Album Review: Horizon: An American Saga Chapter 1

Horizon: An American Saga - Chapter 1

Music composed and conducted by John Debney
Orchestrations by Mark Graham, Mike Watts, Trevor Motycka, Roger Satorra, Victor Pesavento

Additional conducting by Mark Graham 

Score recorded by The Royal Scottish National Orchestra
Score recorded at RSNO Centre, Glasgow
Total album running time: 95 minutes
Available on Sony Classical

Ambitious....Western....Kevin Costner.  Sure seems like they go together. Costner decided to go overly ambitious with an epic even longer than the others - split into parts that will hopefully find life on the VOD and streaming market.  Kevin Costner as a director has had some great musical scores, and Horizon is a fine addition to the likes of John Barry, James Newton Howard and Basil Poledouris.

To add to the Western feeling, Debney emulates (but never copies) the styles of that big adventure western orchestra and also featuring fiddle, guitar and vocal solos. The sound from the get-go is reminiscent of the big Western scores of the 1990s like Wyatt Earp. The main theme does start things off, but only appears a handful of times. With the gaggle of interconnected characters introduced, I'm sure I've missed some of their various motifs and themes.   

Horizon Main Title Theme is a great opening statement of the theme, bursting into full orchestral splendor.  Desmarais Off Track is a brief cue with a guitar at the forefront. Desmarais Finds Bodies/Young Surveyor's Death gives some dramatic atmosphere and eventually a haunting main theme melody on vocal solo. James Sykes features a guitar riff theme for Lucy as she escapes her abuser in rural Montana.   

Mimbreño Brave keeps momentum in the lowest strings with fluttering woodwinds and building percussion. The tone continues is the long action set piece, Start of Massacre. Naturally big brass bursts and frantic string runs fill the cue. Russell Escapes/Nathaniel Leaving Frances and Elizabeth brings out the bombastic brass and strings before the horror-esque pounding and shrieking strings take over. Tunnel Collapse uses string tremolos to keep some tension with some grating sounds adding textures and at the end the main theme returns on violin solo. The main theme continues on vocals in Battle Pauses/Opening Jar of TNT with great effect. End of Massacre continues the main theme on violin solo over a lovely string arrangement, eventually adding the vocals in addition.

Horizon in Ruins is a somber cue for strings with percussion backing with Fallen Settlers utilizing violin solos and woodwind flutters. White Eyes of the Changing World is back to calm with a melody passed from woodwinds to strings and guitar and the sorrowful mood continues in Burying the Dead and Identifying Bodies as it brings piano in a hymn-like fashion. Leaving Horizon/The Tribe Splitting Up brings back the title Horizon theme.  Costner's character gets a bouncy folk tune in Hayes Entrance. Horizon gives the title theme a bit of shining time giving the some optimism for the town's future.

Persistent Marigold uses a lighter guitar melody as we meet Hayes' companion Marigold. Romance begins with the folksy violin solo in Gephart Approaches Frances. Western string and guitar twangs are used in Horizon Line Shack with a sorrowful violin solo leading It's Our Day.  Dissonance starts to creep into Caleb Beats Walt, while Gunfight at Marigold's is a long set-piece of atmospheric dissonance and tension that adds subtle electronics.    

Hayes Quits Town with Marigold and Samson brings the folksy Hayes theme back. Mrs. Riordan Takes a Walk uses the Horizon title theme in a lighter setting. The short cue Elizabeth Meets Mrs. Riordan is a features a gentle piano solo. Pawnee Braves Observe Wagon Train gives off the brooding atmosphere with some electronic elements and fluttering woodwinds. Junior Brings Caleb's Body Home utilizes the long tones of dissonance heard earlier with the Sykes brothers. Junior IDs Hayes has a darker take on the Hayes theme. Trading Post Standoff/Migrant Camp contains some moody string writing with some fiddles and guitars adding some extra texture.

Marigold's theme returns on guitar in One More Night before transforming into an anthemic Civil War battle theme. The earlier romantic theme is reprised in Cloth Flowers, one of the only saccharine moment in the film, but this sweeping orchestral cue is great. Seducing Hayes/Frances and Gephart continues the sweeter romantic themes with featured violin and guitar. Fluttering winds join the gentle mood in the brief Soul of Honor.

The danger returns in the next cues starting with Tonto Sentry Spots Janney's Party. The charging rhythm continues through the cue as it adds in string dissonances, woodwind flutters.  The brass crescendos add some more excitement in Tonto Sentry Prepares to Shoot with a quieter interlude for strings and vocals - meanwhile Janney's Party Finishes Massacre has some elements of a modern action cue.

The highlight of the score is where it gets to really shine without dialogue for the extended montage in Horizon Montage Begins/Closing Survey. It's a cue that meshes Debney's Western and modern sound  - crescendoing with a big orchestral statement of the title theme that eventually adds the vocals and strong brass.  It's a great cue that highlights Debney's thematic payoff.  The end credit song Amazing Grace ends the album, arranged by Debney and performed by Alyssa Flaherty & Shelley Morningsong.

Debney seems to divide his Horizon scoring through folksy twang, 90s orchestral grandeur and atmospheric (mainly for the villains and Native Americans). It blended a bit more smoothly in the film, rather than on the album because of the incredibly short cues. We'll have to see how the thematic ideas get expanded in the future installments.