Soundtrack Review
Now Playing: The New WorldComposed By: James Horner
I would like to start by stating that James Horner is one of my favorite composers of all time. Perhaps best known for the amazing score that he wrote for Titanic, as well as the spectacular work he did for the ’95 best picture Braveheart, Horner is one of the rare musical geniuses of our day. He has a distinctive sound, trademark if you will, as do most composers, and all of his works bear just enough similarity so that you know: This is a James Horner score. The New World is no exception.
Track One, The New World, begins with the rather startling sound of birdsong which, although pleasing at first, becomes a bit monotonous after a while. Forget that, though. Horner builds through it with trademark vocals at first, and then the rest of the orchestra, driven on by beautiful piano. The song continues to build until it reaches a small climax at around four and a half minutes, and from there it quiets down to a simple ending. 8/10
Track two, First Landing, is beautiful in its own right, although it never really builds into anything. It is a simple melody, and it introduces one of the main themes for the first time. All in all, it’s a quiet piece, with no real climax, but it is still an ear-pleasing song. 7/10
Track three, A Flame Within, begins with a beautiful and haunting layering of vocals, along with a faint background of piano. About a minute and a quarter in, the pan flute is introduced, adding to the haunting melody, and bringing out the theme that was introduced in First Landing, and expanding upon it. When the strings come in, they introduce the rest of the main love theme, Listen to the Wind, for the first time, and are then added upon with vocals and wind. A very haunting piece, and beautiful. 8/10
Track four, Apparition in the Forest, is a very calm and quiet piece, mainly solo piano—I want the sheet music!—that brings out the main theme once more. There are some faint vocals to create a background for the piano every once in a while, but mainly, listen to this for the simplicity of the piano. Just beautiful. 9/10
Track five, Journey Upriver, brings in the Horner-chord that is in nearly all of his soundtracks. That beautiful, rolling chord on the piano that I have grown to love. . . this track also brings in more wind and strings, and all in all gives a fuller feel to the music. It is also not as light as the last four tracks, and gives a deeper meaning. It doesn’t build into very much, it merely adds more to the previous themes, and gives a new depth to them. A more awesome track; not simply beautiful as the others have been, but awesome. 8/10
Track six, Of the Forest, I must admit, I do not like. I am sure that it works well in the film but, having not seen it myself, I find the repeating birdsong to be rather irritating. It never really builds into anything at all, except for a slight—very slight—climax towards the end. My least favorite on the CD, I would have to say. I would give it a four, but the tiny climax bumps it up to a 4.5/10
Track seven, Pocahontas and Smith, is another beautiful track. The entire Listen to the Wind theme is brought in and built upon. A strong use of strings in the beginning and, around two minutes in, an oboe is brought in for the first time. A very beautiful piece, and I love it. 9/10
Track eight, Forbidden Corn, has to be one of my favorites. It is very long, eleven minutes exact, but in my opinion, the longer the better. It is not boring in the slightest. It begins with a very simple piano melody, and Horner builds on that. He brings in the pan flute briefly, followed by more wind instruments. The Horner-chord is brought in once more as the song progresses and builds. At about 2:45, the theme from A Flame Within is brought back, this time with piano and strings instead of vocal. It layers very nicely and is then tied into the love theme, played gorgeously on strings. The strings then tie into four simple piano chords that are then built upon by a cello, then more and more strings until about eight minutes into the song. At that point, Listen to the Wind reappears, this time played hauntingly upon the pan flute. This is my favorite rendition of the love theme, and—just as Horner’s use of this instrument in Braveheart—it goes straight to your heart. As that dies away, vocals are reintroduced, along with strings that end the song. An absolutely gorgeous piece, and I really can find no fault with it. 10/10
Track nine, Rolfe Proposes, is another beautiful piano piece. It is a very tender and soft melody, played only on the piano for the first minute and a half. After that, some quiet strings are introduced, as well as the oboe once more, which builds on the piano. About three minutes in, the piano takes center stage once more and adds to the theme before some background vocals are brought in. In the last thirty seconds, the piano plays the main chords from Listen to the Wind in a slow and beautiful way that ends the song. 9/10
Track ten, Winter Battle, is the darkest and most powerful track on the CD. It begins with strong strings, followed by haunting vocals that lead into a track which, quite simply, is a battle. It is highly reminiscent of Braveheart at several moments, but not in such a way as to be a repeat of that score. The harsh battle score dies away after five minutes, and vocals are brought in once more, covering over the “sounds of battle”. About thirty seconds later, piano is brought in to make a simple melody that is repeated with the vocals. At about 7:15, the battle returns in full force, with drums in the foreground. The track ends quite abruptly, but in a way that is fitting with the song. It is probably the least beautiful track to listen to on the CD, but is still a wonderful example of Horner’s excellent scoring. It makes you wonder, and guess, what is happening in the way that all good scores should. 8/10
Track eleven, All Is Lost, is absolutely gorgeous. What more can I say? It is my favorite on the entire CD. Starting out with very simple and quiet strings that are then added upon by wind, and a hint of the Horner-chord, it has a very tragic sound to it, and I am anxious to see what is going on at this point in the film. This builds into a quite triumphant sounding climax a minute and a half in, bringing in the main theme on strings. As the climax fades away, the strings create a gentle tie-in to the four piano chords that first appeared in Forbidden Corn. A cello is brought in and, as it was in track eight, everything builds upon that. The piano continues, but more and more strings are layered until it is only heard if you’re listening for it. It builds for almost two whole minutes, until it finally reaches its spine-tingling climax at five minutes and eighteen seconds, where Listen to the Wind is played powerfully on the strings. It makes your heart race, and you want to just close your eyes and get lost in the beauty of it. The climax fades away into piano once more, and then vocals and strings are brought quietly back. The piano stops and the vocals take over, in a way quite reminiscent of Titanic, but—as before—not enough to be a repeat of that score. It ends quietly, more than eight minutes after it began. 10/10 + 1
Track twelve, A Dark Cloud is Forever Lifted, begins with piano, with a slow and rather tragic sounding melody. A minute later, the strings are brought in, along with wind. A slow and beautiful rendition of the main theme appears briefly before vocals come in, followed by brass. The Horner-chord comes back, followed by a rippling piano and more wind, strings and vocals. 2:20 in, the oboe appears again to play the main theme, followed by strings, and then, briefly, the pan flute. This flows into the full Listen to the Wind theme, played beautifully on the oboe and backed with strings and even a harp. It is, again, a little tragic sounding, but as the theme dies, it gives way to a joyful piano that I can only describe as reminding me of a leaping stream. It is joined by strings and vocals that continue until the pan flute reappears briefly. Then all fades away until the oboe resumes its place and plays another lovely rendition of Listen to the Wind, backed with strings that are then joined by vocals that bring the song, and ultimately the score, to a close. 10/10
Track thirteen, Listen to the Wind. Wonderful. We finally hear the words that go with the theme, beautifully sung by eighteen-year-old New Zealander Hayley Westenra. It’s just lovely, and you’ll be humming it all day, even if you don’t know the words, or even the whole melody. I know I was. . . It is the perfect ending for a perfect score. 10/10
All in all, I would give this score a 9.5/10. The only reason I dock it is because of the repetitive birdsong. If it wasn’t for that I would give it a perfect score.
So there you have it. Two and a half pages of review. I hope that I didn’t bore you. And I also hope that I convinced you to go and listen to this score. Just to give another gentle push in that direction, you can listen to All Is Lost. Just go to my profile and listen to my audio clip. :) Perhaps that will convince you the rest of the way. ^_^ It is just an absolutely gorgeous score. It’s in my top five, I should think. . . James Horner has done it again. Let’s all give him a round of applause. *claps*
posted by The Ocean's Dreams at
4:28 PM
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