K2

Music Inspired by the Film K2

Tracks

Varèse Sarabande (01/01/1970)

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Liner Notes

One of the more welcome developments in recent cinematic history has been the ascendancy of Hans Zimmer in Hollywood music circles. Besides being a composer of acute dramatic sense, Zimmer also possesses a voice that is singular in contemporary music. He was born in West Germany to creative parents – his mother was a concert pianist, while his father worked as an inventor. After graduating from school Zimmer combined the occupations of both parents, becoming a specialized performer and designer of synthesizers. In fact, Zimmer has played a major role in the development and integration of electronic instruments in the context of film scoring. His studio is filled with a headache-creating array of equipment, including synthesizers, drum machines, sequencers, and computers which coordinate the entire ensemble. It is true that Zimmer has taken complete advantage of recent advances in microprocessor and integrated circuits technology, but one should not be tricked into thinking that his absorption in music technology has occured at the expense of a necessary sense of drama. The composer has always demonstrated that electronics should be used as a means to a dramatic end, and this credo has been evident from the beginning of his film career. After spending several years working with live bands and in commercials, Zimmer contributed his talents to British films such as Eureka (1981), My Beautiful Laundrette (1985), Paperhouse (1988) and the Oscar-winning The Last Emperor (1987), for which Zimmer produced and re-worked much of the score. Despite these impressive credits, it was the composer's work on Chris Menges' A World Apart (1987) which attracted the attention of director Barry Levinson, who subsequently hired Zimmer to score Rain Man (1988). Zimmer received an Oscar nomination for this score and has since become entrenched as one of Hollywood's busiest musical practitioners. Some of his more familiar American titles include Bruce Beresford's luminous Driving Miss Daisy (1989), John Schlesinger's yuppie horror film Pacific Heights (1990), the Tom Cruise vehicle Days of Thunder (1990), Ridley Scott's visionary road picture Thelma & Louise (1991), Ron Howard's pyrotechnical Backdraft (1991), the meditative Regarding Henry (1991), and Peter Weir's entertaining romantic comedy Green Card (1991). In addition the ever prolific Zimmer has recently created scores for John Avildsen's The Power of One, Richard Donner's Radio Flyer and Penny Marshall's A League of Their Own.

One of Zimmer's most recent assignments was to compose the music for K2 (1992). Directed by Frank Roddam (Aria), K2 is a mountain-climbing adventure based, somewhat surprisingly, on a stage play by Patrick Meyers. The film stars Michael Biehn (a featured player in James Cameron's The Terminator and Aliens) and Canadian-born Matt Craven. The film offered many musical opportunities. It, however, was decided that Zimmer's score would not be used upon completion of the movie's final cut. Fortunately, the music has survived through the medium of this special CD release. Although these compositions cannot be viewed specifically in the light of the film, the music evokes the overall atmosphere of the movie while standing on it's own as a poised, texturally complex work. The structural cohesiveness of the music has been aided and abettet by producer Robert Townson, who sequenced and assembled the lengthy suites on this disc. Zimmer's musical language is a highly approachable mélange, navigating a journey from the broad, majestic blocks of chords heard in the opening six-minute passage to the flowing string elegy which concludes "The Ascent". In between, Zimmer combines a variety of forms and feelings designed to delineate the physical, mental and emotional obstacles faced by the climbers. Indeed, Zimmer has always been eclectic in his use of technique and materials. His broad palette consists of electronics, orchestra, ethnic instruments, solo cello and viola, guitar and drums, all performed to perfection by the assembled cast of musicians. For example, the creative handiwork of guitarist Pete Haycock punctuates the score, as do Graham Ward's drums, which provide the music with its kinetic underpinning. Despite the lyrical quality of the final moments of "The Ascent", Zimmer ends the suite with a minor chord, reminding us that the journey has yet to be completed. This promise is kept in "The Descent", during which Zimmer introduces new ideas while reprising the major material found in the first suite. Although "The Descent" resonates with the same style and focus of its predecessor, the original material has been transformed to reflect the changing set of circumstances encountered by the climbers. Even so, both suites are imbued with a progression and regression in his aural design. Music of a forceful, sometimes chaotic character often marches forward, only to be reversed, clarified and tempered by moments of reflective calm. The result is a delicate, tenous equilibrium which aptly balances the moods of danger and adventure coupled with the contemplation and serenity that one is likely to find in such an expedition.

Perhaps the ultimate significance of the music inspired by K2 is its status as part of the continuing body of evidence provided by the composer that synthesizers can play an important role in the propagation of intelligent film music. Zimmer has said that "Synthesizers can electronically recreate the ingredients of sound – namely pitch, tone, volume and articulation." According to Zimmer, electronic technology is now so advanced "it is like being given a blank sheet of paper on which the musician can design his sound." Even so, he admits that despite the widespread proliferation of synthesizers in contemporary film scoring there is still much to be learned about the potential of individual synthesizers. This experimentation will undoubtly yield one fundamental truth – that the final arbiter of these instruments' worth will be the level of compositional creativity that goes into their application and the dramatic sensibility which underlies the effort. As Zimmer once said in a discussion about sequencers, "If you put rubbish in, you will get rubbish out." There has never been any question about the musical validity of Zimmer's innovations. Nevertheless, the debate over the proper place of synthesizers in film music will likely continue for some time. Whatever position one holds in the debate, this disc offers concrete proof that the rarefied talents of Hans Zimmer will continue to provide leadership and direction in the ongoing investigation and expansion of the parameters of sound.

— Kevin Mulhall

About Matthew Peak

Matthew Peak, son of internationally renowned artist Robert Peak, was born on February 10, 1959 in Norwalk, Connecticut. Spending time in his father's studio as a child helped develop Matthew's interest in art at a very early age. He says that many of the images which most affected and inspired him when he was younger were paintings of his father's. However, Peak was faced with knowing that, should he take up a career in art himself, his work would forever be compared to that of his famous father, an intimidating prospect, to be sure. Undaunted by this, however, Peak would spend three years, beginning 1978, studying at The Arts Center in Pasadena, California and in New York at both The School of Visual Arts and at The Art Students League. He initially made his living by selling his figurative and landscape paintings to art galleries in Rhode Island and Connecticut. After receiving commissions from various commercial accounts including the Nestle Corporation, Vicks Inc. and U.S. Tobacco, his portfolio had grown to be sufficiently impressive to land him a job to create his first theatrical film poster for New Line Cinema's low budget horror film A Nightmare on Elm Street. In spite of being allowed only two weeks to complete this painting, Peak so impressed the studio that he was retained for four subsequent installments in the Elm Street Series. This single work also led to Vestron Home Video hiring Peak to create artwork for approximately a dozen of their video cassette releases. He currentyl lives in San Francisco where he divides his time between an increasingly busy schedule of film poster assignments (he recently completed sketches for the Tom Cruise/Jack Nicholson film A Few Good Men, Billy Crystal's Mr. Saturday Night and Robert DeNiro's A Night In The City) and creating original paintings for Varese Sarabande Records. Matthew Peak has now successfully emerged from the shadow of his father and is one of the most exciting new names in the world of art.

Editor's Note from HZDB

The score featured on this album was used for the European distribution of the movie. The original score for the US release was written by the British musician Chaz Jankel. His music can be also heard on imported versions from Japan and Korea, although the Jankel score was never released as a soundtrack album. Varèse Sarabande issued the Zimmer score in two different packages, one entitled Original Motion Picture Soundtrack for the European market and one entitled Music inspired by the film K2 for the markets where the movie with the Jankel score was released. Beside the two different covers and sleeves the recordings are identical.