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Music Conducted By
Jerry Goldsmith
Nic Raine
Paul Bateman
James Fitzpatrick


Orchestrations/Arrangements By
Arthur Morton
Alexander Courage
Jerry Goldsmith
Ella M Fredrickson
John Bell
Nic Raine
Daniel Caine
Christopher Tin
Mike Townsend
Morton Stevens
Philip Lane
Paul Bateman
Mark McKenzie


Recorded By
John Timperley
Jan Holzner
Mike Ross-Trevor

Performed By
The City Of Prague Philharmonic
The Crouch End Festival Orchestra/Chorus
The National Philharmonic Orchestra
The Philharmonia Orchestra
The Daniel Caine Orchestra
Album Produced By
James Fitzpatrick

Label
Silva Screen SILCD1183

Previous Release(s)
Goldsmith Conducts Goldsmith
The Essential Jerry Goldsmith
Year Of CD/Film Release
2005/

Running Time
280

Availability
Normal Release
 

Cues & Timings

 

Disc 1

1 - 5. The Blue Max Suite (16:24)
6. Television Themes Medley:The Man From U.N.C.L.E/Doctor Kildare/Room 222/The Waltons/Barnaby Jones (9:46)
7. In Harm's Way Suite (9:38)
8. Motion Pictures Medley:The Sand Pebbles/Chinatown/A Patch Of Blue/Poltergeist/Papillon/The Wind And The Lion (14:24)
9. The Generals: Macarthur/Patton (5:26)
10. Tora! Tora! Tora! (3:30)
11. The Wild Rovers (2:09)
12. Pursuit (2:21)
13. The Wind And The Lion (9:12)

Total Time: 73:09

Disc 2

1 - 5. Qbvii Suite (13:39)
6. The Waltons (3:56)
7. Papillon (3:54)
8. Police Story (2:03)
9. The Omen Suite (11:47)
10. Capricorn One (3:16)
11. The Swarm Suite (7:41)
12. The Boys From Brazil (7:08)
13. The (First) Great Train Robbery (4:56)
14. Alien (4:51)
15. Star Trek: The Motion Picture (9:18)

Total Time: 72:47

Disc 3

1. Masada (5:39)
2. Poltergeist (4:17)
3. First Blood/Rambo II (5:57)
4. Twilight Zone: The Movie (6:27)
5 - 8. Under Fire Suite (15:14)
9. Gremlins (7:42)
10. Baby: Secret Of The Lost Legend (7:23)
11. Legend (7:12)
12. Lionheart (4:07)
13. Rambo III (3:02)
14. Total Recall (2:35)

Total Time: 69:52

Disc 4

1. Star Trek: Voyager (2:00)
2. Basic Instinct (2:31)
3. The Russia House (5:12)
4. Gremlins II The New Batch (5:33)
5. Medicine Man (4:14)
6. The Shadow (2:37)
7. Forever Young (5:12)
8. First Knight Suite (11:10)
9. Powder (4:29)
10. Air Force One (1:30)
11. L.A. Confidential (4:44)
12. The Mummy (2:54)
13. The Haunting (2:53)
14. Star Trek: Nemesis Suite (7:39)
15. The Sum Of All Fears (5:43)

Total Time: 68:33

Soundtrack Ratings

Disappointing

Functional

 Average

 Good

 Excellent

 Outstanding

Jerry Goldsmith 40 Years Of Film Music
 
I must admit this collection is better than I thought it would be with the Prague players clearly improving on their earlier collection - The Essential Jerry Goldsmith. Though some of those arrangement do appear here Silva more than make up for them with some new and improved recordings. Still Silva should have put a bit more thought into this collection. The minor themes don't sit well with the more acclaimed musical highlights and there is an unnecessary duplication of several film titles.

Disc one shows promise with a number of selections from Goldsmith's own Philharmonia recording from 1987. This is easily the best re-recording of Goldsmith's own music and to date has not been bettered. The Blue Max, the TV Medley, the Motion Picture Medley and The Generals are all welcome inclusions and make for a memorable listen.

A suite from In Harms Way is a good mixture of easy listening and dramatic WWII scoring. It's one of those rare scores that's ripe for interpretation and the Prague players have fun with Goldsmith's melodic scoring without being too insulting. Though they do far better with the love theme than the latter military themes.

Wild Rovers isn't bad and measures up to a Goldsmith concert performance. While the theme from Pursuit is an enjoyably energetic and upbeat arrangement courtesy of the Daniel Caine Orchestra. And there's a brave attempt at the dramatic theme from Tora, Tora, Tora. Then it all goes a bit 'pear shaped' with an ambitious suite from The Wind And The Lion. The theme we heard earlier in the Motion Picture Medley, so Silva push the boat out with a performance of extra music in the form of Raisuli Attacks and Lord Of The Riff? Not a good idea.

Disc two kicks off with an impressive suite from QBVII which stands out as the best of the Prague efforts. Not only does it sound quite authentic but it actually plays rather well, even with the difficulty of adding chorus to it. Other TV work get good arrangements on disc 2 as well, with themes for Police Story and The Waltons (performed by the Daniel Caine Orchestra) being enthusiastic and enjoyable. While Papillon's Out To Sea is a solid effort but seems a bit redundant considering we heard the theme earlier in the Motion Picture Medley.

Then just when you think things are going along nicely you come across a problematic Alien suite with an opening sequence that appears to sound more like Aliens than Alien! You can see what they were attempting but realising how hopeless it was they give up and segue into the safety of the End Credits. Then we have The Omen, a pivotal moment in Goldsmith's career, it gets one of the weakest performances I've ever heard here. At times the chorus is going so slow you think that they might actually stop singing. Things don't improve with the now infamous performance of Capricorn One, one of Goldsmith's most inventive themes demands a lot of effort and sadly yet again sounds awkward. Even Goldsmith himself struggled to get this to sound right in concert, so what hope do the Prague players have?

I've heard the end title from The Swarm performed brilliantly by Joel McNeely and the RSNO, so I know this can be done authentically. This piece would have actually been perfect in concert so again with a little time and effort the Prague players should have nailed it and avoided trying to include the Bees Arrive!

Goldsmith's specially commissioned suite from The Boys From Brazil actually isn't bad. it's as good as a Goldsmith concert performance and the brass section does well. Similarly The Great Train Robbery End Title gets a relatively enthusiastic workout too. And Star Trek The Motion Picture starts off well and manages to limp to a finish but then stupidly Silva then blow it by including a performance of the Klingon Battle! Why? If there is one cue that demands the original instrumentation, be it the electronic bells and whistles or the blaster beam, it's this piece.

Disc three opens with Goldsmith's own stirring Masada suite, followed by another unnecessary Poltergeist arrangement. Again Silva have tried to include extra music, this time from the opening sequence, before segueing into the End Credits and the children's chorus. As it's already included as part of Goldsmith's own Motion Picture Medley then it becomes rather redundant.

Rambo First Blood Part II and First Blood themes are combined into a nifty suite. Though I can't help but chuckle at the prologue which almost turns Rambo's action theme into a pop performance before we move on to a reasonable workout of the Main Title. Again the Prague players lack the exotic instrumentation of the original soundtrack but it is at least recognisable. The suite concludes with the now familiar unused End Title from the first film.

Twilight Zone The Movie starts with Marius Constant's jingle before we launch into a muted fanfare. Kick The Can and It's A Good Life both get good performances and the awkwardness of Goldsmith's own concert version of the Nightmare At 20,000 Feet theme manages to limp over the finishing line. Then the Prague players follow up their impressive QBVII suite with one from Under Fire. Here the original instrumentation poses no problems and the Prague players present a series of key cues from the film. All enthusiastically performed with a fair amount of authenticity.

Next up is the Gremlins suite from Goldsmith's Philharmonia recording and includes the infectious orchestral version of the infamous rag. The presence of the end credits from Baby Secret Of The Lost Legend is clearly for the benefit of the die hard fan. I can't imagine the casual listener would have heard of this one. Still it remains a likeable end credit theme that doesn't cause too many problems for the Prague players. Next is an original cue from the Legend soundtrack and includes the Faerie Dance and Reunited. I assume because Silva released the expanded soundtrack they can include it here.

Robert's Theme from Lionheart from Goldsmith's Philharmonia recording remains one of the composer's best performances of this stirring finale piece and made a memorable close to many a Goldsmith concert.

Perhaps Rambo III should have been added to the end of the earlier Rambo suite? Nice idea including the gorgeous Afghan theme, but why didn't they drop the pointless opening from Questions? This isn't the original soundtrack, so it would have hardly mattered.

The theme from Total Recall closes disc 3 and is another piece that relies heavily on its original recording to sound its best. The clanking metallic device utilised here doesn't hold up against Goldsmith's 'whipping' electronic effects, or his orchestration. Still the tempo works fine and once the theme gets going shows with some modification this could actually sound respectable. Though that annoying coda will have to go!

Disc four begins with Star Trek Voyager's theme. Goldsmith's elegant opening gets a thoughtful reading from the Prague players, again showing they can perform well when they put the effort in. Likewise Basic Instinct's haunting main theme plays well and should not put too many demands on a good orchestra.

Goldsmith's Russia House theme is one of his finest but like Forever Young (performed later) it has never sounded good in concert. I can't imagine that it's just because the Saxophone is missing from the line-up, but it has been 'popularised' so much at times it's pure fiction. The Prague players do their utmost to give the performance gravitas but it remains a weak arrangement of a wonderful theme.

I can't see the point of including the end credit from Gremlins 2? Again it won't be remembered by anybody other than Goldsmith fans who already have the album, which of course sounds far superior. The performance is actually okay but when you consider this album is to essentially show off Goldsmith's career over 40 years you would have thought something more inspiring would have filled the gap.

I always wished Goldsmith had included his theme for the Trees from Medicine Man in concert. It seemed a perfect piece for a film music concert, so it's intriguing to hear it performed by the Prague players, who manage do the theme justice with a well judged performance.

I only heard Goldsmith himself perform The Shadow once in concert as an encore and wondered why, considering what a flop it was regardless of how good most think the theme is. So again I wonder why if we are celebrating a great career like Goldsmith's Silva would see fit to include it? It may be serviceable but it's an awkward performance that again demands the instrumentation of the original soundtrack to do it proper justice.

It was either very brave or very stupid of Silva to include Camelot Lives from First Knight. But I admit if I was listening to this in concert I would say this was an okay performance of a difficult cue and not the disaster it could have been. Though the choir is far too prominent, so much so their words sound nothing much like the original soundtrack? The suite concludes with Arthur's Farewell, which remains a heartfelt and emotive close and gets a worthy rendition here.

Powder is another minor film in Goldsmith's canon but benefits for having one of the composer's most emotive scores. The charged finale cue often appeared in a Goldsmith concert and this is what we get here, with the Prague players giving it a solid performance that favours strings rather than brass.

Air Force One got added to Goldsmith's Motion Picture Medley in later years so it's good to see it stand alone here. It's a wonderfully patriotic main title undeniably Goldsmith that gets a bit of a muffled performance from the Prague players. Likewise L.A. Confidential's violent percussive opening could have been better defined.

Goldsmith didn't much like working on The Mummy regardless of the film's success and its impressive score and as a consequence played down the use of the theme in concert. It's a shame considering how good this score is and how impressive it could have sounded. Here the Prague players keep to Goldsmith's arrangement of a brief go at the action theme before swiftly moving on to the love theme.

Another odd inclusion is music from The Haunting. Though it made over $100 Million at the US box office it was a critical disaster. The score is a solid effort and gets a solid reading here but is it memorable enough to be played as part of a collection that celebrates Goldsmith's career? Probably not. The same could be said of Star Trek Nemesis, as it remains a score that divides fans. It has some good moments but it's definitely the weakest of Goldsmith's work on the Star Trek franchise. Still credit to Silva for creating a far more exciting piece from the one that appeared in concert. At least we get to hear some of the action music which integrates well with some of the quieter moments of the score and concludes with a good rendition of the famous theme.

The opening from The Sum Of All Fears closes the set with an emotionally charged theme with a Latin translation of the song If We Could Remember. It's a brave attempt but soprano Charlotte Kinder is no match for Shanna Blake Hall's original performance. While the orchestral elements generally sound fine the Prague players falter when it comes to the minor exotic colourings.