For Steven Spielberg's graphicly realistic and powerful World War 2 film John Williams has written a score of gentle power and understated elegance. Although some of the music accompanies highly realistic battle scenes with an almost documentary feel, the music never really plays above a mezzo forte. Many have complained that the music is too slow and boring, however I found listening to Williams music a profoundly moving experience that I've never really felt with any other score. It is more of a cumulative effect than an instataneous impact. I feel that for the best listening experience the opening rendition of Hymn to the Fallen should be missed out and listened to only after the rest of the score. There are a couple of reasons for this. The first is that that the Hymn is meant to be the emotional centrepiece to the score and in many ways the music builds up slowly toward it (the Hymn only playing during the end credits in the film). Also, the emotional release is consde rably greater once the more sombre rest of the score has been heard. Hearing the Hymn at the opening is rather like listening to the final track to ET or Close Encounters of the Third Kind without having listened to the rest beforehand.
The Hymn is a very gorgeous piece of music that builds from a gentle snare drum and trumpet duet through a subdued choral introduction of the main theme to a brass choir rendition until finally bringing the final release at the end with a rousing choral and orchestral rendition. To my ears it's more akin to a Williams concert work than a soundtrack cue. I think this maybe becuase the Copland styled Americana only really is fully heard in Williams concert music, much as it is during Hymn to the Fallen.
The main theme from the Hymn hardly appears during much of the rest of the score and only really in The Last Battle can you really make out parts of the melody. That is not to say the rest is themeless per se, but it doesn't have one instantly definably theme that you'll remember afterward (what you will remember is probably the Hymn, mostly becuase it's more uplifting than the score proper). Revisting Normandy is possibly the cue that is most distinctly like Aaron Copland in sound design, with trumpet and horn duets appearing here and there, mainly reminiscent of the Lincoln Memorial to my ears. The pace of the music doesn't change markedly during the score (which is possibly why it hasn't been as popular is it should be, in my opinion). Defense Preparations does introduce some more animated scoring with menacing strings grumbling around giving the music a sense of urgency and bringing to mind Cliff Eidelman's opening music for his Star Trek 6 score, alth ough never building to quite the climax that The Undiscovered Country does. High School Teacher is the longest cue on the album and builds within its self to produce a wonderful, almost self contained track. As previously mentioned, The Last Battle introduces elements of the Hymn as a kind of taster of the music that will produce, rounding off with the full concert piece which will no doubt appear on every Williams compilation from now on!
While this music won't appeal to everyone, indeed it seems to have been really quite unpopular, I have found this to be possibly the best score I've heard all year, not becuase it's spectacular but becuase Williams has so clearly found the human soul to this film, something he unfailingly manages with all his scores, especially ones where the characters are losing their humanity such as this and Schindler's List. I would suggest persevearing with this score as it really beautifully composed and extremely moving.
Score Rating ~ 
Total Time ~ 64:15