Music Composed by Mark McKenzie
Rating: *** 1/2

Continuing with their series of fine scores for obscure films, Intrada gave us a last-minute Christmas present last December with the release of Mark McKenzie’s Blizzard. I have not seen the film, but apparently it combines an inspirational ice-skating movie with a Christmas fantasy – two genres that almost always inspire film music fan-favorites. And though McKenzie’s resulting musical enthusiasm may result in too much of a good thing, nobody could accuse his Blizzard for wanting in the magical whimsy department.

Though this is clearly a Christmas score, McKenzie avoids most of the obvious “holiday” mannerisms that make Christmas scores impossible to listen to outside of December. Oh, the music certainly has no shortage of star-struck wintry fantasy, but McKenzie sidesteps the references to Christmas carols or heraldic bell settings that most scores in the genre use as their proof-of-yuletide-identification. While I guiltily like all of those Christmas clichés in my holiday scores, their absence in Blizzard means that I can actually listen to the score in February without going insane.

Mark McKenzie

The “Blizzard Suite” gets things started with a bang, as Mackenzie jumps right into his plethora of thematic material. The first few minutes of the suite are devoted to a racing montage-friendly theme that’s as exciting and inspirational as anyone could wish for in a Christmas movie. For me though, the real magic is in a theme that enters at the 5:45 mark, a warm piece of bittersweet sentiment that lovingly recalls Goldsmith’s sweetest material of the 1990s (particularly one of my personal favorite Goldsmith pieces, “Arthur’s Farewell” from First Knight). Of course, the problem I usually have with great overtures like this is that they display so many of the score’s highlights that they render the album that follows obsolete. The enormous amount of variety in Blizzard keeps that from being the case this time, but the variety also creates a new problem that keeps the score from being the perfect holiday classic it might have been.

Indeed, I had a hard time determining why I couldn’t quite connect with such a charming score until I finally realized the problem – McKenzie seems to introduce a new theme in practically every track of this score. Maybe that’s a bit of an exaggeration, but there’s a lot of material here, so much that it gets hard to follow the musical narrative. Perhaps McKenzie was so excited that he found the perfect film for big gorgeous melodies that he decided he’d cram as many in as possible. Too many great melodies isn’t exactly the worst problem a score can have, but there are only so many I can keep track of before I get exhausted (and it’s rather embarrassing when a score about a little girl who befriends one of Santa Claus’s reindeer proves too taxing for you).

But this also means that there are many, many highlights, as almost every track is a little nugget of whimsy in its own right. I’ll single out a few: “Flying” is a surprisingly understated piece of magic that gently evokes a sense of awe without cramming it down our throats, and “Donner Jr. and Jeremy” is a great climatic action cue that reminds me of the anxious action licks Horner used to write for so many children’s fantasies. And it’s damn hard not to get misty-eyed when McKenzie expands on that bittersweet Goldsmith-inspired theme in “Another Chance.” Indeed, McKenzie pays tribute to Goldsmith in his notes, and he does a great job throughout the entire score of paying service to the master without out-right ripping him off.

Really, there’s little not to love about Blizzard, and I don’t imagine that his fans will be bothered by the over-abundance of melodic material. I’ll admit that this is also the first score from the composer I’ve listened to, which may play a factor in my difficulty in following his musical narrative. I imagine that if I were more familiar with his body of work, I would recognize McKenzie’s personal stylistic tendencies more and not merely the ones he lovingly adapts from Jerry Goldsmith. The structure may be a little too much for me, but this is winning music, and I’m sure it will play even better once the holidays roll around once again.

Music Composed by Mark McKenzie; Orchestrations by Mark McKenzie, Patrick Russ; Conducted by Peter Breiner; Performed by the Slovak Philharmonia and Lucnica Chorus; Recorded by Otto Nopp; Mixed by Armin Steiner; Produced by Mark McKenzie; Label: Intrada, (ISE 1011); Availability: Limited to 1,000 copies; U.S. Release Date: January, 2007.

01. Blizzard Suite (6:43)
02. Katie Skates for Her Family (2:07)
03. Goodbye (1:43)
04. The Best Friend Ever (1:40)
05. Welcome Blizzard (3:17)
06. Flying (4:50)
07. Don’t Be Afraid (2:55)
08. Archimedes (1:24)
09. Skate Off (1:29)
10. Air Tag (3:17)
11. Katie’s Waltz (2:08)
12. There’s More (0:57)
13. Months Fly By (1:32)
14. Erin’s Program (1:09)
15. Katie’s Program (2:17)
16. I Think You’re Great (1:23)
17. Katie Meets Santa (1:28)
18. Rescue (3:47)
19. Donner Jr. & Jeremy (2:00)
20. Another Chance (3:03)
21. Finale (5:14)

Total Playing Time: 54:23