It is difficult to separate the purpose of the movie and the totality of its religious message from McKenzie's music, if not because of the obvious spiritual tone in parts of the score, then simply because of the passion that the subject stirs in the composer. In these kinds of scores, you often hear about a how a composer's faith influences his or her writing of the composition (who could forget John Debney running into a parking lot in the process of fighting demons while writing The Passion of the Christ?), and McKenzie's genuine, heartfelt interest in The Greatest Miracle manifests itself so clearly in the tone of his music that this inspiration cannot be discounted even if you roll your eyes at the film's plot. While McKenzie has demonstrated a dramatic sense of charm in his scores throughout the years, this particular effort takes that wholesome demeanor down an even more openly religious path. Importantly, however, he expresses this faithful touch without bludgeoning you over the head with liturgical self-importance, a flaw inherent (possibly by necessity) in a work like Debney's The Passion of the Christ. McKenzie instead offers a score that pushes all the right religious buttons in his instrumentation and tone while remaining respectful enough not to overwhelm listeners of agnostic, atheistic, or secular humanist leanings. This approach yields music that is beautiful enough in the religious domain to provide a listening experience as satisfying as Ennio Morricone's The Mission simply because of its tasteful execution. The instrumental palette for The Greatest Miracle is as expected, starting with a standard orchestra and layering organ, vocals, and few other specialty instruments into the mix. The vocals include three separate group performances, including children's and women's ensembles, though the Libera Boys Choir in London provides the most spectacular, singular singing accents. The recording of the score in Seattle (at Bastyr University Chapel, no less) and London likely assisted with keeping the score's costs down, though the result exhibits few performance flubs and the mixing of the components back in Los Angeles matches the efforts of much larger productions. The composition's weight is largely conveyed by strings, occasional melodic lines extending into the woodwinds and piano. A harp and chimes/bells lend their usual tones of grace and gravity to the genre. Brass is often employed in John Barry-like supporting roles, though trumpet counterpoint and deep exploration of the demon motif in one cue keep these players engaged.

A compliment of three major recurring themes and one minor theme provides the basis for McKenzie's pleasantly tonal environment in The Greatest Miracle. Some of them, along with the lesser secondary motifs, may be character-centric. The three most frequently referenced themes seem to rank progressively on the "inspiration meter," each cranking up the religious element another notch. The primary one is a flowing identity of pure McKenzie heritage, similar in construct to the composer's hidden gem, Dr. Jekyll and Ms. Hyde. This sensitive melody is introduced on album in the latter half of "Call of the Spirit" and is boiled down from its string layers to solo piano at the outset of "You'll See." Lovely choral cooing backs the theme in "Ultimate Love" and blossoms into the score's fullest expression of beauty during the entirety of "Ascension/Gloria Patri." This theme, while closest to McKenzie's usual sound, is overshadowed by the score's other ideas, starting with the driving call to action theme that some listeners might associate with Morricone's The Mission. The propulsion in this idea makes it a uniquely engaging identity given the otherwise serene personality of the other non-cathedral related cues. Aided by pulsating bass strings and swirling violins, the voices in this theme's performances culminate in chanted ensemble tones reminiscent of the Morricone classic. Similar renditions in "Offerings" and "Pictures With Black Bow" are joined by more restrained cooing choral tones in "Ask For What You Want" and "Go in Peace." Even more divinely powerful is the score's cathedral theme, the broadest representation of grandeur in the score and sometimes the recipient of organ backing. Repeated throughout "Entering the Cathedral" and making a short appearance in the middle of "A Clean Soul," this idea's climactic explosion of biblical force prevails in the latter half of "Angels, Demons and Prayer." This last sequence (although presented out of chronological order on the album) is the closest that The Greatest Miracle comes to enforcing the will of the underlying doctrine on the listener. The score's final noteworthy identity comes in the form of the theme of fear, a brass, low woodwind, and chopping string progression punctuating the bizarrely scary red demons of the story. Its statements are largely confined to the central portions of "Angels, Demons and Prayer" (the menacing brass reminder at 3:35 into that cue begs for more development, despite its coincidental similarity to David Arnold's Independence Day) , though its initial, rising three notes in the minor are referenced elsewhere whenever moments of doubt creep into the equation.

McKenzie spreads his thematic representations a bit thin in The Greatest Miracle, supplementing them with unique ideas in singular applications to further cloud the music's melodic narrative. Two individual ideas in "I Miss You" include a massive, timpani-pounding choral sequence followed by a solemn piano performance (reprised in "Bus Accident"). The redemptive progressions dominating "Go in Peace" will remind you of, if not their classical origins, Craig Armstrong's Love Actually. A snippet of Johann Sebastian Bach early in "A Clean Soul" provides the more obvious classical connection. Woodwinds in "That Beautiful Smile" likewise develop another individual idea. The most appealing of these singular melodies, however, comes in the Libera Boys Choir's performance in "Benedictus Deus," and it's a shame that this source-like material didn't find its way into rest of the score. The fact that none of these themes dominates the soundtrack becomes less important than the consistent overall tone of The Greatest Miracle. McKenzie does tend to spread out the melodic duties in his scores, and this entry may lack a clear enough of a thematic blueprint for some listeners. There also isn't much emotional variance in the score, the dissonant crescendo in "Bus Accident" about as close to an obvious synchronization point as you will find. Another potential drawback in this score, ironically, is occasional structural and instrumental inspiration from James Horner (the irony being that McKenzie is not a Horner collaborator). The passage from 0:45 to 1:15 in "Call of the Spirit" very closely emulates Horner's "forest wonder" mode, even down to the chimes. On the other hand, alternatively there are times when McKenzie's own trademarks shine through, foremost in "Ascension/Gloria Patri" when the light string ostinatos and trumpet figures optimistically reflect similar performances in Dr. Jekyll and Ms. Hyde. In the end, The Greatest Miracle isn't a perfect score, its top rating tempered by a diluted melodic spread and its somewhat generic redemptive tone. The score's 41-minute promotional download presentation was followed later in 2011 by an expanded and limited BSX Records CD with two additional score tracks (the first of which a necessity) and part of a suite of music that was performed live during World Youth Days in Madrid in August, 2011. Because that live performance was on a make-shift platform in the middle of a city street, however, the suite on this product is seemingly assembled from the score itself instead, so don't expect this seven and a half minutes of music to include anything new. Don't hesitate to seek the lossless, expanded CD edition of this sentimental favorite, however, continuing proof that McKenzie's musical voice has too long been buried in the works of others.  *****   @Amazon.com: CD or Download