Music In Film (National Public Radio Milestones Of The Millennium)

These type of compilation albums are often a mixed bag. "60 Years Of Great Music!" "20 Of The Most Memorable Themes Of All Time!" You know the drill. Half the stuff is great. Half of the rest is o.k. As for the remainder, you wonder how it ended up on anyone's short list. But with this release, Sony delivers the goods. Sure, it would be easy to pick 20 great scores neglected by this release. But instead of focusing on what isn't on it, focus on what is. You might be able to come up with as good a sampling as this, but it's doubtful you could do better. Of course, for serious fans of film music, most, if not all, of the selections will already be in their collection. So what? Three quarters of the selections aren't from the original recordings anyway. All of the reinterpretations are at worst interesting. For "Classical Music Snobs" or Film Score neophytes, this is a great introduction into the classical music of the 20th Century...Read more

Great CD;the music is crystal clear with an excellent variety demonstrating the wide variety of musical talents in Hollywood. Liner notes are also most interesting, explaining some of the history behind the cuts and pointing out differences in the composers styles...as with John Barry. His style ranges from "the Lion in Winter" bold dramatic soundtrack to the exquisitley tender "Dances with Wolves" theme music. A CD to enjoy over and over

I've come to appreciate soundtracks more and more. This compilation progresses chronologically through 60 years of film music, starting with 1939's "The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood", and ending with "Titanic". It encompasses a huge range of styles. Along with the usual suspects - music from "Ben-Hur", "The Magnificent 7", "Star Wars", et al, there are a few real sleepers, like John Barry's medieval-flavored theme to "The Lion in Winter", or Leonard Roseman's lyrical "East of Eden". Blessedly, most of the tracks are original recordings, conducted by the composers, among them Leonard Bernstein and Aaron Copland. Only those of us burned by tinny, tacky, sacriligiously rearranged retreads on obscure labels can appreciate this.

There are a few notable omissions. The prolific Randy Newman isn't represented, though Uncle Alfred is. And NO Ennio Morricone? - incredible! Presumably, this has more to do with Sony's current copyrights and contracts than the relative merits of...Read more