Unlike the symphony where, presumably, Shore has reassembled the music into a more tightly woven structure, Silva Screen have largely picked the highlight cues from each of the scores and gathered together the City of Prague Philharmonic, the Crouch End Festival Chorus and numerous soloists to produce one of their finest collections to date. For whatever reason, the Czech musicians seem to have warmed to Shore's style far more than, say, that of John Williams (as witnessed by their fairly dismal Indiana Jones album); maybe it's the more European musical language that Shore leans on, compared to Williams' strongly American style, which suites them so well. After all, these are musicians far more likely to be playing Dvorak than Leonard Bernstein in their non film music life. Added to that are the Crouch End Festival Chorus performing with their typical level of gusto and professionalism.

Where previously Silva Screen recordings have sometimes been both harsh and reverberant (a horrid combination, aurally), here there is enough closeness to the sound for the detail to be clear, but with a suitable amount of space around the different parts of the orchestra and chorus. Indeed, on that level, the original soundtracks sound a little malnourished in comparison. Those film music fans who vehemently insist that all film music be recorded in the driest acoustic possible need their ears testing. This album amply proves that sometimes, a bit of air in the recording works wonders. Indeed, at the right moments, the choir has the kind of earth shattering resonance one feels it always ought to have done, yet the original recordings just don't let rip in quite the same way. There is also a better separation between the various choral sections, for example the low grunts of The Bridge of Khazad Dum and the properly sung sections have a greater distinction in both timbre and their position within the sound field.

The three songs, all suitable (yet controversial) in their own way, are presented in both vocal arrangements at the end and as instrumentals to close out the suite for each of the three parts. May It Be features flute in the lead, but is a little on the panpipe moods side, while the creepy Gollum's Song sports a terrific violin solo. However, the best is saved to last with a gorgeous cello arrangement of Into the West, a much more moving conclusion than Annie Lennox's rather abrasive original performance, which rather overwhelmed its lovely melody. Here, the vocal versions are equally good, Tara Scammell on May It Be being nearly indistinguishable from Enya while Helen Hobson does some fine work on the other two. Even those who have the original scores will probably find plenty to enjoy; the playing is fine and, aside from a couple of moments where the horn attacks aren't perfect, the Prague brass players - indeed the whole orchestra - perform with distinction and add the final touch to a fine selection.

Rating ~