What You Need to Know: I'm unsure what the exact reason is, but James Horner's recent work just isn't connecting with me. In "
The Boy in Striped Pajamas," Horner takes the approach of creating a dramatic underscore that never seems to draw the listener in on an emotional level. The rather ominous, lurching flow of music never opens up in full to the friendship between the two boys apart from the first few tracks as heard early on in the album. The real shame of it is that Horner's main theme in the early portions is a gem, showcasing an innocence that is heartbreaking when one weighs in on the time and place the story is set in. This style, regretfully, does not develop in a manner which I had hoped for and instead, Horner takes a darker, classical approach to create the underscore for the rest of the movie.
Critiquing a score without hearing it in the context of the movie is truly an unfair proposition for the composer, but as I always say, if there is a soundtrack release, it has to be judged as a listening experience. I have no doubt that Horner's score works effectively in the film, but as I heard the work in its entirety, I was left unmoved by most of the music. Without an emotional involvement in a dramatic score such as this, there is little incentive in listening to it again other than for technical purposes. Such is the case for "The Boy in Striped Pajamas."
While the majority of the score is forgettable, Horner does provide a few statements that reminds one of his proficient skill. The opening track is perhaps the best cue on the album and the reason for this is that there is an emotional flow to it that is defined and focused. What follows thereafter is a series of tracks that lay down a bleak, slow moving backdrop. Save for the moments in which Horner implements vocals and piano motifs, the bulk of the material is nondescript and can be firmly classified as disappointing to me. It is interesting to note that Horner uses a fair amount of synth instrumentation in the score as well, an inclusion that added further shades of gray to the score's style.
