Master And Commander

Master and Commander, based on the hugely successful literary series by Patrick O' Brian, chronicles the adventures of Captain Jack Aubrey of The Royal British Navy. Musically speaking, the seafaring genre hasn't lived up to its expectations in a long, long time. For a world saturated with lore, shanties, and melodies inspired by the ocean, Hollywood remains unresponsive, uninspired, and bereft of the combination to Davy Jones' locker. One would expect a bombastic, heroic, and unforgettable motif to assist our protagonist in his exploits, but composers Iva Davies and Christopher Gordon provide nothing of the sort. The original portion of the score succeeds in riding wave upon wave of tension, but swashbuckling tales of the sea require a memorable tune, not just a storm of Taiko drums and washed-out strings. The composers fare better on a recurring folk medley, lovingly rendered by master violinist Richard Tognetti – fans of the novels on which the film is based know full well that Lucky Jack is a fiddle-slinging-bard of a captain – that captures the true spirit of being miles away from home with your mates and fending off ghostly freighters. The remainder of the soundtrack yields a tad more bounty, utilizing famous classical pieces from Mozart, Bach, and Boccherini to great effect, bailing out the brackish water intent on keeping this ship permanently docked.

In this fascinating account of Thomas Cochrane's extraordinary life, David Cordingly (Under the Black Flag and The Billy Ruffian) unearths startling new details about the real-life "Master and Commander"-from his heroic battles against the French navy to his role in the liberation of Chile, Peru, and Brazil, and the stock exchange scandal that forced him out of England and almost ended his naval career. Drawing on previously unpublished papers, his own travels, wide reading, and original research, Cordingly tells the rip-roaring story of the archetypal Romantic hero who conquered the seas and, in the process, defined his era.

A guide to the British Royal Navy in the Napoleonic Age for fans of the Aubrey–Maturin series: "A gem of a book" (Minneapolis Star Tribune).

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