ANIMAL FARM (1999) - Richard Harvey - Soundtrack Score Suite

Once the technical ability to produce realistic speaking animals was rendered in 1995's Babe, it was inevitable that the most famous, adult "talking animal" story of all time would be adapted to live action. George Orwell's 1945 novel "Animal Farm" is revered as a bleak, but prophetic political companion piece to his story of 1984. It is an allegory for the Russian Revolution and the eventual pitfalls of communism to follow, and in 1999, the TNT cable channel translated most of Orwell's story to the small screen. While much of author's vision is darkly dramatized in the farm setting, with the animals overthrowing their British manor masters, some liberties were taken at the end of the story to update Orwell's tale to reflect modern events (mainly, the fall of communism and tearing down of stone walls). Purists of the story were horrified, and the film's depressing nature (before the Americans save the day in an ending that defeats the purpose of the story) makes it less suitable to the children's audience that would otherwise be inclined to watch a film with talking and singing animals. Thus, Animal Farm failed to satisfy either end, and you end up with a Russian allegory of the most serious kind that is littered with upbeat performances by singing animals that were apparently meant to satisfy younger audiences. It's obvious that the producers didn't know exactly how to treat this narrative. The score by Richard Harvey had to walk a similar tightrope, conveying the workers' revolt while also producing music that was compatible with his own songs for the performing animals. Harvey's career is littered with impressive solo works for obscure films, though he is probably better known for his woodwind performances and additional music for mainstream blockbusters. Instead of Americanizing the music for Animal Farm (or intentionally producing a neo-classical soup of strange stylistic combinations, as had been done with the film version of Orwell's 1984), Harvey doesn't at all try to hide the allegory for Western audiences who may not be familiar with the story's intentions.

For such uninformed viewers (people who were completely clueless as to the allegory and absent-mindedly turned the film on the television for their four-year-olds), the inclusion of grand, Russian anthems, hymns, and battle music probably seemed grossly out of place. But Harvey hit the nail right on the head with the tone and style of his music. If you excuse the temptation to write songs for the animals, the score is expansive and robust enough to actually accompany a film depicting the real life humans of the Russian Revolution. If you take out a few of the light woodwinds and change a few rhythms here and there (taking all references to a light, British setting out of the equation), you get a score with all the weighty drama necessary to represent the event itself, placing the score in an even more curious place when you once again consider that it's a "talking animal" story. In these regards, Harvey handles the assignment almost as though it was a comedic parody, infusing as much broad scope into his music as possible to counter the film's visuals.

More importantly, the orchestral performances of the driving, Russian movements in Animal Farm avoid the usual problems of similar contemporary statements. So many listeners associate deep male choirs, or any adult choir in the minor key, with Hans Zimmer's programmed sound of the era. Harvey's traditional approach here is more effective in portraying a realistic angle to the story's hard edge, not afraid to also use brute percussive force in cues like "The Battle of the Barn" and "The Big Battle."

On album, the progression of the story is very evident, and you can almost follow Orwell's plot in your head as you hear Harvey take you on a most effective musical journey through the allegory. Unfortunately, that album from Varèse Sarabande fell out of print in the early 2000's, so your search for the product will likely cost you more. But the quality of Harvey's music is worth the inconvenience. The composer succeeds in his effort to produce convincing revolution music, deeply rooted in Russian dramatism, without either referencing other composers' take on the genre (including Basil Poledouris, most notably) or allowing the music to be sucked into a Babe-like atmosphere of child-like mentality. Considering the lack of vast resources for the project, the result is outstanding, and only a larger number of performers in the ensemble and perhaps a wetter ambient mix would have been able to improve upon the recording.
(http://www.filmtracks.com/titles/animal_farm.html)

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[RougeSamurai77]

Got goose bumps at 8:23

[RougeSamurai77]

I love this song, description makes lots of sense.

[applejax89]

Squealer looks like an aardvark, and his voice is creepy!

[eques101]

@Om3gaG4ming and when his head falls out! yeah i know what you mean

[Om3gaG4ming]

Some of the scenes in this movie actually scared me lol like the bit where they pull Old Major skull out from the sheet.

[1perryfan]

@1perryfan Oops, meant 04:54, not 04:45 x3

[1perryfan]

The Animal Farm soundtrack claims most of the slots in the Top 25 Most Played list on my iTunes (including the first slot, which belongs to "Storm of Judgment"/Main Title). May I ask where you got some of the pictures on this video, especially the one at 04:45, of Squealer, Snowball, Napoleon, and Jessie? I've been a fan of Spice (the dog that played Jessie in this film) for years and I've never seen that picture of her before :)

Great vid! Liked and added to faves! :) Thanks for posting!

[starjay92]

Sehr schöner Score, prägt sich sehr gut ein. Sowohl Film als auch Musik sind wohl Raritäten, wenn ich das beurteilen darf. Danke für die tolle Suite! Jetzt weiß ich nämlich auch wieder, was ich mir kaufen wollte. Die Score CD zu diesem Film. Wird wohl demnächst erledigt!

[Cinemasound1]

Wow,was für eine wunderschöne Klangvolle Musik.

Fällt unter Raritäten der Filmmusik ;-)

Toll gemachte Suite !

L.G.