THE CLASSIC FILM MUSIC OF JOHN BARRY: VOLUME 2
Rating: 
Original Review: Whereas The Classic Film Music of John Barry Volume I concentrated on the most famous and most successful compositions in Barry's career, Volume 2 takes a look at the less well known and well loved themes and, although it is not as stellar as the first, still makes very interesting listening. Many of the compositions here come from what many regard to be Barry's Golden Years, the sixties and seventies - before he became bogged down in the gushing romanticism he seems to have stuck to of late. The highlights are, for me, 'The Scarlet Letter' and 'Cry The Beloved Country', two unashamedly beautiful and passionate cues featuring his trademarked multi-layered strings; the same can be said of 'High Road to China', the beginning of which sounds remarkably like Dances With Wolves, but which has an absolutely gorgeous love theme; the cool and sexy theme from 'The Ipcress File', featuring the unusual Hungarian cymbalom; 'Monte Walsh', Barry's classic Western theme which makes great use of the instruments of the old west, like banjo and harmonica; and 'Deadfall', the full score for which has recently been re-released by FSM Editor Lukas Kendall's company, Retrograde. Highly recommended.
Track Listing:
- Suite from High Road To China (8:10)
- Theme from The Wrong Box (2:46)
- A Man Alone from The Ipcress File (3:59)
- Suite from The Black Hole (4:54)
- Theme from The Appointment (2:18)
- Love Theme from The Scarlet Letter (3:03)
- Suite from Monte Walsh (11:10)
- Theme from The Knack (1:46)
- Theme from Cry, The Beloved Country (4:32)
- Suite from The Dove (6:28)
- Theme from Walkabout (3:47)
- Suite from Mary, Queen of Scots (11:13)
- Wednesday's Child from The Quiller Memorandum (2:31)
- Romance for Guitar and Orchestra from Deadfall (10:52)
Running Time: 78 minutes 06 seconds
Silva Screen FILMCD-169 (1996)
Music composed by John Barry. Conducted by Nic Raine. Performed by The City of Prague Philharmonic. Orchestrations by Nic Raine. Featured musical soloists Rudolph Weiderman, Milan Zelenska, Jaroslava Eliasova, Jiri Bousek, Michal Horsak and Jan Burian. Recorded and mixed by John L. Timperley. Album produced by James Fitzpatrick.
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