Frost/Nixon Soundtrack Review

Zimmer’s Score is Introspective and Surprisingly Innovative

Feb 2, 2009

Hans Zimmer, too often associated with blockbuster action movies, has delivered a compelling and intelligent score to Ron Howard's gripping drama.

After so many projects requiring heart-pounding action scoring and uber-masculine power anthems, it is all too easy to forget Hans Zimmer’s more restrained compositions, such as Driving Miss Daisy, Nine Months and The Holiday.

Thankfully, a score occasionally comes along which reveals Zimmer’s softer, more satisfyingly introspective side, and his score to Frost/Nixon, Ron Howard’s intense film adaptation of the acclaimed stage play, is just such a project.

The score opens with an ominous but energetic piece, “Watergate,” which features intense chopping low-end strings, percussive piano, and synthetic elements, with strong underlying chords on brass. The synthetic element is an insistent “ticking” rhythm which appears throughout the score, reminiscent of parts of his score to Batman Begins, and it contributes an undeniable air of urgency to the score.

That same air of urgency is exactly what makes the score so interesting: the film which the score accompanies is dialog-driven, and a flashy, over-the-top score would obviously not be appropriate: but neither would it have done for Zimmer to compose a monotone, droning underscore.

The music had to carry the film forward and highlight all the right emotions without becoming distracting, and Zimmer accomplishes this with astonishing ease. The score is stylish, consistently interesting, enjoyable, deeply layered and arresting, yet it features very few of the obvious, simplistic Zimmer trademarks which have been so evident in his last few scores.

Atypical Zimmer Score

Gone is the power anthem: gone, too, are the sampled drums and low male choir. Even a memorable theme is sacrificed here for the sake of texture. Chopping, driving ostinato rhythms and synthetic accompaniment are some of the only typical Zimmer techniques one will recognize in this score.

Even these are so well integrated within the larger construct of the score that the score is refreshing and intriguing almost by default. It’s simply good to hear something fresh and different from Zimmer, and the fact that the score is not only different but innovative is just a perk.

Also unlike many recent Zimmer scores, the album for Frost/Nixon is relatively short: only slightly over 40 minutes, it says everything it is required to say without overstaying its welcome. It progresses through its runtime with never a dull moment (except a few moments of droning in the final cue, perhaps), and leaves quite a strong impression on the listener.

The runtime of the score album is noteworthy and commendable: it is difficult to say whether the score could have been better represented on a longer album, but there is little doubting that all the relevant facets of the score are indeed on the commercial product.

Standout Cues

Themes are not to be found in Frost/Nixon. The score is defined by its style and rhythm first, and its moody, layered intelligence second, not by any particularly memorable melodies, although certain rhythmic patterns for string, piano and percussion are certainly evident. Nevertheless, the score is not devoid of standout moments.

Some upbeat, optimistic cues include “Hello, Good Evening and Welcome” and “Beverly Hilton,” which utilize tingling chimes and other light percussion to tantalizing effect, while the sense of dead-serious urgency returns with vehemence in “Insanely Risky,” “Pardon the Phlebitis” and (most infectiously) “Research Montage.”

A short moment of despondent, lush strings pops up rather unexpectedly in “Cambodia,” and a sense of approaching climax is effectively built up in “The Final Interview.” The album closes with the quietly anguished “Nixon Defeated,” and then the ten-minute “First Ideas,” a noticeably more synthesized suite of various devices Zimmer created for the score.

Conclusion

Zimmer is an extremely capable composer, and this is best evident when he writes alone. Thanks to scores like Frost/Nixon, it is possible to see a often-typecast composer in his best light and be reminded that there is still such a thing as originality in film music: and what more satisfying artist to demonstrate this than Zimmer?

The copyright of the article Frost/Nixon Soundtrack Review in Classical Music is owned by David Abraham Dueck. Permission to republish Frost/Nixon Soundtrack Review in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.