The Great Debaters [Original Motion Picture Score] [Soundtrack]

James Newton Howard (Composer), Peter Golub (Composer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Composer: James Newton Howard, Peter Golub
• Audio CD (January 15, 2008)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Soundtrack
• Label: Varese Sarabande
• ASIN: B000ZIZ0YS
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #227,489 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Wiley College - James Newton Howard

2. Meet Me After Class

3. Who's Next?

4. Choosing the Team

5. Give Me the Check

6. Who's Your Opponent?

7. Union Meeting

8. Sheriff Tightens His Grip

9. Quinn Debate

10. Burgess Quits

11. Oklahoma Debate

12. Tolson Arrested

13. Lynching

14. Lowe Returns Drunk

15. Never Going To Forget

16. James' Failure

17. Letter From Harvard

18. Train To Boston

19. Empty Debate Hall

20. Satyagraha

See all 24 tracks on this disc

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Surprising Soundtrack!, March 1, 2008

By 

Dr. Joseph T. Page Jr. (Waldenbuch, Germany) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Great Debaters [Original Motion Picture Score] (Audio CD)

This soundtrack was completely different than expected. Much more soothing and quietly contemporary. Beautiful background music. Highly recommended!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Enjoyable, but nothing we haven't heard before, September 25, 2008

By 

Jon Broxton (Thousand Oaks, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Great Debaters [Original Motion Picture Score] (Audio CD)

Denzel Washington's second feature film as director, The Great Debaters is a worthy and noble film based on the true story of an all-black college debating team fighting for recognition and equality. Washington himself stars as Melvin B. Tolson, a professor at Wiley College Texas in 1935 who inspired his students to form the school's first debate team, which went on to challenge the elite, wealthy and all-white Harvard team in the national championship. Films like these challenged institutional racism in the 1950s and 1960s, but are still just as powerful today: it's also probably no coincidence that Washington seems to be channeling both Sidney Poitier and Brock Peters on the score album's CD cover. Veteran composer James Newton Howard provided the film's score, working in collaboration with theatre composer Peter Golub. Films like The Great Debaters sometimes have a tendency to overdo the schmaltz factor in the music, overly-emphasizing the various triumphs over injustice and, in doing so, diluting their effectiveness. Howard, thankfully, restrains himself here, writing a pleasant, unassuming, effective score which concentrates mainly on gentle wind solos over piano, strings, guitar and percussion, with occasional moments of color - a harmonica here, a fiddle there, and so on. On the whole the music is lovely, occasionally swelling into a beautiful performance - the grand and noble "Oklahoma Debate", the bittersweet "James' Failure", or the haunting cello in "Train to Boston" for example - but also sometimes veering off into pseudo-Thomas Newman territory with folksy, old fashioned Americana, notably in cues such as "Meet Me After Class", which emphasize the underprivileged, working-class roots of the Wiley debaters as they struggle for acceptance. Occasionally Howard allows the tempo to rise - "Union Meeting" features some throbbing, powerful trombone writing, while "Lynching" is as dark as the title suggests - but by the end the score is in full-on triumphant mode, with the rousing trio "Memorial Hall", "James' Speech" and "And The Winner Is..." providing a fitting and enjoyable conclusion to an enjoyable score.

5.0 out of 5 stars Great!, March 17, 2011

By 

autumn - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Great Debaters [Original Motion Picture Score] (Audio CD)

This music score was very well done in my opinion. Beautiful pieces of music, fit very well with the movie and the scenes. My top favorite tracks are Choosing the Team, Lynching, Lowe Returns Drunk, James' Failure, Letter From Harvard, Train To Boston, Empty Debate Hall, Memorial Hall and looooved James' Speech. Okay so, that's a lot of favorites lol but basically the whole thing is great. But if someone wanted to just get a few songs from the CD, these are some of my favs. Good job.