Customer Reviews

Barry Lyndon

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Kubrick's magnificent Barry Lyndon was up against The French Connection for Best Picture, and noise won out over subtlety. The movie was said to be "slow paced" -- but the pacing was not so much slow as unhurried-- and Kubrick's gorgeous visuals (often he would frame shots that repeated famous paintings of the period) were given soul and depth by his choice of music. From the brilliant traditional Irish music of the Chieftains, long before "Celtic Music" became trendy, to his wonderfully chosen Classical pieces, the music is magnificent. Handel's brooding, even violent, Sarabande (who said Classical music was wimpy??)-- the luscious and deep sonorities of the cello, first in the exquisite Andante of Schubert's E-flat Piano Trio, underlined by the insistent march-like rhythm of the piano, with its cadential trills that hit you deep in your nervous system, -- to the subtle melancholy and moving line of the Siciliano of Vivaldi's E Minor Cello Sonata, here in a wonderful concerto format-- this is music that settles deep in your consciousness. It was unavailable for years-- now it's here again! Emphatically recommended!

An absolutely superb selection of music. Again and again Kubrick revealed his genius in moviemaking with every detail, including his choice of musical accompaniment. The Handel is bold and poignant in all its variations. The rivetting Schubert Trio in E-flat IS the scene in the movie, and remains the scene on the soundtrack and is played eloquently and flawlessly with that odd droll depth which was sometimes characteristic of the Baroque. A truly amazing listen. It will transport you out of the bussle of the 21st Century with such profound delicacy. This one work alone would be worth the price of the CD, but there's so much more. There's also a Mozart march, a wonderful Bach Adagio for duel harpsichords, a gorgeous cello concerto by Vivaldi, and the hypnotically exquisite Cavatina by Pasiello. There are a couple of rare modern sublimes as well, Sean O'Riada's amazingly ethereal "Tin Whistles" and his "Women of Ireland." And then there's a few works of period traditional music which add filigree to the whole ensemble. It's a complete soundtrack, so like most soundtracks, there's a couple of pieces you probably won't want to listen to over and over again, but you can program those out with your CD or mp3 player (the two marches, while well-performed, distract from the otherwise delicate minuet pace of the whole ensemble, so I edit them out). Most of this music places you right in the period, but at the same time, much of it is so rare and wonderfully performed that it also transcends time and place with moments of the highest aesthetic pleasure. I converted it into my mp3 collection and pick and choose from its flavors for aesthetic sustenance according to my appetite. It's a small banquet. You can't help loving this collection. The Schubert trio in E-flat, especially, will stay close to your heart the rest of your life. It has to be one of the most beautiful recordings of all time--an amazing mixture of pathos and deliberation--so much like Barry and Lady Lyndon.

I've been searching for this soundtrack of Rosenman's rich and dark arrangments of the Handel source ("Sarabande") for about seven years now. The music on the soundtrack is varied and eclectic and, as always with Kubrick's film music, ironic. It's a great soundtrack.

When dealing with a picture as visually stunning as Stanley Kubrick's 1975 coffeetable period epic "Barry Lyndon," you need a soundtrack that's just as engaging. Unlike most filmmakers, who typically use only one composer, Kubrick used several for this movie, and they all show up on this album that will impress fans of the movie and classical snobs alike. My tracks of choice are the "Sarabarde Main Title," "Cello Concerto E Minor," and my very favorite "Piano Trio in E Flat," which is played when Redmond Barry meets the Lady Lyndon. I don't in any way pose as a classical guru, but I know a good soundtrack when I hear it. The score on this CD apparently won a 1976 Academy Award for Best Musical Score, and for good reason. "Barry Lyndon" is one of my favorite soundtracks ever.

Prior to Kubrick's "Barry Lyndon", literary/historical epics seemed confined to action/war pictures--whether Roman, 19th century or WWII. The slower extended "Masterpice Theatre" approach wasn't thought commercial--and especially such a dry picaresque social satire as Barry Lyndon. Luckily Kubrick had the clout and experience to make it.
So maybe "Barry Lyndon" wasn't a blockbuster, but for sheer beauty, technical mastery, and brilliant use of musical scoring, there are few films that can match it. Unfortunately, the soundtrack recording was as rare as the film. An LP was released, and luckily I bought one almost immediately. But when the age of CD's arrived, never a Barry Lyndon soundtrack CD did I see, find, or receive knowledgeable info about from underage pop-music-centric clerks. So if the CD soundtrack is finally available, buy it before it disappears again, and enjoy a classical, and thankfully instrumental, music soundtrack that not only perfectly complements the film action, but also provides an excellent source for exploring composers and genres, and expanding your own music collection.

I cannot think of a better example of a soundtrack wedded to a movie than Barry Lyndon. If you haven't seen the movie and you enjoy "classical" music, you will enjoy the selections nonetheless; also, excellent Irish folk music (instrumental only) contributed by The Chieftains.

My personal favorite on the CD is the fife and drum rendition of The British Grenadiers. Listen to it at 3/4 volume and you'll want to go to war.

As far as the movie itself, it's the Kubrick I watch with the kids. Kubrik's best.

I have only seen the Kubrick film, once, but I have listened to the soundtrack many times. I am delighted to see it released on CD.

As with any successful soundtrack, this one compliments the story while maintaining a lyric theme, throughout. The work chosen to restate this theme is Sarabande, which is varied in presentation throughout the film and soundtrack-- with striking success.

There is not much that I can add to the other reviews which address the strangely successful interplay of Handel and Vivaldi with the Chieftains, save to comment that this is the essence of the film's story: upstart hedge-school Irish with presumptions to refinement. Don't bother with angry e-mails. It's concededly my own family heritage.

Finally, we need to keep in mind that _Barry Lyndon_ is set in an era when the term, "officer and gentleman," was said without a sneer, and the "limited warfare" of the 18th Century forms part of the framework of the story. That being said, the military music on this album is performed with stirring realism that puts to shame many albums specifically devoted to martial music. If you have seen the film, then you appreciate the emotional impact of "The British Grenadiers," which is rendered, here, not as a child's school yard tune, but as the martial accompaniment to a terrifying frontal attack against massed musketry.

I commend both film and sountrack to students of history, and to "upstarts" like myself.

The drums in British Grenadiers pound in your chest. For the first time you realize this really was music to make war by. Sarabande was artfully chosen as the fate theme. It worked magnificently, both as a funeral dirge for Barry's beloved little son and the background of the duel Barry later fought with his stepson. Hohenfriedburger March was the perfect choice to preface Barry's adventures with the Prussian military. Cello Concerto in E Minor set the mood for the sad situation of the Lady Lyndon, Barry's astonishingly beautiful and wealthy spouse.

I can't imagine anyone being disappointed with this CD.

I know, Yeats--but listening once more to the Barry Lyndon soundtrack some 24 years after a first awestruck hearing has cast me back to my long-lamented lovestruck girlhood: what lost Celtic lass can listen to the Chieftan's version of WOMEN OF IRELAND without recalling Marissa Berensen reclining in her bath, and one's own shattered pilgrim soul. What a time it was to be caught up in Kubrick and Bach while my highschool mates played (what?) Mott the Hoople! I've hummed the song to my wee one every night for two years; finally I can play the lovely mix of passionate, rousing, and in turn melancholy tunes to him complete! The flute alone can break your heart. And oh the remembered passion of the line "But I cannot find the ribbon. . . ." What a movie! what an album! Listen to it and remember "how love fled, and hid his face amid a crowd of stars."

I removed this wondrous item from the amazon.com shipping carton and held it up. As the kitchen light glared off it, I told my wife "Don't you ever touch this! NO! Don't even look at it! Avert your eyes! Remove your shoes!" For this is one of the greatest movie soundtracks of all time. The thunderous title music by Handel is pounding and tragic. The Celtic aire "Women of Ireland" follows seamlessly. The Chieftain's version here of this popular tune is the most perfect. Wonderful transitions ensue, from jigs, military marches, reprises, to excerpts from Bach, Mozart, Vivaldi, Schubert, etal. And how beautifully it all FITS! My only complaint is that there just isn't enough of it. With the possibility of putting at least 75 minutes on a CD, could not the aforementioned excerpts have been expanded to the longer versions that played on the actual film? For example, I recall Schubert's "Trio. . ." droning on endlessly as we followed the story's anti-hero through his complex downfall. Would have been nice to have had that on this CD. Regardless, still one of my fave albums of all time. Thank you, amazon, for reuniting us!