When I was in high school, a teacher of mine once proclaimed that the greatest composers of our lifetime would all be working in the movie studios, rather than concert halls.  In composing and conducting the original score for The Spiderwick Chronicles, James Horner may have proved Mr. Belman right.

Horner's score, which accompanies the movie opening nationwide Thursday, is both a balanced film score and an admirable example of modern symphonic composition.  Horner has spent the last thirty years writing movie soundtracks which enhance the onscreen action without being obtrusive.  He has scored blockbusters like Aliens, Braveheart, A Beautiful Mind, and Field of Dreams.  He has been nominated for nine Oscars, winning two in 1998 with Titanic.  While not everything he's ever written has been of note (he did do Mighty Joe Young in '98 too), Spiderwick definitely deserves a place among his best work.

Throughout most of the album, strings play a prominent role in the music.  They are the bedrock on which Horner builds his compositions.  Often times, he uses the low brass section to contrast and enhance what is being done elsewhere.  While the strings largely find themselves in a supporting role, Horner is not afraid to use them to lead the melodic charge either. 

The music is often flowing and delicate, as in “Lucinda's Story” (track 09) and “The Flight of the Griffin” (track 10).  In other places it is powerful and aggressive, especially in “Dark Armies from the Forest Attack” (track 06).  Even when the low brass and drums are driving the tempo, with the strings building suspense, Horner does a nice job of never letting the composition get out of control.  Just at the point where some conductors would take the melody extravagantly over the top, Horner pulls back, allowing the music to have strength without overwhelming the audience.

Two pieces in particular stood out to me as especially fine examples of a James Horner composition: “Hogsqueal's Warning of a Bargain with Mulgarath” (track 04) and “A Desperate Run Through the Tunnels” (track 08).  They are both active songs, with a decidedly cinematic pacing and balance.  They are also precisely layered compositions which make the most of the orchestra's ability to stir a variety of emotions with a single piece of music.  Here, as in other places on the album, Horner uses faint, almost wispy, higher winds and brass to add a sense of mystery and fantasy (There is also what I think was a harpsichord in “A Desperate Run,” which is sweet!).  What struck me most about these two pieces was that I could easily hear them played in a concert hall somewhere.  Each composition, while clearly a movie soundtrack, has an inherent completeness and sustainability which makes it a viable symphonic piece.