The film's opening scenes offer the immigrant theme in full glory on soaring strings with resounding brass counterpoint, and it is likely this one cue that provided Rota with an Oscar win for this assignment. The theme and its compelling interlude sequence are almost always referenced in the flashback sequences, from "Vito and Abbandando" to supporting roles in "A New Carpet" and "Remember Vito Andolini." The tapering of this melody to its most melancholy form in "Michael and His Mother" and "The Brothers Mourn" to convey the death of Vito's widow and the impending killing of Fredo bring this theme about into a full circle, albeit a devastating one. The use of Michael's theme as persistently interrupting counterpoint to the immigrant theme in the latter cue produces one of the most effectively disturbing moments of music in the franchise, Michael's sister unsuccessful in persuading him to spare Fredo despite the concept of family struggling to persist in both concept and the immigrant theme. Rota revisits the idea in full symphonic glory with impressive brass counterpoint and forceful piano in the bass in "End Title." Also heard briefly in that summary "End Title" cue is the cute tarantella (modeled after Southern Italian folk dance traditions) for the more comical side to Vito's youth, burped with considerable humor from bassoon and tuba, among others, in "A New Carpet" and "We're in Business," skirting similar tones for a moer modern era in "Fredo Brings the Bread." The reminders of the immigrant theme in this piece are remarkably effective on screen despite the disparate tones. Some listeners do not consider this folksy interlude to be a theme in and of itself, which may be fair. Definitely an identity to be shattered in The Godfather Part II is that of Michael's wife, Kay, the unfortunately bystander and victim of the family business who is increasingly threatened and isolated in this story despite her eventual awarding of custody over the children. The establishment and death of her theme in The Godfather Part II, only to be revisited in ghostly form in the third score as necessary, is so blatantly tragic that it is even more depressing than Michael's theme, which is quite a feat.

Kay's theme opens with a descending figure based on "The Pickup" from the first score that probably represents that "sinking feeling" she experiences at the end of the first film and eventually fully realizes when the door is literally shut on her a second time in The Godfather Part II. The lovely piano and whimsical light jazz version of the theme in "Kay" (reprised in "End Title") is suspicious in "The Godfathers at Home" and comes to an agonizing halt on faltering woodwinds in "Michael Comes Home." Brief reminders interject on lighter but defeated instrumental tones in "The Corleone Estate" and lost against Michael's theme "New England," the latter closing the film in a nightmarish stupor despite its relatively dainty demeanor. Among the greatest successes that Rota achieved in this franchise was the integration of the themes in The Godfather Part II. They are so expertly placed that you tend to forget that they don't experience significant evolution over the three pictures. The form of a theme in its first incarnation is likely similar to that of its last, and the instrumentation, despite the loss of the chorus as the story progresses, aids in maintaining that consistency. The only exception to that rule is the increasing urgency and outright horror that ultimately haunts Michael's theme, his material exerting an inevitable presence of gloom and dread upon all the other themes as the character loses everything in a desperate bid to consolidate the family's power. Still, Rota is so adept at offering the right themes at the right moments with just enough unique inflection to address each scene that his music for the franchise still functions perfectly, especially in this score. The reminder of the descending phrase for Kay at the end of "Remember Vito Andolini" is one solid example, as is the interesting mingling of the title waltz with Kay's theme in "After the Party." Much of that technique would be lost when Carmine Coppola took the reigns for The Godfather Part III (Rota had already been dead for a decade by 1990) and simply regurgitated some of Rota's themes as necessary. That said, The Godfather Part II isn't an entirely perfect soundtrack, and while it easily remains the strongest of the three in the franchise, a few nagging flaws do exist in its ranks.

The theme for Kay, while expertly applied, doesn't really sound like a good representation of Diane Keaton's character. Rota attempts to address her with the sound of American jazz from an era thirty years prior to the setting of this film, and while the attempt to distinguish her sound from the otherwise Italian tone of the scores is understandable, the rambling piano, longing saxophone, and muted trumpet appeal is simply out of place in the late 1950's. Some of that circumstance is mitigated by the solo violin and xylophone performance of her theme in "The Godfathers at Home." Also disrupting the listening experience once again to some degree is Coppola's material; Rota was capable of writing this music himself and might have better worked his original themes into it. Also long problematic was the album presentation of The Godfather Part II. Several superior re-recordings of the immigrant theme in digital sound were good companions to the original performance, which itself is restricted in quality by technology of the era. While perhaps not as troubling as the album for the first film (this one did make the top 200 Billboard charts for a short time in 1975), the 1991 CD was likewise not complete. The sprinkling of several Coppola compositions didn't really help or hurt the experience. A 2024 2-CD expansion from La-La Land Records is absolutely necessary for any significant enthusiast of these scores, filling in the full breadth of Michael's theme in its horror mode and illuminating a few notable performances of other ideas as well. Several longer, film versions of cues are intriguing. Rota's material is also largely separated from Coppola's, his own source music collected alongside the main score presentation and before a handful alternate takes that include a bizarrely fascinating electric version of the main waltz. The second CD on the set offers the original album arrangement (remastered, as with the rest) and Coppola's source material. A demo recording on piano of the two new themes and significant amount of vocal banter is also a unique gem. The improvement in sound quality is impressive on this excellent set, helping alleviate many of the issues the score presented when heard on the prior album. Given that the third film's soundtrack was dominated by Coppola's two inferior themes, faint reminders of Rota's work, and the famous opera at the end, The Godfather Part II remains the pillar of strength in this franchise.  *****   @Amazon.com: CD or Download