Conan the Barbarian

I'm a fan of the fantasy adventure genre - in movies, books, games - and Basil Poledouris's score to the film "Conan the Barbarian" does a darn near perfect job of carrying the themes and conventions of the genre (much better than the film, to be sure). The only other music I've heard which portrays this type of epic medieval adventure sound so well is the opening track to Beyond the Beyond, and I *love* that track. The same goes for the Conan the Barbarian score.

The most striking musical characteristics of this score are its ever-blazing brass and powerful latin chanting. The brass isn't truly *always* blazing, but in the intense battle tracks (there are several in the soundtrack) it is definitely prominent, and it is strong and unwavering throughout. The choral performance is powerful as well. The sound of the latin lyrics is a bit peculiar in one particular passage in "The Kitchen / The Orgy", but that is the exception to the rule. Another element of the battle music is the presence of pounding war drums, which make their debut from the very beginning and resurface throughout the score.

The score isn't all charging battle music, and Poledouris utilizes an array of medieval-sounding instrumentation to carry the other themes. The choir achieves a softer, more transcendental sound at times. Flutes come in at just the right moments and there is some nice accentuation by the harp as well. Stringed accompaniment is quite common but never takes the forefront. In essence what we have is a core of medieval-style instrumentation, select enough to fit the music securely within the genre, but with enough variety to avoid repetitiveness.

The score is so filled with the fantasy adventure mood it just brings a smile to my face. The good thing about its incorporation into a film score is that it's "paced" in a way - the really thickly-accented fantasy passages are interspersed with more temperate, neutral-sounding, traditional orchestral moments. As such the fantasy mood doesn't become too heavy-handed, but accentuates the score delightfully instead.

"Riddle of Steel / Riders of Doom" is where the main battle theme makes its appearance through the aforementioned brass and chanting. The theme resurfaces a few times in the score and is aptly charged with action and danger. "Theology / Civilization" is quite a contrast, offering instead a particularly catchy, uplifting melody akin to the main town or traveling theme in a video game RPG. The theme of love for the film makes its appearance in "Wifeing" and "Recovery", and takes another, appropriate shift in mood. These three themes are among my favorites of any score.

Not all the tracks offer the same memorable melodies and strong moods of the main themes, of course. As in most film scores there are tracks that best serve to support the other, more important ones, and they can sometimes drone away in the background for a few minutes. The degree of this is quite less than your typical film score though, so that these less captivating tracks avoid being troublesome.

Truly, for those who have any kind of liking for the fantasy adventure genre, Conan the Barbarian gets my highest recommendation - it is indeed a must-own. It puts all the proper elements together to make a powerful, enjoyable film score and musical adventure.