Customer Reviews

The Phantom Menace And Other Film Hits (Film Score Anthology)

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This is also a very recently released album that puts together a number of tracks from some of the very popular motion pictures of 1999. I picked up this album, as the orchestra- the Royal Scottish National Orchestra- has been regular performers with Varase Saranbande, and recorded other film music under the baton of Joel McNeely on other discs too. In addition, this disc contains an extended suite of music from Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, the first recording to be released containing this music apart from Williams' original for the motion picture. One should take note, however, is that the disc isn't entirely originally recorded music just for this album. If I got my numbers right, 10 out of the 18 cues are drawn from existing recordings made during the year. So, the album is a Varese Sarabande "sampler" of sorts.

Although the orchestra ensemble itself didn't seem flawless (particularly in the brass heavy sections of the music), for some reason, imo, the music just doesn't sound the same with a conductor that isn't John Williams. I thought the orchestra's rendition of the opening credit music of Star Wars as recoreded in an earlier related album (Shadows of the Empire) was flawless, ranking right there with the London Symphony under Williams; but the famous opening sounded less impressive here in The Phantom Menace suite. Nevertheless, of note is an extended version of The Flag Parade (the theatrical version lastly under 2 minutes) and the very lyrical Annakin's theme.

There is also a wonderfully robust orchestral rearrangement of some of the best cues from The Mummy (composed by Jerry Goldsmith), which I thoroughly enjoyed. Even then, the track on the album that I was the most impressed with turned out not to be performed by the RSNO, but an included track from Jerry Goldsmith's original recording for the motion picture The 13th Warrior. What didn't turned out so well, to my grave disappointment, was the rendition of Hymn of the Fallen (from Saving Private Ryan). The chorus was less successful in this track, to say nothing of some noticeable changes to dynamics in the score that proved startling (I must have listend to the original recording with the Boston Pops with Williams near hundreds of times now...!). It could well be that I love Williams' original theatrical version so much that any recording that re-arranges his masterful score is sacrilege to my listening ear. But in any event, I really didn't like it much, and that marred my great appreciation for this otherwise fine disc.

So, all in all, it's pretty much a mix bag. I would have preferred to see greater participation from the RSNO in the disc, since they only contributed to about half of the disc, and this only somewhat diminished the value of this disc, particularly considering that it's a full-priced disc, despite the existence of previously-recorded material.

After playing this darn thing for about the sixth or seventh time, I began to worry if there was a rational reason for such blatantly repetitive behavior. Compulsive actions are not to be taken lightly. Maybe I simply like the music. Not true, as it turns out. I am flat out addicted to it! Four stars out of five (in my book, a compilation that rates four stars is as good as it gets!). Except for the PHANTOM MENACE tracks (which are all conveniently grouped at the start of the CD so they can easily be skipped over--more on this in a minute), the CD Producer again exhibits uncanny ear talent for selecting riveting music from recent films, in this case circa 1999. And it's not just music from the opening/ closing credits either. There's a delightful suite from SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE and a heart-palpitating, extended excerpt from THE MUMMY with Mr. Frederic Talgorn conducting the Royal Scottish Orchestra on both (but you'll need a jeweler's eye piece to tease this information off the back of the CD case!). There are 18 tracks covering 14 films. Some are "right off" the film sound track, but most are the result of Mr. Talgorn's efforts (no credit is given for the latter's orchestrations which is a shame, since they help make this CD a "must have"). Now about those PHANTOM MENACE tracks. Perhaps it's just that no one can really conduct Mr. John William's music except the composer himself. Or it could be that I am simply STAR WARS musiced out. One film with a vastly- superior score is fantastic, two with very similar music is OK, but four of the same manages to reach beyond listening boredom that, unfortunately, is NOT in a galaxy, far, far away... Get the CD, for sure. Just program your player to start at track six!

Film score fans were estatic when Varese Sarabande started their "Hollywood" series back in the mid 90s. The Royal Scottish National Orchestra under Joel McNeeley performed the greatest hits from 1995 and 1996, and the Seattle Symphony Orchestra under the baton of the same man in 1994. In 1997, this series disappeared, but this release is more or less Hollywood 99. This CD is a sampler of all the best music from 1999 and 2000, mostly of original soundtracks from the Varese Back catalogue, but the RSNO performs newly recorded suites from Saving Private Ryan, The Mummy and Shakespear In Love in addition to the Episode 1 concert suite. This time conducted by Frederic Talgorn. We can only hope that Varese releases another CD like this in the future, as Mr. Talgorn did a splendid job with the RSNO much like McNeeley, Eidelman and Debney have done in the past.