As expected, the director requested that Rona write an appropriately epic title theme for the opening of the series, but then advised a more worldly and varied approach for the interior underscore. The unusual result was meant to differentiate Earthsea from the many fantasy series that came before, whether the setting necessitated a Celtic sound, Middle-Eastern flair, or traditional Medieval bombast. Rona's title theme is elegant and impressive, utilizing a simple melody with large-scale orchestral and vocal muscle. Rather than employing a full choir, Rona chose a small group of notable solo voices to perform in unison or layers. This vocal group yields the vaguely African sound that you heard from the Adiemus albums at the time, and despite being an intriguing and distinct tone in and of itself, that group of vocal performers is largely absent from the rest of the score. Aside from some sporadic references, the title theme is also missing in much of the effort, leaving Earthsea to become an instrumentally schizophrenic collection of seemingly unrelated atmospheric cues. Rona's work wanders about the landscape of world music, but not in a flamboyant or memorable fashion. In fact, for a series and score supposedly of an epic scope, the score is disappointingly restrained and introspective during much of its length. The collection of world instruments fashionable in the film music world is appealing but applied without cohesive resolve. A lack of passion in the performance is also a major detriment; a potentially momentous scene such as "A Lesson Learned" lacks grip in its string theme, perhaps due to compositional underachievement but more likely a lack of inspiration in the ensemble. There is practically no action material present (the brass makes a notable appearance in "Sailing"), and moments of horror or enchantment ("The Book of Spells") are tackled with frightfully loud, simplistic dissonance. The new age vocal approach that many composers have used for this genre (with even Howard Shore working with Enya for the big screen) is also largely absent here; only in the powerful "Sparrowhawk" and final "Light Over Earthsea" cue does it make a welcomed intrusion. Overall, Rona's Earthsea gets off to a great start but stews and stumbles throughout its underscore without clear direction or purpose. Given the vast array of fabulous resources at Rona's disposal, such an uninspired end result is truly unfortunate, and the only reason the score achieves a third star is because of its occasional textural appeal. On the upside, the recording with the Slovakia Radio Symphony allowed for an abnormally lengthy Varèse Sarabande album for that era, presenting 67 minutes of material for enthusiasts of the concept to appreciate.  ***   @Amazon.com: CD or Download