Filmtracks Recommends:
Buy it... only if you own very few of Silva Screen's other film music compilations, for this product contains a disappointingly high number of repeat offerings. Avoid it... if you have come to expect superior performances by The City of Prague Philharmonic and aren't interested in hearing them mangle several of James Horner's most beloved themes. Filmtracks Editorial Review:
Titanic: The Essential James Horner Collection: (Compilation) Much has been said through the years about the consistently superior quality of the film music compilations produced by Silva Screen Records, The City of Prague Philharmonic, and The Crouch End Festival Chorus in the late 1990's and beyond. These products are so much better than most of the competitions that you have to approach nearly all of their products with at least some curiosity. Within their ranks, however, there are a lot of winners and a small handful of losers. This opening entry in Silva's "Essential" series, devoted to the works of James Horner, is unfortunately one of their poorest offerings. Several reasons exist for why their "Titanic" compilation of Horner's works from 1980 to 1998 is weak, but one of them, contrary to speculation at the time, is not related to the fact that Silva promptly jumped on the Titanic bandwagon just as all the labels were seemingly attempting to do in 1998. Expecting them not to take advantage of that market was like expecting teens to behave themselves well at a drunken toga orgy. Instead, the doom of this compilation was caused by a combination of poor selections and poor performances, both uncharacteristic for Silva and The City of Prague Philharmonic, respectively. Additionally, this album really suffered from the fact that Silva had a tendency (and still does) to repress previous performances onto fresh compilations, and this 2-CD set features music that was already available on other popular Silva albums at the time. Only about 40% of the material on these CDs debuts here, a frustrating prospect for people with many Silva compilations already on their shelves. As usual, a few token new performances appear here for the first time, but those selections on this product aren't as strong. The City of Prague Philharmonic has excelled at performing the works of Jerry Goldsmith, John Williams, and John Barry through the years, but it has not enjoyed the same success with Horner, and this compilation suffers as a result. The selling points of the album are the two tracks from Titanic, with Mark Ayres adequately capturing the spirit of the original in "Take her to Sea, Mr. Murdoch" in a good balance between the synthesizers and orchestra. The final track on the second CD is an instrumental version of "My Heart will Go On," an innocuous set of solo performances over the ensemble that leads to an unfortunate light rock rhythm near the end. The two cues from Glory are a curiosity; because Silva could not obtain finished sheet music for these selections (apparently none could be found by the publishers), Horner's original orchestral and choral drafts were employed. Thus, the performances feature considerably different pacing and orchestration than the original recordings. The famous "End Title" cue is unlistenable in its excruciatingly slower tempo, a massive disappointment. Following these awkward cues is Prague's previous and superior performance of Star Trek II: Wrath of Khan, probably the best entry on the set. Both the performances of the lush themes from Legends of the Fall and Deep Impact lack the weighty romanticism in their string performances. The playful end credit suite from The Land Before Time is a welcome addition to Silva's library and another highlight of this album. Prague does well with its performance of We're Back: A Dinosaur Story, though the choice of that score over a handful of others is suspect. After the mundane "End Credits" to Ransom, the completely out of place Red Heat jars the listening experience with one of Ayres' less accurate representations. The Rocketeer has both been performed and recorded in far superior quality by the Orchestra of the Americas (which can be found with an equally good Legends of the Fall on the "Heart of the Ocean" compilation by Sonic Images). The City of Prague Philharmonic, in a rare show of complete incohesion, absolutely crucifies the 7:30 minute suite from The Rocketeer, with a muddled and disjointed orchestral climax during the finale. The respectfully decent performance of Braveheart was already available on three other Silva products (and appeared with The Man Without a Face and Ransom on their Mel Gibson compilation). The selection from Apollo 13 is not among the score's strongest cues. Prague's performance of Cocoon has always been enjoyable, though lazy woodwinds hinder its middle portion. The performance of Battle Beyond the Stars, heard on one of the "Space and Beyond" releases, isn't completely accurately, especially in the harsh brass tones, but the theme is a guilty pleasure. The performance of Willow is disappointing, with some blatant brass and woodwind errors. Ayres' work on Field of Dreams, Patriot Games, and The Name of the Rose is good, though the latter two selections don't merit an appearance here. His interpretation of Commando is less effective, especially without the appropriate flute, and is major irritant. Overall, this album is not as entertaining as the aforementioned, concurrent "Heart of the Ocean" compilation of Horner works. John Beal's superior synthesizer work on that Sonic Images album (especially on Vibes) seems to beat Ayres's performances here. On the other hand, Silva's album is still a 2-CD set for roughly the price of a single CD, and the quantity is hard to ignore. It's just so rare to hear Prague make blatant performance errors that this album is surprisingly disappointing. ** Track Listings:
Total Time: 115:27
* Confirmed as "previously released" by Silva Screen as of release date All artwork and sound clips from Titanic: The Essential James Horner Collection are Copyright © 1998, Silva Screen Records. The reviews and notes contained on the filmtracks.com site may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of Filmtracks Publications. Audio clips can be heard using RealPlayer but cannot be redistributed without the label's expressed written consent. Page created 8/3/98, updated 8/9/07. Review Version 4.1 - PHP (Filmtracks Publications). Copyright © 1998-2013, Christian Clemmensen. All rights reserved. |
