The score for
Anthony Hemingway
's film
Red Tails
is the 33rd by trumpeter and composer
Terence Blanchard
. The music was performed by the
FILMharmonic Orchestra and Choir
in Prague, under the direction of
Adam Klemens
. The orchestration, done by
Blanchard
in collaboration with
Howard Drossin
, is large in scale, expansive, and dramatic. The trumpeter also appears here, along with percussionist
Kendrick Scott
and pianist
Fabian Almazan
. Given that the film is a WWII-era drama about the Tuskegee Airmen, the music is surprisingly modern; it's a combination of action film textures and dynamics, classical extravagances, and choral overtones in its cues. The "Opening Titles" theme greets even the most ardent
fans with shock: with blazing heavy metal guitars, pulsing synths and sequencers, nearly bombastic brass, and electronic percussion exploding into the fore. These notions are expanded upon continually, in "The Train," "Lightning in Trouble," and numerous other cues. The rumbling drums, transcendent vocal choruses, horns, strings, and synths give the militaristic bent of the film's subject matter weight. There are more atmospheric cues here though they are at a minimum; while they provide dynamic relief, they heighten the tension even further -- check "Junior's Prison" and "Paper Plane." There is great magisterial content here, too, as evidenced by "Mission Orders/Stance Berlin."
's task -- to provide a big-budget Hollywood film with a score worthy of its subject -- succeeds. It's obvious he's spent a great deal of time listening to
Wagner
and
Strauss
, as well as to German electronic outfits and
Hans Zimmer
, and has integrated them to reflect his own signature -- in "Attack from Above," he quotes from his score for
A Tale of God's Will
. Tacked on to the end of
's score are a few period pieces to make the soundtrack complete. These include the
Andrews Sisters
' "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy" and
the Ink Spots
' "Bless You." Thankfully, you can hit the stop button right after the beauty and grandeur of the "End Credits/America the Beautiful," performed by the trumpeter with percussionist
Almazan
fronting the orchestra. This is
's most unusual and populist score by Hollywood standards; that said, it's a complete gas to listen to. ~ Thom Jurek