Almost all John Barry
compilations feature the noble main theme, which is not presented
in any kind of concert version here, but allowed to be woven into
the tapestry of the score in general. It was originally set to
lyrics and famously sung by Matt Munro, although Varese have
chosen not to include a vocal performance and just present the
orchestral score. The notes indicate that director James Hill had
a very high opinion of the film and wanted a very stirring, epic
score to go with it. While Barry's main theme is very broad, much
of his underscore is more intimate and some of it remarkably
playful. Unsurprisingly, this is most notable in selections such
as Elsa at Play and Playtime which feature the kind of bright and
cheerful music that doesn't grace many Barry scores. Barry even
injects some jazzy rhythms, which blend well, but still come as
something of a surprise. Anyone expecting the entire score to be
gentle and slow like Out of Africa, will likely
be surprised by the more varying moods this score has to offer.
The more dramatic passages are generally low key, even exciting
sounding cuts like Elephant Stampede and Elsa's Kill are more
distantly threatening than the upfront immediacy one might expect
from cues with such titles. While it almost certainly worked
flawlessly in the film, Born Free can't quite
compare with his other Oscar winning efforts and certainly
doesn't come close to the scope and drama of Dances With
Wolves or The Lion in Winter. However,
it is still a wonderful listen; there seems little to be faulted
on the performance, either technically or on an interpretative
level, the lush acoustics fit like a glove, the liner notes
provide a nice background to the score and film and it is graced
with a typically stylish Matthew Joseph Peak painting. Like Body
Heat and Raise the Titanic, this is
another score that Barry fans have always wanted and fortunately
for them and us, Varese have done great job bringing it our way. Rating ~ Total Time ~ 53:35Although John Barry doesn't write
many scores these days, albums of his music still seem to appear
regularly, be they either newly released or in this case, newly
recorded. Of all the composers being re-recorded, Barry's seems
to come out the best. His music isn't as technically challenging
as something by Bernard Herrmann or Alex North. These means the
conductor and orchestra have more time for refinements and so can
produce supremely good re-recordings. Born Free
isn't going to buck the trend and Frederic Talgorn and the RSNO
acquit themselves admirably with Barry's otherwise unreleased (on
CD at least) first Oscar winning score.
