Serenada Schizophrana
Reviewed by Justin Bielawa
February 18, 2010

I’ve been purposely avoiding reviewing this CD. The reason is simple: its very hard to categorize. Danny Elfman has had a long, weird road in music – from obscure 80s rock star to quirky pseudo-gothic film composer and now to seemingly serious classical concert hall writer. He seems to be putting his fingers in a lot of creative pies, so to speak and so Serenada Schizophrana is a little hard to pin down. Its not film score – but its used in a film – and its not from a strictly classical composer, so where do you put it?

Heres the long and short of it: It’s a quality work from Elfman. I’d go as far as to say it’s a turning point in his career that he not only is given the challenge of writing for the concert hall but writing so well. A lot of times the transition from one form of music to another is clunky and more than a few professionals have been snubbed in the process (Paul McCartney’s classical attempt comes to mind immediately). But Elfman jumps in with both feet, writing something both new to him while still retaining his trademark sound. Above all, you can tell he’s enjoying himself as he does it. Finally free from the confines of a director or producer’s material, he can be himself in anyway he sees fit.

For those use to his nervous music for Tim Burton movies, they’ll feel right at home with the opening track “Pianos” with its constant countering responses to its self or “The Quadruped Patrol” which owes a lot of its bouncy, cyclic sound to Bernard Herrmann’s more obsessive orchestrations. Separated from a film, Elfman’s musical influences – the aforementioned Herrmann, Stravinski, Bartók – are much more apparent but whos ideas are given a much longer reach than the composer’s scores usually allow. Elfman’s strengths become much more apparent when he’s allowed to do what he wants – though the same could be said of any good composer.
 

Perhaps the most Elfman like of the set is the song “I Forget” for female soloist and choir. A little creepy, a little mysterious and full of off-kilter question-and-answers not unlike “In Taberna Quando sumus” by Carl Orff. The instrument backing is sparse but expressive with harp, brass, piano and xylophone. It would have fit nicely into a score like Night Breed or Scrooge. The whole album is given a grand send-off with “Bells And Whistles” which utilizes all the effects and ideas (though not necessarily themes) started from all the earlier music. Choir, hard brass and some deathly dark strings finish the whole with all the… bells and whistles, I guess you could say!
 

This particular project has seemed to energize Elfman’s career. Despite a couple of interesting ideas like Planet Of The Apes or parts of Hulk his material had become rather stagnant and uninvolving. This is very far from the truth of Serenada Schizophrana which has a strength and vitality to it that has been sorely lacking in the composer’s output through the early 2000s. Does Elfman survive the concert hall experience? Absolutely, and more importantly survives with his distinct voice intact.

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