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Tuesday, June 9, 2015

Movie Music and More #13: "Master and Commander" (2003)


Today I'm going to share one of my absolute favorite soundtracks with you, that for Master and Commander:  The Far Side of the World (2003), which is one of the most beautiful scores I've ever heard.  It contains both original music composed by Iva Davies, Christopher Gordon, and Richard Tognetti and classical pieces by Mozart, J.S. Bach, Boccherini, and others.  Why the mix?  Because the two main characters, Captain Jack Aubrey (Russell Crowe) and Dr. Stephen Maturin (Paul Bettany), play the violin and the cello.  

(In the books the movie is adapted from, they first met at a concert, where Aubrey annoyed Maturin by tapping his toe and waving his hand to the beat -- Maturin dismissed him as a gauche musical naif, only to discover that Aubrey was actually a gifted violinist.  Not only that, but Aubrey was in command of a ship about to sail that needed a surgeon, and Dr. Maturin was in need of a job, and so an unlikely friendship was formed.)

Here's a scene from the movie where they play a song that's on the soundtrack, part of one of Mozart's Violin Concerto No. 3:


And here's one of my favorite written-for-the-score tracks, "Into the Fog."  A lot of the music for this movie is very militaresque, as befits a movie about a British warship that involves a healthy number of naval battles.  Lots of drums, some strings, some fifes and other wind instruments.  I love listening to it in the morning, when I need to get myself motivated to make breakfast, etc.


And here's one final song, which also happens to be from the end of the film, a snippet of Boccherini's "La Musica Notturna Delle Strade di Madrid No. 6."  Or, as I call it, "the song where Aubrey and Maturin pretend they have guitars."


I consider this movie to be one of the finest book-to-film adaptations ever, and I've always been so happy that it has a splendid soundtrack to match.


8 comments:

  1. Awesome! I really enjoy this score too, though I haven't played it in a while, it was one of the first I bought.Though calling it a great book to film adaptation makes it appear that you haven't read the book. The plot of the movie has almost zero resemblance to the book of the same name that I remember reading...

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    1. Glad you like the score too!

      I've read all 20 books, and finished the series shortly before this came out in the theater. I believe the title "Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World" is meant to clue fans of the series in to the fact that it will be based on more than one book, since it bears the title of two of them. While the various adventures in the movie don't all come from the first book in the series, they do come from the series itself.

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  2. Another great soundtrack! I really like Master and Commander and it has a wonderful, distinctive score. I have not read the book that it was adapted from, but I sure enjoyed the movie.

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    1. I think that's a hallmark of an excellent adaptation: it stands on its own, and is enjoyable for people who have never read its source material. I saw this in the theater with my brother -- I'd read the whole series, he'd read none of it -- and we both thoroughly enjoyed it.

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  3. I still haven't watched this movie yet; it's one of those I'm kind of interested in, but it doesn't make the top of my want-to-see list so I haven't gotten there yet. ;-P

    Isn't the song 'Don't Forget Your Old Shipmate' in this movie? I saw a video of it with clips from Master and Commander and Hornblower. I love that song. :-)

    ~Emma

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    1. Yup, they sing that during a dinner in the captain's cabin where everyone's been enjoying some lovely wine. If you like Hornblower, give this a try! It's that same time period, and while it has a different flavor, still you could imagine Aubrey and Maturin bumping into Hornblower back at the naval docks sometime :-)

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  4. Ugh. I love this movie's soundtrack so much. So, so much. It's just perfection, especially that last piece -- sailing off after the other ship, the adventure not quite over yet, but still gotta play that music! That ending makes me so happy. I adore this movie. Now I want to watch it! Thanks for sharing that bit from the books Hamlette, that's a great tidbit! :D

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    1. I know -- it's just beautiful and soooo listenable. I want to watch it too now! And re-read the books. Considering making that my reading goal in 2016. I haven't read them since just before this came out, so at least 12 years now.

      My absolute favorite moment in the books comes in one of the later ones. Stephen is visiting Jack and his wife at their home while ashore, and he wakes up at night and hears the most beautiful music outside. He goes to his window, and there's Jack, playing his violin all alone in the moonlight. And Stephen realizes with a shock that Jack is not a good violinist. He is a great violinist, practically a virtuoso, and all these years of their friendship, Jack has kinda been holding back so Stephen won't feel outmatched. It's an amazing surprise for Stephen and the readers, and such a poignant moment of character development for them both.

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