Music Composed by Marco Beltrami
Rating: *** 1/2

In principle, I have always firmly believed that a film score can eschew a Western orchestra and still carry the dramatic depth and heart that cinema demands. In practice, I rarely find scores that support this theory – more often then not, non-orchestral film scores float like generic deadweight and only serve to fuel the previous generation’s argument that modern film music is dead. But every once and a while, a score comes along to prove my principle. At the moment, that score is Marco Beltrami’s Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada.

Marco Beltrami

I’ve always been sort of hot and cold with Beltrami as a composer. I admire the fact that he’s managed to craft a distinct and recognizable musical voice (far more than most film composers of his generation have achieved), but something has always seemed just a bit muted and distant about his large-scale orchestral works, impressive as the best of them are. Three Burials changes that perception for me. If you’re one of the many who adamantly love his orchestral pyrotechnics from the likes of Hellboy and I, Robot, you’ll likely be disappointed with this one as it’s an entirely different animal, but if you’re like me, you’ll relish its off-kilter mingling of and heat-stroke induced hallucinations and heartfelt lyricism. Like the excellent film it accompanies (Tommy Lee Jones’ contemporary revisionist Western is very likely the best film Beltrami has scored to date), Beltrami’s score is a quirky and often brutally macabre animal, but it carries an affecting human touch throughout and is touching as it is perverse.

While I’m sure synthesizers are in there somewhere, the majority of the score is acoustic, comprised of traditional Mexican instruments (i.e., acoustic guitar, dulcimer, guitaron, log drums, pan pipes, accordion, and various others). On rare occasion, Beltrami even brings in a small string section, but by and large the score is limited to this traditional ensemble. The score is not limited in its sonic palate, however, as the composer pushes these instruments into just about as many strange and unorthodox positions as he can muster. Some have compared the score to Ennio Morricone’s U-Turn, and at it’s most surreal Three Burials certainly shares the Southwestern hallucinogenic insanity of Morricone’s celebrated trippy score. This is particularly rampant in the film’s extended pursuit sequence through the harsh and unforgiving desert that separates Texas from Mexico. Cues like “Horse of Death” and “Stalking Mike” are unnerving in the extreme, but highly effective in conveying the rapidly degenerating mental stability of a man compelled to flee handcuffed and barefooted through barren wasteland.

If the entire score were comprised of atmospheric and jarring music like this, the album would be an extremely difficult listen. This is not the case, however, as the score carries an equal amount of emotionally accessible gems. Despite the frequently macabre humor and violent sequences, the film is ultimately a fable about loyalty, honor, and redemption, and the music never looses track of those themes. Longwinded melodies are in short supply, but Beltrami does bind the score with a few short motifs that are just as effective. A stoic, guitar-driven motif opens the film with “Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada” and appears sporadically throughout to underscore Jones’ grim determination to honor his late friend. A more bittersweet motif occasionally surfaces, providing warm respite from the grim psychedelic textures elsewhere (”House Building”). The motif is heavily steeped in traditional Mexican harmonies, though it’s also vaguely reminiscent of another Morricone piece, “Jill’s Theme” from Once Upon a Time in the West. It comes to full fruition in “Forgiveness”, a fragile and heart-wrenching piece that finally highlights the small string section, drawing just the right amount of emotion out of the cathartic scene it accompanies. The score closes with “Goodbye,” a quiet and reflexive piece that allows the story to end on a note of calm dignity.

Unfortunately, the album itself isn’t exactly sequenced in a way that makes it easy to appreciate the score. A smattering of country songs all of which play a negligible role in the film itself) litters the album and consumes half of the running time. The songs are appropriate to the genre, but they constantly interrupt the flow of Beltrami’s music and would play much better sequenced at the end of the album. Granted, this is no problem your sequencing button can’t fix, but it does get irritating.

The album certainly won’t be for all tastes, but it’s probably the most I’ve ever been impressed with a Beltrami score. The score bears little similarity to the signature Beltrami orchestral sound, and yet despite this it somehow seems even more personal and unique to the composer. If your copy of U-Turn makes you regret the day you started buying soundtrack CDs, then you may not be the type to appreciate Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada, but if you like your film music unique in character and earnest in heart, then you may enjoy the score as much as I have. Just make sure your programming button works.

Music Composed by Marco Beltrami; Conducted by Pete Anthony, Recorded by Dennis Sands / Mixed by Jerome Devoise; Album Produced by Marco Beltrami and Buck Sanders; Label: Recall Music, (NA006); Availability: In-print; U.S. Release Date: January 31, 2006.

iTunes

01. Three Burials of Melquiades (2′07)
02. Cinco Anos (1′20)
03. Fair to Midland (3′26)
Performed by Dwight Yokam
04. Leaving Town (2′22)
05. Mike Runs Off (4′01)
06. I Wonder Who’ll Turn Out the Light (2′59)
Performed by Bobby Flores
07. Gift Horse (2′02)
08. Can’t Keep It Up (2′51)
09. The Cheatin’ Hotel (5′12)
Performed by Hank Williams, Jr.
10. Entering Town (1′18)
11. Fleeing Illegals (1′19)
12. This Could Be The One (2′48)
Performed by Flaco Jimenez
13. Horse of Death (1′34)
14. Pete Confronts Sheriff (1′16)
15. Stalking Mike (1′33)
16. Workin’ Man Blues (2′43)
Performed by Merle Haggard
17. Shoot Me (1′35)
18. House Building (1′13)
19. Before the Next Teardrop (2′33)
Performed by Freddie Fender
20. No Jimenez (2′22)
21. Forgiveness (2′07)
22. Goodbye (2′46)
23. You Can’t Rollerskate in a Buffalo Herd (1′55)
Performed by Roger Miller
24. Donde Estas Papa (5′11)
Performed by Lila Downs

Total Playing Time: 58′33