: (Compilation) The Silva Screen label released the first
of its eventually lengthy series of composer-specific compilation sets
in 1998, initially providing similar products representing the careers
of James Horner and Jerry Goldsmith. The quality of these sets varied
wildly between them, partly because of the choices of scores for
inclusion but mostly due to the simple fact that The City of Prague
Philharmonic, along with its arrangers and orchestrators, seem to
perform some composers' works better than others. In the case of these
first two "Essential" series compilations, it became even more evident
that Prague does an excellent job capturing the essence of Goldsmith's
work while losing much of the same in their performances of Horner's.
From a consumer's standpoint, you also have to look at these Silva
compilations from 1997 and 1998 with a careful attention, because the
sheer volume of quality compilations they were releasing at the time
yielded a significant amount of overlap in selections. In other words,
more than half of the performances you hear on any compilation could
already be in your collection elsewhere. For this Goldsmith set, Silva
would actually provide far more new material than they would for the
Horner one, though not without a few curiosities in selection. While the
album does feature an astonishing number of Goldsmith's lesser known
gems, others (such as Goldsmith's collaboration with director Joe Dante)
would be missing. That last point is a bit awkward considering that
Prague would eventually produce an outstanding concert version of
. Another aspect of this compilation's success to keep in
mind is the importance of Goldsmith's trademark synthesizers in his 80's
and 90's works, and one of the reasons for the set's overall success is
the accuracy with which synth programmer Mark Ayres was able to recreate
these sounds. He nails them more often than not, an impressive feat.
Silva also usually offers a few excellent new suites as a selling
incentive for each particular product, and on this album, those suites
might be too difficult to resist.
The album opens with one of the very best recordings of
a Goldsmith theme that The City of Prague Philharmonic has ever
accomplished:
Capricorn One. Although this same recording was
available on a previous album, it's a welcome inclusion on any
compilation; the superior sound quality of Prague's recordings can best
be heard right there. After a strong performance of the rhythmic themes
from
Masada, including the necessary light percussion, the
album's best feature follows. While it may be surprising to find fifteen
minutes of music from
Under Fire on a compilation like this, you
can't argue with the quality of Goldsmith's superb score. Both the
acoustic guitar and Ayres' electronics are absolutely perfect in this
performance, with the pan pipe effect masterfully emulated. Proper
pacing and an enhanced mix for the guitar provide four outstanding
tracks of the best music from the score, including the longing strings
of "New Love." The echoing synth rhythm in the
Basic Instinct
theme is also well performed by Ayres, though the cue gets washed away
to a degree by the power of its surrounding tracks, including
Great
Train Robbery and
The Omen, the latter of which was a
successful suite on Silva's first "Cinema Choral Classics" album. The
track from
Baby: Secret of a Lost Legend has a very good
representation of the score's harsh brass tones. The tracks from
The
Shadow and
The Russia House are among the great choices for
performance by the ensemble, though they unfortunately botch both of
them badly. They are represented by concert arrangements that suffer
from awkward progression from idea to idea.
The Shadow is
performed without the depth and power of the original, lacking the
robust percussion section for the Mongolian theme and completely absent
of the necessary synthetic accompaniment. As heard on several albums,
Prague's performance of
The Russia House is a watered-down
orchestral version that lacks any of the jazz elements that make it such
a lovely score. It's impossible to imagine this score performed without
a sax, bass, and piano at the forefront, but Prague unfortunately
attempted just that. The lack of a sax is unforgivable.
On the other hand, the two tracks from
The Swarm
are excellent. While they had already debuted on a disaster-themed
product from Silva, the "End Title" performance continues to be a treat
for fans likely unfamiliar with the impressive score. The second CD is
arguably not as strong, but it still features some bright spots. The
suites from
The Blue Max,
MacArthur, and
Patton
will remind listeners of the arrangements that Goldsmith himself
concocted for his "Suites and Themes" tours (and available on the
compilations Goldsmith conducted through the years). The eleven minutes
from
First Knight are pure joy, with the same overwhelming
performances by the Crouch End Festival Chorus that graced their first
"Cinema Choral Classics" album. Performances of
Total Recall and
Powder are a tad flat (and the inclusion of
Powder is
suspect to begin with), though the album finishes strongly, with very
respectable performances of themes from the first two
Rambo/First
Blood scores and a conservative presentation of
Medicine Man.
The set then dives into the inevitable
Star Trek material. There
is nothing unexpected to be found here, and veteran Goldsmith collectors
would probably have preferred to hear the Klingon theme from
Star
Trek V rather than the same concert arrangement of
The Motion
Picture that appeared on the second "Space and Beyond" set. A slight
horn flub in the latter portion of the
Voyager theme is said to
be more of an interpretation than a mistake. The number of obvious
mistakes by the orchestra is minimal on the album; those that are
lacking fall into that category because the concert arrangements (or
performances by the ensemble as a whole) fail to muster the energy or
enthusiasm of the original. And, of course, the lack of precise
instrumentation hurts in some places as well. Otherwise, the set is
among the strongest of Silva's composer-specific offerings. As with many
of the similar Silva releases, the tracks featuring the Crouch End
Festival Chorus are by far the most entertaining, even though most
listeners have heard much of that material on other albums from the
label. The suite from
Under Fire also makes this set a valued
compilation in and of itself.
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