Merlin BBC UK TV Show - Opinion Piece Part 13 - Season 2 Soundtrack Review
Rob Lane and Rohan Stevenson continue to excel in the Season 2 soundtrack following the epic scores from Season 1.
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You can listen to the soundtrack on Youtube. Refer link below:
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You can listen to the soundtrack on Spotify. Refer link below:
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You can purchase the soundtrack on Amazon. Refer link below:
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REVIEW
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Season 1’s soundtrack took a more conservative and gradual route to introduce the main theme whereas Season 2 starts off with a bang, jumping directly into “Main Titles”.
This string-and-trumpet-heavy theme is backed by the voices of the Philharmonia Chorus for an unforgettable, heroic beginning to the album.
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“Sigan’s Revenge” is a track of overall darkness and choral mayhem, driven forwards by an insistent trumpet ostinato.
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“Attraction of Evil” is a heavily percussion-laced cue, crescendoing to a massive buildup, with chant-like, guttural male chorus in the background.
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We are introduced to the love theme of Arthur and Guinevere in “ Gwen & Arthur’’
The orchestration in this track and subsequent tracks featuring this theme is superb as it utilizes a solo violin.
This theme also brings to mind James Horner’s “Braveheart” and the two definitely share some of the same motivic elements.
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“Avalon” relies on harp and choir for a very mysterious and dark effect.
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“The Substitute Knight” is a light and playful, and very medieval-sounding score.
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“The Joust” is an adventurous score with a rhythmic percussion accompaniment.
The action quickly picks up as the actual joust in the show begins, and the epic choir and brass are used here to great effect.
To me it is very reminiscent of some of Howard Shore’s "The Lord of the Rings“ soundtrack.
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“Myror the Assassin” is simply a slightly more action-packed “Avalon”-like track, but it does its job well on screen.
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“Lancelot Leaves” once again makes great use of solo violin for the score’s more tender moments.
The music builds with the entrance of a French horn section.
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“The Machinations of Cedric” is another typical mysterious cue, though at about halfway in it recalls a bit of the playfulness of “The Substitute Knight”. This then segues into “The Mark of the Raven”, which in my opinion should have simply been combined with “The Machinations of Cedric” into one track, as they come off as being so similar (and insignificant on their own).
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“Sigan’s Tomb” finally starts to change things up, with a more fast-paced beginning and a sense of overall creepiness utilizing different methods than the previous two tracks (i.e. percussion, celeste, etc.).
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“Settlement Attack” starts off with a bang, being ushered in with a drum roll and then moving onto a sixteenth-note string ostinato.
Synthesized brass is once again heavily relied upon (possibly with a mixture of live musicians, as well).
Everything seems to die away around halfway through the track, but then another drum roll and the string ostinato remind us that the track isn’t yet over.
Strings punctuated by bass trombone hits build up the creep factor of the track, before dying back down to a much softer driving string ostinato, sounding rather like some of Hans Zimmer’s music for "The Dark Knight”. The ostinato falls apart gradually, while brass choir closes the track.
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“Gaius Arraigned” is the only song composed by James Gosling. making use of the show’s fondness for dark choral music.
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“Farewell to Gwen” is basically a string chorale, where once again a gorgeous solo violin pierces the texture. A solo horn alludes to the “Gwen & Arthur” theme, before the violin and a trumpet take the theme to fruition.
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“The Forged Seal” is another comedic track, with lots of limber string pizzicatos and crafty clarinets.
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“Lancelot’s Heroism” is truly epic, and the mix here of instruments and voices is very well done.
What sounds like a lone male voice underscores much of the melody in the strings and brass, while remaining loud enough to be heard and yet quiet enough to not sound like a solo.
People who like cymbals would love this track.
Absolutely beautiful strings close out the track, another high point of this album.
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“Morgana’s Nightmare” is not much different from the other choral tracks on the album, until close to the end, when fast strings move sinisterly underneath the melody.
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“Hiding Excalibur” is a rather curious track in regards to the fact the legendary sword doesn’t show up nor is even mentioned at all in Season 2!!!!!!
The last time we heard of/saw it was in Season 1’s finale.
However, a title doesn’t stop the track from succeeding musically, and it builds up to a fantastical climax that wouldn’t sound too out-of-place in Harry Gregson-Williams’ ”The Chronicles of Narnia“ soundscape.
This cue really hits home as sounding like the end of the album… but it’s not!
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“Finale” is by far the true gem of this album, and at almost 9 minutes in length, it’s almost no wonder why!
The track starts with "Gwen & Arthur” theme and is followed by an extensive battle segment which, you guessed it, is full of great choral writing.
What closes out this album is an almost LOST-like (at the beginning of it, at least) string chorale, joined by soft choir in what is quite possibly the most emotionally rewarding moment of this score.
This theme made several appearances in Season 2, and at least one I can think of, in Season 3.
It is simply one of the best segments of music I’ve heard so far for this show.
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CONCLUSION
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My only criticism of the soundtrack would be they could had made more use of a live orchestra, but unfortunately may have run into budget constraints.
Still, we should be thankful that there are any real instruments used for this, as so many shows nowadays unfortunately are resorting entirely to synthesizers.
Overall for a TV show made in the 2000’s by the BBC the soundtrack delivers some great music, as well as a few memories of what the first season had to offer.