CLOSE ENCOUNTERS: THE ESSENTIAL JOHN WILLIAMS FILM MUSIC COLLECTION

JOHN WILLIAMS

Rating:

Original Review: The brilliant thing about this CD, the latest composer-specific collection from the whizz kids at Silva Screen, is that it has achieved a perfect balance of classic tracks which everyone will know and love, with several choice morsels of music which will have collectors salivating at the very thought of hearing them. This, in effect, means that there is something to suit all tastes, and is therefore likely to become a big-seller. John Williams, of course, is without a doubt the biggest and most influential film music composer in the world at the moment. Let's face it, when you have scored eight of the biggest box-office films of all time, and when you are the composer of choice for both Steven Spielberg AND George Lucas, you can't be doing much wrong. The selections included on this double-CD encompass every aspect of his career to date, from his early pre-Star Wars days to modern classics such as Schindler's List. There are a couple of surprising omissions - what happened to Jurassic Park, E.T. and Return of the Jedi? - but, then again, when you have had a career as stellar as Williams has, every score could be considered a classic. Generally, the City of Prague Philharmonic are perfect at re-creating the original sounds of the OSTs in their re-recordings but, for some unknown reason, they seem to be having some slight problems in terms of tempo here. The jaunty performance of the end credits from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, one of the more sought-after releases in the Williams canon, is a perfect example: the march is much too fast, the love theme is much too slow, and the slave children's march has a rather peculiar woodwind effect that sounds completely out of place. Similarly, the rendition of the glorious 'Exultate Justi' from Empire of the Sun seems oddly distorted, while the pseudo-African choir on Amistad is not as buoyant or full of life and energy as the original, instead sounding a little muddled and incoherent, although it has to be said that the way this performance concludes is infinitely superior to the original. On a positive note, the refrain of Saving Private Ryan's 'Hymn to the Fallen' is superb, capturing the emotional intensity of the original in all its glory. The fabulous, elegiac 'End Credits' cue from Born on the Fourth of July is realised here with even greater clarity of sound then the existing album, although the trumpet solos are missing the crispness of Tim Morrison's performance. Close Encounters of the Third Kind sounds as grand and impressive as always, although some may be annoyed by the exclusion of "When You Wish Upon A Star" from this version, especially in the light of Arista's expanded re-release last year. Finally, of course, where would we be without Star Wars? Oh, how I love the Imperial March! Collectors will undoubtedly be looking and listening closely at the world premiere recording of music from The Rare Breed, a 1966 movie starring James Stewart and Maureen O'Hara as, respectively, a cowboy and a prim English widow escorting a prize bull across the Texan countryside. Williams aficionados will immediately recognise the enormous Aaron Copland influence which was present in other scores such as The Reivers, The Cowboys and Cinderella Liberty. The 18-minute suite is an inviting mixed bag, with a rapid-fire, slightly nervous string scherzo ('Hilary's Plight'), a semi-comical phrase-throwing competition between members of the brass section ('Tallow Ho'), a soft love theme for oboes ('Scottish Romeo'), a vibrant horn-led action sequence ('The Hunt'), and a two majestic performances of the sprawling main theme in 'On His Own' and during the 'End Credits'. Trivia fans should also note that 'Double Crossed' unexpectedly contains an early performance of the speedy six-note motif which would later crop up during the darker moments of E.T. some 16 years later. Cues also of note for those interested in rarer scores include the rambunctious nine-minute 'Overture' from the aforementioned The Cowboys; the magical, lively 'End Titles' from Alfred Hitchcock's last film, Family Plot; two impressive cues from the increasingly rare JFK; the vibrant and uptempo 'Main Title' from the 1970's disaster classic The Towering Inferno; the tense, modernistic suite of music from John Frankenheimer's Black Sunday; and the cool, collected yet dangerously seductive synth and piano 'End Title' from Presumed Innocent. When all is said and done, you can't get any better than John Williams. For the casual film music fan, this is the best possible introduction to the music of the man who, in effect, single-handedly revitalised the impact of the orchestral soundtrack over 20 years ago. For the more serious collector, this album provides the perfect opportunity to finally discover some of the rarer and/or unreleased works from this great composer's illustrious career. The packaging is colourful, the liner notes by David Wishart are as exemplary and informative as usual, the sound quality is above average, and the performances on the whole are good.

Track Listing:

DISC ONE DISC TWO Running Time: 150 minutes 32 seconds

Silva Screen FILMXCD-314 (1999)

Conducted by Nic Raine, Paul Bateman and William Motzing. Performed by The City of Prague Philharmonic with The Crouch End Festival Chorus. Orchestrations by John Williams, Herbert W. Spencer, Paul Bateman, Mark McGurty, John Bell, Kevin Townend, John Neufeld and Peter Smith. Choir Director David Temple. Recorded and mixed by John L. Timperley, Mike Ross-Trevor and Eric Tomlinson. Edited by Gareth Williams and Ian Shepherd. Album produced by James Fitzpatrick.


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