Witness: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

 (15 customer reviews)

I've been collecting movie music now for almost eight years. So why haven't I noticed before how talented a composer Maurice Jarre is? The music which he brings to "Witness", flowing like a waterfall of kaleidescopic colors from the synthesizers, seems to me to be filled with awe and reverence for the Amish people depicted in the movie and their culture. This is evident in tracks like the Main Title theme (variations of which are heard throughout the CD)and "Building the Barn", which provides a light-hearted, classical air to what might be an ardurous task for anyone else; yet the track accentuates the people's goal of working for the greater good. Toward the end of the disc is what sounds like a chase sequence which has to be heard to be believed. I guess I just never saw Jarre as being capable of creating such drama and beauty in sound before.

The movie's great. The soundtrack, on the whole, is reasonable - although, like most soundtracks, it generally doesn't stand up by itself; it needs the film.There is one very major exception to this, though: the track Building the Barn. This is wonderful music and well warrants buying this CD. Absolutely beautiful!

During the 1980's Maurice Jarre picked up on a somewhat popular concept (and perhaps inspiration from his son, Jean-Michel) and scored a few films using mostly synthesizers and what he called an "electronic ensemble" featuring Nyle Steiner, Michael Boddicker, Ian Underwood and others. Some of the scores worked very well on film (Fatal Attraction) while others did not (Dead Poet's Society). Witness is one of the scores on the positive end. It contains some the most lush and beautiful passages ever heard from electronic instruments, and some nice themes. I would rate the film 5 stars (instead of 4) except that there really isn't that much music to listen to when just putting the CD on the stereo and listening. Though not a single track on here will annoy anyone, and the Main Theme and Building the Barn are both worth the price of admission, and make this album well worth owning.