Customer Reviews

Space And Beyond (Compilation)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

First off, the discography shown above is not correct. The album comes with two cd's with a total of 38 tracks, including soecial affects. (If any potential customer is interested, e-mail me and I will send a copy of it to you.)

There are several cds that I always carry sround with me, and these two are among them. On disc One,the more subdued of the two, Raine's rendition of the Apollo 13 Main Title is simply moving. The End Title to Lifeforce, which is very difficult to find, is stirring. On this same disc is included two pieces form "Close Encounters..", the conversation between the humans and the mother ship, and the beautiful End Title.

On disc Two the tone is more upbeat. Ten of the 19 tracks are from Star Trek films and televisions series. The Deep Space Nine concert version theme, the Star Trek motion picture theme, and the "Generatins" suite are very well done. Track 13, from Star Trek-The Next Gerneration, Tasha's Farwell is melancholy and beautiful. The cd high point is the track 15 (Star Trek V "Life is A Dream"), 16 (Voyager Main Theme), and 17 (The End Title to Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country) trio. Track 17 is exceptional.

Not only is the music on these two disc beutifully compose, well timed and toned, but theire arrangements on the two dics is also wonderful. I own many soundtrack compilations and this is one of the few that I actually feel that some serious thought and time went behind is creation.

I have always had a sucker for (good, or maybe even intelligent) science fiction/fantasy. Call it a weakness if you want. But it was actually really kick started off, for as far as I can remember, with Star Trek. But especially Star Trek II, III and IV - essentially a trilogy - because of their very romantic but human core, set on the broadest canvasses. But then there is the music for adding that essential extra dimension of emotion and atmosphere.
This kind of music (for the movies) should be seen as an art that stands on its own and has its own merits and qualities. As such, the music on these CD's are a beautifully played cross section of some of the most evoking orchestral music for science fiction/fantasy film ever created. And I very much like the nicely blended, wide and deep orchestral soundpicture with enough reverberation to evoke a sense of wide open spaces.
I am quite thrilled by tracks like the Theme from 'The Right Stuff' (actually science f a c t, not fiction, this film), the original End Title for 'Alien' (not used in the theatrical version of the movie) the End Title from 'Star Trek: The Motion Picture' and especially the powerfully performed End Titles Suite from 'Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country'. I especially like the rendition here of the music for 'Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan' and the Theme (actually the End Titles) from 'Cocoon': highly evocative! For the rest I was very pleased with the inclusion here of some of the music from the series Star Trek: The Next Generation, namely where one of the characters, Tasha Yar, in one of the episodes ('Skin of Evil') is saying goodbye to her crewmmates: sweetly sentimental and simple.
All in all a very good album with some of the most memorable moments from sci-fi/fantasy film captured in music.

Back in 1997 when this was released, it was voted the second best CD release of the year (only behind the Expanded Star Wars Trilogy Double CD releases) All three volumes of Space and Beyond are some of my favorite CD releases. Period. While the City of Prague Philharmonic's performancesare not always as good as the original soundtrack recordings, they are more than adequate and in some cases superior to the OST.

Obviously this CD has your regular sci fi compilation staples (Star Wars, Star Trek, 2001), but it also has some great lesser-known scores such as Goldsmith's Capricorn One (my favorite performance of the main title) and John Barry's The Black Hole which has never been released on CD. Jerry Goldsmith's represented by the end title to Alien as well. Plus There's some Horner (Apollo 13,Cocoon) and Conti (The Right Stuff). Disc 2 open's with a couple of tracks from Alex North's rejected score for 2001, the main title to Star Wars and then the remainder of the CD is music from the first seven star trek films and the tv series. Star Trek II, IV, VI and Generations all have superior performances to the OST and this CD has the world premiere recording of the Concert version of the Deep Space Nine theme. There's also a cue from The Next Generation by Ron Jones from when Tasha Yar said goodbye.

Pick this up and see why the members of FilmTracks voted this #2 CD of 1997.

Also check out Alien Invasion: Space and Beyond II and Space 3: beyond The Final Frontier

Silva Screen takes another step for "mankind", releasing this two compact disc compilation...with the help of Nic Raine and The City Of Prague Philharmonic all is well in the world of "film scoring" at the movies---one can only assume after listening to this one-of-a-kind outstanding tribute to sci-fi films, produced and released here(United States of America) and abroad...nothing comes close to the performances and selections brought forth by this institution of musicians and fellow members of the planet EARTH!

The first disc contains never before released material, or seldom recorded on CD...makes all "film-score-buffs" mouth water as you look at some of the titles that made the list ~ "SPECIES"(Christopher Young), gives a feeling of floating into space, completely mesmerized by his arrangement, one can only sit helplessly still and let each passage soak into memories that linger from the past---"LIFEFORCE"(Henry Mancini), you never know about "Our Man In Hollywood", his talent for composing not only ranges from "Peter Gunn" to "The Pink Panther"...but a pulse setting theme that doesn't get any better, Mancini pours it on, with "Vampire" sucking creatures from another planet, captures the tone and mood of the film, which is no surprise to any Mancini fan---"CAPRICORN ONE"(Jerry Goldsmith), often called "The King of Soundtracks"(along with John Williams), gives the listener a wild ride as usual, probably the best thing on disc one.

The second disc, centers around "STAR TREK"(TV and Film Music), composers traveling into a universe where no man has gone before, they are Alexander Courage...Cliff Edelman...Jerry Goldsmith...James Horner...Ron Jones...Leonard Rosenman...Dennis McCarthy...each track has outstanding orchestration, all Silva Screen compilations have reached high excellence on quality of recording, and the ultimate in Dolby Surround Sound---and this one is no exception, gotta love it!

Total Time: Disc One 74:41 on 19 Tracks & Disc Two 64:14 on 19 Tracks ~ Silva Screen SSD-1065 ~ (1997)

The content is very interesting, if largely rearranged.

As for the performances, I will give but one example. The first track of disc 2 is one of the only performances (besides the entire score) of the North 2001 title (it is not The Dawn of Man track as the booklet states, it is the title). At the climax, where 'A Stanley Kubrick Production' were to appear on the screen, the Prague first horn plays a melodic note a semitone higher than the original (changing the tonality teomporarily!). Astonishingly bad.

I found this to be a disappointment. It didn't sound as it did on the originals. Go buy original soundtracks instead of this one.
The only reason that I give 2 stars instead of 1 is that they perform it really well but they don't stick to the mood and pace of the originals.