A rediscovery of an old photograph.
A manuscript filled with ideas.
A dedication to a lost friend.
These are four elements to a story that was destined to be told and that story has been gifted to the world in the most glorious of ways with “James Horner’s Skyward Spirit” , a 13 minute symphonic dance of nostalgic, emotional bliss, arranged and orchestrated by the late composer’s friend, producing partner and engineer Simon Rhodes, and marvelously performed by The Royal Scottish National Orchestra with Robert Ziegler at the helm.
The genesis of this work was either coincidence, or possibly divine intervention with Horner’s friend and Horsemen pilot Ed Shipley rediscovering an old photograph of James holding up a sheet of manuscript paper which contained ideas from an unfinished commission meant for the United States Air Force Thunderbirds Flight Team, a project that was never completed but marked the beginnings of Horner and Shipley’s friendship and lead to their enduring collaboration with ‘FLIGHT’, a signature piece the Horsemen Aerobatic Team choreographed their display to from 2010 onward.
The manuscript itself was filled with ideas and Simon Rhodes took it upon himself to not only give the ideas a complete arrangement and orchestration, but also reach back into his nearly 20 year history of working within Horner’s world and expand the ideas into a spectacular 13 minute orchestral wonder, with an accompanying 5 minute overture.
The piece is structured like little vignettes, each with their own story to tell as the piece was designed with aerobatics in mind. The opening is a triumphant, superhero-like fanfare for brass, playful woodwinds and elegant strings that is vaguely reminiscent of the Horsemen, but with more restraint than the bold cacophony Flight’s layered brass fanfares. There are cleaner lines and melodies here than in the Horsemen, and the primary string-led melody is clearly inspired by Horner’s 2006 theme for the CBS Evening News, a stirring piece of horn and trumpet-filled Americana that itself was derived from a melody in his 2002 score for The Four Feathers.
Like Four Feathers and CBS News, Skyward Spirit takes the idea and literally flies with it, completely in line with how Horner expanded and elaborated on prior works throughout his career.
These vignette-like ideas bring to mind a firm yet playful sense of patriotism likely thanks to the Thunderbirds origins of the piece, a sense of fulfillment and freedom as the strings and brass soar in the air while the woodwinds do a delightful dance, playing with each other in an almost bird-like fashion. It’s a lovely, kind-hearted listen full of positivity.Horner’s dramatic sensibilities are given a chance to shine once more as the music slowly turns inward, becoming quietly reflective and supported by his popular rolling piano patterns which were also a highlight of the Horsemen music. Horner’s use of clashing strings to pull out the emotions is on display as the music becomes heavier with contemplation, echoing those dramatic moments from classics like Braveheart, Enemy at the Gates or Legends of the Fall but not in note-for-note terms, more stylistic similarities as Horner’s dramatic style was all his own and he utilized it to full effect in many of his best scores.
I learned recently through a friend that music of this nature – written for public display – is typically structured to feature a somber moment which allows the music to pick back up in triumphant fashion later. While that certainly applies to Skyward Spirit, I cannot help but feel there is something a little deeper beneath the surface here: The weight of the contemplative strings descends into pure tragedy, with melodies becoming desperate and almost hopeless, and punctuated by Horner’s most famous ‘Danger’ motif which cuts through the despair and I cannot help but wonder if when arranging and completing this piece, Simon Rhodes was putting his own feelings of losing James Horner into the music, before a slow militaristic build up explodes into triumph, returning to Horner’s sense of optimism for a truly Horsemen-like finish, bells and all.
The performance is stellar, with conductor Robert Ziegler giving Skyward Spirit a very welcoming seat among Horner’s finest scores. What Simon Rhodes as accomplished here is very much a love letter, a tribute and a nostalgic journey back to the world of James Horner that reminds us of exactly why James Horner was one of the finest composers in film music, whose sound is eternally missed and has now become something of a warm comforting blanket for our hearts.
