The Terminal (Score) [SOUNDTRACK]

John Williams (Composer)

Product Details

• Composer: John Williams
• Audio CD (June 15, 2004)
• SPARS Code: DDD
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Soundtrack
• Label: Decca
• ASIN: B00029RSSQ
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #105,013 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
Those who thought the three-decade collaboration between director Steven Spielberg and composer John Williams couldn't possibly yield any more musical surprises will find themselves warmly rebuffed here. Based on the true story of an exiled man-without-a-country who made Paris' Orly airport his home, director Steven Spielberg's storytelling liberties have transformed it into an unlikely comic romance between Tom Hanks' mythical Krakhozian refugee Viktor and Catherine Zeta-Jones' Amelia. Williams' captures the wistful tone with an airy, oft-impressionistic score that recalls a winning marriage of Michel Legrand's elegant piano-jazz conceits and Rachel Portman's delicate, introspective pastoralism. Too often underutilized in recent years, Williams' own rich jazz background frequently serves him well here, informing Amelia's love theme with emotional grace and serving as perfect counterpoint to the ethnic inventions carried by Emily Bernstein's soulful clarinet (Williams even gets to concoct a lovably pompous anthem for Viktor's fictional Krakhozia) and the bracing jolts of bright, post-modernist influenced orchestral music that holds it together. -- Jerry McCulley

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars yep, another Williams goldmine, June 17, 2004

By	Bryant Burnette "Bryant Burnette" (Tuscaloosa, AL) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Man, is this a good CD. I'll be more specific. Here are a few of the album's standouts:

Track 1: The Tale of Viktor Navorski -- A sprightly theme played primarily by a clarinetist. It's vaguely European, whimsical, and just hefty enough to immediately become one of Williams's best-ever main themes. Viktor's theme is very prominent across the entire CD, but it never gets old or tiresome.

Track 2: Dinner with Amelia -- This is a long track that begins with some lovely Sabrina-esque accordion music, and then goes into more traditionally symphonic areas before returning to the accordion themes again. This is certainly one of the most romantic pieces Williams has ever written, and is as good as Viktor's theme.

Track 7: Jazz Autographs -- As the title implies, this is a jazzy number, in the mode of cool (i.e., slow) jazz, with some excellent work by a pianist and a bass player.

Track 9: Krakhozia National Anthem and Homesickness -- Williams actually composed a national anthem for the invented European nation Viktor hails from, and it's totally believable, sounding at the same time like every other national anthem you've ever heard AND different enough to have its own identity. A masterful piece of composition.

Those are just the high points. The CD is around an hour long, and it's all very listenable. If the movie is as good, then we are in for a treat.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars He Only Gets Better, June 27, 2004

By A Customer

John Williams is in the prime of his compositional life. His scores are more richly melodic, more sophisticated and more resourceful than they've ever been. He's writing with such maturity and such a clean, seemingly effortless understanding of both the text and the sub-text of a scene. THE TERMINAL score is another fine example. Grandly romantic while intimate, evocative of the Mancini scores of the 60s, Williams' music for THE TERMINAL is sensitive, sophisticated, and warm. "Buckbeak's Flight" in the 'Azkaban' score is rightly restrained, somehow denying Harry the triumph he should otherwise be entitled to. And what a brilliant choice -- acknowledging Harry's tragic inner life at a moment that should be uncluttered and fun. Maybe it's easy for some to say that we've seen the best of John Williams. I think they're wrong. We're in a new golden age.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A New Williams Classic, June 15, 2004

By A Customer

In the liner notes of the album, Spielberg describes this score as the perfect "feel good" John Williams album and he is absolutely right. A terrific mixture of fun comedic music and romantic jazz. Fans of the clarinet will not be dissapointed with Victor's theme. It always amazes me how John Williams can write the most sophisticated themes and make them memorable. Somehow he has managed to combine two worlds together, the music of Victor's country with a classic American jazz twist. This album blows "Catch Me If You Can" out of the water and I'm really looking forward to seeing this movie now after hearing this score. John Williams fans, you are in for a treat...