Dances With Wolves: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack [SOUNDTRACK]

John Barry

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 19, 1990)
• Original Release Date: November 21, 1990
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Soundtrack
• Label: Sony
• ASIN: B0000027G6
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (40 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #32,221 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

John Barry's Academy Award-winning score for actor/director Kevin Costner's nouveau western, Dances with Wolves, is nothing short of a modern classic by a film scoring master. Utilizing Wagnerian structure, Barry's three main themes recur in magisterial symphonic form. The memorable "John Dunbar" theme alone has become an almost subconscious part of modern life, utilized as Muzak and underscore for public events great and small. Barry's skills as an arranger color his themes in subtly shifting orchestral hues, giving even the most repeated melodic passages new emotional weight. Barry's rich music is living proof that the art of orchestral film scoring is still alive and surprisingly vital in the '90s. --Jerry McCulley

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Probably the Finest Soundtrack for a movie, ever., April 29, 2004

By	J. A Harring (Fla) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

First, be aware the SACD CD's may not play in older CD players, unless they are specifically labeled that they will play SACD media. (Has nothing to do with this review, but many are confused on this point.)

Very succinct review:
Each main character (including the calvary) in the movie has his own theme music. As the character's development on film continues, so does the embellishment in the score.

The masterful touch is the blending of each themes as the film characters compliment or conflict with the other. As you listen to the music over and over, these subtleties come across. The cd can be played many times over, each time one discovers nuances not discovered before. It's as though Mr. Barry has discovered new shades of color never seen before. These are insinuated in the orchestration of the score.

I also love the "Great American West" feel of the music, similar to Copeland and evocative of a Charles Russell painting.

It is a symphonic dream, and one of the relatively few pieces of music that justifies the cost of a good stereo system.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Most Beautiful Score Ever Written in the History of Film, December 11, 1998

By A Customer

The John Dunbar theme alone inspired me to become a filmmaker. I'm dead serious. John Barry will be remembered forever by this score "alone". When I first saw this film, I was in my early teens. I saw it on the biggest screen I'd ever seen. Let's just put it this way...Costner should kiss Barry's ass for this one! Without this music, his film wouldn't have been what it was. But it still would have been an excellent picture. This music can make you cry and be comforted. I don't just picture South Dakota landscape when I listen to this music, I picture the entire world. I even get a glimpse of Heaven...and so will you.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Yes, dear Reader, there IS more John Barry!, December 30, 2002

By	J. Banker "musicalroots" (Goldsboro, North Carolina United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

If I could be transported back to a time where much of the present-day American ladnscape west of the Mississippi was still young, wild, and irresistable, this is without a doubt what it would sound like. John Barry is a genius! If you liked this score, you will ADORE "Swept from the Sea."