The City Of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra

Few film series have captured the world’s imagination as much as the James Bond adventures with their exotic locations and explosive situations. The various composers responsible for the film series’ music dexterously place the listener in the middle of the action. The City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra takes James Bond fans around the world and back again with this special two-CD collection. The set features 30 tracks spanning the 22 Bond films, and an exclusive essay booklet entitled JAMES BOND: A MUSICAL HISTORY, written by acclaimed Bond historians Geoff Leonard and Pete Walker. © TiVo

This 57-track, four-CD set running nearly four-and-three-quarters hours and containing re-recordings of music composed by Jerry Goldsmith (1929-2004) for film and television scores over a period of more than 40 years was compiled from previously released Silva Screen collections, notably the 1989 album Goldsmith Conducts Goldsmith by the Philharmonia Orchestra (originally on Decca but reissued by Silva Screen in 2002) and the 1998 two-CD set The Omen: The Essential Jerry Goldsmith Film Music Collection by the City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra. As such, it is not the ideal Goldsmith album, despite its length, because there are odd repetitions and omissions. For example, Goldsmith's music for the TV series The Waltons is part of a medley of "Television Themes" performed by the Philharmonia Orchestra, but it also gets its own separate track performed by the Daniel Caine Orchestra. Similarly, musical excerpts from the Oscar-nominated films The Wind and the Lion, Poltergeist, and Papillon are part of a medley of "Motion Pictures" performed by the Philharmonia Orchestra, but there are also separate tracks for each score performed by the City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra. Goldsmith was nominated for 18 Academy Awards (he won only for The Omen), and it's a shame his nominated scores are not better represented: The Boys from Brazil, Star Trek®: The Motion Picture, Under Fire, Basic Instinct, and L.A. Confidential all get tracks of their own; but A Patch of Blue, The Sand Pebbles, Patton, and Chinatown are represented only in medleys; and Freud, Planet of the Apes, Hoosiers, and Mulan are not heard at all. (For those keeping count, his 18th nomination was for the song "Ave Satani" from The Omen.) But even if there is too much of some scores and none of others, this album does give a good sense of Goldsmith as a composer. Running in roughly chronological order, it shows his versatility (sometimes derided as facelessness), which allowed him to adapt to changing musical trends from the early 1960s to the early 2001s. Goldsmith could hold his own against the classically influenced writers who preceded him, but he also kept pace with the pop-influenced, synthesizer-savvy young composers coming up behind him, and that is made clear in this sprawling compilation. © TiVo

A beautifully performed and recorded collection of some of James Horner's best motion picture underscore work spread over two discs. While he is certainly derivative at times and has a severe tendency to recycle his own material as often as possible, there is no doubt that he can turn in a moving film score -- and easily adapt to romance, action, or grand ideas. The Enya-esque Titanic score aside (only two sections are included here), this well-chosen double set includes selections from Braveheart, Apollo 13, Star Trek II, Battle Beyond the Stars (its essential thematic predecessor), and even Red Heat and Commando. Also sampled is another favorite Horner score, The Rocketeer. © Steven McDonald /TiVo