True story, I ordered this CD set back in 2020 but didn't get it until this year, 2023. What happened? Well the COVID-19 pandemic, a change to how things are shipped in Japan, and my stubbornness in not wanting to pay more for shipping. It took three years for me to cave in and just pay the higher cost.
Anyway, backstory aside, this is a two CD set for the 1977 production Mount Hakkoda. Composed and conducted by Yasushi Akutagawa, with a performance by the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, the score feels slightly grand. In fact, the sometimes sweeping orchestration really benefits the material. However, the soundtrack does have weak points both in extreme repetition and lackluster vocal material.
Now before I dive into talking about individual themes, I want to address the track titles. Normally I save this as a footnote, but for this release some titles are so, so painfully long it's hard not to bring it up early. This is owed to the fact some tracks mention not just an event, but include the real world locations where it took place. It's a lot of information to pack into a simple track title. Honestly it made this CD very hard to translate, not to mention resulting in titles that look messy.
This out of the way, the score is overall good but repetitive. Right out of the gate the soundtrack excels with the epic sounding "Main Title". With sweeping violin work, the theme feels majestic. What's nice is that Akutagawa revisits motifs in interesting ways. For example, the "Main Title" is revisited in "White Hell", but the epic qualities are not just downplayed but it takes on an almost sinister approach. Appropriately, this same motif is revisited for the "Ending". This version is closer to the first track, but takes a sorrowful approach before reaching an epic crescendo.
Unfortunately, while changes to this motif often vary considerably, the motif is reused a lot. Actually, saying a lot is generous, it's reused constantly. I was going to mention the themes that use it, but honestly it's easier to mention the non-vocal tracks that don't. That list includes "Letter from Captain Tokushima", "Inubo Pass Guide"... that's it, that's literally it. A few tracks almost toy with the listener, like "Departure of the Kanda Corps" that for the first minute sounds totally unique until it starts to play the main title motif. "Cliffs of Ice" is the same way, playing like a unique theme for sixty seconds before using the motif.
Changing gears to talk about bonus material, we'll start with the first CD. This begins with a collection of outtakes. Unfortunately they are all jammed on one track, but the outtakes are for the following themes:"White Hell", "Farewell: Tokushima and Kanda" and "Ending". Why they weren't broken up is beyond me, but regardless the outtakes are interesting for being deviations from the final material. "White Hell" in particular sounds more somber and loses the more epic quality of the final version. After the outtakes is a track called "Snow March". This is a vocal chant, which probably works in the context of the film but feels too simplistic to make for an enjoyable stand alone experience. A similar track actually appears in the main score selection, called "March in the Snow". This is a shorter track and better for it, although still not all that pleasant. As for the "Military Bugle" at the end of the CD, it's almost more of a sound effect than a musical track and not very enticing.
Moving to the second CD, this is where the stereo material is found. The tracks on this disc originate from LP releases, hence the difference in format. Listening, I was disappointed that the tracks didn't feature much difference from the movie themes. I'm used to stuff like Prophecies of Nostradamus (1974) and The War in Space (1977) of this era, where the LP stuff is dramatically different, sometimes even in an over the top fashion to demonstrate the directionality versus mono. Here, the tracks are very similar to the movie themes. The main difference is that they are actual conducted suites, meaning they aren't just edited together but conducted in a way that it weaves from one theme to the next. The result is good for that reason.
Rounding out the bonus material are two songs by Shintaro Godo. The first, titled "Under the Flowers in Spring", has a nice start… but I'm just not a fan of Godo's style of singing. It's very dour and slow. The second song, titled "The Great Journey" after another theme from the movie, suffers the same fate and frankly found both of these songs unappealing.
Overall, this CD set lives and dies based on one's level of appreciation of the main theme motif. This level of repetition almost feels like someone dared Akutagawa to do it, and he sportingly went along. The fact that the motif is fantastic saves this score from being a bad experience. It shouldn't, but somehow the score works even though the same motif is on loop. Even within the repetition some highlights emerge, such as "Reunion at Hakkoda: Tokushima and Kanda". Bottom line, I'd say this is a recommended release for those who enjoy more epic sounding scores. That said, be prepared for themes to really blend together while listening, since so many will start to sound familiar after just a few cues. |
