: (Compilation) After several years of
producing compilations of film music that were aimed at specific genres
in Hollywood, Erich Kunzel and The Cincinnati Pops began mirroring
Varèse Sarabande's "Hollywood '9x" series by arranging their
performances based on current spans of time. First, "The Big Picture"
was released in 1997 and contained music mostly from 1995 and 1996, and
subsequently "Mega Movies" was released in 2000 and contained themes
from 1997 to 1999. While the Telarc label had been experimenting with
the inclusion of sound effects on their albums for many years (on all
but their very early compilations), these late-1990's products began to
take more serious stabs at them. Sound quality of the recordings was
always a significant consideration for Telarc, and in the early
compilations, their superior quality of sound was often the selling
point for their collections. A trend has been noticed through the years
by many avid collectors of these Telarc albums, and that is changing
style of The Cincinnati Pops under Erich Kunzel's direction. In their
early days, they won awards for their classical recordings, and their
recordings of film music were always faithfully symphonic in sound. In
more recent years, however, the "pop" in The Cincinnati Pops has stepped
forward far more often, with percussion sometimes too contemporary in
sound for the performances at hand. This is a phenomenon that began with
the group's recording of Disney musicals from 1989 to 1994 a few years
later and manifested itself in several places in "The Big Picture" in
1997. Additionally, the ensemble began attempting more selections that
had used a chorus in their original form, and instead of utilizing the
services of a choral group, Kunzel seemed content using a synthesized
chorus instead. In places, this decision works, but in others, it nearly
ruins the performance.
For Kunzel's "Mega Movies" album of 2000, the
recordings would drop the synthetic choir and contract a local high
school chorus for the one cue that absolutely required a choral
presence. The pop-like percussion is limited to just three or four
scores usually falling under either the animation genre or the Hans
Zimmer style of synthetic anthems. And the sound effects, sometimes the
selling point of these compilations, are rather anonymous and less
interesting on "Mega Movies." One of the ensemble's other main concerns
is having fun, which cannot quickly be dismissed. The dynamic percussion
section and the sound effects it helps insert directly into the
performances have created several undeniably lovable recordings in the
past, and one such highlight exists in the form of Randy Newman's
A
Bug's Life on this compilation. Easily the highlight of the album,
The Cincinnati Pops lets rip in "The Time of Your Life" with outstanding
enthusiasm and, in the absence of Newman's voice, utilizes various, wild
percussive effects to lend character to the performance. Four other
fantastic performances exist on "Mega Movies," and it would be
impossible to blindly predict which ones they would be.
A Bug's
Life is joined at the top of the list by Jerry Goldsmith's "Badge of
Honor" from
L.A. Confidential, a piece that takes advantage of
both the robust percussion section and the hearty jazz inherent in the
ensemble's solo trumpet presentation. The "Windsong" cue from James
Horner's
Mighty Joe Young utilizes the voices of the
aforementioned local school, and the resulting performance is stunningly
entertaining. With accurate solo voices in the counterpoint role, this
performance proves, at the very least, that a group of high schoolers
can provide talent equal to a big budget film score. The suite from
Horner's
Titanic is always a tricky proposition given how
insufferable the score has become in the years since its splashy debut.
Kunzel barely makes an attempt to emulate Horner's electronics for this
cue; instead, the low whistle and Uillean pipes provide more sincere
character that you hear in many other performances.
Perhaps the biggest surprise of "Mega Movies" is the
remarkably energetic and infectiously robust rendition of Stephen
Warbeck's theme from
Shakespeare in Love. The performance here is
not only superior to the concurrent offering from Frederic Talgorn and
the Royal Scottish National Orchestra on a previous Varèse
Sarabande compilation, but it could give the original recording a
definite run for its money as well. Much of the success of these
highlights is owed to Kunzel's strong, often unique arrangements of each
piece, though the end performance is usually the key. There are, as
always, a few selections that The Cincinnati Pops simply can't provide
with authenticity, including the ensemble's inability to imitate the
masculine power of Media Ventures scores. The performance of
Crimson
Tide on "The Big Picture" was badly lacking the necessary depth in
bass, and a similar problem persists here. Themes from
The Rock,
Prince of Egypt,
Armageddon, and, for that matter, Mark
Snow's
The X-Files feature none of the resounding power that
makes their originals popular. In other cases, orchestration and choral
problems hinder the recordings. Goldsmith's
The Mummy, without
chorus here in "The Sand Volcano," and John Williams'
Star Wars: The
Phantom Menace are better interpreted by the RSNO and Talgorn.
Horner's
The Mask of Zorro, while arranged well, desperately
lacks the flair of the original percussion and flute; it's extremely
difficult for any ensemble to capture the spirit of Horner's two Zorro
scores. The other selections not mentioned here are satisfying, though
not memorable. On the whole, "Mega Movies" is very much a typical Kunzel
album. They all make good additions to a film score collector's shelves
because their enthusiasm and sound quality (rivaling any of the
recordings of The City of Prague Philharmonic by Silva Screen) mirrors
an impressive, live concert performance. The sound effects (by the same
editor as those previously heard on Kunzel's albums) are not as
intriguing this time around, though the
Godzilla one is certainly
adequate enough to cause your neighbors some consternation.
**** @Amazon.com: CD or
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