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•	2014 Album

•	2002 Album

•	2025 Album

•	2014 Album

•	2002 Album

More noteworthy amongst the vocals in The Sum of All Fears is the operatic translation of the main theme's song into Latin for "The Mission" at the opening of the story, with soaring layers of vocals by Shana Blake Hill performing the piece in between Goldsmith's instrumental accompaniment to the scene in the film. It's a compelling melody and song, nothing to hear at awards time but certainly no disgrace to the film or album, either. Its employment is a bit overwhelming in the film when compared to the remainder of the material. The solemn beauty of "The Mission" also accomplishes two other tasks. First, its rhythmic, snare and brass driven action motif at the end for the American government and military, despite showing Israeli forces, is ballsy Goldsmith action at its best. The cue also, throughout its ranks, introduces the noble theme for the CIA agents, the motif for the nuclear bomb itself, the instrumentation for the villains' material. The rhythmic motif for the protagonists is standard Goldsmith issue, though its translation into a state of panic during "Clear the Stadium" is very well handled. Its employment as a sobering, pulsating reminder of the grim circumstances of the world is a bit dispiriting in many cues throughout the score, including its very final moments, but when it suddenly interjects as Morgan Freeman's character realizes that everyone in the stadium is about to die, you can't help but admire the spotting and execution of the music. Far more intriguing is Goldsmith's various identities for the villains. Instead of concentrating on a particular sound on the Neo-Nazis (an eerie theme does exist for them, too), Goldsmith instead provides several "red herring" ideas for surrounding elements, including the jarring one-note theme for the bomb itself as a frequent stinger device. A fair amount of Middle Eastern influence survives in the score as a location descriptor. While a touch of percussion and regional instrumentation from The 13th Warrior therefore carries over into The Sum of All Fears, Goldsmith goes a step further and adapts his Russian-inspired style from Air Force One into the progressions and deep choral performances of a Russian theme to represent the fact that the Russians are supposed to be implicated as villains.

The combined antagonist material in The Sum of All Fears thus becomes one of a faceless international villain, dominating "The Bomb" and "That Went Well" with its ominous though harmonious tones. Some might consider this material too melodramatic, especially in early renditions of the Russian material that is attractive but stereotypical, a valid argument given that Goldsmith was obviously attempting to really pull the strings on the symbolism in the dramatic terror of the plot. The score's strongest points in both the film and album occur in the first half, with the presentation becoming more like Goldsmith's stock action material from the 1990's as it plays. The majority of score, with its well-balanced combination of symphonic and electronic elements, is similar in style to a light version of The 13th Warrior and the tension of Star Trek: Nemesis, with organic instrumentation from the former and electronics from the latter. This is, at the very least, a compliment towards Goldsmith's achievement in The Sum of All Fears. It contains less brassy, bombastic action than a score such as Executive Decision, but its intensity is not diminished in any way during its highlights. The final cues, "How Close?" and "The Same Air," provide the score's only truly symphonic performances of the song's melody with the composer's usual sensitivity in high strings and solo oboe, and this tender touch is sadly missing from the relaxed portions of the remainder of the story. In the years since the score debuted, it was revealed that the song was a continuation of Goldsmith's effort to pay tribute to the victims of the attacks of September 11th, 2001. He accomplished this feat in his score for The Last Castle to a degree, though the composer took an active role in pushing the song for this film as an extension of that tribute. The likewise somewhat restrained and occasionally grim tone of his score also reflects the kind of stirring but somber environment that many felt in America at the time. As a whole, The Sum of All Fears is a much more varied and widely-styled action effort than anything else that Goldsmith had produced in that late, post-2000's period of his career, and the infusion of a fresh sound stirred his fans just in time for them to behold yet another Star Trek score from the composer later in the year.

The original 2002 album for The Sum of All Fears was never the most consistent of listening experiences, and though it includes remarkable sound quality for the orchestral cues, it didn't extend the same kind of overwhelmingly wet, echoing mix that existed in his scores over the prior few years. That product was relatively generous in its inclusion of most of the material that was featured prominently in the film. The insertion of an extra copy of the same song at the start of the album was completely unnecessary. Goldsmith, however, as he did in The River Wild, mixed the orchestra right into the beginning and end of the songs which he produced. That flow is superb at the end of the album in particular (with the aid of acoustic guitar), and makes the inclusion of the reprise of the song at the start of the album superfluous. The film generated much hype over its other song placements, and both Giacomo Puccini's operatic "Nessun Dorma From Turandot" and Tabitha Fair's contemporary "If We Get Through This" were included on the product. Absent, however, was the memorable performance of the Star-Spangled Banner heard before the big game, a much-requested martial rendition. For enthusiasts of both the film and score, an expanded and limited 2014 La-La Land album provided the anthem recording and a significantly expanded amount of score. Added to the roughly 35 minutes of Goldsmith material on the previous album is a fair amount of suspenseful material that underwhelms, but the addition of some action bombast and Middle Eastern flavor is quite noteworthy. Several subtle performances of the rhythmic American theme, reminding of the sneaking motif on low piano from First Blood, are a nice addition as well, especially with such crisp sound quality. The label rearranged the same contents for a limited re-issue in 2025 with no improvement in sound, separating cues that had been editorially combined before and tossing the original album presentation onto a second CD. Those who own the 2014 product have no need to explore the re-issue. On any album, this score will be well worth the price to hear Goldsmith burst forth with one last volley of robust action music in the days before his declining health ended his career. By all accounts, the composer struggled to complete this assignment, working from home and not conducting all of it himself due to exhaustion. The music stands as a tribute to his own perseverance in those final days.  ****   @Amazon.com: CD or Download

Bias Check:

For Jerry Goldsmith reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3.18 (in 150 reviews) and the average viewer rating is 3.21 (in 155,992 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.