: (Compilation) Through the years, the Royal
Scottish National Orchestra has recorded hundreds of film music works, most of
which commissioned for release by the Varèse Sarabande label. At the helm
for most of their early recordings of the mid-1990's was conductor and composer
Joel McNeely, considered at the time to be a promising pupil of (and possible
successor for) film music legend John Williams. The collaboration between McNeely
and the RSNO had proven moderately successful during a recording of the previous
year's scores (provided on an album called, of course, "Hollywood '94"), and the
enormous success of "Hollywood '95" led to one more similar collection of
recordings the following year before the collaboration took a few years off. The
RSNO would continue to re-record entire scores to be released by Varèse
Sarabande and, like any performing group, they have their days when they excel and
days when off-pitch notes miserably blurt out in nearly every cue. Such is the
habit of any performing group, however, especially when tackling the works of a
composer for the first time. To the benefit of all film music fans, though,
"Hollywood '95" is an exhibit of the RSNO, McNeely, and Varèse all at their
finest, with stunning recordings from beginning to end. Part of the success of the
"Hollywood '95" compilation over those from the previous and following years is
due simply to the vast quantity of good music produced by Hollywood composers during
that year. Many soundtrack collectors remember 1995 more fondly than any other year
during the Digital Age of film music. While most people will remember it as the
year that James Horner dominated the charts, many other composers wrote high
caliber music that often exceeded the quality of the films they were inspired by.
Another major reason for the success of "Hollywood '95" is the pinpoint accuracy
with which the RSNO nailed many, if not nearly all of the performances, capturing
the spirit of the original compositions while taking some subtle, though impressive
liberties with the material at hand.
Analyzing the album in order of its presentation, it is easy to
report with great delight that McNeely and the RSNO worked directly with Elliot
Goldenthal to assemble a suite from his summer blockbuster
Batman Forever.
Goldenthal was eager to arrange a selection of over ten minutes that could reflect
his score in the best possible light, and after some tweaking of the orchestration
by McNeely and his crew,
Batman Forever has never sounded better. It is rare
that a re-recording blows away an original performance, but McNeely manages to
accomplish that here. The identical suite eventually appeared on a later
all-
Batman album by the same performing group and label, and while this 1995
performance of
Batman Forever remains a favorite, the two Elfman scores on
that album weren't as fortunate in the translation. James Horner's patriotic and
noble
Apollo 13 is represented by the lengthy, exciting "Launch" cue that
unfolds all of the important themes in the film during one powerhouse scene. A
light choir completes this extremely authentic performance, strikingly true to the
original and, for those who don't own the promotional version of the original
soundtrack, existing without sound effects or dialogue. For
Judge Dredd,
Alan Silvestri also worked with the label and McNeely to arrange a suite of the
best action cues from his score. They are performed with great vigor, as is short
trailer cue for the film (written by Jerry Goldsmith, who left the project due to
scheduling conflicts). Horner's gorgeous lullaby from
Casper is performed by
choir, piano, and ensemble with haunting spirit. James Newton Howard's strong
land-related theme from
Waterworld is adapted from no particular cue
specifically, but resembles the finale statement in that score. Two cues from
Goldsmith's ambitious
First Knight score are offered, followed by perhaps
the most understated performance on the album, the "End Titles" from Horner's
Braveheart. Due to the passing of Golden Age composing great Miklos Rozsa in
1995, Varèse and the RSNO decided to perform the pretty love theme from
1940's
That Hamilton Woman as a tribute to close out the product. Overall,
this is the best Varèse/RSNO collaboration of the era, and no collector of
modern film music should be without it.
***** @Amazon.com: CD or
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