Buy it... on the Romanian bootleg release containing both scores if you appreciate James Horner's more somber, humbling dramatic works for solo instruments over very basic orchestral accompaniment.

Avoid it... if only the quality of the finale from In Country is worth the trouble of finding that rare collection of early Horner music, because while Testament is an interesting score, it is a frightfully depressing listening experience on its own.

Horner

Testament/In Country: (James Horner) Two of James Horner's lesser known scores for 1980's films about American bravery are Testament and In Country. While the films offer a somber glimpse at heroism in two completely disparate forms, both largely unheralded scores will provide some pleasant surprises for a learned Horner collector. The 1983 apocalypse film Testament was originally produced as a television project for PBS's "American Playhouse," but the quality of the film was considered so high that Paramount decided to purchase the rights for a full theatrical release. Its production qualities are still those of a made-for-TV film, with minimal, improvised special effects, strong acting performances (rewarded with an Oscar nomination for lead actress Jane Alexander), and a reliance on a strong adaptation of Carol Amen's short story, "The Last Testament." The plot resembles many that prevailed in Ronald Reagan's nuclear-ambitious period of the early-80's, with the concurrently seen telefilm "The Last Day" better remembered for its more famous cast and melodramatic treatment of everyday America after a nuclear war. The stark reality of Lynne Littman's Testament is a disturbing experience to say the least, with the primary suburban family in its story slowly dying off as radiation spreads and the skies grow dark. The coping of average people in such an aftermath of global annihilation is no light topic, and some audiences likely found Testament too overly disturbing to tolerate. It is understandable that Horner's score for the film is equally depressing, carefully augmenting a handful of scenes while much of the story was left unscored. Although the composer had already hit the mainstream with his immense science fiction music by this time, his work here is built for an ensemble of only ten players and usually consisting of duets or solo trumpet or woodwind performances, resulting in an extremely respectful stance while mourning a lifestyle lost.

The standout tracks in Testament include the cue for the bike ride shared by father and son before the war, with Horner providing one of his more enjoyable family theme variations for horn, synthesizer, harp, piano, and strings (an interesting precursor to his children's work a decade later). A title theme for horn exists separately, a variation on this consistently utilized idea recollected by haunting choir in the late moments of the score. Less engaging is a theme for another specific boy in the family, eerily dying in its progressions as appropriate. On the whole, striking solo performances define Testament; the respect that Horner shows with the melodic simplicity of his work is shown in the fact that he mirrors the hopeless optimism of the primary character (the family mother) with slowly deteriorating statements of the title theme in a persistently major key form. It's interesting to notice how many mannerisms in this early Horner score would manifest themselves in much greater depth later in his career. The sound quality for the score is outstanding given its age, and it is reproduced well in the film despite existing in a monaural soundscape. It has existed on several bootlegs, the most well known of which a 1996 product from Romania that also features In Country (and thus this dual-score review), though in 2011, Film Score Monthly released the score in slightly longer form to account for source recordings. Also featured on that aforementioned 1996 Romanian bootleg is Horner's score for In Country, an equally emotional tale (but far less depressing) about a family's discovery of inner-strength. The 1989 adaptation of Bobbie Ann Mason's novel by respected director Norman Jewison to the big screen follows the growing-up experiences of a 17-year-old girl and her investigation into the person who was her father, a man who married her mother at the age of 19 and was promptly killed in Vietnam four weeks later. With a mother who admits that she barely even remembers her father, the girl relies on rehabilitating her detached couch-potato uncle (played by Bruce Willis) who is also a veteran of the same war.

	Learn about supporting Filmtracks

The gravity of In Country is created through the faithful telling of a series of little stories involving the girl and the way that the overarching narrative builds up to its monumentally gripping climax as the family visits the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. While the subject matters are different, Horner adapts some of the same solemn attitude from Testament (and his concurrent work for Glory) into In Country. The majority of underscore is constructed with the piano solos that inhabit scores like Field of Dreams and Class Action, with notable solo brass performances also playing on a careful level of sensitivity. But like the film, the emotional punch is saved for the final scene, and Horner reacts in just the appropriate way. His title theme for the film is barely audible after its full string performance in the opening titles, but he unleashes it in grand style in the finale with a blast of the shakuhachi flute (a la The Mask of Zorro) and follows a noble brass tribute to the fallen with a lush, striking performance of the title theme, first with strings as powerful as they were in The Land Before Time and then in a heartbreaking duet with the shakuhachi. Despite the average components of the score's main underscore, the quality of this final cue raises the value of the In Country score to one of solid recommendation. While both In Country and Testament exist in satisfactory treatment (and with clear sound quality in both cases) on that 1996 Romanian "Vivo" label release (essentially an officially pressed bootleg, complete with barcode), the same content from In Country is also available on a 1999 Natty Gann Records bootleg with a 9-minute suite from Testament and Horner's Honey, I Shrunk The Kids. With both the two humbling scores sharing a common introspective style, the Romanian bootleg is a strong recommendation for collectors of Horner's dramatic works. Aside from that, completists will find FSM's product for Testament to be an intriguing glimpse at the composer's mannerisms in early developmental stages, despite the topic's overwhelmingly depressing demeanor.   Amazon.com Price Hunt: CD or Download

Testament: ***
In Country: ****
1996 Vivo Music Bootleg (Both): ****
2011 FSM Album (Testament): ***

Bias Check:

For James Horner reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3.09 (in 95 reviews) and the average viewer rating is 3.27 (in 176,446 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.