The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants - Original Score

A small-scale summer release, in contrast to the normal big budget fare, Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants tells the story of four girls on the edge of adulthood, their various summer adventures and the pair of jeans they share, which happens to miraculously fit them all. Cliff Eidelman continues his career of scoring these personal character dramas and comedies, after he initially burst out of the gate with a flourish in the early 90\'s in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country and Columbus: The Discovery. It has become apparent that the films at the opposite end of the spectrum better suit his compositional personality.

The album opens with "Prologue" and the main theme, a slightly melancholy, yet flowing manner for strings and woodwinds, followed by a spirited piano solo at around the one minute mark and then a tender acoustic guitar joins in near the close. "Deja Blue" sets a jazzy tone, with upright bass, piano and marimba, while the brief "Fate" features a new theme for solo voice against piano, strings and woodwinds in a pleasantly floating, effervescent manner. "Rules of the Pants" revisits the main melodic material from the "Prologue" before marimbas and clarinet present a light-hearted, tropical island type flavor. "A Touch of Greece" contains the usual Greek instrumental colors but then shifts suddenly into the solo voice and melody from "Fate". A touching duet for piano and acoustic guitar highlights the brief track "Honey", while the sprightly marimba and clarinet combo returns in "The Traveling Pants".

The track "Reflection" lives up to its title, as the strings and woodwinds paint the portrait of a moment lost in quiet contemplation, among a subtle recap of the main theme. The melodic material from the second half of the "Prologue", the arcing, halting line for piano and guitar, is heard in "Running" before it is replaced by the Greek instrumentation. Softly sweet tones from piano, clarinet and strings color the contemplative "Letter", which then continues through into "Broken Heart" and "A Brave Soul", all the while refraining from turning too maudlin or overwrought. "Us" begins with solo piano, soon adding the acoustic guitar and flute in a slow, tender piece, coalescing into the track "Sisterhood Reunites" where the "Fate" theme returns, itself developed further into lovely variations.

"The Traveling Song" wonderfully builds upon the "Fate" melody in a bright setting of violin, piano, voice, marimbas and electric guitar. This thematic idea is carried over into the final track, "Piano Suite", an excellent solo piano summation of all the main melodic material of the score, heard throughout the "Prologue", "Fate" and "Letter". I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed this sweet score to a small film, with its several memorable themes, clear orchestration and effective instrumentation. Certainly it is long way from how many if us older fans expected Eidelman to go compositionally, but his music still retains much to recommend.