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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 Recommends:
Buy it... if you seek a taste of many of Varèse Sarabande's major 1999 albums without being forced to purchase each original score in its entirety. Avoid it... if you prefer Varèse's mid-90's compilations that were comprised of re-recordings almost in their entirety. Filmtracks Editorial Review:
On the other hand, a few curious choices were made; the selections from The Matrix and The Sixth Sense are not the grand finale cuts from either score (which harms the latter score far more than Don Davis' still entertaining opening to The Matrix). With The 13th Warrior, it's difficult to narrow such a vast wealth of strong music to just a couple of minutes. Two of the more unfortunate scores of the year, Wild Wild West and Payback, tear holes in the consistently high quality of music on the album. The performances recorded by the RSNO for The Phantom Menace, The Mummy, Saving Private Ryan, and Shakespeare in Love are, on the whole, quite entertaining. The crisp, accurate quality of the 16+ minutes from Star Wars: The Phantom Menace may surprise; the main title performance is among the best to be recorded, and Frederic Talgorn should be congratulated for leading the orchestra to such ambitious performances for the louder cues. The concert arrangements of "The Flag Parade" and "Adventures of Jar Jar" seem overextended, but all ills are forgotten after the strong performance of "Duel of the Fates." For this recording, the RSNO teamed up with a chorus that is almost twice the size of that which performed with Williams for the original recording, and the sheer size of the music will dazzle. The same can be said for the track from The Mummy, which features the cue "The Sand Volcano." Touching on both of Goldsmith's primary themes for the film, this cue sparkles in the choral performance towards the latter half to such an extent that it may exceed the quality of the original for some listeners. The "Hymn to the Fallen" from Saving Private Ryan is likewise impressive, with worthy contributions continuing from the chorus. The only mishap with Talgorn and the RSNO is the very long suite from Shakespeare in Love. Lacking the energy of the original main and end title performances, the suite drags on for much too long. Overall, this compilation gives you an adequate taste of many of Varèse's major 1999 albums without forcing you to purchase those products. Unfortunately, though, the label would not make albums such as this a habit in the following years. ****
* performed by the RSNO and conducted by Frederic Talgorn
The insert includes short notes about each track, but little about the recording process for the album or Frederic Talgorn's involvement with the project. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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