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A REVIEW BY MARCO BELLANO
Every time a new Hayao Miyazaki film is announced, it is always natural to start awaiting with great anticipation also for a new Joe Hisaishi score. It is true that Hisaishi works also with directors other than Miyazaki: in the four-year gap between Hauru no Ugoku Shiro (Howl’s Moving Castle, 2004) and Gake no ue no Ponyo (Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea, 2008) the composer created a number of fine soundtracks, like the 2004 score for Buster Keaton and Clyde Bruckman’s silent film The General (1927), the “waltz propelled” music for Kwang-Hyun Park’s Welcome to Dongmakgol (2005) and the “John Ford inspired” soundtrack for Tai yang zhao chang sheng qi (The Sun also Rises, 2007) by Wen Jiang. However, it is especially when paired with Miyazaki that Hisaishi seems to find the most powerful and convincing ideas.
A good cinema composer knows that his music must be born from the images of the director he is working with. A score must never be totally independent from a film, even if - at the same time - it has to keep the abstract and artistic qualities that a musical creation requires. To put it simple, it has to follow the story of a film while remaining made of music of a certain level. This difficult task is more easily accomplished when a composer has the possibility to deeply know a director’s mind through a long-lasting professional relationship. But the Hisaishi-Miyazaki perfect match seems to be not merely based on experience, as their music and visions literally melted with each other since their first combined effort, Kaze no Tani no Naushika (Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, 1984). So, it seems to be a case of kindred sensibility, like in the history of cinema happened only a few times, with personalities such as Alfred Hitchcock and Bernard Herrmann, Federico Fellini and Nino Rota, Tim Burton and Danny Elfman.
Saying that the cooperative work of Hisaishi and Miyazaki was impressive since the beginning, however, does not imply that the styles of the two authors did not change through the years. Speaking of Hisaishi alone, the difference between the simple (and sometimes rough) use of the synthesisers in Nausicaä and the lush XX-century full orchestra of Howl is remarkable. Following the history of the scores written for Miyazaki, it is possible to clearly notice how Hisaishi constantly searched for a more organic and refined style of orchestration while keeping a fluent and distinctive melodic vein. This process of development reached its peak in the Image Album for Howl’s Moving Castle, a real turning point in Hisaishi’s production. Even if his musical personality was still perfectly recognisable, it was very hard to believe that the thick harmonic textures and the complex themes of that symphonic suite have had been penned by the same artist that, in 1986, let a lyrical melody float alone on a rhythmic accompaniment in Tenkû no shiro Rapyuta (Laputa Castle in the Sky). It was for that reason that Miyazaki himself, worried about the difficulties of Hisaishi’s new musical style, asked for a more direct and appealing “main theme” for the final soundtrack. As a result, the inspired waltz The merry-go-round of life was composed along with a less entangled score, that however presented a great formal innovation (for film music) in being based on a majestic sequence of variations on a single theme.
As the Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea Image Album is a new set of pieces influenced by Miyazaki’s imagination, following the 2004 stylistic change, it is easy to understand why its release may have been expected as an event of particular interest. It is worth remembering that an Image Album is not an actual soundtrack, but a series of compositions inspired by artworks and storyboards that are realized during the production of an animated film. It is, in some ways, a preliminary sketch of the final music. For that reason, it may be considered a precious way to look inside the composer’s process of creation, while starting to sense the feelings and the emotions that the completed film will convey.
To tell the truth, there was at least one more reason to be particularly curious towards this new Image Album. On December 5, 2007, in fact, Studio Ghibli published a CD single containing two songs inspired by Miyazaki’s work on Ponyo. These songs were a preview of the Image album, as they are now part of it. That unusually early release was due to a commercial strategy conceived by producer Toshio Suzuki, who decided to promote the film only through music, avoiding the diffusion of further images after the large previews seen in the NHK documentary “NHK Professional with Miyazaki and Gake no ue no Ponyo”, aired on March 27, 2007.
The songs of that CD were something expected and unexpected at the same time. They were expected, as they were catchy and uplifting: the perfect kind of songs for a film that will tell the simple story of a female goldfish that is rescued by a 5-year-old boy, and that then wants to became a little girl. But they were somehow unexpected, as they were not so impressive from a musical point of view. Hisaishi himself said that he felt quite “embarrassed” because of the plain simplicity of Gake no ue no Ponyo (Ponyo on the Cliff), the song that will close the film and that was immediately approved by Miyazaki. The director thought that this piece would have been something perfect for a father and a daughter singing together in bath. For this reason, to make it more spontaneous and realistic, the song features the voices of an amateur duo, Fujioka Fujimaki, with the 8-year-old Nozomi Ohashi.
To anyone who knows Ghibli films, this song immediately recalls the musical atmospheres of the 1988 Miyazaki film Tonari no Totoro (My Neighbour Totoro), hinting in particular to the homonymous theme song. Hisaishi seems to have done a 20-year backwards jump, in order to restore a way of composing made of pretty synthetic sounds, mild pop references and melodies and harmonies filled with infantile grace. However, Ponyo on the Cliff seems to lack the distinct personality that the Totoro song had. The communicative intention of the composer remains clear, but he appears to have partially forgot how to express childish freshness in an original way. Moreover, the new song appears sometimes too similar to its model, risking to unfairly sound as a mere paraphrases of the 1988 piece. As a matter of fact, it contains some explicit homages to the Totoro song: it shares with it the tonality of F major, and it begins with the same rhythm and notes (C-A-F) that once accompanied the words: «To-to-ro» (even the reprise of the refrain, marked by the words «Ma-kka-kka no Po-nyo…», is similar to the reprise «To-na-ri no To-to-ro…»). The use of the timbre of bagpipes, that appears during an instrumental transition, may as well remember the Totoro opening song Sampo (Stroll). In the end, the Ponyo theme is surely a bright and pleasant composition, but it does not introduce anything that distinguishes it from the past outputs of the artist.
Fujimoto no theme (Fujimoto’s theme), dedicated to Ponyo’s father and sung by Fujioka Fujimaki alone, appears to be slightly more interesting. It is something that may be called a tango, where the instrument that is traditionally linked to this kind of music, the bandoneon (a kind of accordion), enhances the “latin” flavour of the accompaniment; a flavour that is somehow linked to the one of the soundtracks of films such as Kurenai no Buta (Porco Rosso, 1992) and especially Majo no Takkyûbin (Kiki’s Delivery Service, 1989). The sound of an accordion also played an important role in the Howl’s moving castle waltz, but in that case the reference was the German popular dance tradition, and not the latin one. Hisaishi already presented a tango (Tango X.T.C.) in his 1999 album Works II; but that was a symphonic one, while Fujimoto’s theme is scored for a smaller group of instruments, including also some electric ones. Moreover, the vocal line of Fujimoto’s theme completes the piece with a melody that shares something with the musical folklore of Eastern Europe. So, it is intriguing to wonder what, in Miyazaki’s images, may have inspired to Hisaishi this odd mixture of ethnic references.
Even if the CD single songs do not provide a clear picture of the style Hisaishi may be going to use for Ponyo, however, the rest of the Image Album pieces presents a musical world that is decidedly more promising and relevant. The second composition of the Album, Sango tou (A coral tower), is an evident proof of that. Here, Hisaishi restarts the symphonic discourse that began with Howl’s Moving Castle, in the sense that he returns to a musical language that combines a polished work of orchestration with a series of references to late XIX-early XX century composers. One may object that these are also the common references of the average American cinema composer, and that, consequently, these may be a sign of Hisaishi going towards a more “Hollywood” and “standardised” style. This is only partially true: even if Hisaishi himself, when working on the soundtrack of The General, sensed a new «international» vein in his compositions, it is not possible to say that he is nowadays passively adhering to film music clichés. On the contrary, he seems to be experiencing a renewed interest towards a particular age of Western classical music while keeping unaltered his personal (and Japanese) artistic characteristics. It is especially original, for example, the progressive increase of the “distance” that separates the sounds of the high-pitched strings from the low-pitched ones in the first section of A coral tower, while an harp and a celesta (along with other strings) play a pattern of arpeggios: the classic orchestration that means “aquatic setting” since the piece Aquarium in Camille Saint-Saëns’ The carnival of the animals (1886).
The effect of “distance”, in Hisaishi’s work, adds to the traditional model a feeling of “increasing depth”, that may actually be a perfect comment to a Miyazaki storyboard seen in the 2007 NHK documentary: the film title appears on an image of the calm sea lighted by the full moon, then the camera plunges into the water, going deeper and deeper, while showing fishes, a whale and a group of small medusae. As a matter of fact, A coral tower is the only piece of the Image Album that already presents the typical features of a soundtrack fragment. It has not a formal structure, but it is subdivided into four parts which do not share any thematic material, just like four successive comments to different events of a cinematographic sequence. The only thing that basically unifies the piece is the sound of the celesta, an instrument that made its first important appearance in Hisaishi’s repertoire thanks to Sofi no ashita (Sophie’s tomorrow) from the Howl’s Moving Castle Image Album. The second section of A coral tower, with the celesta playing with pizzicato strings, seems to be a quotation of that 2004 composition. The celesta concludes also the piece, gently introducing the Ponyo on the Cliff theme (that is then rendered again by the strings). Perhaps that musical moment will accompany the first appearance of the main character, when the film will be completed.
Ponyo kuru (Ponyo comes), that follows A coral tower, has on the contrary a more definite structure: it is tripartite, with the first section reprised in the end, following the traditional pattern part A – part B – part A. It is substantially a symphonic piece for piano and orchestra, based upon a rhythmic melody made of repeated notes accompanied by percussive chords. It may be described as a study in concertante style, with a strong and simple theme. The harmony is similarly simple, as it is in the whole Image Album: Hisaishi seems to have partially abandoned the harmonic virtuosities of Howl for a less problematic language, that is far from being banal while surely more appropriated for a film that tells a story of little children. However, room is left for occasional and fine audacities, like a clarinet unexpectedly playing the main theme in the odd tonality of E flat minor (which is very far from the F major that opened the piece), just before the reprise.
Umi no okasan (Mother of the sea) is another concertante piece, featuring a solo viola part played by Yasushi Toyoshima. Hisaishi, a master of long and sentimental melodies since Laputa Castle in the Sky, proposes here something that might be compared to a late XIX century violin romanza, even if it has an unorthodox harmonic pattern, as it starts in A major and ends in B flat major. The composition proposes an elegiac mood, filled with sweet sadness: a mood that was partially anticipated by A coral tower and that seems to be an important feature of this Image Album. So, it is likely to also be an important feature of Miyazaki’s film.
The next piece, Imouto-tachi (Younger sisters), is quite a surprise. It introduces a kind of sound that is something new for Hisaishi, while providing a musical idea which is very simple but full of personality. In consequence of that, Younger sisters appears to be the first composition in the Album that really defines a Gake no ue no Ponyo musical world, that can not be confused with the ones of previous Miyazaki films. The piece is based on lyrics by Miyazaki himself, that are sung by a Japanese children’s choir, “Little Carol”. A straightforward, E major melody is propelled by a rhythmic accompaniment constructed on the major 3rd interval, and coloured by a discrete use of electronic sounds. Electronic manipulation of sound is more evidently used in a series of episodes in which Hisaishi modifies the children’s voices with an acoustic effect that creates the sensation of some kind of distant echo. The amusing spirit of the composition is reinforced by a strange sensation of a mixture of ethnic elements, just like in Fujimoto’s theme: it is possible to find hints to the latin world (there is a bachata-like episode, and a melody of the flute vaguely recalling Maurice Ravel’s Bolero), while the way in which the children’s chant is constructed has something African in it. There are some Japanese touches as well, like the sudden transition in parallel fourths that precedes the reprise of the theme.
After Fujimoto’s theme, the CD presents a new symphonic piece. Hakkou singou (A flash signal) is another melancholic composition, that is apparently influenced by the Howl’s Moving Castle score. The main references are Sophie’s tomorrow, again, and the soundtrack variation on the Merry-go-round of life called Hanazono (The flower garden). But this is true only for the first part of the long theme, that, if one wants to continue comparing it to other pieces, may be wholly described as a virtuous encounter between Moon river from Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961) and Johannes Brahms’ Lullaby. The usual formal structure A-B-A is here more strongly linked to the classical tradition in that “B” contains something that may be called a “development” of the musical materials of “A”. That may be a hint to the classical sonata form, with its succession of exposition (A)–development (B)–recapitulation (A). A celesta solo closes the composition, proving once again that this instrument has become Hisaishi’s preferred expresser of sweet, romantic and sad atmospheres.
Ponyo no komori-uta (Ponyo’s lullaby) is a nice and short piece, scored for the classical chamber music trio: violin, cello and piano. The instruments accompany the voice of Nozomi Ohashi, playing an infantile melody filled with rests. On the contrary, Hontou no kimochi (A true feeling) is a truly nostalgic ballad sung by Fujioka Fujimaki. The presence of the sound of the guitar, along with some other elements of the musical arrangement, brings to the song a strange Western-folk taste, enriching thus the bizarre ethnic panorama of the Album.
For the final piece, Himawari no ie no rinbu-kyoku (The rondo of the house of the sunflower), Hisaishi conjured up a sentimental song written for orchestra and a female voice. And this voice is the one of Mai, who is Hisaishi’s daughter, returning in a score inspired by Miyazaki’s art after her 1984 debut in Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (she was the child that sang in Ohmu to no kouryuu [Interchange with the Ohmu]). Maybe the presence of the composer’s daughter is somehow related to the fact that Miyazaki’s film will deal with keywords such as “father” and “mother”; in any case, her interpretation of the song is beautiful. Once again, the music brings to the listener some Howl’s Moving Castle memories, as the melody resembles the theme song Sekai no yakusoku (The promise of the world) by Youmi Kimura. As a final song, The rondo of the house of the sunflower would have been perfect as well, but it is already known that it will not be the case. It is instead likely to be somehow related to a location that will appear in Miyazaki’s film, the Himawari Nursery.
In conclusion, the Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea Image Album sets a series of good premises for a new interesting soundtrack. It is surely one of Hisaishi’s most heterogeneous Image Albums, as it presents a lot of different musical styles that for the moment are unified only by two conflicting tendencies: one towards overt sentimentality and soft sadness, and one towards childish happiness. But it is already known that Miyazaki’s film will offer to the spectators also different emotional qualities: a dramatic tsunami sequence has already been announced. Miyazaki was filmed while drawing artworks for the tsunami, and he accompanied his work humming Richard Wagner’s The Ride of the Valkyries. Perhaps he was being ironic, as his watercolour painting showed Ponyo riding a whale in a stormy sea. Anyway, there are no traces of valkyrie-esque, heroic music the Image Album. So, it may be right to assume that a lot more is still to come in the soundtrack, and that the real core of the Ponyo musical universe has still to be unveiled.
ABOUT MARCO BELLANO: Marco Bellano graduated with honours in Communication Sciences at the University of Padova (2005). At the same University, he recently won a Ph. D. scholarship for a three-year research about music in Avant-garde and animated films 1920-1929. He also has a master's degree with honours in Theory and Techniques of Media Communication (Curriculum in Cinema History and Film Critic) from the Università Cattolica, Milano (2007). He studied piano at the Conservatory of Vicenza, where he graduated with honours in 2004. Now he is studying composition at the same Conservatory.
He works as a music expert and author of texts for the Orchestra del Teatro Olimpico di Vicenza. He is a critic for the Italian monthly review of classical music Musica. He also writes for the Italian cinema journals Cin&media and Ciemme. He teaches high school courses in cinema history, music history and film music. He also holds public lectures on these topics.
In 2008 he published his first book, Metapartiture. Comporre musica per i film muti. It is an essay about music for silent films.
Studio Ghibli related articles, essays and interviews:
- “Musica per guerre e macchine a vapore”, Ciemme no. 150 (Mestre: Cinit, 2005). (Short essay about a comparison between Hisaishi’s soundtracks for Howl’s Moving Castle and The General)
- “Altrove, di volo in volo”, in Cin&Media no. 17 (Mestre: Cinit, 2006). (Essay on Hayao Miyazaki’s career)
- “I sensi del silenzio”, Cin&Media no. 17 (Mestre: Cinit, 2006). (Essay on the use of sounds in Miyazaki’s films).
- Metapartiture. Comporre musica per i film muti (S. Alessio Siculo, ME: Cinit, 2007), chapter four: “The General come metapartitura: due sonorizzazioni a confronto”.
- A long analysis of Hisaishi’s music is also part of Marco Bellano’s Master’s degree thesis The score of the age. Neo-Baroque as a key for film music (chapter six: “A new awareness”).
- Interview with Goro Miyazaki, in Cin&Media no. 19/20 (Mestre: Cinit, 2006).
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