FAR AND AWAY
Rating: 
Original Review: Despite the valiant attempt by John Williams at conveying a touch o' the Irish through his music, I felt that this was always going to fall short of James Horner's Braveheart (I know, Braveheart was Scottish, but the music was the same). Uillean pipes, kena whistles, pan flutes, even a couple of bits by The Chieftains - all the elements are there for Far and Away to be a great score. Unfortunately, Williams' normally tremendous talent for creating memorable themes lets him down here - there is only one real single, defining element to hold the score together. There are a couple of excellent cues, however: the ending of 'Joe Sr.'s Passing/The Duel Scene' and 'Leaving Home' introduces a grand, sweeping string-based melody which acts as the film's Main Theme; 'Blowing Off Steam' is a fun, exciting, rapid violin passage; 'The Big Match' has a tense, almost militaristic sound to it, with a prominent snare drum element; 'Inside the Mansion' is a quiet, delicate, dreamlike piano theme; 'Joseph's Dream' is lovely - starting off quietly and softly, before changing into an upbeat brass march before changing into a full rendition the main theme; and 'The Land Race' is probably the best cue on the album: a wonderful, epic chase theme in the mode of The Buffalo Hunt from Dances with Wolves which, despite sounding at times like Michael Kamen's overture to Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, is exhilarating stuff. The finale consists, as is usual with Williams, of a compilation of the scores highlights and Enya's marvellous song Book of Days, which for some reason I can't listen to without thinking about the Delta Airlines commercial. Overall, Far and Away contains the bones of a great score but, as it stands, is a bit of a disappointment, taking into consideration its high esteem it is held in and the general amount of praise it receives.
Track Listing:
- County Galway, June 1892 (1:55)
- The Fighting Donnellys (2:18)
- Joe Sr.'s Passing/The Duel Scene (4:41)
- Leaving Home (1:55)
- Burning the Manor House (2:43)
- Blowing Off Steam (1:31)
- Fighting for Dough (2:02)
- Am I Beautiful? (3:38)
- The Big Match (5:56)
- Inside the Mansion (4:24)
- Shannon Is Shot (4:06)
- Joseph's Dream (3:08)
- The Reunion (3:50)
- Oklahoma Territory (2:12)
- The Land Race (4:56)
- Settling with Steven/The Race to the River (4:08)
- Joseph and Shannon (3:14)
- Book of Days (written by Enya and Roma Ryan, performed by Enya) (2:53)
- End Credits (6:35)
Running Time: 67 minutes 15 seconds
MCA Soundtracks MCD-10628 (1992)
Music composed and conducted by John Williams. Orchestrations by Herbert W. Spencer. Ethnic instrumentations performed by The Chieftains. Featured musical soloists Paddy Moloney, Jerry Sullivan, Tony Hinnigan and Mike Taylor. Recorded and mixed by Shawn Murphy. Edited by Ken Wannberg. Mastered by Dave Collins. Album produced by John Williams.
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These web pages were designed and maintained by Jonathan Broxton copyright 1997. All opinions and views expressed on these pages are my own and are in no way intended to reflect those of my employer, the Trent Institute for Health Services Research, or those of the University of Sheffield.