A.I.: Artificial Intelligence

Probably one of the most anticipated scores and films of the 2001 summer season, AI has received a mixed critical reaction as a film, but the score has been almost universally praised. As the film isn't typical Spielberg - surely everyone knows that it was a pet project for Stanley Kubrick before his untimely death - the score is a somewhat different style of Williams score. I suspect that Kubrick would have used more classical excerpts as he is prone to do, although while this is often successful, I can't imagine they would improve on Williams' original effort.

AI is one of his most imaginative scores for some time with Williams trying out a few new ideas, all of which are quite wonderful. His recent scores have been excellent, but haven't really broken much new ground, but the level of invention here is considerable. The first of these is the cyclic arpeggios which put to mind John Cage or Philip Glass, although set apart by the inclusion of some typical Williams harmonic twists as well as a melody. It is certainly brings to mind a large, somewhat dystopian society, which is of course perfect given the nature and setting of the film. Another idea that Williams briefly plays with is a brief burst of dance music type rhythms during The Moon Rising. It marks the most successful integration of popular music into a Williams score in decades, his previous attempts have often been a little awkward (particularly during one quite embarrassing sequence during his much sought after Spacecamp). The way the electronics blend in and out of the orchestra, finally giving way to purely acoustic instruments at least as good as any Jerry Goldsmith or David Arnold effort.

Perhaps the highlight of the score is Monica's Theme, introduced in the track of the same name (if you exclude the earlier vocal rendition) and given its fullest treatment during Where Dreams Are Born. Soprano Barbara Bonney provides a wordless vocal performance and not only is the theme itself absolutely gorgeous in every respect, the arrangement is flawless. It would be easy to compare the style to Morricone who has made this kind of arrangement a trademark, but that would be a disservice to Williams who simply uses the voice as his instrument of choice. A spine tingling moment and surely destined to become one of Williams' greatest themes. While much of the rest of the music has a gentle, other worldly and fairy tail quality, there are a couple of moments of horror, most notably the disturbing choral writing of Replicas which recalls the early cues of Close Encounters of the Third Kind.

For Always is essentially a pop version of Where Dreams Are Born and while it works quite well with words and a bracing performance by Lara Fabian and a slightly less effective duet version with Josh Groban, even though it still can't really compete with the clarity of the wordless performance. The electronic enhancements are liable to date the song a little, which is unfortunate as the purely orchestral sections of the accompaniment are marvellous. It used to be the case that you could listen to a John Williams score for instant gratification, but the increasing subtlety of his work invites the listener to play the album a few times to fully appreciate how the score evolves from the imposing start to the gentle piano variations on Monica's theme during The Reunion. Another outstanding Williams effort, highly recommended.