Fantastic Journey

This is another of the Telarc label's collections put together under the conductor Erich Kunzel and performed by the Cincinnati pops orchestra. Like all Telarc discs, the sound is pure digital and hence can really pack a punch. Moreover, Kunzel often chooses some vey nice gems in his collections -- e.g. the neglected Last Starfighter piece here. However, the problem arises in the fact that many pieces of film score don't play well with a large orchestra -- they loose their focused intensity. The Batman here suffers from such a flaw and is weaker than the original score. The Pops orchestra is best with march-type themes, of which there are not enough on this album to make it outshine the original soundtracks from which it draws.

This CD has been around for a while now but it is still truly a good compilation of Science Fiction film music given a new dimension by being recorded digitally. The BATMAN selections composed by Danny Elfman are very powerful combing rousing elements with moody enigmatic passages. Most of the other selections are short or confined to one piece. The selections from TWILIGHT ZONE: THE MOVIE, STAR TREK V: THE FINAL FRONTIER and POLTERGEIST all composed by Jerry Goldsmith are all performed with passion and demonstrate Goldsmith's great versatility. Bernard Herrmann's "Outer Space" from THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL is brief but in effect makes it all the more powerful by its great innovation and lasting impact. The WAR OF THE WORLDS "Prelude" by Leith Stevens was a great surprise.

Terrific performances of some great movies. I loved most of these movies and was excited to find a cd with all these themes. A great selection!