On July 1,
1963 , General Robert E. Lee moved his 70,000-man-strong Army of
Northern Virginia into the northern states.
The Army of the Potomac , 80,000-strong,
converged with Lee’s army on a small field in the outskirts of Gettysburg to aid General John F. Buford’s
cavalry who bravely stopped the approaching southern army from threatening Washington , D.C. Gettysburg . Three days later, more than 50,000 men would
lay dead on those fields.
The epic battle of Gettysburg
took 15 years for Director Ronald F. Maxwell to bring to the screen. To score this 4 ½ hour epic, Maxwell hired
Randy Edelman. 1993 marked the year for
two of Edelman’s most memorable scores: Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story and Gettysburg
When Randy Edelman visited the set of the film – Gettysburg itself – he
realized right away the size of the score the film demanded. He didn’t have the chance to set out and
study the period music but immediately began to write the music for the film. “Main Titles” is a highlight track of the
album because it neatly summarizes the score’s themes. The main brass theme is introduced by
synthesized choir. The “honor” theme
appears right after the main theme followed by mournful string work that
underscores much of the rest of the album.
The track comes to a close by introducing yet another theme – a sad horn
theme representing the emotional struggle between two brothers in arms against
one another. The track closes with a
single military drum drumming away slowly building up anticipation for the rest
of the music.
“Battle of Little Round Top,” “Battle At Devil’s Den,” “The
First Battle,” “Charging Up the Hill,” and “March to Mortality” are the
emotionally driven battle cues with “Charging Up the Hill” and “March to
Mortality” being some of the most tense music written for the film, or any film
for that matter. The most powerful,
heart-wrenching song is “Over the Fence” which is the song playing during the
Confederate final charge up a ridge to the Union encampment. The music gets ever so tense towards the
finale where the armies go muzzle to muzzle.
All of the songs mentioned thus far are classic Edelman but
the score wouldn’t be a nice representation of the period without period
music. Well, Edelman arranged and composed
two wonderful songs that seem to have been pulled right out of the time period:
“Fife and Gun” and “Dixie.” The first
song is played by a guitar and horns while the latter is played by a harmonica
and guitar.
The album closes with one of the most beautiful songs ever
written by Edelman. “Reunion
and Finale” is really two songs spliced together. The “Finale” part is actually General Lee
meeting with soldiers before the fateful Pickett’s Charge and “Reunion” is the
end song before the credits roll. The song
is emotional with sad strings and mournful horns playing over the images of the
bloodied fields of Gettysburg. The song
then shifts to a victorious rendition of the Gettysburg theme ending the album
on a high note.
This is the first score that kicked off my score
collection. I was unfamiliar with film
music until I saw this movie and was immersed in the powerful music. Sadly, the album only represents about 56
minutes of a 4 ½ hour long movie. There
is a Deluxe Commemorative Edition
that includes some 40 minutes more of score with some highlight cues left out
from the original release. This is
definitely Randy Edelman’s finest work to date and one of the best scores of
the 90s.
My rating: 5 stars
So popular was Randy Edelman’s music for Gettysburg
that it encouraged Milan to release “more music from the film.” Yes, the More Music From Gettysburg album
release contained more music, but it was just the period music from the film
and a few what I consider “country” songs.
Milan
later went on to re-release the original soundtrack coupled with an informative
24-page book and a second audio disc with about 45 minutes of never-before released music. Among the new tracks released is “The
Gettysburg Address” recited by Jeff Daniels which is also found on the More
Music album.
The new music surely is appreciated, yet I can’t help but
wonder why Milan
didn’t just release a complete score edition or a more expanded score since significant
musical cues are still left out of the release.
Still, this Deluxe Commemorative
Edition coupled with the More Music album adds up to over 2 hours of
music which is better than just the original score release.
The 1st disc is the original soundtrack release. The 2nd disc in this release starts with a
beautiful fanfare version of the main theme not included on the first disc in
“Gettysburg – Revisited.” The following
tracks are out of chronological order just like the original release. Three out of the fourteen score tracks on the disc are highlights
from the Battle of Little Round Top and Pickett’s Charge. The best queue left out of the original
release is “Armistead Is Hit.” This
tense, 3+ minute song contains the final moments of Pickett’s Charge as General
Armistead pierces his hat through with his sword to lead the final charge to
the stonewall of the Union encampment. A
trumpet solo plays a mournful, tense fanfare supported by racing string loops
with occasional militaristic drums ending the track on a trumpet blare. The album comes to a close with the
aforementioned “The Gettysburg Address.”
I was fortunate enough to run into this Deluxe Commemorative Edition release but it came at a price. Since very few copies were made and all of
them sold, it’s no wonder this is now a treasured collector’s item with owners
of the edition putting a high price tag on it.
(Some copies have sold for over $100.)
If you do run into this edition, get your hands on it. You’ll be pleased with some of the action
cues missing from the original album and the wonderful 24-page booklet
providing behind-the-scenes information.
I’m glad Milan
provided this expanded edition, but I look forward to the day, if ever, a
complete score is released for this film.
Gettysburg remains as one of Edelman’s finest scores of his
career.
My rating: 5 stars
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