Space and Beyond: (Compilation) Along with the
outstanding "Cinema Choral Classics" CDs, the "Space and Beyond" series
in the late 1990's helped establish Silva Screen as a top producer of
quality film music recordings. While the public's response to "Space and
Beyond" may not have been as great as its choral counterpart, Silva
would eventually go on to provide a trilogy of "Space and Beyond"
albums, each with their own strengths and weaknesses. As a standalone
album, however, the well-informed 2-CD "Space and Beyond" set is still
among the best of the lot, getting most of the standard
Star Trek
performances out of the way while also providing a relatively unique
combination of standard tunes and more obscure material. While the
following sets in the series would offer an even more enticing array of
stranger material, Silva's offering on this debut sci-fi set is still
impressive enough to attract you even in the event you're tired of all
the same
Star Trek concert arrangements. Also of note is that The
City of Prague Philharmonic, while appropriately blasted for some of its
early performances of film music, had finally hit its stride as of 1997.
There are very few outright poor performances as of "Space and Beyond,"
though a couple of individual missed notes are to be heard. More than
any other group, however, Silva/Prague has ventured into areas of film
music that no other label and performing ensemble have gone (and that
includes even Telarc and Erich Kunzel at their prime). The first "Space
and Beyond" will impress you with its depth and crisp sound, providing
mostly material that you will likely be familiar with. But as with the
subsequent albums, the set has a few new themes that you may not have
heard before, making the balancing act between mainstream appeal and
keen film music knowledge a successful one. That said, there are a few
widely-known selections that you'll probably want to skip past, not
because their performances are poor, but because you've heard them
before. As such,
Star Wars,
Close Encunters, and
2001 are adequate, but hardly interesting inclusions. The same
could be said of a few of the
Star Trek selections on the second
CD, though those always appeal to different groups within the community
depending on personal favorites.
Like most compilations, there are a few standout
surprises than need to be recognized. The back-to-back performances of
Species and
Lifeforce (written by Christopher Young and
Henry Mancini, respectively) are highlights of the compilation, with the
extended end title variant on the main theme of
Species served
with the appropriately haunting choir. More ambitious is
Lifeforce, with its driving, militaristic, and heroic theme well
rendered here (though its tiring use to promote professional football
games on television in 2006 has somewhat tarnished the theme's original
purpose). Also highly praised through the years has been Prague's
performance of Jerry Goldsmith's
Capricorn One, one of the very
best and most spirited in their history. The inclusion of
The Black
Hole is commendable; the original has never been released due to
lost source tapes, and it's relatively strange to hear vibrant
science-fiction music from John Barry anyway, so it's a fabulous stop on
the CD. Breaking with the norm, Silva offers the "Han Solo and the
Princess" concert arrangement from
The Empire Strikes Back rather
than the typical march, a far more interesting piece given the worn
tread on the more famous theme. The only notably lackluster performances
on this set are unfortunately
Apollo 13 (poor selection of cue to
perform),
Enemy Mine (poor material to begin with), and
Star
Wars (just an off-kilter performance). After a gracious nod to Alex
North's partially rejected
2001, the set embarks into the realm
of
Star Trek. The television themes are adequately portrayed (an
obvious horn flub in
Voyager is the only serious problem), though
the most impressive performances are dedicated to the major motion
picture scores. Lengthy tracks from
The Wrath of Khan,
The
Final Frontier, and
The Undiscovered Country are all very
well done, though this logic largely follows the fact that those scores
are among the best of the series anyway. The sound effects littered
throughout the album are reminiscent of the Telarc/Erich Kunzel albums,
and they likewise have little to do with the actual sounds from the
films or shows. The ones on the first CD consist mostly of grinding
noises... not suitable for real use as an annoyance for neighbors in
your apartment. Overall, though, this set (and those in the series that
followed) is outstanding, especially given that it's available on the
used market for under five dollars as it reaches its tenth birthday.
***** @Amazon.com: CD or
Download
The release is contained in a silver sleave with blue lettering. The insert notes are extensive, though faulty in a
few places. Most noticably, under Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, the plot description of Star Trek III: The Search for Spock is given.
