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| • | Newest Major Reviews: | . | • | This Week's Most Popular Reviews: | • | Best-Selling Albums: | ||
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1. Nim's Island 2. The Life Before Her Eyes 3. Horton Hears a Who! 4. Leatherheads 5. The Spiderwick Chronicles | . | . |
1. Moulin Rouge 2. Gladiator 3. POTC: Curse of the Black Pearl 4. Star Wars: A New Hope 5. Edward Scissorhands |
6. Pearl Harbor 7. Schindler's List 8. Titanic 9. Braveheart 10. Home Alone | . | . |
1. Varèse Sarabande 25th 2. The Last of the Mohicans 3. Legends of the Fall 4. Schindler's List 5. LOTR: Return of the King (Set) |
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Filmtracks Editorial Review:
Ranked among many soundtrack collectors as part of the top five "most wanted on CD" list, Raise the Titanic represents one of the first widely known epic scores in Barry's career since coming to America. Many people criticize Barry for repeating the same romantic, string-dominated style in too many of his scores over the past twenty years, but what they often don't realize is that Raise the Titanic was one of the first of these types of scores. When the film came out in the theatre, the score was a remarkably fresh and unique new experience. Out of the novelty of that style of music arose the a love of the score by many fans who would stick with them through Out of Africa, Dances With Wolves, and all the other epic scores that Barry would continue to compose. The original master tapes on which the recording sessions from 1980 reside have seemingly been lost forever (thus, the lack of an original release in the past). Realizing this, Nic Raine, who has worked with John Barry over the years and conducts the City of Prague Philharmonic, was allowed the opportunity to re-record the entire Raise the Titanic score. In reconstructing, orchestrating, and conducting the 50-minute score, Raine does a spectacular job capturing the awe-inspiring power and spirit of Barry's original recording. The score itself is the best music ever written for a film involving the Titanic (including Horner's most recent entry). Without the score, the film might have wilted away and lost the epic perspective necessary for a tale of espionage and massive scientific accomplishments. Many people forget that Raise the Titanic is, first and foremost, a spy film. The only reason they're raising the ship is to find the key element to a nation-wide missile defense system (which, naturally, the Russians wanted at the height of the Cold War as well...). So balancing the epic, sweeping string themes are numerous subthemes involving militaristic percussion and brass. The "Dog Attack" sequence in the third track has some overlapping brass a la The Lion in Winter. "To Cornwall" includes a very brief (but also sought after) secondary theme as well. The dramatic music doesn't really kick in until the seventh track, when the very slow and melodramatic search theme occupies sole possession of the score; the falling strings offer a great "sinking feeling" while the mini-submersibles are crawling along the depths of the ocean. The main Titanic theme is the one that most tickles the fancy, though. A glorious performance of the theme opens the film as we see pictures of the ship as it first prepares to sail. Then , appropriately, we don't hear the theme again until the Titanic is discovered at the bottom of the sea (and even then, it's a muddled, stifled performance). But in the last 20 minutes of the film (or the last 4 tracks on the album), the title theme is magnificent. Bursting onto the screen with barely any sound effects and no dialogue, the Titanic theme is simply incredible in the actual "Raise the Titanic" scene. The theme re-surfaces as the ship heroically sails into New York Harbor; in the film, the sounds of all the ships' horns blowing perfectly harmonize with Barry's music, making it the highlight of the entire score, if not (arguably) the single highlight of Barry's entire career. Sans the horns, the cue will still send shivers up your spine. The end credits provide one last performance of this theme. Mixed in between these final title tracks is the "Memories of the Titanic" track, which features some great sax performances as the film shifts to the solitary and melancholy setting of the ship's main ballroom (which is, naturally, a spooky place to be). Considered in whole, the film contains a wealth of great thematic material. This complete score release by Silva Screen is sent directly from Heaven, and the accomplishments achieved here by Nic Raine and the City of Prague Philharmonic are superb. The recording is very true to the original, yet features, of course, the stunning surround sound we have come to expect from Silva recordings. This score, more than many others, deserves such great sound quality treatment, and it makes me completely forget that the original recordings are probably lost forever. The packaging includes a very thorough track-by-track analysis. As producer James Fitzpatrick mentions in the insert notes, the recording sessions went smoothly; and this definitely can be heard in the relaxed and confident performances by the City of Prague Philharmonic. I recommend this album to all film music enthusiasts. It is the best album from Silva in the past year, and certainly belongs on everyone's shelf. *****
The track listings on the back mistakenly indicate a 16th track; in fact, tracks 15 ans 16 should be 14 and 15 (the packaging mentions no track 14). | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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