Customer Reviews

The Film Music of Jerry Goldsmith

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This is a good collection of some of Goldsmith's lesser known or less-available scores spanning most of his career. While some of the themes selected for inclusion seem to have been chosen fairly randomly, it is nice to find them here conducted by Goldsmith himself with the London Symphony Orchestra. Two pieces of particular interest are the two medleys, one of film scores and the other of his better known TV themes. The themes used in the medleys are mostly well bridged and the choices are again unusual, including the classic Dr Kildare theme and the rare Room 222. More emphasis is allowed for some of Goldsmith's less-prominent work - Forever Young, Sleeping With the Enemy etc. - although anyone looking for The Twilight Zone (movie) should be aware that that particular brilliant score is available on CD (released last year) and should be appreciated in full. Not the best collection of Goldsmith's work, but it is always nice when the composer himself conducts his own music (when working with a real orchestra and not his synthesizers), and is a worthy addition to any film score collection.

Some time ago I reviewed Jerry Goldsmith's outstanding score for "Star Trek Nemesis." At that time I remarked that the tones and secondary themes seemed to be almost a farewell to the Enterpise. It is only fitting that Maestro Goldsmith's musicians gave him standing ovations as they finished recording several cuts for that score. Now, of course, that "farewell" is so poignant. A number of years ago, my wife and I attended a concert with the Maestro conducting the Utah Symphony Orchestra in Salt Lake City. The program was essentially the same as we find on this grand album. We stood and gave Maestro Goldsmith a standing ovation, and a loud "Bravo!" then, and wish we could do it again. This is representative collection of the Maestro's work that is well worth having. A fitting tribute to a genius in his field. Nicely produced and packaged. For those of us who grew up with Goldsmith it is hard to say farewell. Bravo and yeia sou!

When I first purchased this cd, my original intent was for the soundtrack of Star Trek, which has always been a favorite of mine. I was also motivated by the fact that the orchestra performing is the London Philharmonic, which I consider one of the finest in the world. To this day, this cd stays in my player at bedside. When hearing the news that Mr. Goldsmith had passed away last year, I decided to purchase the 6 cd collection in his memory from Fox. This mans talent was truly a rare and extraordinary gift which he shared with us. I have given this cd as a gift several times because I felt I was giving a wonderful, moving, inspiring rendition of the exquisite talent of this man. If you are not familiar with Mr. Goldsmith, give this cd a chance and I believe you will continue pursuing the mood and music of Jerry Goldsmith, who will be missed for decades to come.

Jerry Goldsmith is one of the greatest film composers of all time. He has written so many great scores on so many different themes that he is kind of taken for granted by his fans and listeners. This CD is an excellent introduction to Goldsmith's music and his immense range in musical themes and styles. Some of my favorites like "Islands in the Stream" and "Medecine Man" are missing but on one CD only so much can be represented. Goldsmith always gives us original themes of great originality and emotive power. His music blends well with the movies and he is one of our best narrative music composers. I'm happy that so much of great film scores like "Boys from Brazil," are included on this CD,when Goldsmith takes the Vienese Waltz of happiness and turns it into a Nazi Waltz of evil with strains of Wagner, Hitler's favorite composer, blended seamlessly into the score. "Patton" could have been better represented as it is easily one of Goldsmith's most recognizable scores and a classic. Whether it is action, love themes, horror, Goldsmith was and is always up to the task to create great film scores, most which stand on their own as any great symphonies of sound. Buy this and explore many of his other great scores and many are classics and out of print and this CD will give listeners a taste of what this grand master film composer can do and is still doing. Grand music on any scale. Highly recommended.

Goldsmith conducts these pieces with great feeling, in many cases providing new insight into his own intentions or preferences for how this music should or can feel, absent the requirements of the movie itself or its creators.

One example is the Star Trek theme, in which the latter part of the main theme starts as a whisper and then swells to full volume.

Just for the insights it provides through his conducting, this disc is a must-have for Goldsmith fans.

As a lifelong movie buff, I have always considered Jerry Goldsmith to be the absolute greatest of all the film composers. A Goldmsith score almost always sets the appropriate tone for a movie, and virutally becomes a character in the picture. I truly feel that movies have not sounded the same since Jerry passed away in 2004.

That said, "The Film Music of Jerry Goldsmith" is an excellent representation of his long, prodigious and varied career in movie scoring. This collection spans the many decades of his work, and the many genres (sci-fi, horror, comedy, action, epic) among which he moved so effortlessly. Some of his very best scores, including "Chinatown," "Patton" and "Air Force One," are on this CD, and a bonus is the montage of his old TV show scores, like "The Man from U.N.C.L.E." and "Barnaby Jones."

I would have enjoyed the inclusion of a few other terrific scores, like "First Blood" and "Hoosiers," but this is still a premiere sampling of Jerry Goldsmith's extraordinary talent. I miss him every time I go to the movies.

...the quality of many performances are lower than they ought to be, which is astonishing in light of the reputation of the London Symphony Orchestra. This notwithstanding, there's enough to justify getting one's hands on this item. For me, the high point of the album is the medly of television themes composed by Goldsmith, which begins with a hellacious musical argument for the revival of *The Man From U.N.C.L.E.* as a theatrical film. (Hell, if they can resuscitate that bletcherous bore *Mission: Impossible* to make not one but two big-budget buckets of bilge, *The Man from U.N.C.L.E.* ought to attract plenty of attention, particularly if it's done with a sense of humor similar to that which informed the old TV show.)

The other problem with this album is the selection of cuts. For example, almost anything could have been better chosen from the film *Rudy* but the highly sedative passage recapitulated here, and the entirely inadequate dose of the theme from *The Wind and the Lion* incorporated in this album comes at the tail of an 18-minute medly of lesser stuff through which the average fan of *The Wind and the Lion* has no wish to sit. We've heard the theme from the first *Star Trek* movie endlessly; why not a variation on the nasty elegence of the Klingon theme from that and subsequent *Star Trek* films? Goldsmith also wrote other incidental music for *The Man from U.N.C.L.E.* -- so why not a re-visit of "The Man from THRUSH" (or the original program music "THRUSH Raid") and suchlike?

*The Film Music of Jerry Goldsmith* is reasonably good, but by no means the best to be had. It whets the appetite, but doesn't satisfy.

I'll shamefacedly admit that I bought this specifically because of the high *technical* reviews it received on some "audiophile" sites (I like music and audioequipment to a point, but I'm not insane about it-- I buy used and keep expenditures below 200 dollars for any one component-- it's worked well, I think!). They were right, this IS an excellent album to put in and appreciate technically, but, wow, it's just great music, too! The recording is so, for a lack of another word, warm and really seems to put you in the auditorium with the orchestra. It would be uncouth to put on some lounging clothes and head out to a night at the symphony for a snooze, but the quality of this just sort of wraps you up like a blanket and lets you sink into each track. I know that this sounds like some level of magical thinking or something, but it really is just a nice intersection of technical and artistic quality.

My only complaint is that there are some pieces in the medleys that I would have really, really loved to have had full versions of (Poltergeist, especially, but it's by far not the sole example).

I guess if this kind of music is your thing and you have SACD capabilities, there's no reason for you not to own this.

Goldsmith conducts these pieces with great feeling, in many cases providing new insight into his own intentions or preferences for how this music should or can feel, absent the requirements of the movie itself or its creators.

One example is the Star Trek theme, in which the latter part of the main theme starts as a whisper and then swells to full volume.

Just for the insights it provides through his conducting, this disc is a must-have for Goldsmith fans.

Many years ago, Sony and John Williams collaborated on an album of Star Wars favorites. I suspect someone at Telarc thought the same magic would work with Jerry Goldsmith and the LSO. Alas.
While the pieces chosen show a good cross-section of Goldsmith's crativity, the execution is seriously lifeless. It is as if the compositions were left to saute' overnight in Symphony Sauce: the performances are plodding and pedestrian. I don't know who convinced Goldsmith to do it this way, but omitting the martial snare roll at the beginning of the Man from U.N.C.L.E. theme, or not adding at least an accordian to the Waltons theme, are just two examples of how Goldsmith's great work has been emasculated by, I suspect, some record exec's insight. If you want to hear these pieces as originally written and performed, you'll have to start searching on other albums. Good hunting, and let us know what you find.