The Lion In Winter (1968 Film) [Soundtrack]

John Barry (Composer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Composer: John Barry
• Audio CD (March 14, 1995)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Soundtrack
• Label: Sony
• Run Time: 36 minutes
• ASIN: B000002AN2
• In-Print Editions: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #288,167 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com essential recording

Though perhaps best known for the cool, unsettling detachment of his Bond scores and the lush romantic overtones of Out of Africa and Somewhere in Time, composer John Barry has an impressively broad range. In fact, it was this rousing brass and choral work for Anthony Harvey's 1968 adaptation of James Goldman's play about the rise of England's King Henry II that garnered Barry his second Academy Award. Moving beyond mere costume-drama pomp, Barry's work here effectively bridges the 12th and 19th centuries, its massed voices echoing the Church of England while maintaining a distinctly modern harmonic sensibility, while the orchestral writing echoes the edginess of his Bond work with surprising effectiveness. --Jerry McCulley

Product Description

Academy Award Winner for Best Original Music Score in 1968, critics called this epic soundtrack John Barry's most ambitious and fully realized work. The complex blend of modern and traditional sounds, including Gregorian chants, percussion, and beautiful harmonies, holds its own as an independent piece of music. --This text refers to an alternate Audio CD edition.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars GORGEOUS, November 23, 2004

By 

R. Penola (NYC, NY United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Lion In Winter (1968 Film) (Audio CD)

Rhapsodic and darkly brooding, this classic score is absolutely thrilling. The main theme alone deserved the Oscar, and there are so many enchanting melodies, all lushly orchestrated, throughout this amazing piece of music. Eleanor's Arrival is one of the most beautiful, chant-like compositions ever written for a film -- it is as wonderful to hear as it is to see on screen!

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars My favorite film music, November 29, 2003

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Merlin Douglas Larsen "Merlin the Mad" (West Jordan, Utah United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Lion In Winter (1968 Film) (Audio CD)

No musical score has remained more influential upon my imagination and emotions than this one. The play (and film adaptation) also remains perhaps my favorite - all things considered. I agree with others who have already commented, that this score is Barry's best, and that is saying alot about the genius of it to evoke powerful emotions: wistful, threatening, angry and even insane: there is that finale, where hope (for eventual triumph) is also vividly felt through the music.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very dramatic music , possibly John Barry's best !, November 8, 1998

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[e-mail] (London) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Lion In Winter (1968 Film) (Audio CD)

Dramatic music to accompany a dramatic film and one I believe will become a classic.Very evocative of a more elemental age and swinging from warm melodies to brutal dark ages foreboding. I think Henry 11 would have approved!