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By Randall Larson

Alan Williams’ latest documentary score, for Icy Killers: Secrets of Alaska’s Salmon Sharks, broadcast recently on the National Geographic Channel, is available on the composer’s label, Silverscreen Music.  The film tells of the confluence two massive migrations: the David & Goliath story of ravenous sharks (the only species known to thrive in Alaska’s icy waters) and spawning salmon in Prince William Sound.  Williams’ melodic orchestral score lends an air of adventure to the film’s mesmerizing photography, from its majestic Arctic vistas to its intimate underwater dazzle. “Journey to Prince William Sound” takes us far north with graceful sonority before turning slightly savage, with angular shards of stroked violin over a running melody line as the hungry inhabitants of those northern waters are made known.  “Spring,” as the season of reawakening suggests, blossoms with a glorious bouquet of strings punctuated by low, pounding piano before opening into a glistening froth of light strings and harp.  Williams brings to life various species of sea life that pass in front of the lens, from the slow, stalking figures of strings and synths for “Orcas” and the eloquent and majestic undulations of winds and piano for “Humpbacks” to the more sprightly measures of piano for “Sea Otters and Harbor Seals” and the wispy, string-drawn trails of the luminescent “Jellyfish.”  But the heart of the story, and score, is the tale of survival and sustenance that plays out between the salmon and their namesake sharks.  Williams draws this with icy tones and slow-moving, weighty orchestration, somber and serious sonorities; his Main Title, “Icy Killers,” is driven with strong percussion, a slow-moving synth-wind melody drifting between the icy shards of violins like a shark’s purposeful, submerged approach; it becomes a piercing action theme, driven by drums that reflect both the animal’s primitive design and the ferocity of its attack. “On The Prowl” and “Group Hunting” both reprise this motif with advancing progression, the latter reprising the synth-wind melody that becomes the cold, hungry voice of the prowling shark – or the driven cry of the spawning salmon.  “Winter Hunt” is somber and menacing, the light cavorting of the seals and drifting ballet of jellyfish having given way to the sobering duty of feeding and the clear attention of the sharks.  The score is attractive and poetic on CD, painting an intriguing portrait of both hunter and prey, and the environment in which their ongoing dance is carried out.