TESTAMENT / IN COUNTRY

JAMES HORNER

Testament Rating:
In Country Rating:

Original Review: One of Horner's rarest CDs, this import from Romania is an absolute gem, with not a plagiarism in sight. Split into two equal halves, it begins with the music for Testament, a 1983 film about a nuclear holocaust. As you would expect, the music is slightly downbeat in tone, but there are some wonderful highlights. It begins with 'Testament', the main title, which is a sorrowful theme with bells tolling over a restrained French horn. 'O Plimbare Cu Bicicleta' is the first rendition of the beautiful, poetic, recurring theme played first on flutes, then by the full orchestra, then by brasses, which is heard throughout the album, but most notably during 'Carol Isi Alina Copiii' and 'Amantirile Dragostei' and in a more sprightly, hopeful version in 'Pregatiri De Start'. 'Asta-I Casa Noastra' is a short, rhythmic piece for oboe, 'Boala Lui Scottie' is a beautiful lullaby, featuring an unadorned piano and angelic voices, 'Reamintire' is my favourite cue, a soothing string-and-choir piece which features a solemn, solitary French horn conclusion; and the final track - 'Ultimul Testament' - provides a final, passionate, moving rendition of the main themes. The music for 1989's In Country is a lush, epic, sweeping suite of cues in the tradition of Horner's most popular works, like Legends of the Fall, Braveheart and Glory. The seven untitled cues, which are simply numbered from 12-19, contain some of the best music Horner has ever written. Track 12 opens the music with a militaristic snare drum underneath a beautiful string passage, which then gives way to a full-bodied romantic violin piece - the main theme of the film, which also appears in track 13 and also in track 16, but there an acoustic guitar also makes an appearance. Track 14 contains a gentle piano solo and a slow, meandering woodwind melody, with the piano also appearing unadorned in track 15. Tracks 17 and 18 are short, indifferent tracks but the very last cue, Track 19, is an epic - 10-minutes of pure magic which simply takes the breath away. Beginning with a simple flute-and-string melody, it soon adds lusher orchestrations and even a touch of a shakuhachi as it builds and builds over the course of just under seven minutes, until it reaches a glorious crescendo, with the full orchestra playing a majestic, beautiful theme. Strangely, I find myself liking Testament a little more than In Country as a whole, although I still think the best cue is Track 19. One final thing: all the cue titles from Testament are originally in Romanian, I must give huge thanks to Stefan Gheorgiu at the University of Missouri for translating them into English.

Track Listing: Running Time: 55 minutes 55 seconds

Vivo Music VMCD-607 (1996/1983/1989)

Music composed, conducted and produced by James Horner.


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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.