David HIRSCHFELDER Hanging Up  OST VARÈSE SARABANDE VSD-6120 [41:20]

Comedic scores are often difficult to get enthusiastic about, as there just isn't the same scope for a composer as when working on genres such as fantasy and adventure. But even allowing for this, I found David Hirschfelder's work here rather bland and uninspiring.

The central theme, heard in various incarnations throughout the score, is introduced in `It's Too Late' and is slightly surprisingly with its dissonant chord structure. There is also plenty of variety in the instrumentation and even if there is some overly familiar string work in the mid-section, I was reasonably optimistic after this solid start. Sadly though, from here on nothing much else occurs to elicit any positive response. Many tracks like `Eve and Maddy are Hondas', `Eve and Ogmed' and `Thanksgiving' offer sentimental piano and strings that I expect will serve adequately in the film, but really leave a lot to be desired in terms of musical invention. The real problem is that we've been here so many times before. It's all rather forgettable and I really can't imagine wanting to come back to this in the future. Film music by the numbers would be an apt description and it's not a good sign when the best tracks are the obligatory songs. In this case there are four, `Georgia on my Mind' sung by Steve Tyrell and All-4-One, `Once Upon a Time' performed by Jay McShann, Dean Martin's appealing version of `Let it Snow! Let it Snow! Let it Snow! and the truly wonderful `Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas' with vocals by Judy Garland. This heart-warming classic (featured in the enchanting 1944 production Meet me in St. Louis) is almost worth picking up the album for alone. Unfortunately there is little else to recommend it.

Reviewer

Mark Hockley