The 1996 Disney offering may not have done that well in the cinema, but for me, it is one of their best, perhaps only surpassed by Beauty and the Beast. The music, is however, excellent. A particular mention must go to the actual score, which is Menken's best to date combining massive orchestral power and massed choir chanting Latin choruses. The music is generally a shade darker then usual Disney fare and for the most part, only occasionally breaks for happier moments. A prime example of this is God Help the Outcasts followed by The Bell Tower and Heaven's Light. This represents some beautiful portions of both score and two sparkling songs. The Latter move into probably the darkest moment of the film, Hellfire. This is a fairly Satanic song and the words and deliciously ambiguous. This is a case where reading the words in the liner notes is probably a good idea. Probably the best song is the Andrew Lloyd-Webber style Out There. It starts fairly downbeat, but swells becoming a stunning show-stopper of a piece. The opening track gets the CD and film off to a good start and combines songs with the story. The two comedy songs, Topsy Turvy and A Guy Like You aren't too bad and Topsy Turvy has some quite incredible key changes that are nothing less than inspired. This represents by no means the best songs and they tend to sound a little too much like a music show sometimes, but still a good collection none the less.
Songs Rating ~ 
The non-song parts are, as I mentioned, very good indeed. Sanctuary has some wonderful moments and when the organ comes in on occasion it will send shivers down your spine. I think that some of the impact of the score is lost without the visuals sometimes, but this is probably due to the visuals being so immense and stunning. However, apart from the rather awful Disney-style ending to The reprise of The Bells of Notre Dame, the score is the best yet.
Orchestral Score Rating ~ 
Note: A special mention must go to Disney as this is the first score to an animated film that has all the tracks in the correct order with the score cues inserted between songs. I wish this were done more often, as it just breaks the score up a little and gives a little more variety.