Rarely has a composer created a main theme so flowing and brilliantly structured as composer Christopher Gordon has with his glorious score for the film MOBY DICK. "Call Me Ishmael" is the first appearance of this multi-layered brass and lightly sweeping strings central theme. Mr. Gordon uses many different styles of music here to culminate in a totally enjoyable album. I must also mention here that this score was written for a television movie. Usually, producers tend to cut down on budget by hiring a composer to write a score for a small orchestra but not here.

A movie with such an epic scope like MOBY DICK naturally deserves a score of equal grandiosity. Christopher Gordon was the perfect man for a task such as this. He has the talent of flawlessly weaving in the primary theme with impeccable timing and style. The presence of the harpooner Queequeg required Gordon to score these scenes appropriately. He approached the subject by using many percussive instruments native to the South Pacific. These particular moments are darkly enjoyable. Much of the score is notably spooky and eerily dramatic. No better moment is the scene where it is explained to Ishmael the story of Captain Ahab's tragic run-in with the white whale.("Devoured, it Was") The scene where Ahab makes his first real appearance is truly startling.

At 73 minutes, this score is a massive release. It is divided up into two very discernable parts. The first covers the events leading up to the whale's trumpeting brass introduction. Many of the scenes make you feel as if you were really out on the open sea with the wind whipping through your hair. However, the grand freeness of the first half is mostly left behind in the much darker second part. Gordon does an exemplary job of conveying Ahab's perpetual insanity due to his obsession to kill the whale that disabled him. Many restrained strings successfully underscore the stressful periods of waiting on the Pequod for Ahab's next misguided attempt at revenge.

It is very hard to accurately judge this, but the score's finest part is the music in the final fourth of the album. One can truly sense the tragedy of the story here. The track named "St. Elmo's Fire" is a divine piece of choral and ethereal magic. It builds itself with a slow-burn intensity until the main mast of the Pequod is illuminated with lights of a heavenly nature. What a great touch from Mr. Gordon. The score plays out until the end where Ishmael astoundingly survives Moby Dick's violent wrath. In an excellent move, the main theme is reprised to cap-off the story and bring the score full circle.

Young composer Christopher Gordon is to be commended for such a momentous effort with MOBY DICK. It is rich with many different orchestral flavours and thematic brilliance. In many ways, this score sounds much more professional than some of the scores composed by the "big boys" in movie scoring. I can only hope someone will give this man a mainstream Hollywood project to sink his teeth into. Until then, we can all savor his talent which is strikingly abundant in MOBY DICK. With an ocean full of so many scores to choose from, in this case, it's all right to drink the water.

--BUY THIS SCORE HERE--

Running Time: approx. 73 min.

PART ONE

1. Call Me Ishmael
2. Queequeg
3. Silhouettes
4. Nantucket Docks
5. The Pequod
6. The Harpooner
7. Jonah and the Whale
8. Farewell
9. The Voyage Begins
10. Devoured, It Was
11. The Crow's Nest
12. Ahab
13. This Gold Ounce
14. An Indissoluble League
15. The God Fugitive
16. I am the Prophet
17. Beware the Blasphermer's End
18. There She Blows!
19. The Devil Himself

PART TWO

20. Midnight Sea
21. Man Overboard
22. Ye Hairy-Hearted Ghouls
23. Bad Magic
24. Onward to Nowhere
25. Ice
26. Ye Shall Will It!
27. Queequeg's Prophecy
28. Captain Pip
29. The Shadow of a Knife
30. Apparition
31. At the Helm
32. St. Elmo's Fire
33. Forty Years
34. Lower the Boats
35. The Pilot
36. Fate's Lieutenant
37. Eternal Rest
38. Queequeg's Death
39. The Pequod Burns
40. Orphan of the Sea
41. Moby Dick Theme