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Testament
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Composed, Orchestrated, Conducted, and Produced by:
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LABELS & RELEASE DATES
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Vivo Music (bootleg)
(November, 1996)
Film Score Monthly
(April, 2011)
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ALBUM AVAILABILITY
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The 1996 Vivo Music bootleg is a professional pressing from
Romania, complete with barcode, and sold for about $30 through soundtrack
specialty outlets for several months before selling out. Original copies
escalated to over $100 in value not long after. The same content from
In Country and a 9-minute suite from Testament also appear
on a 1999 Natty Gann Records bootleg that primarily features Honey, I
Shrunk The Kids. The 2011 FSM album is limited to 2,000 copies at an
initial price of $20 through the same specialty outlets.
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AWARDS
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None.
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ALSO SEE
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Buy it... on the Romanian bootleg release containing both
Testament and the 1989 score for In Country if you
appreciate James Horner's more somber, humbling dramatic works for solo
instruments over very basic orchestral accompaniment.
Avoid it... if only the quality of the finale from In
Country is worth the trouble of finding that rare collection of
early Horner music, because while Testament is an interesting
score, it is a frightfully depressing listening experience when
separated to a presentation on its own.
BUY IT
 | | Horner |
Testament: (James Horner) The 1983 apocalypse film
Testament was originally produced as a television project for
PBS's "American Playhouse," but the quality of the film was considered
so high that Paramount decided to purchase the rights for a full
theatrical release. Its production qualities are still those of a
made-for-TV film, with minimal, improvised special effects, strong
acting performances (rewarded with an Oscar nomination for lead actress
Jane Alexander), and a reliance upon a strong adaptation of Carol Amen's
short story, "The Last Testament." The plot resembles many that
prevailed due to societal fears that festered in Ronald Reagan's
nuclear-ambitious period of the early-80's, with the concurrently seen
telefilm "The Last Day" better remembered for its more famous cast and
melodramatic treatment of everyday America after a nuclear war. The
unrestrained and stark reality of Lynne Littman's Testament is a
disturbing experience to say the least, with the primary suburban family
in its story slowly dying off as radiation spreads and the skies grow
dark. The coping of average people in such an aftermath of global
annihilation is no light topic, and some audiences likely found
Testament too overly disturbing to tolerate. It is understandable
that James Horner's score for the film is equally depressing, carefully
augmenting a handful of scenes with very underplayed melodrama while
much of the story was left unscored to allow the gravity of the plot to
sink in. Although the composer had already hit the mainstream with his
immense science fiction music by this time, his work here is built for
an ensemble of only ten players and usually consisting of duets or solo
trumpet or woodwind performances, yielding an extremely respectful
stance while mourning a lifestyle lost. The resulting intellectual,
largely unheralded score for this somber glimpse at unexpected heroism
may provide some pleasant surprises for a learned Horner collector
sympathetic to the composer's less obvious dramatic techniques.
The standout tracks in Testament include the cue
for the bike ride shared by father and son before the war, with Horner
providing one of his more enjoyable family theme variations for horn,
synthesizer, harp, piano, and strings (an interesting precursor to his
children's work a decade later). A title theme for horn exists
separately, a variation on this consistently utilized idea recollected
by haunting choir in the late moments of the score. Less engaging is a
theme for another specific boy in the family, eerily dying in its
progressions as appropriate. On the whole, striking solo performances
define Testament; the respect that Horner shows with the melodic
simplicity of his work is shown in the fact that he mirrors the hopeless
optimism of the primary character (the family mother) with slowly
deteriorating statements of the title theme in a persistently major key
form. It's interesting to notice how many mannerisms in this early
Horner score would manifest themselves in much greater depth later in
his career. The sound quality for the score is outstanding given its
age, and it is reproduced well in the film despite existing in a
monaural soundscape. It has existed on several bootlegs, the most well
known of which a 1996 Romanian "Vivo" label album that also features
Horner's more accessible In Country as an appended suite of 30
minutes in length, though in 2011, Film Score Monthly released the
Testament score in slightly longer form to account for a variety
of source recordings. For many years, this bootleg and the others that
followed were a considered top collectibles and fetched unreasonable
prices on the secondary market, but not for Testament; the solemn
but heroic fully orchestral journey heard in In Country is far
more appealing and drove most of the demand for the combined
presentations on album. With both the two humbling scores sharing a
common introspective style, the Romanian bootleg is a strong
recommendation for collectors of Horner's dramatic works. Aside from
that, completists will find FSM's product for Testament alone to
be an intriguing glimpse at the composer's trademark mannerisms in early
developmental stages, despite the topic's overwhelmingly depressing
demeanor.
*** @Amazon.com: CD or
Download
| Bias Check: |
For James Horner reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3.15
(in 108 reviews)
and the average viewer rating is 3.23
(in 203,344 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.
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| 1996 Vivo Music Bootleg Tracks ▼ | Total Time: 55:56 |
Actual Track Listings: (translations in color)
• 1. Testament (1:41)
• 2. O Plimbare Cu Bicicleta (Riding the Bike) (1:17)
• 3. Picnic-Ul (The Picnic) (2:19)
• 4. Carol Isi Alina Copiii (Carol Comforts Her Children) (5:55)
• 5. Asta-I Casa Noastra (This is Our Home) (0:48)
• 6. Amantirile Dragostei (Love Memories) (1:28)
• 7. Boala Lui Scottie (Scottie's Illness) (2:34)
• 8. Pregatiri De Start (Ready to Start) (1:06)
• 9. Noaptea Focului (Night of the Fire) (2:17)
• 10. Reamintire (Recollection) (3:04)
• 11. Ultimul Testament (The Last Testament) (2:39)
• 12 - 19. Suita din In Country (Suite from In Country) (30:14)
Expansion of In Country Tracks:
• 12. Main Title (4:59)
• 13. Letters From Vietnam (2:31)
• 14. A Night With Tom (3:52)
• 15. Dwayne's Wishes (2:51)
• 16. Listen Sam (2:35)
• 17. Night Camp (1:32)
• 18. The Road to D.C. (2:07)
• 19. Dwayne E. Hughes/At the Vietnam Memorial/Finale and End (9:55)
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| 2011 FSM Album Tracks ▼ | Total Time: 30:57 |
• 1. Main Title (Main Theme From Testament) (1:40)
• 2. Bike Talk: Dad & Brad/Bike Ride: Dad & Brad/Brad's Bike Challenge (2:24)
• 3. The Picnic (1:29)
• 4. Liz Plays Pied Piper/Pied Piper Play/Pied Piper Flute/Pied Piper Piano (1:14)
• 5. Pied Piper Curtain (0:39)
• 6. Carol Consoles Liz/Carol Says Goodbye to Neighbor (6:07)
• 7. Mother and Daughter Talk (2:24)
• 8. Carol Bathes Scottie (2:40)
• 9. Brad and Henry Call CQ/Brad and Hiroshi Ride Double (1:29)
• 10. Carol and Priest Graveside/Desire to Live (2:36)
• 11. Hiroshi Hands Teddy to Carol/End Credits (5:15)
Bonus Tracks:
• 12. Liz Enjoys Mozart (source) (1:50)
• 13. Fania Plays Mozart (source) (0:37)
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The insert of the 1996 Vivo Music bootleg is not in English, but contains
a note about the film Testament. The 2011 Film Score Monthly album's insert
includes information about both that film and its score.
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