SHINING THROUGH
Rating: 
Original Review: Yet another underrated composer, Michael Kamen has been churning out beautiful music for years without being recognised by the world at large. However, with myself and James Southall leading the British `charge to get Kamen the honour he deserves, I find myself listening to the score to Shining Through, which I picked up for £1 (yes, £1) in a second hand store and loving every minute of it. The music to this 1992 thriller which starred Michael Douglas is played throughout with the full orchestra, and the whole thing has a very European sound to it, as though it was composed for a Roman Polanski film. The Main Title contains a gorgeous piano theme, but the mood promptly becomes rather thicker and darker with 'My Cousin Sophie', and gets even deadlier in 'Enter Berlin', a cue which could have come straight out Mars from Holst's The Planet Suite. 'Kinderstrasse' is a little lighter in tone, featuring a delicate harp element and an angelic children's choir. To be honest, the second half of the album gets a little samey at times, with lots of pizzicato strings, pounding percussion, heavy bass and resounding horns signalling the action and the drama in the film, but the finale, 'End Credits' again contains the lovely string and piano theme that was most noticeable in the Main Titles cue. Anyone wanting to experience an hour's excellent music from one of Hollywood's less well-known composers should listen to Shining Through as soon as possible.
Track Listing:
- Main Titles (2:02)
- My Cousin Sophie (2:50)
- Airport Goodbyes (1:54)
- Enter Berlin (3:44)
- The Boathouse (5:01)
- Kinderstrasse (4:59)
- Escape to Margrete (3:44)
- Gestapo Search (4:11)
- Exit Berlin (5:25)
- The Swiss Border (3:26)
- End Credits (2:18)
- I'll Be Seeing You (written by Sammy Fain and Irwin Kostal, performed by Deirdre Harrison) (3:25)
Running Time: 42 minutes 59 seconds
Milan 412-742 (1992)
Music composed and conducted by Michael Kamen. Performed by The Alma Mater Symphony Orchestra of New York. Orchestrations by Michael Kamen. Additional orchestrations by Jonathan Sacks, Albert Olsen, Danny Troob, Sonny Kompaneck, Homer Denison, Nick Ingman and Arnold Black. Recorded and mixed by Stephen McLaughlin. Edited by Joseph S. DeBiasi. Album produced by Michael Kamen, Stephen McLaughlin and Christopher Brooks.
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