Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace - Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

I am a huge admirer of John Williams' work. I think he isundoubtedly one of the greatest score composers of all time. Many ofthe beloved movies of our time, especially by George Lucas and Steven Spielberg, would be incomplete without Williams' magic. Since the music for the "Star Wars" films are among his most impressive achievements, I was really curious about his score for "Episode I". Let's start with the good news. Williams has once again managed to elevate the movie. There may be less recognizeable themes in this score, but when you watch the movie, you can understand why. The film is more of a setup, without many quiet or lyrical moments. The real drama will happen in the next films and the score also reflects that. Still, there are many nice and effective little motives in the score. I especially liked the one for the battle-droids (I liked them in the movie, too. They just look and sound so great). "Anakins Theme" wonderfully foreshadows the...Read more

The music is the best thing about the "Star Wars" prequels because John Williams succeeds where George Lucas has failed abysmally. Rather than jettisoning his old work in some obsessive pursuit of innovation, Williams moves forward while reworking key elements of the original scores to create the thematic connections Lucas's plodding writing cannot possibly secure. He doesn't just duplicate his work from the original trilogy - he transposes aspects of it into an entirely new register, both musically and emotionally. "Anakin's Theme" adapts the old Imperial March into a new key, in a neat foreshadowing of Anakin's fate. While "Duel of the Fates" is not only a chilling backdrop to a lightsaber battle; its choral references to 'Carmina Burana' and other German masterworks help activate latent fears about the evils of our own time. Williams really knows what he's doing here - he seems to be the only member of the prequel crew who does. The result is music which is beautiful, intelligent...Read more

This CD is a horrific example of what happens when great music meets bad record label. No tracks on this CD are intact, are are fragments carelessly strewn around. This is due to the carelessness and arrogance of Sony Classical. After a 5 million dollar buy on Sony's part, Williams and Lucas decided to sell out their classical work. It contains no portions of Qui-Gons theme or the briefly stated (new for episode 1) Obi-Wan's theme. This album should have gotten the 2 CD RCA victor treatment like the Special editions soundtracks did. I was shocked. I DEMAND, ALONG WITH MANY OTHER FANS- A TWO CD SET!