index page/ monthly listings / January /

Randy EDELMAN Black Knight     OST   VARÈSE SARABANDE VSD-6307   [37:26] Hurrah for Randy Edelman at least he has a marvellous sense of humour and you know that his scores will be both colourful and fun. Here we have (I sense ) an updating of the old Mark Twain story A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court.. The music apart from the rock/rap crudities – mercifully brief and parodied – is a spirited romp. It is a clever pastiche of the romantic swashbuckling material we recognise for the films of Hollywood’s Golden Age: the sort of bombastic material for combat and tournaments, and the familiar sweetly romantic figures mixed with a hint of regal that we hear here in ‘A Queen and a Dream’. Then there are familiar figures for moments of menace. The slapstick episodes encourage Edelman’s usual chirpy invention like the gloriously mirthful material he invents for the harmonica. ‘Renaissance Sway’ is a nice appealing modern romantic-rhythmed tune with saxophone that recalls Kenny G. Elsewhere Edelman has tongue-in-cheek fun with pastiches of medieval music and old folk song forms. Fun. Ian Lace
	Return to Index

Error processing SSI file