The Wind And The Lion
 
 

The Wind and the Lion was an Academy Award and Grammy nominated score for Jerry Goldsmith in 1975 and remains one of the composer's greatest achievements. With its middle eastern setting, an abundance of exotic scales, rich melodic writing and a massive percussion driven orchestration, it is one of the best of this style of score. The film, directed by John Milius, is about a Berber Chieftain (Sean Connery) who kidnaps an American woman (Candice Bergen) in 1904 which causes an international response from President Teddy Roosevelt (Brian Keith) and the United States military. The score matches the actions of both sides and creates a broad epic scope to the unfolding events.

The Main Title of the score presents an opening fanfare motif, a bouncing perfect fifth scored in the french horns followed by another statement, a major third lower. Goldsmith would often use these interval leaps in the horns in other scores and in this particular picture it adds a uniquely primitive and powerful drive to the music. The motif is given variation in different sections of the ensemble and can be heard throughout the remarkable orchestration. It is often stated countless times and proceeds the main theme which appears in tracks The Raisuli and Raisuli Attacks. This powerful melody for the Chieftain is mostly stated in the horns and begins with the fifth from the fanfare and rides mostly on a descending line. The theme has many settings, for instance, the active flute, bassoon, and cello statements in The Legend. Haunting, soft bitonal chords leading into a strong bass drum driven coda with woodwinds on the fanfare motif round out the cue. While a triumphant brass statement of the main theme can be heard in most of Lord of the Riff.

The score also contains a step wise theme with short skips in the melody for the Raisuli's men. As an example of Goldsmith's thematic unity in the score, the theme is assembled from parts of the main ideas and stated in low flute for The Tent and also later with low strings and horns in The Palace. It can be heard with an impressionistic english horn after the eerie string harmonic and water chime introduction of Morning Camp. Last but not least the film features a simple but passionate love theme in I Remember. The composer gets plenty of mileage out of just a small line that begins gently, rising with four notes, then uses octave leaps in the B section of the melody, most expressively in the soaring french horns. With True Feelings using a beautiful clarinet accompaniment reminiscent of Papillon on this theme.

The film's score is also Goldsmith's most rhythmically complex since Planet of the Apes. The composer uses layer upon layer of metric dissonance in the busy Moroccan rhythms. Exhaustive virtuostic playing is required from every section in the score as there are difficult rhythmic motifs, especially in the trumpets, with breathtakingly long lines. The action music is a wonderful assault on the ears and something new can be gleaned with every listen.

Raisuli Attacks is one of Goldsmith's most memorable cues. The exotic scales and the main ideas are simple in structure, but Goldsmith is able to weave them through the music, augmenting them with ease while a maelstrom of activity is applied around them. In the cue, strings, woodwinds and piano swirl over trumpet rips after the fanfare statement. Low violins start the long chromatic Raisuli line with splashes of dissonant woodwind colour and wooden percussion snaps on top. The long trumpet follows over percussion hits, and the metric dissonance ensues under string trills and harp glissandi. Over tambourine the main theme is stated in the horns with a canopy of thick string texture above. The creative orchestration adds to an emotionally rich score. Some of the most mind blowing moments come directly after a dramatic pause in the rhythmic intensity and the themes suddenly appear. It's a thrilling effect when the strings cry out the love theme over chiming brass stabs.

Most notable is the composer's impressive and colourful use of percussion. With an expanded section of field drum, timbales, elephant drums, tenor drum and bongos, the music never stops to overwhelm with a number of soundscapes. In the finale of the score the Americana passages from The True Symbol return in The Letter with a beautiful brass chorale using some magnificent inner harmony in the strings on the fanfare motif. Finally in Something of Value, after climatic Raisuli action music, the love theme builds shortly before the rising close of the fanfare motif in the trumpets.

Review based on the original album.