Filmtracks: Across the Sea of Time (John Barry)

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Written 7/7/25

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Buy it... for a wonderful career coda to the unashamedly melodic side of John Barry's writing for broad vistas, this final venture into that sound of grand scope a conclusive encore.

Avoid it... if the repetitious structures and very slow tempos of the composer's 1980's romances left you bored out of your wits.

Barry

Across the Sea of Time: (John Barry) Among the more creative IMAX films of its decade is 1995's Across the Sea of Time, which tells of the history of New York City through a series of scanned stereoscopic photographs taken at the turn of the 20th Century. The nature of the technology behind these dual-photos allowed filmmakers to make a 3D film out of them, showing scenes from the city's past alongside their 1990's incarnations. To help their flow, the film tells of the simultaneous story of the immigrant Russian boy who took these photos and whose real-life collection was used for these depictions. The live-action story isn't really the point of Across the Sea of Time, and it was met with some negative responses from critics. The IMAX format display of the 3D photos and modern vistas of skyscrapers are the real star of the 52-minute show. Despite being an Englishman, composer John Barry had established himself as a master of full orchestral grandeur for cinematic vistas, whether they be in the African safari or America's West. He had a romantic relationship with the States generally, his young son at the time of the 1990's an American himself and the composer enamored with the country's history and scenery to much the same degree as John Williams. His hiring for Across the Sea of Time was a perfect fit, as the Barry's rather inert style had largely run its course for original dramas by the mid-1990's. His sweeping music for Raise the Titanic's closing New York scene also supported his credentials, and his broad symphonic strokes were seemingly made for IMAX documentary viewing. This project represented the last truly sweeping and romantic Barry drama of significant scope, written like a concert for America generally and partly inspired by a concept album called "Americans" that Barry had recorded in 1975. He scored over 80% of the IMAX picture, but some of that material was sadly replaced by inoffensive contemporary pop and other source music for transitory moments in the story.

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Barry's music for Across the Sea of Time is an evenly smooth accompaniment to the story, the brief suspense in "Scary Night in the Park" being the only cue not to sound like a concert piece. (That statement assumes that the jazz in "Times Square and Broadway" is considered an outright source usage.) Otherwise, listeners are treated to slow Barry orchestral sways of the most predictable fashion from his 1980's inspiration, layers of strings carrying the melodic lines with occasional flute solos and noble horn counterpoint and minimal percussive involvement. Enthusiasts of the composer's use of piano will find a few attractive moments of accompaniment by that instrument, but it doesn't really take the lead. Shifting bass harmonies under whole notes in the treble remain a common technique as well. Several themes weave through the score for Across the Sea of Time, though only two of them could be considered primary. The melodic phrases repeat per usual, a mild annoyance by this point but an inherent reality in Barry's writing. The main theme is a whimsical idea highlighted by lofty flute solos and a yearning interlude sequence on strings. It has all the components of a love theme from a Barry score in the James Bond franchise, albeit at a very slow tempo. Heard immediately in "The Wonder of America" on flute and then strings, this theme is reprised on the flute at the start of "Ellis Island" and becomes more romantic on strings late. It returns again to its initial form in "A New Day Will Come," elegantly swaying with a wet piano mix in the conclusive "Welcome to America, Welcome to New York." The other primary melody in Across the Sea of Time is Barry's freedom theme, a more immense presence in an Out of Africa style and featuring the work's best counterpoint lines. This idea enjoys a sizable rendition for the whole ensemble over timpani in "Never Have I Felt So Free," where it debuts its secondary phrasing of similar immensity. Barry continues to explore similar lines in "The Lower East Side" and dissolves it to ominous tones with anticipation in "The Subway."

The freedom theme soars in the highlight cue, "Flight Over New York," with definite Out of Africa personality and helps inform the remarkably different lounge jazz diversion in "Times Square and Broadway," in which the saxophone performances and blues are far warmer than Barry's usual 1980's and 1990's use of those sounds in his sultry thrillers. This theme is restrained a bit on strings in "Searching" and flows fully one more time in "Across the Sea of Time," again exploring its secondary lines. Among the lesser themes in the work, an immigrant theme is darker and more serious, with ascending lines tentative at their outset. Its relatively gloomy nature contributes on strings at 0:23 into "Into New York" but does build hope throughout the cue. It likewise offers more suspense in "Up to the Sky" but emerges positively at the end of its scene. A leisure theme borrows the main theme's chord progressions to form the basis of the light carnival waltz in "Coney Island," and this mode continues intact in the equally pleasant "Central Park." Finally, an advancement theme is a more rhythmically oriented identity with simple melodic phrasing over shifting harmonies. Churning inspirationally in "The Automobile, the Telephone, the Skyscraper" with rambling piano, this theme explodes into the score's one (still rather restrained) action cue in the snare and xylophone of "The Subway Ride," and the horn lines over the rhythm in this cue are impressive. Each of these themes is extremely comfortable in Barry's recognizable methodology of the era, and listeners may very well treat this album as an extension of his "Moviola" and other compilation recordings. One of the work's main attractions is its sound quality; being the last of the composer's own scores of this grand romantic scope, Across the Sea of Time provides this trademark sound from his own baton about as crisply as one will find. It's a very relaxing experience overall, but one that will live or die depending upon your appreciation of the composer's late-career style in general. Regardless, it's a wonderful coda to the unashamedly melodic side of Barry's writing for broad vistas. **** @Amazon.com: CD or Download

Bias Check:

For John Barry reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3.86 (in 28 reviews) and the average viewer rating is 3.54 (in 28,739 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.

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