Buy it... if you can forgive a surprisingly unsatisfying arrangement and flawed performances of Danny Elfman's two scores for this franchise.

Avoid it... if you already own the superior Batman Forever performances from this ensemble on the "Hollywood '95" compilation from the same label and have no interest in hearing a butchering of Elfman's material.

Elfman
Goldenthal
McNeely

The Batman Trilogy: (Compilation) With the franchise at its financial peak in the middle of the 1990's, it wasn't foreseen that the fourth film would dig the grave of the Tim Burton and Joel Schumacher phase of the series so thoroughly. Danny Elfman had burst onto all-time sales charts for soundtrack albums with his magnificently constructed music for the original Batman and had provided an even darker second chapter for Batman Returns that remains a favorite for many of his devoted fans. Amid disgust and protests, Elfman walked away from Batman Forever and Elliot Goldenthal's work for Demolition Man netted him the responsibility of taking the franchise's music forward. Goldenthal's minimal adaptation of Elfman's theme (consisting of a commonly rising two-note major key phrase at the end of both composers' themes), as well as his less gothic, stylistically schizophrenic approach to the series suffered from the same dismissal from mainstream listeners, especially with Burton and Elfman enthusiasts continuing their assault against Goldenthal's contribution for several years. Goldenthal's music never flew off the shelves in album form the way Elfman's music had, and by the time Batman & Robin hit the theatres, no bother was even made to release Goldenthal's score. For the original franchise, 1997 marked the death of the viability of Gotham City on the big screen (it would be eight years before Christopher Nolan could resurrect the concept and reboot it), and it was in the waning days of this sad realization that Varèse Sarabande collaborated with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra and Chorus to perform music from the first three films of the series. The RSNO had performed several classic scores under the direction of composer Joel McNeely by the time of this album's release, and the group would go on to perform similar projects for a few more years. The quality of their performances of film music is often excellent, especially in capturing the spirit of Bernard Herrmann scores.

They had already performed a suite of music from Batman Forever that was personally arranged by Goldenthal, appearing on the "Hollywood '95" album released by the same label. To fill an album with music from the opening years of the Batman franchise, Varèse Sarabande commissioned the RSNO in a effort to record pieces from Elfman's two scores and the original television theme. Despite the concurrent release of Batman & Robin, Varèse worked backwards rather than forwards and the fourth and final score is unfortunately missing from this album (a shame, considering its superiority over its predecessor and lack of availability). While, as mentioned before, the performances by the RSNO are often stellar, they do sometimes have their misses. Many film music collectors agree that the "Hollywood '95" album was the best of the label's series of yearly summary compilations, partly due to the masterful choice of material to be represented from Batman Forever and partly because Joel McNeely and the RSNO nailed the essence of Goldenthal's music (even providing an extra element of listenability to it by dropping or de-emphasizing the wavering brass effects). The same exact recording of Batman Forever appears on this album, and it is once again the highlight. Re-recordings of Batman are pretty common, though Batman Returns remains largely uninterpreted by other ensembles. Elfman fans will likely be disappointed, however, by the imprecise and clumsy performances of Elfman's two scores here. The arrangement of Batman is severely altered from the original score, and the curious part of this awkward presentation is that it doesn't always assist the listening experience as a concert suite. If you take Elfman's original "Music for a Darkened Theatre" album as an example of how he would arrange a suite from the film himself, then you begin to realize how strange the one for the RSNO is. The concert version of Batman's finale is arguably less powerful than the film version, losing the power of its concluding crescendo in its elongated form.

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Some of the original score's best moments are simply omitted from the nine tracks presented here, which is awkward. The performances themselves range from adequate to nearly unlistenable, with several key brass notes missed and other motifs simply omitted. The mixing of the orchestra overemphasizes the brass and percussion and ignores some of Elfman's finer touches with the strings and particularly the woodwinds (flute accents on the top are completely swallowed up by the rest of the ensemble). The same difficulty exists with the Batman Returns selections (which at least do cover the best portions of the score), with the proper instrumentation simply missing from the equation altogether (such as the mandatory organ). Thus, the performance is stripped down and lacking in the emotional weight that Elfman used to solidify his original recordings. The mix of the xylophone is painfully loud (so much so that the instrument is almost unrecognizable in its ear-shattering tone during the "End Credits") and the choir's singing is not fluid enough to suffice. The tempo on the Elfman scores is often far too slow, conveying to two title sequences at a lethargic pace. There are a few individual highlights, including the arrangement of "Selina Transforms" and the wicked percussion in several of the performances, including the "End Credits" piece from Batman Returns. On the whole, from the point of view of a casual listener of Batman music, the RSNO simply blew it with Elfman's material. It's a rare total loss for the ensemble. The quality of the performances increases suddenly with Batman Forever, and the album offers a token, spirited performance of the original 1960's television theme (which is rearranged considerably as well). Overall, serious enthusiasts of Batman music should hesitate before purchasing this album. It's obviously incomplete in retrospect, missing some of the more popular and rare music from the franchise. Other ensembles have better performed the original Batman theme, and what exists here from Batman Returns doesn't warrant a purchase, especially if you already have the Batman Forever material from the excellent "Hollywood '95" compilation. **   Amazon.com Price Hunt: CD or Download

Bias Check:

For Danny Elfman reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3.18 (in 61 reviews) and the average viewer rating is 3.17 (in 115,404 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars. For Elliot Goldenthal reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3.13 (in 16 reviews) and the average viewer rating is 3.07 (in 15,203 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.