Whilst the 1993 Disney adaptation of The Three Musketeers is not the best it did have certain merits. The film managed to maintain an original sense of humour and up to the final confrontation is fairly exciting. In the end it is the dismal ending and sieve like plot that let it down. The one consistently good if not great part of the film is its soundtrack.
The score stands out easily as Michael Kamen�s best. Diverse, dramatic, bombastic, orchestrally massive and it has a sense of fun making this score more satisfying in more ways than his other scores to date.
The score is firmly rooted in 16th century France with many classical style motifs and use of harps and even the antiquated Harpsichord. Kamen�s affinity for classical music serves well here to set the score in the time of the story and seems to make the score sound more convincing and timeless.
The opening of The Three Musketeers has no swashbuckling theme and no grand themematic orchestration whatsoever. Instead the score dives straight into a haunting choral track with the orchestra bolstering what can only be described as an excellent cue. The track has a distinct Hunt for the Red October styling with similar uses of flutes and choral elements laid over Kamen�s massive sounding orchestra.
�D�Artagnan� sees the appearance of Kamen�s simple yet highly effective Musketeers theme consisting of a 4 note motif played by the brass section. The theme is both noble and heroic and Kamen�s regular uses of it through out the score makes this one of his most themematic and stylish scores. The theme gets considerable expansion throughout the score with extra sections added to represent the King�s Musketeers with sweeping string motifs added with tweaked versions of the original 4 note motif for D�Artagnan. Tracks such as �Athos, Porthos and Aramis� combine the orchestral theme with the chorals and some outrageous and obviously comic action music making one of the best tracks on the CD.
Coming to the action music I felt a little less taken over. Whilst tracks such as �Swordfight� and �Cannonballs� are excellent, setting a fast pace and some exhilarating swashbuckling cues mixed in with several motifs that give the score a sense of fun, the other action cues, such as �The Cardinal�s Coach� lack inspiration and stay at the same pace and bombastic heaviness for too long.
The beginning of �The Cardinal�s Coach� is fine with the opening section sounding very like some of David Arnold�s work for 2001�s The Musketeer the rest of the track seems to drag on for too long without pace or instrumentation change.
The quieter less themematic and less brassy tracks such as �Louis XIII, Queen Anne and Constance, Lady in Waiting� do feel quite drab and unimaginative but serve as quieter melodic interludes between the action cues. But whilst these elements of the score are less inspired and lack the energy and life of tracks like �Athos, Porthos and Aramis� they are still listenable and the �M�Lady DeWinter� track has a dark sinister sound that works well in defining her treacherous character.
These tracks however, are quickly forgotten in the massive final track �The Fourth Musketeer�. The track is suitably long and encompasses the whole of the climax of the film from some stirring action music at the beginning to D�Artagnan and Constance�s love theme and ends on a massive and glorious statement of the main theme with all the expansions made throughout the score included. Making one of Kamen�s finest moments in his scoring career.
Overall The Three Musketeers is the best score for any of the adaptations. The themes although simple are so well used and expanded they capture the heroics and humour of the film effortlessly. This is Michael Kamen�s best score to date and apart from a few less inspired cues is a very memorable and enjoyable score. The sound quality is excellent and although the running time isn�t that long the CD has almost all of the major cues from the film and certainly all of the best music.
To put it simply this is a triumph for Michael Kamen.
*****
2. Cavern Of Cardinal Richelieu (Overture- Passacaille)
3. D'Artagnan (Gallaird & Air)
4. Athos, Porthios And Aramis (Courante)
5. Sword Fight (Bransle)
6. Louis XIII, Queen Anne And Constance: Lady In Waiting (Gavotte)
7. The Cardinal's Couch (Estampie)
8. Cannonballs (Rigadoon)
9. M'Lady De Winter (Lament)
10. The Fourth Musketeer (Concert Royaux)