Customer Reviews

The Promise

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Badelt is something of an enigma in the film scoring world. He cops more critical flak than perhaps even his mentor Hans Zimmer does every time a new score album is released, even though `The Promise' is without a doubt the finest work he has done since his 2002 breakthrough with `The Time Machine', and in spite of the fact that he continues to produce thoughtful, melodic and deeply involving scores time and time again. Fortunately, the tide is turning, and film score reviewers and critics are beginning to acknowledge the amazing diversity and sheer talent that Badelt exudes.

His work here brings to mind other historical/fantasy epics such as `Conan the Barbarian' and `The 13th Warrior' with its mix of robust brass, soaring strings and ethnic instrumentation. That alone should be enough to entice even casual film score fans, but for the aficionados, there are several themes and leitmotifs that are utilized extremely well throughout the album's 70-odd minutes. A kind of showcase of these themes appears in the first seven tracks, which sets up the motifs for each of the film's major characters, as well as the Main Title and Love themes. The `Love Theme' in particular is a moving piece that opens quietly on Asian flutes and plucked strings before the orchestra picks up the theme and sweeps it away (think of the way the strings build up in `Ned Kelly' before the main theme drops in and you have an idea of how Badelt builds up his layers of instrumentation here).

`Kunlun, The Slave' follows on from where `Love Theme' left off, offering a second take on the love theme which culminates in another amazing climax of strings and brass. `Qingcheng, The Princess' is a gentler theme performed with little of the ethnic instruments that are present in the other motifs. The melody is passed between the wind and string sections, making for a very fine, very feminine theme for Cecilia Cheung's character.

The album then launches into `Guangming, The General,' the most vigorous of Badelt's themes and reminisicent of `Capt. Alexi Vostrokiv' from K-19, though not quite as brooding or dark. Keep in mind that Badelt here is writing for what is essential an epic fairytale - the music is bold and adventurous, and never dives too deeply into dark territory. `Wuhuan, The Duke' mirrors Qingcheng's theme, though in more somber tones. It is another gentle theme performed primarily by the strings, though with more presence from the brass.

With these leitmotifs presented early on the album, the listener then has the pleasure of hearing how Badelt interweaves them throughout the rest of the score. `Princess Kite' opens with Asian strings, builds with racey strings and choral effects before introducing the brass and percussion. It ends with a moving violin solo, which is featured again in `The Promise', as does Qingcheng's theme. `Snow Country' is a definite highlight, featuring choir and ethnic solos in a cue both epic and intimate by turns.

`The Robe' is perhaps the standout cue on the album, featuring the fullest statement of the main theme, as well as the Kunlun and Love themes. It is the first true action cue of the score, featuring Asian flutes, strings and percussion battling it out with the orchestra. It's an exciting cue that features several themes in an action setting.

`Guilang, The Assassin' is another motif that is introduced quite late on the album, but also features powerful, rolling Asian drums over ethnic flutes that build to a grand brass statement of quite epic proportions, and which flow nicely into `Saving A Princess,' which continues the bold brass statements and is moved along by marching percussion and choppy strings. `Feather Fight' is another exciting action cue that wouldn't sound out of place in `Conan the Barbarian'. It starts very gently before launching straight into pounding Asian drums and a very invigorating melody performed by the orchestra. `Waterfall' offers another statement of the Love theme before moving into `Stampede', another brass-lead action cue with exciting percussive elements, choppy strings and plenty of cymbal crashes, nicely living up to its name for nearly all of its 5 minutes. `Come Back' restates Kunlun's theme in full, before moving into the Love theme, which is here performed by Asian flutes. `Wuhuan's Plan' is an epic 10 minute piece that sees all the major themes restated with plenty of ethnic flourishes, all wrapped up in the guise of an epic action cue.

`The Promise' is Badelt's most accomplished work to date, and should see him win over many new fans. It's exciting, bold and adventurous, bringing to mind previous efforts such as `The Time Machine', `Ned Kelly' and `K-19: The Widowmaker,' while marking a distinct departure from all of these, as `Kingdom of Heaven' and `The Chronicles of Narnia' did for Harry Gregson-Williams. Pick up a copy of `The Promise', listen to it carefully and critically, and see what most of us already knew - that Klaus Badelt is one of the most creative, musical, dedicated and hard-working film composers in the industry today.

This score is a big surprise for Klaus Badelt fans accustomed to his scores for Poseidon and Pirates of the Carribean which feature live orchestra players but also feature electronics and synthetic sounds. This score is purely orchestral and features beautiful solo passages for violin and other numerous Chinese instruments. Badelt also writes some action music, utilizing every instrument in the live orchestra to his full advantage. If you've yearned for Badelt to expand with his orchestral sound he's exercised in other scores including K19: The Widowmaker, The Time Machine, and Rescue Dawn, then this score is a must buy! If you're looking for a score to start your Badelt collection with, look no further. It's the best he has composed!

Some of my top movie sountracks are: The Lion King, The Rock, Beyond Rangoon, and Mulan. Now, The Promise has just been added to the list. Right from the beginning to the end, this soundtrack captivates you, and once you start listening it's hard to stop. I listen to it on my way to work. This is the first CD I've ever bought that I find every track equally important (regarding its place in the CD) and extremely well done. Normally I would skip songs around when listen to any CD for the first time, not this one. It got me at "Freedom Of The Wa." Just perfect.

Before reviewing this product, let me first note that I have not seen the film for which this music was written. My previous experience with Klaus Badelt has been mostly with synthetic, Media Venture-style scores like "Pirates of the Caribbean," "Constantine," and "Poseidon." None of these projects would have prepared me for the powerful listening experience of "The Promise." This score is unlike anything he has produced for these other films.

For one thing, the music here is purely orchestral in nature, not heavily laced with synthesizers like much of Badelt's other music. The music is performed by the China National Symphony Orchestra, and it delivers in spades.

Badelt's music is melodic, epic, and, performed by a group of this calibre, appropriately massive. Heroic brass, fluttering woodwinds, and a plethora of character themes are present in this score that, while made for an Asian film, and featuring appropriate ethnic instrumentation, is much more Western in structure and listening experience than say, "Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon." This is perhaps the best work of Klaus Badelt's career, even eclipsing his impressive "Time Machine."

The quality of the work here promises great things for Klaus Badelt, and I look forward with interest to his future projects.

This is the most beautiful film, great storyline and amazing action scenes. Fans of house of flying daggers & anime will most likely love this movie.

"The Promise" is one of my top five favorite films from last year, and one of my all time favorite foreign films. What really made this film so enjoyable was the gorgeous orchestral film score provided by Klaus Badelt. I have to confess that I am not familiar with Klaus Badelt's work so I can't really compare this sumptuous film score with the rest of his work. Klaus did a great job of creating an epic film score it captured the essence of the film. His music matched perfectly with the scenes each song was assigned to. The melodies really resonated with me especially on the slower tracks. The percussion is a bit overwhelming at times but overall they did reflect what was going on in the film. I appreciated the fact that Klaus did not incorporate a pop vocal track of one of his songs like on the soundtracks for "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" and "House of Flying Daggers". After hearing "The Promise", I am definitely curious to hear Klaus's body of work.

After disappointing synthesized scores, Badelt returns to score another orchestral score in epic fashion. Yes, there is a lot of "media venture" percussion work, but that aside, the music is wonderfully romantic, tragic, and powerful. Some in the film score world regard this as Bedelt's best score since THE TIME MACHINE. I can agree with that but THE TIME MACHINE remains his best score.

"The Robe," "Love Theme," "Kunlun the Slave," "Snow Country," "Guilang the Assassin," and "Wuhuan's Plan" are some of the better tracks on the lengthy album.

This one deserves to be in your soundtrack library!