It had undeniable style, as all Tim Burton films do, but I seem to remember thinking it a bit silly and lackluster. Not terrible, but quite forgettable. And among what I'd forgotten was Danny Elfman's score. But hearing it presented in concert made me immediately set about tracking down a copy of the album online. Whatever deficiencies there were in the film did not extend to the music.

Danny Elfman's work for Sleepy Hollow is a perfect display of the twisted dichotomy he brings to a score. The music is flowing and beautiful on its surface, while simultaneously having creepy, fresh-crawling qualities lingering just beneath the surface. Nowhere is this exemplified more than in the movie's main title track, featuring a single boy soprano "aaaaah-ing" out a crystal clear melody. It feels as though it should bring a tear to the corner of your eye, but in actuality it makes you recoil minutely with the feeling that something simply isn't right.

This same melody -- and similar techniques -- permeate the score. "Sweet Dreams" don't sound as advertised, and "More Dreams" are even darker. Confrontations are personified with power in "The Church Battle," "The Windmill," "The Chase," and "The Final Confrontation." (Fun Elfman trivia: all of his scores have a cue titled "The Final Confrontation," unless the story of the film simply won't accommodate it.) The best tracks of all are "The Tree of Death," a cue which pulls the tension tauter and tauter over nine exhilarating minutes, and "End Credits," which swings the other way by condensing all of the film's clever musical ideas into a loaded three minutes.

For a fan of scores in general, and of Danny Elfman in particular, it's a shame this album wasn't in my collection before. But I can thank the Colorado Symphony Orchestra concert (which was amazing,by the way) for leading me to correct this oversight. Because of films where I think Elfman's work was even stronger, I'd probably give this album a B+. Still, a used copy of Sleepy Hollow wasn't at all hard for me to track down, and I'd certainly recommend fans of the genre do the same.