Despite its strengths, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe remains a disjointed, incohesive score. It's impressive in parts, but that's due to Gregson-Williams' ability to let rip with powerful action music for orchestra and choir at any given moment. The score was aimless in both theme and identity, a problem exacerbated by awkward choices in instrumentation (especially electronic) that probably made Lewis turn over in his grave. For Prince Caspian, these difficulties were largely solved for Gregson-Williams by the change of pace and attitude of the franchise, and he responds by tempering the electronics and providing more of exactly what we want to hear: massive action music. The clarification of the themes is the other major accomplishment in Prince Caspian. The main themes for Narnia and the children return, as does the triumphant theme that prevails during the battles late in the first film. The first two are diminished in their roles, interestingly, and largely replaced by the triumphant theme that now defines itself as the title theme. Whether this heroic theme represents the action concept in general or is a more specific musical identity for Aslan or Narnia's future remains unclear, though there's enough of a messiah spirit to the theme to perhaps attach it to Aslan and the spirit of faith and goodness. As opposed to the previous film's themes for Narnia and the children, which are mostly relegated to lovely, full performances in the cues "The Kings and Queens of Narnia" and "The Door in the Air," the triumphant theme is given significant treatment at the forefront of Prince Caspian. As such, if you really enjoyed the final score cue on the album for The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, then you can anticipate hearing several more such monumental performances of that theme throughout the score for Prince Caspian. Its usage in "Arrival at Aslan's How," "Battle at Aslan's How," and "Return of the Lion" are particularly compelling in a straight-forward, harmonic sense. Not only does Gregson-Williams offer the theme in extended, bombastic, choral-aided performances, but he also more intelligently weaves it into the fabric of the score's other cues.

A few new themes join the previously established ideas for Prince Caspian. The most obvious of these is the theme for the Prince himself, though due to the character's inconsistent screen time, don't expect this theme to play a truly important role until the next film, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. Introduced in the opening, "Prince Caspian Flees," this theme returns in "The Duel" and really flourishes in a Howard Shore-like crescendo of choral power at the outset of "Return of the Lion." It's an adequate thematic representation for the Prince, but when you hear it followed by the triumphant theme in "Return of the Lion," you get an uneasy sense that the young Prince is still overshadowed by larger forces, even if in the score this difference only exists because of the memorability of the themes. Sub-themes for the Telmarines and a few auxiliary characters were written but are not featured prominently on the album release. More curious the lack of a strong motif for King Miraz, though the "Miraz Crowned" cue contains enough sinister tones in the lower registers, especially with the help of the choir, that his purpose is served. The album's selection of score cues is partially to blame for the lack of transparency of the new secondary themes. The hour of score on the album is dominated by the battle music featured in the film, which makes it a more coherent listening experience but excludes Gregson-Williams' finer graces in the effort. For the most part, these numerous action cues are all strong, though some listeners may be bothered by some "cut and paste" tactics employed by the composer for both "Raid on the Castle" and "Sorcery and Sudden Vengeance." Extended rhythmic movements from these cues, as well as individual moments in others, are seemingly lifted directly from the previous score. Luckily, Gregson-Williams compensates by better integrating the prominent themes of both films into these cues, providing interesting, but consistently harmonic interpretations of the ideas with satisfying results. Sure, some of the progressions in these themes are a simplistic homage to the days of Media Ventures, but when they sound this well rendered, they defy those origins.

The most impressively bombastic battle cue comes in "Raid on the Castle," which is a fine example of a time at which Gregson-Williams incorporates the two main themes from the first film into new roles here. The performance of the Narnia theme on trumpets at 5:15 into this lengthy cue moves remarkably fluently in between the triumphant theme in its new primary role. There really exists no weak battle cue on the album for Prince Caspian. The electronic elements are persistent, and at times they (including the awkwardly continuing role for the electric violin) border on becoming obnoxious. But Gregson-Williams has a tendency to restrain them before they can irritate, affirming their secondary role to the choirs, orchestra, and the latter's rowdy percussion section. The most interesting aspect of the synthetic accompaniment in Prince Caspian is how similar it has become to imitating Craig Armstrong's library of sounds. The combination of slapping percussion (in a wet mix), synthetic thumps, and choir late in "Battle at Aslan's How" is eerily familiar to the Plunkett and Macleane cues famous for their role as regular trailer music. A strong balance between all of these elements is precisely why Armstrong's sound is so distinctive, and Gregson-Williams manages to accomplish the same smart mixture here. Another instrumental contributor worth mentioning is Richard Harvey, whose woodwinds at the end of "Journey to the How" and "Arrival at Aslan's How," as well as the middle of "Return of the Lion," are superb. Lisbeth Scott's solo voice returns for some distant harmonic atmosphere at times, but her performances are sadly undermixed. Overall, Prince Caspian is a definite improvement over its predecessor. The three choirs are gorgeously integrated by Gregson-Williams in a mix that exists at a depth somewhere in between Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas and Kingdom of Heaven. The four songs at the end of the album are unrelated and unnecessary, failing to capture the spirit of the film's actual underscore. That score, on the other hand, is a highlight of 2008 so far and only an album presentation without a rounded representation of the score's new material keeps it from the highest rating.  ****   @Amazon.com: CD or Download