John Scott: To the Ends of the Earth (1984) / The London Studio Orchestra

ABOUT THE SCORE: This little-seen 1984 documentary tells the story of the three year expedition led by British explorer Sir Ranulph Fiennes, which still remains to date man's only land and sea voyage around the world crossing both poles without ever actually leaving the Earth's surface. Composer John Scott, who was no strangers to documentaries of a similar nature at the time, was commissioned to provide an exciting and propulsive score to accompany the globe-spanning documentary, and not too surprisingly the music has much in common with many of his concurrent Jacque Cousteau documentary works of the era. The score is built mostly around variations on an exciting title theme with wide, adventurous intervals, evoking a fateful adventure to parts unknown. Scott varies its meter and counterpoint as needed to provide requisite uncertainty, menace or resilient heroism as the expedition faces various dangers and logistical challenges, and warmer interludes for woodwinds abound to represent the human story at the core of the adventure. As usual with this composer, his writing for that instrumental group is of utmost sensitivity and tenderness, though a grand statement of the title theme is never far from its next lofty airing. Amidst all the adventure, a few subtler moments are worth noting: At 10:38, see the wavering and evocative string theme denoting the tragedy of past sailing expeditions that met doomed ends, and later at 13:32, an unusual variation on the main theme is presented, with ghostly synths carrying the central theme while rhythmic figures in the brass, harp and woodwinds create a gently propulsive and contemplative atmosphere. Moments of orchestrational creativity like this are among this composer's most delectable hallmarks. The suite concludes with a short but victorious end title that recalls the brass acrobatics of "The Final Countdown". The score was recorded with London session musicians in 1984 at CTS Studios, under the supervision of Richard Lewzey, a go-to engineer for many of Scott's London recordings, then later released on CD by Prometheus Records in 1988. The painting is "HMS Erebus in the Ice, 1846" by Francois Etienne Musin.