The Fabelmans
Music composed and conducted by John Williams
Music edited by Ramiro Belgardt
Music recorded and mixed by Shawn Murphy
Score recorded at Sony Pictures Studios
Album running time: 31 minutes
Available on Sony Classical
For Steven Spielberg's most recent film, he travels back to his childhood - and brings along his most trusted collaborator. Of course their work together started all way back with 1974's The Sugarland Express - now 29 films later. It's an intimate score for Williams, perfectly fitting Spielberg's personal portrait of Sammy Fabelman and family. It's also one of Williams' shorter scores, sparingly used in the film alongside source music and classic piano pieces (some of which are included on the album).
The piano tends to be featured in Williams' more reflective and emotional scores, and we hear the fantastic pianist Joanne Pearce Martin through most of the cues. The chamber-sized orchestra also features plenty of harp and celeste for lighter, subtle moments.
The Fabelmans begins with a lovely theme on piano solo. It's a pretty theme and is the score's main identity - Sammy and his relationship with his mother, even if it doesn't appear often in the film. Mitzi's Dance underscores his mother's angelic dance in the car headlights with strings, harp and celeste featured. This secondary theme is tied to scenes with Mitzi, always containing a bit of sadness and seemingly related to Satie's Gymnopédie No. 1. Next on the album is a real classical piece - a movement from Sonatina in A Minor by Friedrich Kuhlau.
Midnight Call moves slowly with dark lower strings before adding the long-held higher strings, with dissonances as they move. We also hear harp and celeste accents. Reverie brings the solo piano back and the descending second theme heard earlier in Mitzi's Dance. Mother and Son, a highlight of the album, brings the main theme to guitar (guitar solo by George Doering). Warm strings take the middle section, before the piano solo takes the theme over - it's a real delight.
Next is the spiritoso movement of Sonatina in C Major by Muzio Clementi. The second theme appears on a celeste in the start of Reflections with the light textures continuing on harp and solo violin. The next classical piece is the adagio movement of Bach's Concerto in D Minor with its ever present right hand ornamentation. New House continues the adagio tempo, with strings under a repeating piano figure and later adding a rare moment of brass.
The Letter begins with the descending theme on celeste, slowly adding in hopeful woodwind solos. The Journey Begins underscores the ending of Sammy's meeting at the studio - the breezy playfulness scherzo is sure to bring a smile to listeners. The film's credits roll with the excerpt of Haydn's Piano Sonata, before transitioning to Williams' secondary theme on celeste and strings. The main theme takes over on solo piano, with strings and guitar as accompaniment. There's a fantastic moment of strings taking the theme over, with glistening piano runs floating above.
The Fabelmans is an interesting mixed bag of music. We get Williams at his most restrained, still melodic but more distant that usual. His next film, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny probably will have everything else we come to expect from the maestro.
We also see Williams and Spielberg minimally spot the film with original score - we hear it in key sequences but often it stays just beneath the surface in the most understated way. As mentioned before, it's a very short score, padded with some classical selections that interrupt the flow a bit. Overall, the score feels like a lovely gift, meticulously wrapped by Williams to Spielberg for all the years together and a fond remembrance of his parents and childhood.
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