In common with quite a few film muisc fans, I was rather disappointed when Varese stopped doing their Hollywood compilations, they got from 1994 to 1996, but sadly stopped. These featured music from all the major films of the year performed originally by the Seattle Symphony Orchestra and then the Royal Scottish National Orchestra. These provided for superb cover versions of the most notable scores for the year. With the vast interest in Star Wars once again, Varese have cunningly managed to sneak back with what could essentially be deemed as Hollywood 98 & 99 with a mixture of re-recordings and tracks from the original scores of some of the best scores for the past couple of years.
As the title implies, there is of course music from the Phantom Menace. I was looking forward immensely to hearing the RSNO belt out the major themes and while I was perhaps a fraction disappointed in places, the suite is generally good. The one inclusion that doesn't appear to be recorded elsewhere to date is the thrilling expanded Flag Parade concert version. It's perhaps not as great as some of John Willliams' concert marches. It seemlessly blends large doses of Miklos Rozsa with Williams own style that recalls more Temple of Doom's Parade of the Slave Children, even if the expanded sections don't honestly add a great deal to the original piece. This performance is notably pacey, but generally concise and dynamic. Anakin's Theme is the highlight, the warm acoustic and gentle pace and lush phrasing bring out the best of Williams' music. Duel of the Fates was always going to be a tricky piece, it needs very concise performance and on the whole this comes up to scratch, even if it doesn't match the extreme precision of the original. The larger chorus honestly doesn't make a huge different, but the orchestral performance seems somehow more dynamic than the original, even if there are a few minor gaffs. It was the way I felt about the Superman re-recording, not perfectly performed, but somehow more exciting with a greater dynamic range.
Other re-recorded sections include a great version of the the finale track from The Mummy. This was a very love it or hate it film, but the score was very popular and was certainly one of Jerry's most enjoyable action outings in ages. This is a cue of two halves, one being the exciting finale that then leads into the almost moving credit sequence. The latter section does come out slightly better, but it's still a generally good performance all round. A very sobering take on Hymn to the Fallen from Spielberg's masterful Saving Private Ryan comprises the best re-recording to date, the brass choral segment being a particular highlight. The rich acoustic does rather make the choir seem in the background more than then original at times, but this serves to highlight the choir on the higher phrases which works remarkably well. I didn't much care for Stephen Warbeck's Shakespeare in Love score, but this suite comprises the best selections, including the catchy main theme which rounds off the suite.
All the other tracks are taken from Varese releases, highlights being Elmer's superb theme from Wild Wild West, the surprising Matrix which proved that Don Davis was a composer with large potential. Trinity Infinity might not perhaps have been the best track on the album, but it does show off the main ideas of the score to great effect. I would certainly quibble with the choice from Michael Kamen's masterful score to Iron Giant and would definitely have picked one of the finale cues, but presumably time constraints were an issue. Then again, I would have facilitated a longer Iron Giant selection by ditching the rather unexciting opening track to Goldsmith's 13th Warrior. There were better tracks on the album, but suppose they were all too long too. Trevor Rabin's score to Deep Blue Sea had almost no impact on me at all, even if the film was the most hilariously scarey film I've seen in ages. The finale cue featured here doesn't exactly warm me to his writing; appropriate, but not exactly inspiring stuff. Chris Boardman's great score to Payback is one I have yet to hear in full outside the film, but I thought that it was great in the film, especially the opening cue featured here. It's quite an anomylous in a CD of huge orchestral music, but I'm glad it's here as a kind of counterbalance. I wasn't great fussed by David Newman's Bowfinger, but the end cue was good and brings nice finish to the album.
I hope this once again becomes a regular occurence in the Varese release schedule, a nice summary album of the highlight scores is always a nice thing to have, even if you've heard them all before. Frederic Talgorn seems to have filled the niche left by Joel McNeely quite nicely, even if his interpretations of the gentler material are generally more assured than the more bombastic selections.
Rating ~ 
Total Time ~ 70:38